Intel is not so why with its Xe GPU architecture, where it hosted a virtual Architecture Day detailing a mountain of information on its technologies -- including the huge Arctic Sound GPU.

The new Arctic Sound GPU is an MCM-based design with 4 tiles and a huge 16,384 cores -- a multi-chip module with multiple tiles that add huge amounts of performance. The card was benchmarked at 1.3GHz with its 16,384 cores across the 4-tile Arctic Sound Xe GPU with an insane 42 TFLOPs of FP32 compute performance with near-perfect scaling (3.993x better).

Raja Koduri, the chief architect and senior vice president of Intel's discrete graphics division explained that the company is working on a 1-tile version with 512 EUs and 4096 cores, a 2-tile version with 8192 cores, and a 4-tile version that was teased at Architecture Day with a blistering 16,384 cores.

We should expect some real 4K fakery when both next-gen consoles are here, but the slower of the two -- the PlayStation 5 -- seems like it is going to struggle in 4K and that gamers might be "disappointed" by some major third-party games with "fake 4K" games.

Well people, get ready to be "disappointed" with some of the third-party games on the PlayStation 5 with some fake 4K gaming coming our way according to industry insider Jeff Grubb and his latest comments on the Basement Radio Arcade Podcast.

It seems that AMD SmartShift technology inside of the PlayStation 5, is going to cause some issues. Grubb said that game developers are having a hard time wrapping their heads around Sony's decision to use a variable frequency approach in the PS5 (through AMD SmartShift) and that many third-party PS5 games will leave gamers disappointed.

Epic Games is suing Apple for unfair practices, a move that could force an anti-trust investigation into the App Store. But now its motivations become more clear.

Today Epic Games decided to take Apple, who controls half of the world's mobile market. Epic started the coup by opening its own payment option within Fortnite in iOS, allowing gamers to buy V-Bucks at a 20% discount. This completely eliminated the 30% revenue cut that Apple usually takes. Predictably, Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store. Then Epic fired back with a lawsuit alleging monopolistic behavior.

The case actually makes some good points, and it's possible the courts will set new rules and precedents for Apple. The move was a well-orchestrated and planned maneuver on Epic's part in the guise of freeing developers from the "iOS stranglehold." But the documents reveal there's more to Epic's motivations than goodwill of consumers and developers.

If Halo: Infinite had released in 2020, it may have launched as an incomplete product missing a few things, including multiplayer.

In a recent interview with Gary Whitta, Xbox boss Phil Spencer shed a lot of light about Halo: Infinite's recent delay to 2021. According to Spencer, delaying the game was the right call. The project simply wasn't where it needed to be for a big blockbuster AAA hit. There's lots of reasons for this, including the complexities of developing a new engine alongside a new game, and work-from-home measures thanks to COVID-19.

The reality is that if Halo: Infinite did release in 2020, it probably would've only had campaign or multiplayer--not both. This aligns with recent reports we heard back in late July that claimed Halo: Infinite would ship without multiplayer. 343i quickly jumped in to say the rumors weren't true, but it looks like the info could've been closer to the truth than the studio was willing to admit.

Epic Games, one of the most powerful titans in the games industry, is tired of paying the 30% 'Apple tax' on all iOS revenues. Now Epic is standing up to Apple, and is suing them in a case that could set precedent for the entire games industry.

Today Epic Games decided to flat-out challenge Apple. First Epic added in an option for direct payments into Fortnite, which completely bypassed Apple's 30% revenue cut altogether. Apple takes 30% of all games revenues from the iOS storefront. Apple, of course, pulled the game from the App Store for terms and conditions violations.

Now Epic is suing Apple and seeks to end its "dominance over key technology markets."

Sony has already shown off the PS5's high-end gaming capabilities with the stunning Gran Turismo 7 trailer, and revealed how the console's ultra-fast 5.5GB/sec PCIe 4.0 will destroy load times in the new Ratchet and Clank game. Now a single screenshot exhibits what the console will be capable of at launch.

A new Spider-Man Miles Morales screenshot from Entertainment Weekly speaks volumes about the PlayStation 5's ability at launch. First-party devs like Insomniac Games apparently are pushing ray tracing right out of the gate, complete with new ambient weather and lighting effects. The puddle alone shows evidence of ray-traced reflections and mirrors the kind of thing we see in Control on PC.

We also know Spider-Man Miles Morales will be incredibly optimized on PlayStation 5. Insomniac has baked in a performance mode that hits 4K 60FPS, which is unheard of for this kind of game mode. Usually performance modes target 1080p 60FPS and don't deliver dazzling 4K 60FPS gameplay. This possibly hints the game will hit upscaled 8K resolution to complement Sony's new high-end 8K TVs.

Sony wants to buy AT&T's Crunchyroll anime service, but it's not willing to pay the huge $1.5 billion asking price.

AT&T is interested in selling its Cruncyroll division to Sony, sources tell The Information. Sony also wants to buy. But there's just one big problem: The price tag. AT&T wants $1.5 billion for Crunchyroll, and Sony simply isn't willing to pay that much. For perspective, that's more than the all time record $1 billion profit high the PlayStation division made in Q1'20.

If Sony acquires Crunchyroll (and right now it seems to be a matter of when, not if) it'll be an undisputed king of on-demand anime content. Sony Pictures already owns Funimation, which it bought in 2017 for $143 million.

UPDATE 2: Fortnite has also been banned from the Google Play Store on Android.

UPDATE:Fortnite has been delisted from the App Store following this move. Gamers who already have it downloaded can still play, and can still buy in-game V Bucks.

Epic Games is brazenly defying Apple and Google by offering direct payments for Fortnite V-Bucks on iOS and Android.

Today Chinese juggernaut Tencent announced its Q2'20 earnings, and the results see strong spikes in game earnings in the period.

COVID-19 is spiking games industry revenues, and Tencent is no expception. The company revealed its Q2'20 performance for the quarter ending June 30, revealing strong 29% spikes in total revenues to $16.2 billion. Operating profit was up 38% to $5.3 billion, driven by surges in games revenues, and net profit reached $5.2 billion, up a strong 31% over Q2'19.

Games made up 35% of total revenues, or $5.68 billion. Smartphone games predictably made the lion's share of these earnings with $5.08 billion, driven mostly by heavily-monetized free-to-play games.

4A Games was just purchased by THQ Nordic, and now confirms their next-gen Metro game will have online multiplayer.

Today 4A Games was folded into THQ Nordic's massive stable of developers. The Metro dev will still technically remain independent, but it'll now serve under World War Z developer Saber Interactive. Both 4A Games and Saber are co-developing the next Metro game, which will have online multiplayer that utilizes the same live framework that powers World War Z.

4A Games CEO Dean Sharpe confirms the next-gen Metro game on PS5 and Xbox Series X will have multiplayer. 4A Games is also working on a new IP, but will still continue working with Dmitry Glukhovsky on new Metro games.

4A Games and its associated IPs, including the Metro franchise, are now wholly-owned by THQ Nordic, joining its ever-growing stable of developers.

The Embracer Group (formerly THQ Nordic) has acquired Metro game series developer 4A Games for $45 million, the company today announced. The purchase equates to $36 million after debts and taxes, of which is made up of $25 million in upfront cash and the remainder made with 1.23 million in B shares.

4A Games will remain independent, but it will serve under Saber Interactive and still be associated with Deep Silver, the wholly-owned publishing arm responsible for games like the Metro and Dead island series.

Intel hosted its virtual Architecture Day to the media across the world, with a gigantic debriefing on what Intel has been up to across virtually its entire company -- but the most exciting thing (at least to me) was the introduction of the new Xe-HPG gaming-optimized architecture.

Intel's new Xe-HPG is for enthusiast gamers packing hardware ray tracing support, packing GDDR6 memory. To compare against the datacenter-focused Xe, with the Xe-HP -- which is powered by HBM memory. Intel stepping into the ray tracing ring with NVIDIA, and soon AMD with its RDNA 2 architecture is a big move.

The new Intel Xe-HPG is expected to ship in 2021, where I'm sure we'll hear more details on it early in the New Year. Raja Koduri, the chief architect and senior vice president of Intel's discrete graphics division, explained: "our enthusiast and gamer friends, we heard your requests for Xe for enthusiast gaming. We added a fourth microarchitecture to the Xe family: Xe-HPG optimized for gaming, with many new graphics features including ray tracing support. We expect to ship this microarchitecture in 2021 and I can't wait to get my hands-on this GPU!"

Turtle Beach has been a big name in the gaming audio market for quite some time, and now the company is adding to its large range of gaming headsets by announcing a second generation for two of its most popular products.

Turtle Beach has announced a the Stealth 600 Gen 2, and it features a refurbished design that ironed out any of issues on the first-gen Stealth 600. As described by Turtle Beach, the new design is a much sleeker look, and the build quality feels much more premium. The Stealth 600 will replace the current Stealth 600 at its price point of $99.95.

So, what makes the Stealth 600 Gen 2 better than the Gen 1? Well, the Gen 2 is sporting a USB-C charging port, which is a direct upgrade from the micro-USB found on the Gen 1. Turtle Beach has also revised the microphone design on the Stealth 600 Gen 2, combined with an upgrade in the audio quality, and Turtle Beach's Superhuman Hearing. Additionally, Turtle Beach has whacked some similar upgrades on the Stealth 700 Gen 2 in its respective aspects.

NASA has had its eyes on Mars for quite some time, and as a result the space agency has put satellites around the planet to observe its beauty.

One of the satellites is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and its equipped its with incredible cameras that capture the true nature of the Red Planet. Since NASA's missions are funded with public money, the results of the missions are available for the public to view and download. Today, we have a bunch of gorgeous photos of the surface of Mars, and each are full resolution for you to download.

NASA announced on August 12th it was celebrating the Mars Reconnaise Orbiter's 15th anniversary by publishing the below selection of images. The images include impact craters from meteors, sand, smoke, and more. If you are interested in reading more about this topic, check out this link here.

With millions of parents home right now over COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing across the world, keeping your kids safe online has never been more important -- and that's where FamiSafe steps in.

FamiSafe and its Parental Control App offers you the ultimate in keeping your children safe online, available on both iOS and Android. The FamiSafe Parent Control App features including kids' location tracking, screen time limiting, website filtering, game & porn blocking, suspicious photos detecting and suspicious text detecting on social media app like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and more. Link family devices, keep your family safe.

As a parent, you cannot be behind your child watching every conversation they have with someone online, every website they visit, which videos they're watching, what games they're playing or what apps they're using. FamiSafe Parental Control gives you control over all of that, ensuring they're not doing something you don't want them to when they're online.

David Blaine is returning, but not in the way you'd expect -- the magician has announced his first major live event in over 10 years that will broadcast exclusively on his YouTube channel.

The magician is calling his new stunt 'Ascension' which will see Blaine attach himself to a bunch of helium balloons -- which would look like the Pixar movie Up. Blaine will hold onto the helium balloons, he will float across the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York.

Blaine tweeted out: "This stunt has been 10 years in the making. Let's turn worry into wonder and take magic to new heights". YouTube gets in on the Ascension hype, adding: "Watch in disbelief as David Blaine magically ascends above Earth, in his biggest live performance yet".

We all know what that iconic 3-second Netflix intro sounds like, with its kinda-tired "ta dum" sound looking to be replaced by something much more epic by composer Hans Zimmer.

Hans Zimmer's new intro for Netflix can be heard on the above tweet, and it seems like it is coming directly to Netflix original movies coming to cinema -- although right now, cinema is shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing.

I'm a huge Hans Zimmer fan, and saw him with a live orchestra a few years ago and it quickly became one of the best experiences of my life. My favorite soundtrack of all time would have to be Man of Steel (my review on the movie here), followed by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (my review on the soundtrack here) -- and this new Netflix theme by Hans Zimmer has major Man of Steel vibes.

Microsoft has released another trailer for Flight Simulator, which is about to take off for gamers on August 18 -- just days away. The new 'Planes and Airports Trailer' details some of the planes and airports we will see in Flight Simulator:

The new trailer has Microsoft taking us through some of the absolutely beautiful airports you'll be visiting, and the planes you'll be flying in Flight Simulator. There will be over 37,000 airports in total in Flight Simulator, 2 million cities, live weather -- with storms and all, and so much more.

There will be 3 different versions of Flight Simulator released, these will include:

We have some new details on Cyberpunk 2077 through a recent interview between VG247 and senior gameplay designer on Cyberpunk 2077 at CD PROJEKT RED, Pawel Kapala.

The interview had a bunch of great tidbits, but one part that stood out was the discussion on destructible environments. I'm a huge fan of realistic environmental destruction in games, from Red Faction through to Battlefield games.

But with Cyberpunk 2077, it seems like the team at CD PROJEKT RED are taking destructible environments to the next level. Kapala teased: "We put a lot of emphasis on having destructible environments overall in our game".

GDC 2020 was officially postponed because of COVID-19 earlier this year, meant to kick off in March it was postponed over the coronavirus pandemic.

Well, GDC organizers Informa Tech have announced that the Game Developers Conference 2021 will take place between July 19 and July 23, 2021 in a hybrid physical and digital show. This is a few months later than the mid-March that GDC normally takes place.

The physical side of GDC 2021 will take place like it normally has at the Moscone Center in San Francisco -- while the digital show will be online.