Konami, ever the curious company, is joining the likes of Alienware, MSI, and Corsair with custom pre-built gaming PCs.

On the heels of making the Turbo Grafx 16 Mini, Konami has wider hardware ambitions. This time it's making gaming PCs for Japanese consumers. The new Arespear gaming desktops are made for esports and were originally announced in February 2020.

The three-SKU line features somewhat beefy specs and LED lighting, but are dramatically overpriced for the hardware. Konami has just now opened pre-orders for the PCs, which are scheduled to start shipping in September.

Duke Nukem dev 3D Realms is back on the map, and now they're teasing a brand new game.

3D Realms has made a resurgence and released their latest game, Ion Fury, on the original Duke Nukem BUILD Engine. Now they're coming back with a new all-original IP and it looks like a fantasy-based experience. We're not exactly sure what the team is cooking up--fantasy is kind of a weird focus for a FPS-driven studio--but it could feature magic-blasting instead of guns.

Apart from this new IP, 3D Realms is also working on Wrath: Aeon of Fury, a bloody FPS built in the original Quake engine that's due out on 2021. Other 3D Realms published games include Ghostrunner and Kingpin Reloaded.

Games get cancelled all the game in the industry. Some are extremely groundbreaking. Others devolve into chaos. Some, like the new RPG from Mike Laidlaw, get cancelled on a whim by people who have too much power.

Back in 2017, lots of executives left BioWare. The studio was endemic with overwork, ruthless crunch, and had a severe morale problem. Ian Frazier kicked off the exodus in 2017, followed by general manager Aaryn Flynn in July, and then Dragon Age alum Mike Laidlaw in October. Laidlaw had been with BioWare for 14 years and helped shape pivotal RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

After leaving BioWare, Laidlaw joined up with Ubisoft on a mysterious new game. The announcement was made in December 2018, but Laidlaw had been working as a creative consultant at Ubisoft Quebec for nine months before the reveal. It was clear Ubisoft was gearing up for something big, a unique new IP to help stand apart from established numerical franchises like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Watch Dogs.

The commercialization of space is fantastic news for everyone, and with space travel being opened up, many companies are stepping forward with designs for new spacecraft.

One of the companies that have been in the race for quite some time is Boeing, but unfortunately, the company has proven somewhat disappointing with their Starliner program. Back in December, Boeing had to abort its unmanned test flight due to a glitch in the system that really threw things up into the air. NASA has since decided to do an independent analysis of the Starliner program and returned with numerous "recommendations" NASA wants to see before Starliner attempts another launch.

SpaceFlightNow is reporting that NASA is still skeptical, and even concerned about how Boeing is going to address these issues and if they will be able to conquer them fast and efficiently. Donald McErlean, a member of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, recently said, "However, despite this progress, which is definite and in fact measurable, the panel continues to be concerned about quality control problems that seemingly have plagued the Boeing commercial crew program."

One of my favorite headsets I have ever reviewed is Logitech's Pro X, and now the gaming brand of Logitech has announced and released a wireless variant.

According to a new press release found on the Logitech website, Logitech is debuting the Pro X Wireless, which is basically the exact same as the Pro X wired, but comes with a wireless dongle and Logitech's LIGHTSPEED wireless technology. The new headset incorporates everything that was great about the Pro X wired but adds the convenience of being wireless. Due to the designs being identical, the wireless version will no doubt come with all the issues that the wired version comes with.

So what does the Pro X wireless sport? According to the press release, the Pro X wireless sports the same 50mm drivers, Blue VO!CE support, DTS 7.1 surround sound, lightweight design, and comfortable memory foam padding. I'm yet to receive my review sample of the Pro X wireless, but that will no doubt be arriving in the mail within the coming weeks. You can expect a review on TweakTown in the weeks after I have received my sample, for the time being though, you can check out my review on the wired variant here.

CES 2021 was never going to be an in-person event (even though CTA said it would still happen) with COVID-19 wrecking havoc across the US and the world, with organizers Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announcing CES 2021 will be an all-digital event.

The CTA is obviously concerned over COVID-19 globally, and having people from every corner and country in the world descending on Las Vegas, USA. The all-digital CES 2021 will be very different from previous shows where everything will be online versus on the show floor and hotel suites in Vegas.

"The CTA said in their press release: "Technology has helped us all work, learn and connect during the coronavirus pandemic, and it has presented real solutions to help solve complex global challenges. We recognize that, particularly in these uncertain times, it is the partnerships of some of the most creative minds that bring the best solutions to life".

Hitman 3 is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and current-gen consoles in January 2021, and the PS5's new SSD was a big reason for the sequel's next-gen optimizations.

We've heard lots of developers praise the PlayStation 5's custom high-end 5.5GB/sec PCIe 4.0 SSD for its massive efficiency, data pipeline throughput and streaming capabilities. Coupled with the NVMe M.2 flash over PCIe 4.0 lanes, the 12-channel memory controller and hardware-based decompression block allows for high data flows (up to 8K textures) and incredible compressed data transfer rates of up to 20GB. The result is games loading faster that ever before with instantaneous open-world gaming as data rockets through the GDDR6 RAM, Zen 2 CPU, and 10.1 TFLOP Navi 2 GPU and then rendered on the screen.

This kind of performance will revolutionize console gaming, and early adopters like IO Interactive are eager to jump in. According to the developer, Hitman 3 was designed with the PlayStation 5's SSD in mind. Simply put, faster loading and data streaming means more access and play availability. IO loves this I/O potential and says it meshes perfectly with Hitman's overall goals: Wide experimentation in a sandbox.

Every part of the PlayStation 5 will take advantage of the console's new ultra-fast 5.5GB/sec PCIe 4.0 SSD, especially the UI and operating system.

Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 will feature a new quick-launch feature that instantly launches a specific gameplay sequence, level, or event directly from the main menu. This functionality will be nestled into the PlayStation 5's new and improved Activities section. Think of it as a shortcut that quickly loads up a specific portion of a game, whether it be a specific race, a certain level (or boss fight), or maybe even a challenging platformer jump.

Developers can tailor-make instant-access events that will shave off minutes of waiting or redundant gaming to reach a certain part of the game.

Valve boss and PC gaming overlord Gabe Newell prefers the Xbox Series X over the PlayStation 5. Why? "Because it's better."

In a recent interview with New Zealand-based TV show The Project, Gabe Newell made some interesting comments on his recent life. It turns out Gabe Newell has been in Aotearoa, New Zealand since March.

Newell was actually on the show to promote a new festival he's throwing called We Love Aotearoa on August 15, which features a number of musical artists, VR demos, and will be free to everyone. It's Gabe's way of saying thank you to his local kiwis.

Although Obisdian's new RPG Avowed is shrouded in mystery, info on modding, next-gen worldbuilding, enemies, and overall scope has leaked out behind the scenes.

Just as the developer promised, Obsidian is making a huge new RPG. It's called Avowed, and it's a next-gen Xbox Series X console exclusive that's set in Eora, the mythical land of the studio's original Pillars of Eternity IP. The trailer also showed first-person Skyrim-esque exploration and combat. But that's really all that's been confirmed so far, and rightly so because the game is years away. Luckily some insiders are spilling the beans on what's next for Avowed.

According to ResetERA's Klobrille, who has inside knowledge of the goings-on of multiple studios and has rightly predicted parts of the recent Xbox stream, Avowed aims to wow gamers.

On the heels of Sony's accidental leak, Cuphead is indeed coming to PlayStation 4 today.

Cuphead, the hard-as-nails platformer/shoot-em-up that's tormented many a gamer's soul, is blasting onto PlayStation 4 today. The game is now up on the PlayStation Store for $19.99, and is compatible with Remote Play on the PS Vita or mobile phones complete with local co-op.

The news was announced in an endearing stop-motion video with clay figures befit of the old vintage 1930s era. The footage was created by the team at Stop Motion Department in Toronto and is complemented by a nice jazz track.

Square Enix president Yousuke Matsuda makes bold claims about the PlayStation 5's capabilities, and promises big things for the publisher's next-gen Project Athia game.

According to Square Enix's president, the PlayStation 5 can deliver visuals and graphics that are similar to today's PC tech. Well, not really similar, but nearly identical. Matsuda says the PS5 is capable of delivering ray-traced lighting effects that're essentially the same as those found in PC games.

In a recent interview with Toyo Keizai Plus, company president Yousuke Matsuda says the PlayStation 5 has the best console technology and discusses how his team is using the tech to build Project Athia, the publisher's only announced PS5 game.

If you didn't know who Tricare was before this article, they are the insurance company that handles the US military and its health care systems.

Tricare recently sent out an email to over 600,000 beneficiaries informing them that they had tested positive to coronavirus, requesting blood plasma donations from these 600,000 survivors of COVID-19. Military.com reported about the email, saying that it went out to 600,000 members of the US military across 31 US states in Tricare's East Region.

At the time of writing, roughly 31,000 people throughout the Department of Defense -- this includes service members, family members, civilian employees and contractors, have been tested positive for COVID-19. So another 600,000 would be over 20 times that number, and is a gigantic mistake on Tricare's behalf.

It's common practice to send telescopes to space via rockets, but maybe that won't be the future of space travel, or at least when it comes to putting new telescopes in Earth's orbit.

NASA is trying out something a little different this time around, as the space agency has come up with a new plan for getting its new ASTHROS observatory in Earth's orbit. Firstly, 'ASTHROS' stands for Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter wavelengths, and this new telescope is equipped with some of the best bleeding-edge technology for observing the vastness of space.

So, how is NASA going to get the new telescope out into Earth's orbit if they aren't using a rocket? Well, that can be simply answered, the space agency will be using a very, very, very large balloon. The balloon measures in at about 400 feet wide, which is roughly the size of a standard football stadium. The strategy is that the balloon will carry the new observatory to an altitude of nearly 25 miles (130,000 feet), which as NASA describes, is right where it needs to be to "observe light wavelengths blocked by Earth's atmosphere."

Intel has been in trouble for a few years now, but barely 72 hours after the company announced it was delaying its 7nm processors until the end of 2021 at the earliest and more like 2022 or even 2023 -- Intel has announced chief engineering officer Dr. Venkata (Murthy) Renduchintala is leaving.

Murthy will be leaving Intel on August 3, and has until now been in charge of most of Intel's hardware business. After year of issues with 10nm processors, the recent next-gen 7nm chips being pushed back even further, the perfect storm for Intel is happening right now.

AMD has been stomping all over Intel in more ways than one over the last few years, so this announcement is starting to show us something much bigger is happening at Intel. We might see a 3-5 year period where AMD comes in and just gobbles up a bunch of market share, while Intel bleeds out for a while until it can get back on its feet after so many fires burning within Team Blue's walls.

In the middle of all of the next generation console hype between the soon-to-be-launched PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles, Blizzard has come out and confirmed that even with next-gen consoles coming, World of Warcraft is still not coming to consoles.

There have been rumors for a while and then new data miners found controller support inside of the code for World of Warcraft's new Shadowlands expansion. This led to rumors that World of Warcraft was coming to consoles, but it's just to help people with limited mobility play the game.

A Blizzard representative told Polygon: "We currently have no plans to bring World of Warcraft or Shadowlands to Xbox Series X. The platform was listed on the Brazil Ministry of Justice rating website in error, and the entry has since been updated to reflect that the game is coming only to PC".

Bugatti has just released something I'm sure you didn't expect: the Baby II, which is a 75% scale electric replica of its Type 35 car. Check out the video:

The company will have a 1.3HP Novice mode and 1.4kWh battery, which should provide enough juice to let children or an adult to drive around in for a while. There are higher-end versions of the Baby II if you have more money, want more status, or just don't care.

Bugatti's base version of the car is made with a composite body, while the Vitesse models receive a nicer carbon fiber battery and 2.8kWh battery upgrade -- as well as a special "Speed Key" liek the higher-end Chiron. There's also the Pur Sang edition which has been crafted for collectors.

We are expecting Activision to have a gigantic announcement for its new Call of Duty 2020 game, which we've reported on before that would eventually turn into Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

A fresh post on Twitter teasing that Dorito's is releasing out some promotional chips with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which hasn't been announced yet. There's no details on COD: Black Ops Cold War (COD:BOCW, I guess?) other than Dorito's seemingly confirming the unannounced game.

TheGamingRevolution tweeted: "These are the two Doritos Double XP promotional images that I was DM'd earlier from an anonymous source for Call of Duty 2020 Black Ops Cold War. I was too worried about copyright issues to post them earlier but since CharlieIntel shared them I (assume?) they're safe".

NVIDIA has just released a new hotfix driver, something that fixes some of the issues that were found in the recent GeForce 451.67 WHQL Game Ready drivers.

The new GeForce 451.85 drivers solve some problems in Hideo Kojima's masterpiece Death Stranding, something that I checked out in 8K with DLSS 2.0 on with some mind-blowing results.

Not just that, but the new hotfix drivers provide stability to Shadow of the Tomb Raider when you're running it in DX12 with hardware-accelerated GPU scheduled enabled. Death Stranding gets some texure corruption problems fixed on GeForce RTX 20 series and GeForce GTX 16 series graphics cards.

ASUS unleashed its new ROG Phone 3 gaming phone a few days ago, but before it's even in the hands of gamers across the world, an exciting hidden super-high-end 160Hz refresh option has been discovered.

The hidden 160Hz screen option can be used by anyone that purchases an ASUS ROG Phone 3 gaming phone, where you can activate it with a single ADB command. The 160Hz screen option was discovered by XDA when searching through the settings app.

A debug command was found that enabled 160Hz refresh, with the 'adb shell setprop debug.vendor.asus.fps.eng 1' command. Once this is entered, there's a new 160Hz refresh option in the Settings > Display > Refresh Rate.