Latest News - Page 154

Less than 24 hours after a pre-order trailer appeared on the Xbox store and was promptly removed, Sony has conceded and confirmed the release date for Bungie's Marathon.

The pre-order trailer appeared on the Xbox store and was quickly captured and re-uploaded across social media, sparking a stir that Sony was about to confirm the official release date for Marathon. Giving more credit that the leaked pre-order trailer was real is the copies of the trailer being taken down from social media, presumably from the rights holder. In this case, that would be Bungie or Sony. If it wasn't real, and the trailer was fan-made, take-downs wouldn't have occurred.

However, the trailer was real as Sony has conceded to the speculation and officially announced that Marathon will be launching on March 5, 2026, and that pre-orders are now open. Sony announced the news via its social media channels, and for those wondering if a free playtest will be available to those who wish to try Marathon, the official Marathon X account responded to a user asking this very question. "Yes. We'll have an open preview weekend before launch, and everyone will be able to try Marathon out!"

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive announced in May last year that they are teaming up to release OpenAI's first hardware product.

At the time of the announcement, Altman didn't provide a description of the product. Still, given OpenAI's dominance with ChatGPT, many have presumed it to be some kind of smaller, possibly wearable device that enables users to communicate directly with the online chatbot. Multiple reports have stated OpenAI is developing prototypes of small devices with no screen that can interact with users, and Altman did say the secret device will be more "peaceful" than a smartphone.

Now, OpenAI's policy chief, Chris Lehane, said on Monday that OpenAI is on track to unveil this mysterious device in the second half of 2026. Lehane said "devices" are one of OpenAI's big projects in 2026, and that he will have more to share about the topic "much later in the year." As for when it will become available to the public, Lehane didn't give an exact date, but did say a release in 2026 was "most likely," but "we will see how things advance."

Since the emergence of AI, particularly generative AI, gamers have been opposed to the idea of these tools improving exponentially in the development of games. But, according to Razer's CEO Min-Liang Tan, gamers do want AI-powered tools assisting in game development, they just don't know it yet.

The statement comes from an interview with Min-Liang Tan and The Verge, where he was queried about Razer's $600 million investment into AI over the next few years. Tan was asked about his thoughts on Razer's hefty investment in the new technology and how gamers currently view AI. The Razer CEO said that many gamers are currently unhappy with "generative AI slop," and so is he, as he also doesn't want to be served poorly designed character models, hollow storylines, etc.

However, what Razer isn't against is providing the tools to assist game developers in the creation of the game. Tan provided an example of creating a tool that helps developers test their games faster and better. Tan goes on to say that Razer is building a QA (quality assurance) companion, a companion tool that works with a human QA tester to automatically fill out forms, identifying discovered bugs and problems within a game.

After taking a $1 billion investment from Tencent to prevent hostile takeovers and to pay back debt, the creative vision behind the Assassin's Creed franchise abruptly departed the company.

Marc-Alexis Côté, the former boss of the Assassin's Creed franchise, stated in October that Ubisoft offered him a new position, but it didn't carry the same "scope, mandate, or continuity with the work I had been entrusted with in recent years." Côté viewed this offer as a demotion, and now reports are stating Côté is suing Ubisoft for $1.3 million for lost severance pay and "moral damages". Additionally, the suit is demanding that Ubisoft lift Côté's non-compete clause.

Reports state the lawsuit outlines problems between Côté and Ubisoft began when the developer spawned Vantage Studios with Tencent, which is the new company that now controls Ubisoft's most-valuable IPs, such as Assassin's Creed. Notably, Côté discovered Vantage Studios was hiring for "Head of Franchises," which is a position that would supersede him.

Bungie's Marathon is reportedly going to be released in just a few short months, according to a recent leak that has made its way across social media.

The leak is from a pre-order trailer that was posted on an Xbox community listing and then taken down. However, before it was taken down, it was captured and reuploaded across social media, and then later verified by several outlets. The pre-order trailer, which can be viewed here, appears to be quite legitimate, being a fully-fledged nearly two-minute trailer teasing the release of the game and its Deluxe Edition.

To add further credibility that the trailer is real, copies of it on social media are currently being taken down, presumably by the rights holder, which in this case would be Bungie. If the trailer wasn't real and was fan-made, Bungie wouldn't bother issuing takedown notices. As for what is official, Bungie confirmed Marathon would be released sometime in March, but according to the leaked video, Marathon will be making a debut on March 5, 2026.

An explosion has resulted in a fire erupting at Rockstar North resulting in the offices of the Grand Theft Auto 6 developer being closed.

Reports have surfaced regarding an explosion at the Edinburgh office of video game developer Rockstar North after an explosion within the building. Around seven Scottish Fire and Rescue vehicles rushed to the property on Holyrood Road at approximately 5:00am local time, along with police. Currently, there are no reports of injuries or deaths, according to authorities.

The explosion and subsequent fire resulted in emergency service personnel being on the scene for upwards of two hours, and eventually left the studio after securing "structural damage" to the building, per a spokesperson from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Reports are currently suggesting the cause of the explosion was a faulty boiler, but this hasn't been confirmed by Rockstar, nor local authorities.

Rockstar Games has granted an exclusive early access playtest of Grand Theft Auto 6 to one huge fan of the franchise.

While the public will have to wait until November 19, 2026, to get their hands on Grand Theft Auto 6, one fan will be getting it many months earlier than everyone else. The news comes from Anthony Armstrong, a UI integrator at Ubisoft Toronto, who wrote in a LinkedIn post that one of his family members, who has been battling cancer for years, was recently told he has only 6-12 months to live.

Armstrong posted on LinkedIn and called upon his Rockstar Games contacts to request that his family member, who is a massive fan of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, be able to play Grand Theft Auto 6 before he passes. Armstrong wrote that his family member is willing to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), and that he lives quite close to one of Rockstar's studios.

Chinese-based tech enthusiast 小宁子 XNZ has put together something pretty impressive, a custom mod that combines the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch 2 into a single console. With the fun 'Ningtendo PXBOX 5' name, this impressive mod project blends modern 3D printing with traditional wax-casting techniques to create a remarkable system that cools all three consoles with a single triangular cooler.

The Apple Mac Pro also served as an inspiration for the design, as its cylindrical shape and blend of multiple components provided a strong foundation for arranging all three consoles in a single case. Another aspect of this mod that makes it impressive is that all three consoles draw power from a single source, and with the low-power standby options on the PS5 and Xbox Series X, switching back and forth takes only a couple of seconds.

Inside the unit, all three PCBs are attached to one side of a triangle, with Switch 2 using a custom dock to connect and even eject the console. The entertaining video on the whole process is worth a watch, as you get to see a few different failed attempts and just how they managed to create an aluminum cast as a low-cost alternative to ordering a custom CNC-machined cooler.

It's increasingly looking likely that Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is currently the cloud streaming portion of Microsoft's Game Pass service, will be getting an ad-supported tier sometime this year. This has been rumored for a while; however, the release appears imminent, as players are already seeing evidence of it while using the service.

As spotted by Windows Central and The Verge's Tom Warren, the Xbox Cloud Gaming launcher now displays the text "1 hour of ad-supported playtime per session," which references an ad-supported tier that doesn't exist. The message is an error; it's being reported that this ad-supported tier will be a session-based option for non-Game Pass subscribers who have purchased digital Xbox games that are available in the Xbox Cloud Gaming library.

This new feature is expected sometime later this year and is seen as a potential solution to the growing uncertainty surrounding gaming hardware amid the current DRAM crisis. Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA's GeForce NOW streaming services let players jump into hundreds of games, including the latest titles, without dedicated PC or console hardware.

Rockstar Games is on the final stretch of development for Grand Theft Auto 6, and despite its delays, the subject of Grand Theft Auto 7 has already popped up.

In a recent interview with Esports Bets, former Rockstar Games and Grand Theft Auto 5 animator Mike York said that it's typical of major gaming companies to have two games being developed simultaneously, and suggested that Rockstar might have already begun developing either Grand Theft Auto 7 or Red Dead Redemption 3.

York went on to explain that once a project is nearing completion gaming companies begin the leg work for their next project, with the former animator going on to say, "That's probably what is happening now at Rockstar; GTA VI is nearing the end of its production, so I would be shocked if they hadn't already started working on RDR3."

ASUS chairman Jonney Shih personally confirms that "ASUS will no longer add new mobile phone models in the future" with its vast R&D efforts fully shifted into physical AI, as the company is "all in AI" now.

Just a few days ago on January 16, ASUS held its "2025 Year-End Gala" at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center -- where Computex takes place -- with the company awarding its staff with 8 new cars and a bunch of different prizes, but the company took the time to announce its future strategy.

In a pre-event interview, ASUS chairman Jonney Shih confirmed the company will be temporarily ceasing the launches of any new smartphones, and will fully shift its R&D prowess to commercial PC systems and "physical AI", as its pushing hard into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

DRAM shortages are about to go from extremely bad, to another universe of issues with the US government considering new 100% tariffs on offshore DRAM production.

The Trump administration has been quite clear on its focus on American semiconductor manufacturing, with the "Made in the USA" push seeing multiple big tech giants investing trillions of dollars between them, including Apple, NVIDIA, Intel, and many others.

However, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was recently at Micron's New York semiconductor fab groundbreaking ceremony, where he said that memory manufacturers that aren't producing on American soil, will face a 100% tariff on their chips.

The current DRAM crisis and memory shortages are affecting all aspects of the consumer tech market, with things expected to get worse as we head into 2026. With price increases that are already here and months of rumors pointing to PC components like GPUs set to become increasingly hard to find, things took a turn for NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series last week, after it was widely reported that the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5060 Ti 16GB cards were effectively being shelved or moved into 'end-of-life' status.

The key source for this was a Hardware Unboxed report, which stated that NVIDIA partner ASUS advised that the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GPU was no longer available and no longer being produced. With ASUS being one of the biggest names in GeForce RTX GPUs, no ASUS PRIME or TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 5070 Ti cards does sound like NVIDIA has cancelled these models.

Naturally, this caused immediate and widespread backlash from the PC gaming community, with NVIDIA releasing a statement that it would "continue to ship all GeForce SKUs" in 2026 - including the RTX 5070 Ti. And with that, ASUS has also released a public statement that's pretty clear.

ASRock has lifted the lid on its latest motherboard range, the Rock Series. These stylish new boards are designed to offer DIY builders style, stable performance, and great value. With both ATX and mATX options, there are four AMD Ryzen AM5 and Intel Core Ultra Processors (LGA1851) models: the B850 Rock WiFi 7, B860 Rock WiFi 7, as well as the mATX B850M Rock WiFi and B860M Rock WiFi.

All ASRock Rock Series motherboards feature an optimized Aluminum Heatsink Design, which is the first thing you notice when looking at the lineup. In addition to the brushed metal drawing the eye, the design offers excellent heat dissipation for both gaming and productivity workloads. Throw in a six-layer PCB and stable power delivery for overclocking, and the Rock Series backs up its clean, modern look with a robust design.

All models include built-in Wi-Fi, 2.5 GbE networking, and PCIe 5.0 support for GPUs and M.2 SSD storage - with the larger ATX models supporting Wi-Fi 7. Throw in a larger 64 MB BIOS, and these boards are also ready for the next generation of AM5 Ryzen processors from AMD.

ASRock is expanding its range of AIO liquid coolers for CPUs with several new gaming and even workstation solutions. When it comes to gaming, ASRock's new lineup follows the naming seen across its graphics card and motherboard offerings with Challenger, Steel Legend, Phantom Gaming, and Taichi Series models.

According to the company, the new Taichi AQUA Series represents the pinnacle of its "liquid-cooling engineering," and it includes a dual-mode top cover design that lets owners switch between a magnetic 3.4-inch full-color LCD and a transparent 'water-channel' top cover so that they can watch the coolant flow in real time.

The new ASRock Taichi AQUA 360 LCD also features an impressive dual-pump design that supports 500W+, plus an all-metal water block and a 38mm-thick radiator for enhanced cooling performance. Throw in aerospace-grade fans and a built-in flow indicator, and this stylish all-white cooler is a flagship for a reason.

The UK and Bank of England are preparing for a potential financial crisis if the US government says we are not alone, and that UFOs, UAPs, USOs, and alien life are disclosed.

Former BoE analyst, Helen McCaw, has previously worked in financial security at the Bank of England, helping develop plans for theoretical economic crises, including the one now that she sees as a possibility in a full UFO and aliens disclosure scenario.

She wrote to Andrew Bailey, who is the Bank of England's governor, urging him to set out contingencies in case the Trump administration and the White House confirms the existence of alien life, reports The Times.

Intel's new Bartlett Lake P-Core only CPU will have up to 12 Performance Cores on the flagship Core 9 273PQE variant, aimed at the Embedded market.

The new Bartlett Lake CPUs from Intel will arrive in the Core 5, Core 7, and Core 9 variants with only P-Cores in tow, with PE, PTE, PEF, and PQE variants unveiled in recent leaks. Intel's upcoming Bartlett Lake CPUs will have SKUs with up to 12 P-Cores, but there are 3 different variants of this chip.

Intel's upcoming Bartlett Lake CPU family will have multiple SKUs under the Core 5, Core 7, and Core 9 series for a total of 12 SKUs. We don't have much new information from the latest leaks, other than the SKU names and their boost clock speeds, which will range between 5.2GHz on the Core 5 213PE, and up to 5.9GHz for the flagship Core 9 273PQE processor.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 processor has been recently benchmarked on Geekbench, with more single-core and multi-core performance than the Ryzen 9 9950X3D.

In a new post from leaker @9550pro on X, we have the new Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 processor benchmarked on the GIGABYTE X870 AORUS Tachyon ICE motherboard. The new 9950X3D2 scored 3553 points in the single-core run of Geekbench, and 24,340 points on the multi-core tests, besting the 9950X3D by around 7%.

AMD's new Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 processor has the same 16-core, 32-thread CPU power of the 9950X3D, but both of the CCDs have a 3D V-Cache chiplet (X3D cache) underneath the cores, making it the first CPU in history to have a mammoth 192MB of L3 cache (96MB + 96MB). CPU clock speeds aren't any different, with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 processor boosting at up to 5.6GHz.

NVIDIA has reportedly axed most of its GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs in order to focus on AI demand, with the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti 16GB, RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, and even its RTX 50 Laptop GPUs with more than 8GB of RAM... all gone.

In a new video from leaker Moore's Law is Dead, we're hearing that NVIDIA has cancelled most of its high-end RTX 50 series GPUs on desktop, and its high-end RTX 50 Laptop series GPUs. Last year MLID said that the RTX 5090 was entering EOL (end of life) production, but in his latest video, he said that it is "far more" of the NVIDIA lineup than the 5090 that is effectively EOL.

Any of NVIDIA's higher-end GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs with more than 12GB of VRAM -- and not just the RTX 5070 Ti 16GB or RTX 5060 Ti 16GB -- are being nixed, and it's "not just desktop GPUs" as laptop variants are being cancelled to drive more silicon profits with AI for the company.

Valve has updated its guidelines for developers publishing on the popular PC platform, specifically addressing AI disclosure and requiring developers to notify gamers if AI was used throughout development.

The changes were spotted by Simon Carless, the founder of GameDiscoverCo, which he outlined in a new report. According to Valve, developers aren't required to publish an AI disclaimer if AI-powered tools were used to help create the game. This is specifically in relation to code-aiding software. However, when it comes to generative AI, Valve requires developers to provide a disclaimer if generative AI was used to generate content for the game.

This requirement also covers any marketing material for the game and the Steam landing page for the title. Additionally, Valve requires developers to add a disclaimer if the title has "AI content generated during gameplay," which covers "images, audio, text, and other content." Ultimately, it will be up to the players to determine if AI content disclaimers are warranted or not, especially considering the ubiquitous nature of AI-powered tools assisting all kinds of software engineers, not just game developers.