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Microsoft's secretive The Initiative team is working alongside Gears developer The Coalition on the world's first AAAA game. This could get really, really messy for Microsoft.

If there's one thing I learned from Jason Schreier's book Blood, Sweat and Pixels it's that making games is a near-impossible feat at the best of times. It doesn't matter how big your budget is, or how big your team is; throwing endless cash and talent at a project doesn't mean anything will happen. Plans of mice and men often go awry, and this is extremely apt for games development, which often leads to cancellations, years' of wasted work, and outright closures of big studios (like Visceral Games, for example).

NOTE: One thing I want to get out of the way right now is that this isn't a jab at Microsoft. If Sony were doing something like this, I'd express similar skepticism. But how Sony and Microsoft handle gaming are very different. Sony is all-in on gaming, and Microsoft sees gaming as a side-business at best.

Activision may follow 2K Games' lead with NBA 2K21's Mamba Edition and sell a cross-gen bundle of Black Ops Cold War instead of free next-gen upgrades.

Activision probably won't have a free next-gen upgrade path for Black Ops Cold War. New leaks confirm a new ultimate edition that includes cross-gen versions, likely for a higher MSRP of at least $80 (or even $99.99). The leaks suggest anyone who buys the PS4 or Xbox One versions of Cold War will have two options to get next-gen versions of the game:

We're not sure if the next-gen PS5, Xbox Series X version of Cold War will be $69.99, but it's likely. If this happens we should see other publishers follow suit. Call of Duty is a trend-setter in the gaming sphere that other publishers imitate.

SEGA expects 2020 will be an 'extremely difficult period' due to coronavirus disruption, and forecasts 2.5 billion yen ($23.2 million) extraordinary losses.

SEGA is in trouble. The company is warning investors that COVID-19 is significantly negatively impacting all areas of its business outside of physical and digital gaming. SEGA arcades and pachinko are a big part of its business--or they were before coronavirus. It also operates resorts, but in 2020, both resorts and arcade segments are expected to incur -6.5 billion yen ($60.4 million) and -9.5 billion yen losses ($88 million), respectively. SEGA has already shut down its well-known Akihabara arcade in Japan.

The reports could be right, and Sony's next-gen PS5 could launch on Friday, November 13, 2020 after all.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will release on November 13 and is coming to next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles. SEGA's new cross-gen Yakuza: Like a Dragon game also launches the same day. Is this a coincidence? Maybe. But maybe it indicates the PS5's launch date.

Why would we think this? We already know the Xbox Series X is targeting an early November 5 launch, so we'll see most cross-platform games hold off until the PS5 releases just to make sure they're hitting both platforms with a simultaneous launch. I doubt we'll see many cross-gen titles release early on Xbox Series X and then later on PS5, especially if the games launch in November. Better to just wait until the PS5 launches and not fracture the release.

MSI is gearing up for a huge next few months selling graphics cards, with the company submitting 29 different SKUs to the ECC for NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080, and RTX 3070 graphics cards.

I exclusively reported that we will see custom versions of GeForce RTX 30 series launching alongside, or shortly after NVIDIA makes the new cards official -- and it seems MSI is fully equipped to handle that onslaught of customers wanting Ampere-based custom GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards.

MSI has 14 x V388 models, 11 x V389 models, and 4 x V390 models -- where we should see those split into the GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080, and RTX 3070 -- but we don't know which models are which. We could have 14 x custom GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards, or only 4 x custom GeForce RTX 3090 cards depending on those model numbers.

Astronomers have located an asteroid that is on track with colliding into Earth, and the expected collision date is a day before the U.S election.

If 2020 wasn't already filled with surprise curve balls, it certainly is now, or its at least close to it. Now, to add on top of everything the world has already experienced, scientists have identified an asteroid called 2018VP1, and according to the Center for Near Objects Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory its trajectory is on course to collide with Earth on November 2nd, which is one day before the presidential election scheduled for November 3rd.

Palomar Observatory in California found the asteroid back in 2018, hence the name it picked up. The observatory believes there's three potential impacts "based on 21 observations spanning 12.968 days", luckily, the observatory believes there's only a 0.41% chance that it will actually hit our planet. Additionally, NASA researchers don't consider 2018VP1 a "potentially hazardous object".

We are less than a week away from NVIDIA's huge GeForce RTX 30 series reveal event on September 1, where we should hopefully be introduced to the new Ampere-based graphics cards.

We already know there will be a 12-pin PCIe power connector on the flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics card (which requires a huge 850W power supply), but there's some new dirt on the cheaper GeForce RTX 3070: it should beat the current Turing-based flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.

Tom from Moore's Law is Dead tweeted out that he can confirm the GeForce RTX 3070 has around the same level of performance of the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. He adds that "you all can do the math on how much stronger the 3080 & 3060 are relative to this based on the previous gen" with a nice big fat wink face emoticon at the end.

I've referred to Elon Musk as the 'real life Tony Stark' for years and years now, but now the man is actually going to do it -- put Jarvis in or around our heads through a BCI and Neuralink.

BCI and Neuralink? BCI = Brain Computer Interface, and Neuralink = the Elon Musk founded company that is making it happen. Neuralink is building out its brain computer interface, or BCI, with a robot that would surgically install it -- and all its required components, into your brain.

Once the BCI chips and components are installed into your brain (I can't believe I'm typing this) they will provide you with what would be the totally next generation of computing -- BCI. Giving you the ability of controlling computers and other technology devices with just your thoughts.

Microsoft celebrates the 25th anniversary of Windows 95 -- its most important operating system release of all time. It had industry-setting standards, features, and technologies -- that propelled Microsoft to OS dominance.

Ah, the golden years of PC -- where you had to decide on which Pentium to buy, how many megabytes of RAM you'd buy, the decision between IDE or faster (and more expensive) SCSI hard drives -- and whoaaa the introduction of CD-ROMs, and Creative Sound Blaster.

Oh, and who can forget the Start button, menu, and taskbar -- paradigm-shifting UI introductions with Windows 95 by Microsoft. Windows 95 has a laundry list of features that changed the operating system landscape and created total and utter OS dominance by Microsoft.

We are beginning to hear more about TSMC's next-gen 3nm process technology, with the company detailing it during its annual Technology Symposium.

TSMC, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, has detailed its new 3nm (N3) process node. The company said it would go into risk production in 2021, and then into mass production in the second half of 2022. In between now and then, it will have 5nm (N5) which it also provided some details on.

The new 5nm node will be followed up by the 5nm+ (N5P) -- and somewhere in the middle of that we have the 4nm (N4) node -- both N5P and N4 will be enhanced versions of N5 -- which is already in high volume manufacturing.

Secretlab has just announced another member of its DC character gaming chairs, introducing the new Joker Edition gaming chair during the recent DC FanDome event.

The new Joker Edition gaming chair follows up on the recent Dark Knight Edition and Birds of Prey Edition gaming chair, launching in both the OMEGA and TITAN models. It has a super-unique design, which is -- in the perfect explanation from Secretlab: "the perfect choice for fans looking to pay tribute to the Clown Prince of Crime's exuberant brand of anarchy while enjoying the perfect blend of both comfort and style".

Secretlab has captured the energy and feel of the Joker in its new chair, using his signature suit and color scheme in all its glory in this chair. The jester's hat is even stitched into the wings with matching purple thread -- it looks so good.

Rockstar Games is probably knee deep in developing Grand Theft Auto 6, but now parent company Take-Two Interactive has just renewed the domain for the official GTA 6 website.

We should begin to hear more about Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2021, but we've been hearing more and more lately with the last news on GTA 6 being that it could be a next-gen Vice City revival. Rockstar and Take-Two renewing the GTA 6 domain makes sense, and it is a normal move a company would do leading up into the announcement of the game.

It wasn't just the GTAVI.com that Take-Two renewed its domain for gtavicecityonline.com, reports GamesRadar -- making the recent rumors of GTA 6 being in Vice City make sense -- it looks like it's not GTA 6 in Vice City, but rather GTA: Vice City Online?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone Season 5 just dropped, but Activision and Infinity Ward don't seem to need sleep -- announcing Season 5 Reloaded. Check out what to expect:

Season 5 Reloaded continues to 'explosive arrival' of Shadow Company to Verdansk, with the new Games of Summer introducing challenges to all Operators and their skills. The Season Five Reloaded patch drops on August 24 @ 11PM PT -- with the Games of Summer beginning on August 28.

You can read all about the new Season Five Reloaded update and Games of Summer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone on the official Call of Duty blog.

Corsair is about to go public with a big initial public offering (IPO) of its shares, and will soon be traded on a public exchange. Now its earnings for the last few years have been revealed.

New Form S-1 filings reveal Corsair's earnings performance before and after its Elgato acquisition, and the results are surprising. Up until now, Corsair's financial data has been private and its investors have been internal. But now that it's going public, Corsair is revealing its earnings to attract potential investors for its new IPO subscription.

According to the Form S-1 filing, Corsair made over $1 billion in net revenues in 2019, a year after it purchased Elgato Gaming for an undisclosed sum. The company made a net income loss of -$8 million in 2019, however, due to higher expenses and higher income taxes.

After the recent trilogy and failure of movies like Solo, Lucasfilm is going through a period of deep introspection before it ramps up new film production.

Star Wars is taking a break for a bit so Disney can really go back to the franchise's roots. Lucasfilm is currently examining George Lucas' mythos more closely so it can make more meaningful original experiences, not unlike The Mandalorian. This slowed-down approach has led to more critical fanfare and reduced the chances of huge box office misses.

According to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy says the company needs more time to digest the deep lore of Star Wars that's been built up over the last four decades. Only then can they start to comfortably push into their own trailblazing efforts and expand the universe.

EA is being sued for FIFA Ultimate Team lootboxes, which allegedly violate California's gambling laws.

The new lawsuit, Ramirez vs Electronic Arts (5:20-cv-05672) makes a big case out of a simple premise: EA's Ultimate Team lootboxes are unregulated gambling.

The lawsuit, which has been filed by attorneys Tim Blood from Blood, Hurst & O'Reardon and Andrew J. Brown on behalf of California plaintiff Kevin Ramirez and over 100 unnamed people, aims to set new precedent for EA in a jury trial. The goal with the trial is to force EA to change its "predatory and unlawful practices" concerning lootboxes and regulate them as gambling, collect damages, and force EA to pay for attorney fees.

Modder Cedricishappy makes a fully functioning Game Boy Advance out of a small watermelon, and takes it on the go to freak everyone out.

We've seen some crazy creations, like Shank's portable Wii made out of an Altoids tin. Now we have the Melon Boy, a bizarre and ridiculous creation that packs in an emulated Game Boy Advance into an actual watermelon. Well, a hollowed-out watermelon shell, of course. But a watermelon nonetheless.

Cedric's watermelon creation is absolutely hilarious and is something you'd dream up in the throes of boredom. It honestly looks like something out of Ren and Stimply. The world's most awkward handheld has a bunch of buttons on the front rind and is powered by a saran-wrapped Raspberry Pi on the inside.

Diablo and Diablo II have some of the most addictive loot-finding in any game ever made. This was by design, and fed the core gameplay loop from day one.

In a recent interview with Ars Technica, original Diablo designer David Brevik talked about the game's legendary RNG randomization and how it was designed to keep gamers playing. Diablo was always built from the ground up with two simple ideas: Instant action, and tons of loot. The loot idea was based around old PC games like Moria, but on a deeper and more robust level. Diablo set the bar for ARPG loot systems, which basically turned every single enemy into a walking slot machine, and Diablo II kicked things up a notch.

"For Diablo, there was a lot of technical things we had to overcome for things that were different than games at the time," Brevik said.

Unity Software is about to start publicly trading its shares with an IPO, but no terms have been defined.

Today Unity Software, the company behind one of the most-used 3D engines in gaming and entertainment, filed an Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Form S-1's are filed when any private company wants to start publicly trading its shares on an open exchange. The form reveals tons of info about Unity's business, including revenue losses, risk factors, and the sizable market that Unity currently occupies.

The filing doesn't outline how many shares will be delivered at what price, however. Those terms will be announced in a press release. We do know that Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse are underwriting the IPO. The form indicates Unity will have a capitalization of $1.2 billion and 238,366,733 shares of common stock outstanding after the IPO.

Fall Guys is set to rake in tons of microtransaction cash when it releases on mobile devices in China.

Fall Guys, gaming's biggest new indie sensation, is coming to China's $36 billion mobile market. The game is being developed by Billibilli, but the official product page has been scrubbed, presumably due to an earlier-than-expected announcement. Neither Mediatonic, the developer of Fall Guys, nor publisher Devolver Digital have confirmed a mobile release just yet.

China represents a boon for a game like Fall Guys, which has exploded onto the market with 2 million sales in just 6 days. The game is buy-to-play on PC and PS4 alongside a free download for PS Plus subscribers, and features in-game microtransactions via a premium currency that unlocks new outfits.