It's not unusual for tech companies to poke fun at their direct competitors through slick marketing campaigns, or advertisements, and Apple is no stranger to this, nor is Microsoft. However, Apple is the latest company to throw punches at the Windows maker, and this time it's using the nefarious Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) as a way of propping up Mac over Windows.

Apple has used the CrowdStrike debacle that happened on July 19, 2024, when the security firm released a faulty update to its Falcon Sensor, its malware detection software, and as a result, millions of Windows PCs around the world crashed with BSODs. It's estimated that 8.5 million PCs were knocked offline as a result of the faulty update.

More specifically, the faulty update involved a configuration file that triggered an out-of-bounds memory access. When Windows runs its validation, it detected this out-of-bounds memory, flagging it as a critical failure, and to protect the system from any further harm, Windows automatically terminates any further processes and presents a BSOD to the user informing them of the misvalidation. Notably, CrowdStrike's Falcon software operates within the Kernel of a Windows PC, meaning it has privileged access to the system's components and drivers.

In a recent interview with Gaijin Entertainment, the studio's lead programmer revealed the PS5 Pro is "technically" capable of path tracing, the rendering algorithm that produces the most realistic lighting accuracy.

For those who don't know, there is quite a big difference between normal ray tracing and path tracing, while sounding similar the technologies produce vastly different results, and require different levels of rendering hardware. Ray tracing only traces rays of light for specific effects, such as reflection, refraction, or shadows, while path tracing traces hundreds of thousands of rays per pixel that bounce randomly around a scene. Ultimately, path tracing produces much higher quality lighting in-game, but is costly in terms of GPU horsepower.

Currently, path tracing is exclusive to PC gaming, as the feature can only be used by high-end GPUs that have the rendering power, e.g NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080/5090. The exclusivity of path tracing to PC is purely based on the performance requirement, meaning consoles are technically capable of using the rendering technique, but currently the performance hit would be so severe it wouldn't be worth enabling it.

In fresh rumors dancing on top of the recent "debunked" rumors that "hardware production has ceased" on Xbox consoles, new rumors suggest Microsoft's dedicated Xbox gaming handheld was cancelled because AMD needed a minimum of 10 million units in its contract... and Microsoft knew that was impossible.

Leaker "Kepler_L2" revealed the rumors, with Microsoft's almost professional defense systems -- Windows Central -- coming out and reporting that claims from Kepler "isn't even slightly true". AMD needing 10 million units at a minimum makes sense, in order to take up any important fab space and time at TSMC, but I think we all know it would be an impossible feat for Microsoft to sell 10 million Xbox gaming handhelds.

Kepler reported that AMD needed the commitment to justify their R&D, adding: "AFAIK the handheld was cancelled because AMD wanted a commitment of 10m+ units to justify making a dedicated SoC, but with Steam Deck only selling ~5 million units and ASUS ROG/Lenovo Legion only selling 1-2 million MS didn't want to take the risk".

GIGABYTE's new AORUS RTX 5090 AI BOX is now out in the wild, and has been tested by Notebookcheck with some rather interesting results: it's up to 27% slower than a desktop RTX 5090. Let's dive into it.

Firstly, the new AORUS RTX 5090 AI BOX is a new external GPU solution running over the new Thunderbolt 5 standard, and while in theory the new TB5 standard is one of the fastest, this solution ends up with the same bandwidth as OCulink. Thunderbolt 5 does have some things going for it over OCulink, where it can transmit power (to charge your laptop and other devices over the TB5 port), and it can be daisy-chained and used for external monitors.

The new AORUS RTX 5090 AI BOX is available right now and costs $2999, matching the price of the AORUS RTX 5090 Master White Edition graphics card (at Newegg) so you're effectively getting a cool Thunderbolt 5 external enclosure for free. On the same day that GIGABYTE launched its new AORUS RTX 5090 AI BOX, Notebookcheck published their review and it has some fantastic performance information and testing to geek out over.

Digital Foundry has posted a deep dive into how DLSS works on the Nintendo Switch 2, and the results are surprising. According to the analysis, which examines several games that utilize DLSS on the console (including Cyberpunk 2077, Street Fighter 6, Hogwarts Legacy, and Star Wars Outlaws), Nintendo Switch 2 game developers have the option of using one of two DLSS versions.

The first version, which upscales a 720p or lower resolution to 1080p, is similar to DLSS on PC, utilizing the CNN model found in DLSS 3, rather than the newer Transformer model introduced in DLSS 4. Even when taking a native 1080p image, this version of DLSS can be used to improve aliasing and other artifacts, with the output matching the DLSS image quality you can find on PC.

Where it gets interesting, and a little strange, is that the Switch 2 also features a custom lightweight DLSS version, which we'll call DLSS Light for upscaling to 1440p and 4K when the console is in docked mode. Although static shots and objects using DLSS Light look 1440p or 4K on the Switch 2, which is impressive when you factor that it's upscaling from 720p or 648p, it's a different story when there are objects in motion.

Over the years, Nintendo has shown no interest in bringing its games to other platforms. The company is also not a fan of the emulation scene and has gone to great lengths to shut down emulator projects, as well as sue those who host or store ROMs or illegal copies of their games. It's even taken action against those who modify or tamper with Nintendo hardware to create, for example, a 'jailbroken' Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo doesn't even like fan edits, community projects, or anything that utilizes their IP. That said, Nintendo of America's (NOA) latest copyright infringement lawsuit feels a little different. The defendant is 'Archbox,' a moderator and main Switch Pirate of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit. According to a new report and filing (via Nintendo Everything), the company is seeking $4.5 million in damages because the defendant ignored a legal cease-and-desist order and then failed to appear in court.

Based on the filing, it appears that Archbox, whose real name is James Williams, was profiting from jailbroken Switch consoles. Apparently, he offered pro-level subscriptions via donation for an online storefront that would allow users to download and install pirated copies of Nintendo Switch games directly to their jailbroken consoles. The tools and steps required to create a jailbroken Switch were also distributed.

Alongside Battlefield 6, another big-budget multiplayer shooter with a AAA cinematic campaign set to release soon is the latest installment in the annual Call of Duty franchise from Activision and Xbox. With a Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer beta kicking off (check out our performance deep dive from the Early Access beta here), a Redditor noticed something a little strange with how the game's chat censorship was behaving.

Usually, the chat censors words to keep the flow of in-game chatter and communication free from obscene language. However, Redditor 'RedRoses711' posted a video showcasing how the game censored the phrase 'Arc Raiders', a highly anticipated multiplayer extraction shooter set for release on October 30. Apparently, the game would only censor the title when 'Arc' and 'Raiders' were combined, but not when the individual words were used.

Activision, which supplied a statement to PC Gamer, said that "Arc Raiders" being blocked from chat was the result of a "text filter error" and that it would be fixed soon. Now, this might be the case, but it is strange that the title of another highly anticipated competitive shooter, which is also due out soon, was accidentally getting blocked due to an error.

MaxSun has another announcement today, with new single-slot, liquid-cooled Intel Arc Pro B60 48GB graphics cards, which allow for huge 7-way GPU installations. Check it out:

MaxSun once again teamed with Japanese hardware manufacturer Abee to use its liquid cooling solution on its Intel Arc Pro B60 48GB card, with the normal Turbo Edition featuring a dual-slot cooling solution, the new Arc Pro B60 48G Liquid Edition is a nice-and-tight single-slot GPU solution.

The GPUs themselves have connectors for the liquid loop on the right, making sure the complete cooling setup can be installed easily inside of the Abee Designer C700W PC chassis. This chassis is the same one MaxSun is using for its new AI workstation -- which has 4 x Arc Pro B60 48GB Turbo GPUs installed -- but the new single-slot cards are an even better option for a truly insane workstation PC.

Thermal Grizzly has announced its latest lineup of high-performance thermal pads with the new Minus Pad extreme 2 and the Minus Pad High Compression. Starting with the Minus Pad extreme 2, which is the successor to the company's original Minus Pad extreme, Thermal Grizzly notes that it's actually made from a 'new material composition' that maintains the same 'outstanding thermal conductivity' as the first version while being able to be sold at a lower price.

The new Minus Pad extreme 2 features a new composition of differently sized aluminum oxide, aluminum hydroxide, and aluminum powder particles. "The different particle sizes of the materials allow even the smallest gaps in the carrier matrix to be filled with thermally conductive particles," the company explains. "This contributes to lower thermal interface resistance, as the surfaces (top and bottom) of Minus Pad extreme 2 contain more thermally conductive particles than its predecessor."

Thermal Grizzly confirms that the Minus Pad extreme 2 has been designed to optimize the 'price-performance ratio' and is available in various sizes (120 x 20mm and 100 x 100mm) and thicknesses (from 0.5mm up to 3mm). The new material composition is also softer than the previous version, allowing it to better conform to hardware and heatsinks.

The physical retail version of Battlefield 6 for the PlayStation 5 will include the FULL game on the disk, meaning PS5 gamers won't need to download anything additional when they pop the disk in their console.

The news was confirmed on the official Battlefield 6 subreddit, where retail copies of the game are already in the hands of PlayStation 5 gamers, ready to be played without any additional downloads. The multiplayer servers are reportedly live, so PS5 gamers are able to get in early and experience the world of Battlefield 6 without any limitations.

This is a huge change for the gaming industry, as we've seen launch after launch of game after game, where gamers have already paid a tidy sum for their new game of choice, only to discover they need to download either large chunks of the game off the internet, or in some cases, the entire game.

NVIDIA and Intel announced a partnership a couple of weeks ago where the two chipmakers will be developing a custom x86 processor together, but it seems that will cause operational concerns for the supply chain and OEMs, like Acer.

We will see the combination of Intel's x86 architecture with NVIDIA RTX GPU chiplets to create what should be quite a powerful x86 processor in the near future, but not everyone is happy about the deal. The supply chain is concerned that it adds another overhead in the supply chain, as companies will now need to build their ecosystems for three different architectures -- AMD, Intel, and Intel-NVIDIA.

Yet, we didn't see any moaning when Qualcomm entered the race with its Arm-based SoC running Windows... interesting, just thought I'd say that aloud (well, write it out).

TCL has just entered the US gaming monitor market with the introduction of new QD-Mini LED panels and a huge partnership with Call of Duty. Check it out:

The Chinese display manufacturer debuted its new TCL gaming monitors at the Call of Duty: NEXT showcase in Las Vegas, where the public got their first access to COD: Black Ops 7 on TCL's latest gaming monitors. There was even a "Power Hour" where attendees got a chance to win one of TCL's new monitors.

TCL's new family of displays is using its QD-Mini LED panels, which mix quantum dot color layers and Mini-LED backlighting, promising better brightness and contrast than traditional LCDs, but it doesn't include the higher price tag that's associated with OLED. TCL says that this allows for high peak brightness, accurate color, and deeper blacks, which help games look even more detailed and balanced in darker scenes.

Ubisoft has officially unveiled a new DLC for Assassin's Creed Mirage in a recent livestream on the Ubisoft YouTube channel.

The new DLC titled "Valley of Memory" was unveiled as part of Ubisoft's anniversary livestream, and it will take players to 9th-century Baghdad, where they will step into the shoes of Basim Ibn Ishaq, who is looking to learn more about his past and long-lost father. Players will resume Basim's story with brand new content and a new map, and judging by the trailer, it appears the DLC's contents will be quite extensive.

Valley of Memory's new story chapter will take place before the final story beats of the base game, and the DLC will also introduce some new additions to the parkour system, along with the ability to replay base game missions with new rewards and new difficulty modes.

EA has confirmed there will be a day-one patch for Battlefield 6 when it launches on October 10, with developer Battlefield Labs writing in a new Community Update that Battlefield 6 is the most tested and iterated Battlefield game in the history of the franchise, and since the open beta, some changes have been made.

The Community Update reveals that with more than 30 Battlefield Labs sessions successfully completed, and a total of 92,351,578 hours played during the Open Beta for the title, vital data has been gathered that has made Battlefield 6 the most tested and iterated Battlefield game in the history of the franchise, and at the heart of the title, remains the players. The Community Update explains all of the changes that will be made to the game within the update, such as the inclusion of playlists for different game modes.

Other changes include movement "feeling more responsive" as changes have been made to "pacing," along with issues fixed in order to keep gameplay smooth. Gunplay has been altered as well, with the developers writing that recoil has been rebalanced on automatic weapons to make long-range gunplay more characteristic, and to reward tap firing and burst control. Other changes include audio being cleaned up so pings are easier to hear, weapons and vehicles sound sharper, and improvements have been made to the netcode, which has reduced desync and made time-to-death feel fairer.

Discord has confirmed in a recent press release that one of the company's third-party customer service providers was breached by an unauthorized party, which gained access to information about users.

The press release states that one of Discord's third-party customer service providers was breached by an "unauthorized party," and that this party accessed information on users, such as conversations they have had with Customer Support or Trust & Safety agents. Discord writes that it immediately revoked the customer support provider's access to its ticketing system as the company continues its investigation into the situation.

Discord states this unauthorized party only gained access to the third-party customer service provider, and not Discord itself. Furthermore, Discord states the impact of the breach is only a "limited number of users," and once the breach was detected, it severed the third-party's connection to its ticketing system, began working with a leading computer forensics firm to support its investigation, and engaged with law enforcement.

The release of Battlefield 6 is right around the corner, and it seems at least one lucky player has received their copy of the game early.

In a recent Reddit post, user grecea_vlad shared an image of a physical copy of Battlefield 6 for the PlayStation 5, and according to the poster the copy actually works as well, meaning they are able to jump into the servers right now. The question is, who are they playing against if the servers are available? Perhaps reviewers and the media have gotten an early access key from EA? I can neither confirm nor deny that is taking place right now...

While it might be difficult to find a multiplayer game, the owners of the rogue copy of Battlefield 6 can at least begin playing the campaign. Battlefield 6 is one of the most anticipated games of 2025, and if the multiplayer beta numbers are anything to judge it by, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is going to have its work cut out for it as the release for Battlefield is ahead of the next Black Ops game, and hype for Battlefield 6 seems to be eclipsing that of Black Ops 7. EA has scheduled the release of Battlefield 6 for October 11, 2025, check out the official Steam Store listing here.

A new game has taken a place in Steam's top 20 currently most-played games list, as it has attracted more than 100,000 players who want to face endless waves of enemies and grow absurdly powerful.

The game is called Megabonk, and according to SteamDB, the title has reached an all-time peak player count of 117,336, putting it right behind Stardew Valley in the 24-hour peak category. Megabonk was released on September 19 by developer and publisher Vedinad, which is seemingly Danidev just spelled backwards. It appears Danidev is a solo developer and has been working on this game for about a year, with the developer explaining in a YouTube video posted in February 2025 that he had been working on Megabonk for "4 months so far."

Notably, Vedinad said he was inspired to create Megabonk by enjoying Vampire Survivor, a title similar to Megabonk, but 2D. After playing Vampire Survivors, Vedinad decided to try to create a similar game, but in 3D, with more focus on movement. The developer said Megabonk evolved past adding more movement and eventually became a mix between Vampire Survivor, Risk of Rain, DmD, Halls of Torment, and other roguelikes he enjoys.

Microsoft set the internet ablaze last week when it announced it was raising the price of Xbox Game Pass by 50%, resulting in many subscribers abandoning the Ultimate tier to move down one.

Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, has commented on the recent price hike, saying Microsoft's decision to increase prices is part of its dominance as a company, and that it's simply become "too-big-to-care" about any consequences from its customers since it has so many. Notably, Khan was the chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at the time of Microsoft's $67 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which the FTC opposed by claiming it would "harm competition in multiple dynamic fast-growing gaming markets".

Khan gave her statements in an X post where she responded to a post outlining the rising cost of Game Pass Ultimate since it was released. The original poster cites Microsoft stating in 2023 that subscription prices would not increase as a result of the Activision Blizzard acquisition. However, the FTC's challenge to prevent the merger was rejected by Judge Scott Corley.

OpenAI and AMD have announced a multibillion-dollar partnership that involves AMD powering the next generation of OpenAI's AI infrastructure with AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs.

The partnership was announced by both companies via press releases, and includes AMD supplying OpenAI with 6 gigawatts of power through its AMD Instinct GPUs, with the first gigawatt to be deployed in the second half of 2026. In addition to signing on for multi-generational hardware upgrades from AMD, OpenAI will be acquiring up to 160 million shares of AMD common stock, which have been structured to vest as specific milestones are achieved.

The first tranche of the stock is set to vest after the initial gigawatt is successfully deployed, and further tranches are scheduled to vest as more AMD GPUs are purchased by OpenAI, eventually reaching the point of 6 gigawatts. Notably, vesting is also tied to AMD reaching specific share price targets and OpenAI achieving the technical and commercial milestones required to enable AMD deployments at scale.

Activision has responded to the reports of numerous cheaters in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 with a statement posted to the @CODUpdates X account.

The post states that "cheaters were expected" and that the Black Ops 7's anti-cheat software, known as "RICOCHET," has "hit the ground running" in the early access beta. Notably, Activision writes that the frequency of cheaters being caught was "faster than ever" due to its "automated systems" and "TPM 2.0" checks. As for those who managed to bypass the automated checks, Activision writes they weren't around for very long as "97% of cheaters were stopped within 30 minutes of their first sign-in."

Additionally, Activision claims that "fewer than 1% of cheating attempts reached a match, and those who did were removed within minutes." Furthermore, Activision writes that major cheat vendors, which are platforms or websites that sell cheats for games, are now labelling many of their most-popular cheats as "unusable" or "detected" thanks to RICOCHET, and many of these vendors are "acknowledging they have no reliable products to offer for Black Ops 7."