Latest News - Page 165

Cyberpunk 2 could be out in 2030, right in time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Cyberpunk 2077.

Polish analyst firm Noble Securities has made predictions on CD Projekt's upcoming Cyberpunk sequel. The group believes Cyberpunk 2 will be out by 2030 with multiplayer in tow, and based on what we know about the game, this feels like a valid prediction. Back in 2017, we reported that CD Projekt had received a multi-million dollar grant from the Polish government to add online multiplayer elements to Cyberpunk 2077. That didn't happen, and the online components had instead been moved to Cyberpunk 2.

Another prediction: CD Projekt will spend 1.5 billion PLN on Cyberpunk 2's development, which is about $419 million. This is a huge sum for any video game, but bear in mind that CD Projekt positions its games to sell for years--in The Witcher 3's case, for over a decade.

Over 201 million of EA's total ~203 million investors have voted in favor of selling all outstanding shares to a group of buyers led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

It's official: Electronic Arts, one of the last big AAA publishers in the video game industry, is going private. EA shareholders approved the megaton $55 billion buyout with a vote on December 22. According to the SEC filing, 99% of shareholders voted yes on the deal, with 1.9 million voting no.

The buyout is being financed by a trio of big investors, but the principal funding will come from Saudi Arabia's PIF. As a result, it's estimated that the Saudis will receive a staggering 93% stake in EA. As part of the proposal, EA's management will remain intact and CEO Andrew Wilson will still lead the company.

LG Display has teased its upcoming 2026 roadmap video that shows off a new 39-inch ultrawide immersive 5K and 27-inch 4K panel that both use its new Tandem WOLED panel.

We should expect LG to properly unveil its new monitors at CES 2026 in Las Vegas in the first few days of 2026, with the new 39-inch 5K panel expected to feature a 5120 x 2160 resolution (around 142 PPI), which means it'll look around as sharp as high-end 31.5-inch 4K monitors on the market.

LG should be using an easier-on-the-eye 800R curvature that it used on previous 34-inch and 39-inch ultrawide WOLED panels, and on its bigger 45-inch 5K2K WOLED displays. The less aggressive curve on the 39-inch panel should look very nice in the flesh, and I can't wait to get some hands on (well, eyes on) at CES 2026.

Lenovo has some new products to unveil at CES 2026 in less than two weeks time, with two new systems leaked: the Yoga Mini i desktop, and the new ThinkCentre X AIO Aura Edition system with an uber-interesting 16:18 near-square display. Let's dive right in.

First off, the new Lenovo ThinkCentre X AIO Aura Edition looks like one of the most interesting products from the company for CES 2026, with a unique 16:18 aspect ratio. The leaks are coming from WindowsLatest, which reports the near-square 27.6-inch panel will help creators, programmers, data-focused users, and more with more than enough vertical display area to view two A4 pages of content in portrait.

The new AIO system is (unfortunately) a new Copilot+ PC, powered by Intel's new Core Ultra X7 series "Panther Lake" CPUs, with an IPS-based display and native 2560 x 2880 resolution @ 60Hz, the 2560 pixels wide is the same as a 1440p panel (which is 2560 x 1440) but the 2880 pixels high is double that of a regular 1440p, meaning it'll be impressive for particular users who will adore the additional vertical pixels.

ASUS will be unveiling its new ProArt GoPro Edition laptop at CES 2026, where it will be officially unveiled during its CES 2026 livestream.

The company unleashed some new teaser material and the name of the laptop "ProArt GoPro Edition creator laptop" with a reveal penciled in for January 6 at 9am PST as part of ASUS's huge CES 2026 event. ASUS has already announced a partnership with GoPro, with the new teaser tying into the company's bigger ProArt and GoPro partnership, which is centered on a Windows app dubbed "StoryCube".

ASUS explains that its new StoryCube app integrates GoPro Cloud and supports 360 media, including previews of native .360 files that are stored locally on-device, or online. It also adds in some AI-based organization, with files grouped by activity, time, device, and GPS-based location metadata from GoPro cameras. ASUS also says that its new StoryCube app will be a front end for importing clips into editing software after selection.

We all know RAM prices are utterly out of control, with system integrator MAINGEAR announcing its new "BYO" RAM builds, where gamers can have a pre-built system created with, or without RAM.

MAINGEAR's new category of gaming and high-end enthusiast PCs will ship without DDR5 modules, with the company calling the new systems "BYO" RAM Builds.

This is good for gamers who already have their RAM ready, or they might have found a fantastic deal on some DDR5 memory, you can place your order with MAINGEAR and send them your RAM, and they'll slot it into your new MAINGEAR system, test it, and tune it for performance and stability.

Eurocom has just announced it has launched its new Raptor X18 mobile supercomputer laptop, with some of the most powerful specs you can imagine in a laptop... and a price that can scale up to and over $15,000.

The new Eurocom Raptor X18 laptop features an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor with 24C/24T of CPU power, with the flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU with 24GB of GDDR7 memory, up to 256GB of DDR5 RAM, and up to 32TB of NVMe SSDs in RAID 0/1/5, and more.

Eurocom explains on its website for the Raptor X18 that it "supports the most advanced and demanding use cases in AI & Machine Learning in Finance, ECommerce, Security, Automotive, Engineering, Forensic, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality and other industries. Perfect for AI computing, Edge Computing, Server on-the-go and Engineering on-the-go deployment. Perfect for gaming too".

Samsung has just unveiled a slew of new 2026 gaming monitors, including the industry's first 6K glasses-free 3D gaming monitor with a blistering 1040Hz refresh rate, and more. Check them out:

The new Samsung Odyssey G9, Odyssey G6, and trio of new Odyssey G8 gaming monitors include technologies that simply "weren't possible" last year says Hun Lee, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display (VD) Business at Samsung Electronics, who added: "With this year's Odyssey lineup, we're introducing display experiences that simply weren't possible even a year ago. From the industry's first 6K glasses-free 3D monitor to breakthrough 1,040Hz speed, we designed these monitors to meet the ambitions of today's gamers and deliver a level of immersion that fundamentally changes how content looks and functions on screen".

Starting with Samsung's new Odyssey 3D G9 gaming monitor, which is the world's first 3D 6K gaming monitor, which features a 32-inch IPS-based 6K panel with real-time eye-tracking technology to adjust the depth and perspective in visuals depending on the users' viewing position. The new Odyssey 3D G9 gaming monitor features a dual-mode configuration, switching behind native 6K @ 165Hz and 3K @ 330Hz with a 1ms GTG response time.

Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division, responsible for the company's semiconductor business, will be paying performance-based bonuses of up to 100% of base salary.

Samsung's semiconductor competitiveness has increased greatly this year, with huge sales in HBM memory and securing important supply contracts with NVIDIA for next-gen HBM4 memory. Samsung recently announced the payment rate for the second half of 2026's "Target Achievement Incentive" (TAI)" was on its internal bulletin board on December 22, reports Korean outlet AJU news.

TAI is one of Samsung Electronics' internal performance-based bonus systems, with each division's performance evaluated once per year -- in the first half, and second half of the year -- and a differential payment of up to 100% monthly base salary is made, with the second-half TAI payment hitting Samsung staffers' accounts on December 24.

Hitman developer's new James Bond game has been delayed by a few months, and is now set to launch in May.

007 First Light has officially been pushed back by two months from its original March 2026 release, and is now coming on May 27, 2026 to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Switch 2.

IO Interactive says that 007 First Light is currently playable from start to finish, and that the extra time will allow the studio to polish gameplay to ensure it's up to par with what audiences expect from such a prestige entertainment brand. The studio also reminds fans that they are an independent developer-publisher tackling the James Bond game on their own, putting greater emphasis on first impressions and launch sales.

NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 D graphics card has been tested by ASUS China's Tony Yu, with ASUS's new high-end ROG Strix 27 Pro gaming monitor, ready with its 5K resolution of 5120 x 2880 @ 180Hz.

ASUS's new ROG Strix 27 Pro gaming monitor is one of the first "mainstream" 5K monitors, with its 27-inch panel and its 5K high-refresh "dual mode" function that knocks the native 5120 x 2880 resolution down to 2560 x 1440, and drives up the refresh rate of 180Hz to an uber-smooth 330Hz.

Tony mentioned that Windows scaling really helps the ASUS ROG Strix 27 Pro gaming monitor, as the 27-inch panel at 5K has an impressive 218 PPI, with the ASUS China boss using 200% scaling that makes everything better on the eyes, especially text. One of the biggest things to point out with the 5K monitor over a 4K monitor is that the 5K panel has around 78% more pixels than 4K, making it harder on the GPU.

Vince Zampella, one of the co-creators of Call of Duty and its development studio Infinity Ward, has died in a car crash while driving his Ferrari this weekend.

Zampella is the boss of Respawn Entertainment, and the former CEO of Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward, and also released the latest Battlefield 6 to success, was involved in a single-car crash on the scenic road north of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains. NBCLA reports that Zampella was driving his Ferrari when it veered off the road just exiting a tunnel, hit a concrete barrier, and the passenger was ejected out of the car, explains the California Highway Patrol (CHP).

The CHP said that Zampella was trapped in his car as it caught fire, dying at the scene, while his passenger died at the hospital, authorities told NBC4 Investigates. There aren't many more details just yet, with a witness providing a video of the crash that involved the 2026 Ferrari 296 GTS to authorities, showing Zampella crashing into the barrier just after exiting the tunnel.

Video game prices aren't expected to increase in 2026, but microtransactions might be a different story.

In-game purchases could get a price hike next year as the games industry seeks greater shareholder returns. The market is currently stressed due to consumer spending habits, rising software and hardware production costs, and economic unknowns like tariffs and trade disruptions. As a result, big players like Microsoft have conducted three price increases throughout 2025 alone--two Xbox Series MSRP bumps and a $10 increase to Game Pass.

Software, however, has stayed at $70 (which in itself is a relatively new baseline price that was set just five years ago). Ampere Analysis analyst Piers Harding-Rolls believes that games will stay at $70 throughout 2026, but Nintendo's new $80 price ceiling could give companies more wiggle room.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will cost $70 and not $100 at launch, former Rockstar animator Mike York predicts, with the rationale that there's simply no reason to damage consumer goodwill with such a dramatic price hike.

$70 games have been here since Sony and Microsoft kicked off Gen 9, and then Nintendo just raised frontline prices of its big tentpole Switch 2 games to $80 (although few games have actually launched at this price). Ever since Epyllion's Matthew Ball postulated on GTA 6 launching for a $100 base price, there's been lots of speculation that Rockstar and Take-Two could just follow through and actually charge that for the game.

The idea would generate tons of upfront revenue, sure, but that's already expected to happen. As we know from our GTA franchise earnings calculations, there's a lot of money to be made from GTA Online post-launch. It's believed that GTA 6 could have some sort of $100 edition, but the base standard version of the game would still retain normalized pricing. That's the thinking that former Rockstar Games animator Mike York has on the topic, with the developer telling Esports Insider that he believes GTA 6 will launch at $70 because Rockstar has no real need to be "greedy."

Microsoft has denied reports about a steep profit goal for its Xbox games division, telling CNBC that the recent Bloomberg reports aren't factual.

Microsoft has apparently delivered rare comments on the profitability of its Xbox business. The $3.61 trillion market cap company has denied rumors about profit target mandates within Xbox. Back in October, sources told Bloomberg's Jason Schreier and Dina Bass that Microsoft was pressuring Xbox to deliver a 30% accountability margin--Microsoft's own internal term for a profit margin. Now Microsoft tells CNBC that the profit margin reports are inaccurate.

Achieving that kind of margin would be a significantly high goal, especially considering Microsoft's now-inflated revenues. Buying Activision Blizzard King added several billions of dollars to Xbox's yearly earnings; Microsoft's gaming revenues went from $15.48 billion in FY23 to $21.52 billion a year later following the integration of Activision.

I don't think the RAM scams will slow down, with a Redditor purchasing a Corsair Vengeance DDR5 memory kit from Amazon but received DDR4 sticks that had scam DDR5 stickers on top. Check it out:

Redditor u/Leading-Growth-8361 has received some "fake" RAM and posted the pictures on Reddit, he said that he purchased a Corsair Vengeance DDR5 kit (two sticks) from Amazon, but noticed that the heatsink casing on the modules was loose. He continued building his PC, but discovered the RAM wouldn't fit on his motherboard... that's because they weren't DDR5 sticks, but DDR4 sticks.

DDR4 modules have the cutout a little out from the middle of the goldfinger, with the user saying that both of the sticks he received look to be the same. That's when he decided to detach the heatsink and discovered an "unknown kind of RAM".

Digital Storm will unveil its next-gen flagship desktop gaming PC at CES 2026, with the upgraded Aventum X, and it looks gorgeous from just the few teaser photos the company has online. Check them out:

The company has the Aventum X system on the market now, with high-end custom liquid cooling and easy serviceability, with the chassis using fixed inlet and outlet ports on the motherboard tray, which make it easy to disconnect liquid cooling parts without tearing the whole loop apart.

Digital Storm offers high-end Intel and AMD processor offerings, with up to the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (starts at $5064) , the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (starts at $5032), and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9960X (starts at $7153). There are plenty of RAM, SSD, and GPU options depending on how much power you want inside of your Aventum X gaming PC.

New reports indicate that Nintendo will not be resupplying stock of the Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle, which matches up with disclaimers on official sales promos.

If you want a Switch 2 as well as the new Mario Kart, now might be the time to buy. According to new reports, the Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle has been discontinued and will no longer be produced. The bundle was a launch year promo meant to drive sales adoption of the new higher-priced Switch 2.

The Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle is still on sale across major retailers and won't be pulled off of shelves. The best price right now is over at Best Buy where the bundle is currently $449.

Gran Turismo 7 is one of PlayStation's most successful live games in terms of player interactions, with millions of players engaged every month.

A new interview at the Gran Turismo World Series in Japan reveals some interesting facts around Gran Turismo 7, and the overall state of the five year-old racing game that Sony considers as one of its key games-as-a-service titles.

In a recent interview with GT Planet, Polyphony Digital CEO and series producer Kazunori Yamauchi confirms that GT7 still has around 2 million players a month. These are strong numbers that have a firm and established position among the PS5's user base, which was 119 million monthly active users throughout July - September 2025.

Valve has depleted its inventory of LCD Steam Decks, and the company has no plans to produce more.

The Steam Deck OLED has now become the base model for Valve's handheld-PC hybrid. It's been discovered that that the LCD model is now greyed out and listed out of stock on the Steam Deck order page. In a disclaimer below the product buy links, Valve says that once the Steam Deck LCD is gone, it's gone for good.

"We are no longer producing the Steam Deck LCD 256GB model. Once sold out, it will no longer be available," the site reads.