Latest News - Page 172

The new Biwin CL100 might look like a microSD card, but it's actually a Mini SSD with read speeds of up to 3,700 MB/s and write speeds of up to 3,400 MB/s. Biwin CL100 Mini SSDs feature compact dimensions of 15.0 x 17.0 x 1.4 mm, with advanced LGA packaging technology, making this brand-new coin-sized storage option considerably faster than even the new microSD Express format, which tops out at 985 MB/s.

Biwin's CL100 Mini SSDs are PCIe 4.0 x2 and NVMe 1.4-compliant, available in three capacities: 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB. Prices start at around $85 USD and go up to over $300 USD for the 2TB model (via retailer JD.com). As a new storage format compatible with laptops, desktops, and mobile devices, Biwin CL100 Mini SSDs are launching alongside the portable and compact Biwin Mini SSD Reader RD510 for plug-and-play compatibility.

Biwin says that its new Mini SSDs were designed for ultra-thin laptops, handheld gaming devices, and mini PCs, offering a microSD-sized storage expansion option that delivers ultra-fast performance.

OneXPlayer's impressive new Super X gaming tablet is now live on Kickstarter, which packs an AMD "Strix Halo" APU, 48GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage starting at $1899.

The configurations of the OneXPlayer Super X gaming tablet vary from the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 385 "Strix Halo" APU at $1899, to the flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 variant for $100 more at $1999. There is a range of configurations between APU + RAM + SSD, as well as cooling versions as OneXPlayer's new Super X gaming tablet comes in a Standard Edition, as well as a Liquid-Cooled Edition which costs $60 more per system.

OneXPlayer has one version each of the Standard Edition and Liquid-Cooled Edition Super X gaming tablet, with the Ryzen AI Max 385 "Strix Halo" APU, and just 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD storage at $1899, and $1959, respectively. From there, the Super X gaming tablet starts at $1999 and $2059 with the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU, 48GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The Sega Dreamcast, which debuted in the United States on September 9, 1999, is widely considered to be one of Sega's best consoles - even though it was the company's last. Arriving on the scene before the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and original Xbox, the Dreamcast offered gamers an actual arcade-at-home experience with titles like Crazy Taxi, SoulCalibur, and Virtua Tennis.

It was also home to some of the most unique and memorable games from the era, thanks to titles like Jet Set Radio, Samba de Amigo, Phantasy Star Online, Shenmue, and many others. For console gamers who grew up in the 1990s, the Dreamcast is legendary, and now the iconic console has been immortalized in gaming keyboard form.

Lifestyle and gaming brand Higround has partnered with Sega to create a line of new gaming keyboards, and the flagship Summit 65+ ($299.95) model is an impressive tribute to the Sega Dreamcast. With its premium CNC Aluminum finish and mirror-like stainless steel back plate, the keyboard's design also includes several nods to the Dreamcast console and controller.

The Intel Arc B770, also referred to as Big Battlemage, has been quietly rumored to be on the way for almost a year now. Powered by the BMG-G31 chip with 32 Xe2 cores and 16GB of GDDR6 memory, it's expected that the Arc B770 would be a mid-range alternative to something like the GeForce RTX 4070 or RTX 5070 in much the same way the Arc B580 is a mainstream alternative to the GeForce RTX 4060.

In addition to Intel confirming the BMG-G31 chip in a recent software update, rumors about the Intel Arc B770 are ramping up, with new custom listings suggesting the mid-range Battlemage GPU could feature a TDP as high as 300W. This would be surprising, as the Intel Arc A770 featured a 225W TDP, and the Intel Arc B770's GPU would use a more efficient 5nm process.

Now, the custom listings refer to a shipment of GPU brackets, with similar codes and naming that were spotted before the launch of the Intel Arc B580. So even though "N38341-001 TASDK 300W GPU BRKT 0.8" doesn't specifically mention the Arc B770 or BMG-G31 GPU, it does match the previous naming utilized for desktop Arc products.

Activision has good news for anyone with Call of Duty fatigue, announcing plans to expand the franchise with more original games rather than numbered sequels or remakes.

Activision is making some changes to its Call of Duty lineup. In a recent COD blog post, the company says that it will no longer bounce back and forth between Black Ops and Modern Warfare. Instead, Activision says it wants every new Call of Duty game to deliver something different with each release. Call of Duty will still remain an annualized franchise with a new title every year.

The news comes after the release of Black Ops 7, and another major development: It appears that Activision is also preparing to release Call of Duty on the Nintendo Switch, a start to Microsoft's 10-year contractual agreement to bring COD to Nintendo platforms.

Gamers are on a scavenger hunt to figure out what the puzzling The Game Awards statue could be, and a new trademark filing offers some clues.

A bit ago, The Game Awards showrunner Geoff Keighley posted a picture of a bizarre demon-clad statue. This sent the rumor mill buzzing with the possibilities of which game could be revealed then TGA premieres this Thursday. Could it be Diablo? Maybe The Elder Scrolls? The new God of War game that could be set in Egypt? Maybe Lords of the Fallen 2? Those were debunked, and now thanks to a trademark filing found by MP1st, there's speculation that the statue is teasing a Divinity game.

Interestingly enough, Larian's Michael Douse recently squashed the Divinity Original Sin 3 rumors, saying: "There aren't currently any plans for a new Divinity Original Sin 3 game but once we are ready to show what we've been working on we will."

Samsung Display will reportedly mass produce 11 million OLED panels for Apple, ready for its new foldable iPhone in 2026.

In a new report from Korean outlet ETnews picked up by analyst @Jukan on X, we're hearing that Samsung Display has plans to make over 10 million OLED panels for the foldable iPhone next year, with the 10M units exceeding initial expectations, and that the foldable smartphone market is growing, and Apple is going to tackle it head-on.

Samsung Display is the exclusive supplier of OLED panels for Apple's foldable iPhone, with the figure of 11 million foldable OLED panels being 30% higher than the volume previously expected by the industry. Initial display industry expectations on shipments were between 6-8 million units, as this was Apple's first foray into foldable smartphones, but with 11M+ units, Apple seems confident in its upcoming foldable iPhone.

WB Games, an interactive segment that recently generated over $1 billion in sales with Hogwarts Legacy, apparently was not included in Netflix's valuation of Warner Bros.'s studios & streaming business.

Netflix wants to buy Warner Bros.'s most valuable parts for $82.7 billion. The streamer is interested in WB's studios & streaming business, which includes HBO, HBO Max, catalog TV shows and film, the studio in Burbank, and the interactive entertainment division WB Games responsible for numerous platinum-selling games.

Interestingly enough, it now appears that Netflix may not have included WB Games in its $82.7 billion deal model; when companies want to make an acquisition, they put together what's called a deal model, or an in-depth brief that puts a value on the business that they want to buy. Now at this year's UBS Global conference, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters seems to indicate that Netflix didn't assign a value to WB Games when putting together its deal model for WB's studios & streaming business.

Intel's new flagship Core Ultra X9 388H "Panther Lake" CPU has hit Geekbench 6, where we get some early leaked performance numbers out of the flagship Panther Lake processor.

The new Intel Core Ultra X9 388H processor scores 3057 points in the single-core test of Geekbench 6, and 17,687 points in the multi-core tests. This is a great score when compared against the current-generation flagship Core Ultra 9 285H "Lunar Lake" processor, and it can easily battle AMD's flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU.

AMD's powerful Strix Halo APU has a TDP range of between 45W and 120W, with a default 55W TDP, while the Core Ultra X9 388H has a default TDP of 45W (with an unknown TDP range for now, more details @ CES 2026), but the 285H it will succeed has a 45W to 115W TDP range.

2K Games has recruited the leads behind Xbox's cancelled Perfect Dark shooter to head a new studio.

As most of the games industry contracts, publisher Take-Two Interactive is opening new production groups and planning for the future. Brian Horton and Darrell Gallagher have been hired by Take-Two's billion-dollar 2K Games label to helm a new creative group for an unannounced project. The news comes months after the publisher tried to make a deal to salvage Microsoft's now-scrapped Perfect Dark game; faced with profit challenges, Microsoft chose to cancel Perfect Dark and shut down The Initiative, a studio that had been formed specifically to work on the discarded project.

"Happy to announce I joined 2K as VP, Head of Creative at a new studio with Darrell Gallagher!" Brian Horton, who had previously worked at Insomniac Games before moving to Perfect Dark in late 2024, wrote on LinkedIn.

US authorities have busted an AI chip trafficking network that was attempting to send $160 million worth of NVIDIA H100 and H200 AI GPUs to China, as the smugglers were changing the shipments' final destination.

In a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, authorities reported a trafficking network in Houston, Texas, that has been convicted of smuggling NVIDIA AI chips to China using a "complex scheme". Court documents reveal two individuals -- Alan Hao Hsu, and those who worked for his company, Hao Global LLC -- attempted to export NVIDIA H100 and H200 AI GPUs worth $160 million by manipulating official paperwork and hiding the "ultimate destination of the GPUs".

The network itself was busted by the discovery of a wire transfer that began in the People's Republic of China (PRC), with the NVIDIA AI GPUs shipped to US warehouses and then rebranded as "SANDKYAN", allowing the group to misclassify the AI GPUs and then export them.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang sat down with Joe Rogan last week, where he provided some thoughts on his opinion of LLMs of today, turning into Terminator, tomorrow. Check it out:

Joe asked Jensen what he thought about AI and LLMs (Large Language Models) of today, which include generative AI, edge AI, agentic workflows, and more AI workloads. LLMs are super advanced right now, where they will replace many humans in their roles in the coming years, but some worry AI-boosted capabilities will go "too far", where they replace human beings as the "apex species".

Joe Rogan asked: "Well, I don't assume that it would do harm to us, but the fear would be that we would no longer have control and that we would no longer be the apex species on the planet. This thing that we created would now be. Is that funny?"

In the unfolding reality that is our world, where 64GB of DDR5 memory costs more than a PS5 console, Asgard has just revealed two high-capacity 192GB and 256GB DDR5 memory kits.

The Chinese memory manufacturer unveiled its latest high-capacity DDR5 memory kits for mainstream users and gamers, with the 256GB DDR5-6000 (4 x 64GB sticks) memory kit coming in at $2000, but the company quickly updated the price in real-time to $2400... making the new 256GB of Asgard Valkyrie Thor DDR5-6000 memory cost more than a GeForce RTX 5090... if you can believe it.

Asgard's new 192GB and 256GB kits of memory come in 6000 MT/s speeds, and sold on Chinese retailer JD, with the 192GB DDR5-6000 (4 x 48GB sticks) costing 8599 yuan (around $1216 USD or so), while the 256GB kit costs $2400. Both of the new 192GB and 256GB DDR5-6000 memory kits from Asgard are using SK hynix M-die with 6000 MT/s memory speeds and CL28-36-36-72 timings for the Thor kit and CL32-45-45-90 for the Valkyrie.

Samsung is reportedly shifting its focus on DRAM production with reports that the company is scaling down its HBM modules for AI GPUs, to DDR5 modules because of the insanely high prices of DDR5 RAM right now.

In a new report from DigiTimes picked up by analyst @Jukan on X, we're hearing that Samsung's new internal strategy in response to intensified HBM market competition, is reallocating DRAM production capacity to DDR5 RDIMM memory modules, which will free up around 80,000 DRAM wafers per month, making significantly more profit.

Samsung has been struggling against HBM competitors SK hynix (mostly) and US-based Micron, which just closed its consumer RAM and SSD business -- Crucial -- down. Samsung's new HBM3E has passed NVIDIA's strict certifications, but the company has reportedly been cutting prices of its HBM in attempt to increase its HBM market share against SK hynix and Micron.

AOOSTAR has just launched its new NEX395 Mini-PC system in China, powered by AMD's flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU, a huge 128GB of RAM, and a cost of just under $3000.

The new AOOSTAR NEX395 Mini-PC system ships with its massive 128GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory running on a 256-bit memory bus, the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU with its 16 cores and 32 threads of Zen 5 processing power, and powerful 40 CUs of RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 8060S integrated GPU goodness.

The company has beefed up the cooling design and power delivery of the new NEX395 Mini-PC, with AOOSTAR describing its "Glacier VC" thermal design with an IVC plate and a higher 140W TDP performance mode. AOOSTAR says that its 3DMark numbers were taken at 120W with scores of around 11,550 points total, a GPU score of 11,639 points, and a CPU score of 11,073 points.

Lenovo will have something truly special to show off at CES 2026, with its Legion Pro Rollable laptop teased, which will feature a 16:9 OLED panel that rolls out into a huge 21:9 ultrawide OLED panel for gaming, media, and everything in between. Check it out:

In a new report from the folks at Windows Latest, the new Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable features a horizontally expanding screen -- from both the left and right -- turning the 16:9 OLED panel into a 21:9 ultrawide OLED panel. This happens by expanding the OLED panel from both sides, slowly expanding into a 21:9 aspect ratio display.

Inside, Lenovo's new Legion Legion Pro Rollable will sport an Intel Core Ultra CPU -- hopefully a new Core Ultra 300 series "Panther Lake" processor that Intel is launching at CES 2026 as well -- Windows 11 with its usual AI crap will be included, as well as a dedicated Copilot+ key.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7 9850X3D refreshed processor has been spotted in the wild, running some super-fast DDR5-9800 memory.

The new 9850X3D will retain the 8 cores and 16 threads of Zen 5-based CPU power that the 9800X3D has, but with 400MHz more clock speeds @ 5.6GHz over the 9800X3D. It retains its 120W TDP and 96MB of L3 cache, too. This is something we already know, but the new screenshot of the 9850X3D running DDR5-9800 memory is quite exciting.

AMD launched the Ryzen 9000 series CPUs with official support for DDR5-5600 memory, but the new Ryzen 7 9850X3D is capable of running DDR5 memory at an incredible 9800 MT/s, meaning AMD is most likely using higher-binned IODs (I/O die) and is ready to have a big battle with Intel and its upcoming "Arrow Lake Refresh" CPUs in 2026, as well as the next-gen Core Ultra 400 series "Nova Lake" CPUs in late-2026.

Paramount, not Netflix, could end up becoming the new owner of Warner Bros. video games unit, controlling the gaming fate of iconic franchises like Mortal Kombat, Batman, Harry Potter, and more.

Paramount Skydance today made headlines by offering $108 billion to acquire Warner Bros.. Paramount's hostile takeover bid is an attempt to thwart Netflix's own $82.7 billion offer for WB, and Paramount is prepared to pay a premium of $30 per share to acquire both Warner Bros. studios & streaming and global networks businesses.

The acquisition would include WB Games, the interactive division that handles production of Warner Bros.' iconic video game brands, including decades-old franchises like the fan-favorite LEGO series of games (200 million copies sold), the die-hard Mortal Kombat fighting series (100 million sales), and the breakout hit Hogwarts Legacy (34 million sales).

Netflix mulled over the idea of buying Electronic Arts when it became clear the megaton games publisher was up for sale, Bloomberg reports.

The creative landscape is changing rapidly, and the world's biggest entertainment franchises are facing mass consolidation. Warner Bros. is up for sale, and Netflix has offered $82.7 billion for WB's studios and streaming business. This includes the WB Games video game segment, which is bundled with a plethora of worldwide creative teams and billion-dollar interactive series, alongside tentpoles like HBO Max and the full HBO catalog.

Before Netflix made the offer to buy WB, company management explored the possibility of acquiring other gaming entities, including sports titan Electronic Arts. This was ahead of EA's announcement that it will soon go private thanks to a $55 billion leveraged buyout--which is funded almost entirely by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

FromSoftware continues its success streak with another best-selling video game--and it's actually an expansion.

The mavens of the macabre at FromSoftware have been having an incredible run as of late. Elden Ring exploded onto the market in 2022, and has since racked up 30 million sales to become one of Bandai Namco's most popular franchises. This prompted an expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, which likewise did incredibly well with 10 million sales. Even the online-only Elden Nightreign was a big success at launch, selling 5 million copies in just two months.

The iconic devs are keeping the ball rolling with Nightreign's first expansion, The Forsaken Hollows, which also debuted to stellar numbers: Bandai Namco has confirmed that over 2 million people purchased the $15 expansion, putting Forsaken Hollows at a substantial 40% attach rate.