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Microsoft have been sitting on their hands in terms of Age of Empires IV news, all we have had to go off of is one trailer. So when will more news be released?

Apparently fresh news isn't that far away at all. According to an interview with PCGamesN, Adam Isgreen, the Age of Empires Creative Director was asked a question regarding AoE4 and when more news will be released. Isgreen replied and said "I'm happy to tell you that we're going to start talking about Age of Empires IV later this year."

He continued and explained that Gamescom and XO are two events that Microsoft have announcement in the pipeline for. "As you know, there are two major events right now - Gamescom and XO - that Microsoft always does stuff for. So one or the other, maybe? I can't be specific, but suffice to say that we've got Gamescom coming up, and then XO later this year in London, so at the latest, you'll hear more about Age of Empires IV by XO."

A Professional Super Smash Bros. player has recently taken to Twitter to announce his retirement from the Smash Bros. competitive scene in wake of him admitting to having a relationship with a fellow pro-player who is underage.

The players name is 27-year old Elliot Bastien Carroza-Oyarce, or better known in Smash Bros. community as Ally. Oyarce took to Twitter on the 3rd of July to openly admit that he had a relationship with fellow pro-player Zack "PA|CaptainZack" Lauth who is 16 years old. In the same statement he announced his retirement from the Smash Bros. competitive scene.

Full statement: "I think it's time to come out clean. It's been rough months mentally for me, unsure if everything was going to end up okay, but it didn't. I'm going to admit I dated Zack. I didn't do him any wrongs but it was a stupid mistake regardless and I'm really sorry for not saying it until now. I was really scared. I'm sorry Tamin for lying to you about dating him. Because I feel like it's the right thing to do, I'm going to retire from Smash. Sorry to everyone I disappointed. Sorry Canada."

Everyday we are moving closer to the launch of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and many real-time-strategy game fans are preparing to sink their teeth into the games new civilizations, but how many will there be?

In a recent interview with PCGamesN, Age of Empires Creative Director Adam Isgreen discussed the coming new civilizations in The Last Khans expansion and the possibility of more being in the pipeline for post-launch. According to Isgreen, the choice of taping into the Mongol Empire was because the developers were wondering "what's left?"

Isgreen's full comment: "We were trying to find a period in history which still fit the general time scope that Age II occupies. We've covered so much of the world now in terms of that period that, after a lot of discussions, we finally fell on to telling the stories of the fallout of the Mongol empire, which is what The Last Khans is all about".

The day for PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs is here, with our recent look at the Sabrent Rocket PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD offering 1TB for $230 and now the GIGABYTE-made AORUS PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD is being rolled out after its debut during Computex 2019.

I have one of the new AORUS PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs here with me in the 2TB flavor and it is glorious, with GIGABYTE offering up to a huge 5GB/sec in reads and up to 4.4GB/sec writes. The 1TB version will cost $260 while the larger 2TB drive will cost $480. GIGABYTE will be shipping out its new AORUS PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs on July 8, the day after AMD unleashes its new Zen 2 processors and PCIe 4.0-capable X570 chipset on July 7.

You'll want to match the new AORUS PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD with a high-end X570 motherboard and next-gen Ryzen 3000 series CPU, which both drop in a few days time.

AOC has just unveiled two new high-end gaming monitors in their AGON gaming range of displayts, with the new AGON AG271FZ2 and AG251FZ2 both coming in as esports/enthusiast level 240Hz refresh rates.

The new 240Hz gaming displays also boast AMD FreeSync technology, and I think a never-before-seen 0.5ms response time. The AOC AGON AG251FZ2 is a 24.5-inch panel while the AG271FZ2 is a larger 27-inch monitor, both with lower native 1920x1080 resolutions. 1440p at 240Hz would've been much nicer, but much more expensive at the same time.

Both of the new AOC AGON 240Hz gaming displays include DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, and VGA inputs as well as built-in speakers, and 4 x USB 3.0 ports with a fast-charging port, too. AOC includes Lowblue Light Mode and Shadow Control. As for pricing, we're looking at the 24.5-inch version costing $330 while the larger 27-inch panel will cost $380.

ASRock has just unleashed its next generation X570 based motherboards that are ready for AMD's new Ryzen 3000 series CPUs and the unleashing of a totally next generation PCIe 4.0 connectivity.

We have new X570 motherboards from ASRock in their famous Taichi and Phantom Gaming families, with some boards rolling out with a huge full-coverage aluminum heat sink that keeps those next-gen PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs cool. Considering PCIe 4.0-capable NVMe SSDs can do up to 5GB/sec, you're going to need to keep those things cool.

It wouldn't be a new ASRock motherboard without some awesome RGB effects, so ASRock has included a bunch of RGBs and 3-pin addressable RGB headers joined by traditional 4-pin RGB LED headers that let you plug up other RGB lighting to your ASRock X570 motherboard.

Iceborne will be the first and only major expansion for Monster Hunter World, Capcom confirms.

As the best-selling game in Capcom's history, you'd think more than one expansion would be released for Monster Hunter World. More expansions means more long-term revenues and re-spark engagement long after the base game's release. But Iceborne is so big it's almost like an actual sequel; in fact Capcom is treating it like a big-budget AAA release, and it's the only major project they're releasing this year.

Instead of more big expansions like Iceborne, Monster Hunter World will continually evolve with new smaller content updates. "Yes, Iceborne basically completes World so it will be the last expansion. We're still planning a lot of updates for the future. We think players will get a lot of enjoyment from it," game producer Ryozo Tsujimoto told Game Informer.

Other territories and countries like the UK and Europe won't get to try Stadia out before it launches later this year.

Stadia, like any online-based service, needs some extensive beta testing. Internal tests are crucial of course, but public tests in particular help tremendously and arm developers, engineers, and execs with powerful knowledge. Google tested Stadia out in the U.S. with its Project Stream beta run last year. But Stadia won't get another test run in other countries. Google is pretty confident in Stadia and overseas network infrastructures, so it doesn't really need to hold any more trials.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Stadia head Phil Harrison affirms Google is confident in cloud-powered service.

Guerrilla Games is significantly ramping up its forces, signifying work on big next-gen projects is underway.

Just yesterday Guerrilla Games put up 64 new job listings on its website (which is now down, curiously enough), and many of them are for senior high-level positions (some of these might be repeats though). The listings give key details on what the studio is working on next while seemingly corroborating reports of a Horizon: Zero Dawn sequel for 2021.

Guerrilla is calling for devs from all disciplines from animation and network engineering to character artists and writers. Based on the job titles we can extrapolate some simple information. For example, Guerrilla is hiring a senior technical animator for its Living World team, and a Senior Writer who will push "dramatic story-telling in open-world games." Some interesting clues can be gleaned from the following listings:

Social Club, the online network that ties together GTA Online and RDR Online, could be teasing a Red Dead Redemption 2 PC port.

We know Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming PC. There's no way Rockstar and Take-Two would miss out on that fistful of dollars with another infamous year-long staggered release. The only real question is when? Possibly soonish, maybe even next year.

Eagle-eyed Twitter user JakoMako spotted a PC reference in the Social Club website source code. The code says RDR2_PC_Accomplishments:"Accomplishments", and PC in this case could mean Player Character, but the string is listed right next to a line for PS4 Trophies, hinting that it's an actual platform.

The official PC requirements for Shenmue 3 have been released online by Deep Silver and Ys Net.

Fans of Shenmue 3 who plan to play the title on PC now have some minimum and recommended hardware requirements to check out. Developer Ys Net says that PC players will at least have to have an "Intel Core i5-4460 (3.4GHz) Quad-core or Better", at least 4GB of RAM and an "NVIDIA GeForce 650 Ti 2GB or better".

Recommended specifications come in with a "Intel Core i7-7700 (3.6GHz) Quad-core", 16GB of RAM and "NVIDIA GeForce 1070 or better". Shenmue 3 will require 100GB of free storage to install and a internet connection to be played. Shenmue 3 for the PC is planned to release on November 19th as a timed exclusive on the Epic Games Store, more on that here.

Ubisoft has announced the release date for the final DLC chapter in Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Judgement of Atlantis.

Ubisoft has taken to their official Assassin's Creed Twitter account to reveal the release date of their upcoming final DLC for Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The final DLC will be part 3 of the campaign expansion and judging on the size of the past DLC's we can assume Judgement of Atlantis will pack a similar amount of content.

The specific details have been kept under wraps so players will have to wait until July 16th to sink their gaming teeth into the new content. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is currently available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. On a side note, Assasin's Creed Odyssey is currently 50% off on Steam as its apart of the Steam Summer sale, check out the store listing for it here.

Remember back when the first RuneScape decided to add micro-tranactions and then everyone quit? Well, Jagex is at it again but this time its coming under the disguise of 'partnerships'.

Jagex has taken to their blog for Old School RuneScape to discuss their recently proposed 'Partnership Program' for OSRS. The partnership program is a new scheme Jagex is attempting to introduce that allows for players to spend real-life money through third-party vendors to acquire cosmetics in-game. Jagex believes these partnerships with third-parties will be an incentive for new players to join OSRS.

An example of this is the partnership Jagex had with Twitch, players who purchased Twitch Prime were offered a free month of RuneScape membership as well as the option to change their skin color to purple. The option to change your skin color to purple was later added to the game for free, this same principal is the premise for Jagex's proposed partnerships.

Whether you are a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player or not, there is a high chance you would recognize the character mural that has been used as promotional material. Who was the brain child behind the design?

According to an interview with Nintendo Dream Web, who had the chance to sit down with Yusuke Nakono, the creator of the art piece, Masahiro Sakurai, the director of the game birthed the idea. Siliconera translated Nakono's notes and according to them "the idea came from Sakurai-san" and the mural was designed to show "how impactful" the newest instalment in the series was.

Nakono continued to dissect how he continued to piece together the art, saying "First, with the 66 Fighters revealed at E3, I considered 'what pose they would make' and 'how they would be placed' on the long canvas, by drawing rough linework and piecing it together like a puzzle. The Fighters in Smash Bros. are all main characters, so I didn't place them focused around the center, but averaged them out around the artwork. The theme was that no matter which part you cropped, there would be sights to behold."

Amazon is in full swing for their upcoming Lord of the Rings TV show, with a new announcement surfacing that has revealed that the studio has found its first director.

While we know that the show is going to focus on the events before Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, the main question is who will be behind the camera aiming the shows direction. According to Amazon, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom's JA Bayona will taking the role of director for the shows first two episodes in season one.

Bayona has commented on the announcement, saying "J.R.R. Tolkien created one of the most extraordinary and inspiring stories of all time, and as a lifelong fan it is an honor and a joy to join this amazing team. I can't wait to take audiences around the world back to Middle-earth and have them discover the wonders of the Second Age, with a never-before-seen story."

Now that NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 20 SUPER series graphics cards are on the market, new details have emerged on the TU106 GPU inside of the GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. TechPowerUp noticed that the TU106 GPU has markings on it for 'Korea', which is strange as NVIDIA gets its Turing GPUs fabbed at TSMC which does NOT have a facility in South Korea.

NVIDIA reportedly signed a contract manufacturing order with Samsung back in 2016, which I'm sure is still in play today and now being tested with the new SUPER-infused Turing GPUs. The most interesting part of this news is that Samsung doesn't have a 12nm FinFET process, but instead offers both 14nm and 11LPP. 11LPP is an 11nm nodelet which Samsung uses to compete against the 12nm node from TSMC.

TechPowerUp reached out to NVIDIA, which responded with: "The answer is really simple and these markings are not new. Other Turing GPUs have had these markings in the past. The chip is made at TSMC, but packaged in various locations. This one was done in Korea, hence why his says "Korea". On an unrelated note: We already use both TSMC and Samsung, and qualify each of them for every process node. We can't comment in any further detail on future plans, but both remain terrific partners".

YouTube continues its march right into censorship heaven with a new addition underneath its ban hammer, with the Google-owned video sharing site now banning content posted as "instructional hacking and phishing" that show users "how to bypass secure computer systems or steal user credentials and personal data".

The problem is that YouTube algorithms will be the 1984 control system behind this move once again, and some users are already getting caught up in the mess. Creator of Cyber Weapons Lab YouTube series Kody Kinzie posted to Twitter saying that his team "made a video about launching fireworks over Wi-Fi for the 4th of July to find out YouTube gave us a strike because we teach about hacking, so we can't upload it". What a mess.

Now sure, I get that YouTube should be censoring or removing harmful material -- but it should be mostly done by actual human staff. The issue here is that so many other videos are going to get caught up in this algorithm-happy ban on their instructional videos that don't necessarily instruct you on how to hack someones PC, but rather do some tweaks or trouble shooting to it. I guess we'll see how bad this gets in the coming weeks and months.

Sony won't be releasing its next-gen PlayStation 5 until sometime in the second half of 2020, and to fuel that hype in a big way Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi has said that the next-gen PS5 and its extra power will benefit VR.

In the interview with GTPlanet, Yamauchi said: "The first thing that's going to be affected by more power is VR. I don't think that there's anything else that requires that much processing power. I really like VR; I'm one to believe in the possibilities of it, and it's very suited for a driving game. VR is something that really depends on the evolution of GPU power, and the hardware for it, like display devices even. It's something where you can never have enough computing power; there's always going to be that hardware limit, and that limit is never going to be high enough for us! Obviously, that's going to gradually improve over time and we'll make sure to follow that".

I don't think that the PS5 will use its extra power for VR in any first way at all, I think it'll be the instant possibilities of 4K 60FPS gaming and instant-loading games that will drive current, and future PlayStation console owners. I think the side effect of a next-gen PS5 and its huge horsepower upgrade will definitely fuel a new PSVR 2.0 headset, as the original PSVR headset was nowhere near the levels of the first-gen Oculus Rift and HTC Vive let alone the new Valve Index VR headset.

AMD is about to launch its next-gen Ryzen 3000 series CPUs and there's good news for overclockers and enthusiasts: CPU binning service Silicon Lottery has announced it will have binned versions of Ryzen 3000 series CPUs later this month.

For those who aren't aware of what a 'binned' processor is, a 'binned' CPU is something that a company or person buys and tests out to hand pick the very best overclockers. This means said service has to buy a bunch of CPUs in order to test them all out, finding out which ones have the best OC headroom, thus there is a premium attached to speed binned chips -- this is where Silicon Lottery comes into play.

Silicon Lottery will have binned versions of the upcoming Ryzen 7 3700X, Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 9 3900X on July 13, but the higher-end and kinda ridiculous (but in a really good way) Ryzen 9 3950X will be available sometime in the future with no current ETA. The company hasn't unveiled any pricing just yet, but with these new Zen 2-based CPUs being the latest and greatest on the market, I'm sure numbers will be tight and highly binned versions of these processors could be a little expensive. We'll know soon.

Cyberpunk 2077 is getting the help of some real-life punkers who will bring gritty anti-establishment tunes to Night City.

In Cyberpunk 2077, Samurai were more than a rock band: they inspired rebellion and resistance against a future ruled by mega-corporations. Having sparked underground movements from his music, Samurai's lead singer Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu "You're Breathtaking" Reeves) will be a big guerrilla force in the game. Now we get a taste of that sci-future angst.

CDPR has teamed up with Swedish band The Refused to bring Samurai's big hits to life, starting with the single Chippin' In.