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Update: The leaked images have been debunked and proven fake.

We are starting to hear about the next edition to the Assassin's Creed franchise, this time round we will be journeying to the Viking era as players ally with the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok.

This isn't the firs time we have heard about the next Assassin's Creed game to feature a Viking era setting. Back in early April we learned from sources that confirmed to Kotaku that the next Assassin's Creed game will be based around the Vikings and will be released in 2020. A teaser image was found within Ubisoft's Division 2 of a Charlemagne Crusader holding an Apple of Eden, more on that here.

As the world moves away from physical storage, HDD makers are selling less and less and according to Japanese motor manufacturer Nidec, HDD shipments will only continue to drop this year and more so in 2020 and beyond.

Nidec has been supplying spindle motors for HDDs for a very, very long time and now the company is predicting HDD sales will drop as much as 50% this year, and more so in 2020. Nidec adds that their spindle motors are found inside of around 85% of products on the market, so their predictions hold some merit and talk about growth in other areas like home appliances, automotive, and 5G technologies.

Nidec's own data shows that HDD sales dropped from 650 million to 375 million between 2010 and 2018, a big drop of 43% but sales will continue to drop this year with revised shipment forecasts for 2018 down to 309 million. 2020 is even worse according to Nidec's shipment forecasts, with just 290 million HDDs expected to be shipped.

ASRock has made its new super-small but monster-packed ASRock Rack MITX EPC621D4I-2M motherboard that packs the Intel LGA 3647 socket that is capable of taking an Intel Xeon Scalable CPU.

The new ASRock Rack MITX EPC621D4I-2M board uses the C621 chipset and is the smallest C621-based motherboard on the market, the smallest board capable of taking the latest Skylake-SP and Cascade Lake-SP processors in the Intel Xeon Scalable family of CPUs. The board can handle up to 128GB of DDR4 memory at up to 2666MHz while the new ASRock Rack MITX EPC621D4I-2M motherboard packs:

The board can handle most CPUs apart from the high-end Xeon W-3175X because the ASRock Rack MITX EPC621D4I-2M supports CPUs at up to 205W, so the rest of the CPUs including other 28C/56T chips will be fine. While the Xeon W-3175X will work in the board, you'll hit that 205W TDP pretty quickly and see the CPU clocks drop quickly. I wouldn't bother.

Samsung is rumored to be lifting up its game in a big way when it comes to the upcoming Galaxy Note 10 which is rumored to have not just a larger battery, but an ultra-fast-charging battery.

The current-gen Galaxy Note 9 has 15W of charging whilst the new Galaxy S10 also rolls out with a 15W charger, the larger 5G-enabled Galaxy S10 5G has a snazzy 25W fast charger that will get you up and running quicker than ever before on a Galaxy smartphone. But Samsung should be knocking things up on the new Galaxy Note 10 in the coming months with rumors of an ultra-fast charger.

A new mysterious tease of either crazy battery life, ultra-fast charging speeds or a radically new battery technology for the Galaxy Note 10 has people, myself included, excited. Battery life is the one area of a smartphone that needs massive improvement, especially in a post-5G world with crazy camera setups on flagship smartphones, foldable screens and so much more.

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Remedy CEO Tero Virtala declared singleplayer games are pretty huge. But that hasn't stopped the developer from chasing the rich goldmine of online microtransactions.

As an independent developer, Remedy Entertainment has to do certain things to survive and turn a profit. Some of these things include embracing various business models. Known for making singleplayer games like Max Payne, Quantum Break, and its new IP Control, Remedy has moved on to fold live services into its repertoire. I find it particularly interesting that the company's CEO talks up singleplayer games, all while Remedy's smaller Vanguard team is working on monetization-driven games like the free-to-play CrossFire 2.

"When we were discussing with publishers three years ago, many of them were quite doubtful about what would be the single-player game's future. Now, with the success of many of Sony's games, the success that Ubisoft has shown, we are seeing that single-player games are stronger now than they have ever been," the CEO said.

A new study finds purchasing lootboxes puts consumers at higher risk for gambling behaviors.

Lootboxes and other similar randomized monetization schemes help the global games market earn billions every year, particularly through freemium mobile games. Companies like Tencent, Activision-Blizzard, and EA rake in incredible sums from these practices. But this industry could be impacted with stringent regulations quite soon, as medical studies find correlation between gambling behavior and lootbox purchasing.

According to a new research paper from the University of British Columbia's Center for Gambling Research, there's a common link between video game monetization and risky gambling behaviors in adults. The study itself was conducted via an online survey, not in a laboratory setting, and collected information from 144 North American gamers and 113 university students. Data suggests consumers who cumulatively spend more and more money on lootboxes are at higher risk for developing gambling disorders, and results showed that 10% of North American gamers, or 14 respondents, spent roughly $50 a month on lootboxes.

If a recent teaser from Xbox is any indication, a new Game of Thrones game could possibly be in development.

Adapting George R.R. Martin's sweeping epic A Song of Ice and Fire has proven to be quite tough. HBO has only managed to do it over the course of 8 years. Video games are very different story. Sure there's a rather long-running board game, but actual games? There's only two: Telltale's excellent semi-interactive QTE simulator, and the one everyone seems to forget about (and for good reason), Cyanide's ill-fated Xbox 360 game (there's also a free-to-play browser game but it's not premium).

Now another game could be in the works, and Microsoft of all companies might be teasing it. Or possibly teasing it. After last week's big Game of Thrones episode, the official Xbox Twitter put up a mysterious clip of a Targyen three-headed dragon sigil alongside some scales. It's not much to go on, but it could indicate a big game reveal as part of Microsoft's promised E3 2019 explosion.

Ubisoft confirms a new Ghost Recon announcement will happen on May 9, and it could be a new game in the series.

In a recent Tweet, Ubisoft says a big reveal event for a new Ghost Recon project is set for May 9 at 2:30PM EST, validating recent teasers. Whether or not this announcement is for a brand new game or an extension of existing content roadmaps for Ghost Recon: Wildlands remains unknown, but we think it's a new game.

Originally released in 2017, Ghost Recon: Wildlands has had a long life. Not only was it one of the best-selling games of the year, but it made tons of earnings via microtransactions and live services. Wildlands may still have a strong userbase and after two years of squeezing out monetization, it's time for a new game. Luckily Ubisoft plans to release for major new AAA games this fiscal year (April 1, 2019 - March 31, 2020). One of them should be a new Ghost Recon title.

Three brand new titles have been added to the Video Game Hall of Fame, these titles have been deemed to have impacted video gaming and pop culture heavily earning their way into the Hall of Fame.

First off we have Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat raised a lot of eye brows when it was released back in 1992 with its over-the-top violence and how children reacted to it. Originally, many parents and doctors believed that violence within video games resulted in the child growing up and developing violent traits, it was recently discovered that there is no hard evidence to this claim.

Microsoft's Solitaire has also been inducted into the Hall of Fame, marking that classically old games as old as Solitaire can still attract a massive amount of people. Solitaire has been installed in over 1 billion PC's around the world. Super Mario Kart which was released back in 1992 was also introduced to the Hall of Fame and it is said the game deserved this honor for the way its led genre defining experience in racing games. The World Video Game Hall of Fame officials have said they siphoned through over 1,000 nominations for these awards from more than 100 countries. They managed to get the nominees down to 12, the others that didn't quite make it are; Candy Crush Saga, Half-Life, NBA 2K, Sid Meier's Civilization and Super Smash Bros. Melee

NASA has announced that SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is set to deliver supplies to the International Space Station today, the craft will bring science supplies and hardware.

NASA has shared the news to its official Twitter account saying that Dragon will be leaving earth and will rendezvous with the Space Station starting on 5:30am ET. The launch will be live-streamed and will be the expected arrival time is 7:30 a.m. Back in early March we learned that the mission would carry 400 pounds of supplies and equipment and that eventually SpaceX will be looking to send astronauts and not just cargo to the International Space Station.

If you are interested in checking out the successful splashdown of the Crew Dragon back in early March visit that footage here. If you want to keep on top of what NASA is doing you can visit the official NASA website here.

Nintendo just introduced Joker into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the first fighter to be apart of the Fighter Pass. Even though he arrived with the version 3.0 patch which wasn't that long ago, could we already be seeing a tease for the next fighter in the pass?

Some reports have come out about a rumor that Nintendo are gearing up to reveal or at least tease the next character in the fighters pass. The rumors circle around the Super Smash Bros. YouTube Channel which a blue dot is located next to the channel name on YouTube. When clicking into a channel and viewing the channels video content the blue dot besides the name is supposed to be removed, this for some reason doesn't occur for the Super Smash Bros. channel.

It is believed that this is happening because the Super Smash Bros. channel has been updated with a video that has been categorized as private or unlisted. It is possible that if there is an unlisted or private video that it could be revealed within the near future. I personally doubt it will be a tease for the next fighter in the Fighters Pass as it is still not that long since Joker has been released.

The US Air Force has gone next-gen in defensive technology and have demonstrated with a ground-based laser that they can shoot missiles out of the air.

The above image is what is called Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator, or SHiELD for short. SHiELD is located at the White Sands Missile Range and a recent demonstration has proved that the new technology can still perform when intense scenarios are occurring. The laser is intended as a defensive technology, with the end goal being it shrinking down and becoming portable by it being applied to jets.

While this is some pretty darn cool technology don't expect that it will be going live anytime soon. The first airborne tests are expected to be conducted sometime in 2021, so its a fair way off before it is implemented. When that time arrives and SHiELD is fully developed air combat could be changed forever as the ultimate defensive weapons has been created.

The developers of the extremely popular and very successful Pokemon GO app have assisted communities around the world in support of the global Earth Day movement.

Niantic, the developer of Pokemon GO has ran a in-game event to encourage people to support Earth Day. The event rewarded players with an increase spawn rate for ground type Pokemon, the more people joined the bonuses were gained. Each of the reward levels were as follows; 2,000 players increased ground type spawn rates, 5,000 people shiny Diglettes would appear within 48 hours of the goal being reached. Lastly, 7,000 players joining made Groudon spawn in raids and stardust and candy would double.

Niantic has reported that a total number of 41,000 hours were put into the event and that 41 countries participated and cleaned up 145 tons of trash. 17,000 Pokemon GO players united across the globe, Niantic's responded to the success of the event by saying "We're astounded with how much everyone involved has achieved - an effort like this highlights how much impact people can have when they work together. Players worked in groups of 1 to 2,500, alongside government agencies, volunteer organizations, and fellow community members, creating incredible impact."

When the first Turing GPUs were being made NVIDIA split the silicon into two camps: higher-quality Turing A-dies for higher-end custom overclocked GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 cards, while non-overclocked more stock cards had the non-A die silicon.

Tom's Hardware Germany boss Igor Wallossek reports that NVIDIA will stop making the non-A die silicon, and from here on out only produce A-dies of the Turing TU104-410 (RTX 2080) and TU106-410 (RTX 2070). This means that from here on out NVIDIA will only supply AIBs with the higher-quality A-die silicon meaning we could see a new wave of RTX 2070 and RTX 2080s with higher OC ceilings.

We should at least see an across the board increase in base and boost GPU clock speeds on the next wave of RTX 2070 and RTX 2080s that could lead the higher-end custom cards to have access to higher GPU clocks with a few tweaks to the voltage limits NVIDIA has in place. If they untightened those a bit NVID IA could have higher-end RTX 2070 and 2080s that better compete with what AMD has coming around the corner with rumored Radeon RX 3080 XT rumored for $339, a far cry from the starting price of $599 for the GeForce RTX 2070.

Well holy sh*t, the Avengers: Endgame has reached level 3000 or rather has become the second-highest-grossing movie of all time. It has just beaten Titanic (1997) which grossed $2.187 billion (when adjusted for inflation) and now has Avatar set in its sights.

Avengers: Endgame has now made $2.189 billion and we're barely two weeks into its run in theaters, with the next movie in its sights is the highest-grossing movie of all time, Avatar. Avatar had a huge haul (well at least it did until now) of $2.8 billion globally, and it seems at this rate Avengers: Endgame will beat that by next week.

James Cameron directed both Titanic and Avatar and since the 2009 release of Avatar he hasn't had any major tent pole movies released, with Avatar 2 now set to release on 17 December 2020. Until Avatar 2 it looks like Disney and Marvel Studios will have the #1 grossing movie of all time with Avengers: Endgame.

AMD was originally expected to unveil next-gen Ryzen Threadripper 3000 series CPUs in the coming months based on the new Zen 2 architecture and the new 7nm process node. But in AMD's own 2019 client line up the new third-gen Ryzen Threadrippers are missing.

In the last 2019 roadmap image AMD had detailed the third-gen Ryzen Threadripper CPUs in its 'non-stop product momentum' which has hit a stop, and dropped momentum with the latest roadmap. The new high-core count CPUs have mysteriously been omitted by AMD, and in its place the company will most likely deploy the next-gen Zen 2-based Ryzen desktop CPUs on the new 500-series motherboards on the cheaper, simpler AM4 socket.

What does this mean for the future of Ryzen Threadripper? Well, we'll have to wait and see what AMD says and if there's an update (and yet another change) to the 2019 roadmap at AMD's upcoming press conference at Computex 2019.

Hot on the heels of the purported Radeon RX 3090 XT flagship Navi graphics card rumors, were some specs on the Navi 10-based graphics cards that we WILL see launched at E3 2019.

AMD is reportedly getting the Radeon RX 3080 XT ready for E3 2019 with its Navi 10 GPU on the 7nm node, with what should be 8GB of GDDR6 memory. The Navi 10 GPU will, according to the new leaks, feature 56 compute units from the Navi 10 GPU on a 190W TDP and provide performance close to NVIDIA's Turing-based GeForce RTX 2070. All of this will reportedly launch for $330 which would be a game changer.

NVIDIA sells its GeForce RTX 2070 graphics card for $599 which would mean if the rumors are true and the purported Radeon RX 3080 XT does indeed sell for $330 and has the performance of the RTX 2070, NVIDIA wouldn't be in trouble but it will have to react with massive price drops.

The latest rumor on AMD's next-gen Navi GPU architecture comes in the form of some purported specs and card names, as well as performance numbers and preliminary pricing. Everything from here should be taken with a large handful, not just a pinch, of salt.

According to my exclusive sources AMD will be detailing the new Navi-based Radeon graphics cards at E3 2019 which takes place just over a week after Computex 2019 where AMD will also unveil its new Zen 2-based Ryzen 3000 series CPUs. The new rumor on Navi is the aforementioned specs, pricing, performance and TDP of some of the cards.

We will reportedly be looking at a flagship Radeon RX 3090 XT signifying that AMD will continue its 3000-series products from its upcoming Ryzen 3000 series into Radeon RX 3000 series cards. AMD's purported Radeon RX 3090 XT will be based on the Navi 20 GPU and won't be here until 2020, meaning it will be fighting an uphill battle against what NVIDIA already has on the market in the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti that will still beat it let alone the 7nm refresh and new Ampere GPU architecture that are both around the corner.

Remedy's new singleplayer-driven sci-thriller shooter Control promises to blend a number of big trends and genres.

Control looks to be a lot of Quantum Break, a little bit of Metroid, and a pinch of Dark Souls thrown in for good measure. At least that's the picture I get from this latest gameplay feature. The game has a lot of Quantum Break's shooter-and-powers mechanics, but also takes things to another level with more physics chaos and verticality. Like Metroid, Control won't be a linear game; there will be all kinds of avenues you can't actually get to unless you unlock certain powers, abilities, or solve puzzles. But unlike Metroid, the game takes place in an ever-shifting environment.

"What might be surprising is the game structure is very much in the vein of Metroivania," said Remedy's communication director Thomas Puha. "So the game takes place in the Oldest House, which is a massive location that you get to explore. You might find somewhere early on where you can't get to, and later on in the game when you unlock something like the levitation ability you can get there."

One of the biggest names in gaming suffers a rare monetization slip, but it's reinvesting strongly into more engagement-driven business models.

Activision-Blizzard may be hitting a monetization ceiling in its biggest games. Every quarter, the company makes hundreds of millions from Games-as-a-Service style tactics like microtransactions, DLC, and subscriptions. These revenues typically pull in a huge portion of digital earnings. But this latest quarter showed a rare drop both in total live earnings and the proportion of game sales to service-generated revenue.

The company's Q1 2019 earnings weren't particularly impressive. Total revenues, digital revenues, operating income and even net income were all down from last year. Given Activision-Blizzard's emphasis on live gaming, dgital is the most interesting of these dips. Digital comprised 76% of total net revenues, or $1.38 billion, down roughly 4.6% from 2018's first quarter. Digital includes microtransactions, subscriptions, DLC, and digital game purchases. The company says it pulled in $800 million from in-game purchases like skins and lootboxes, which means for the first time in a long time live service earnings were down. Microtransactions only made 58% of digital revenues this quarter, compared to the 68% split in Q1'18.