Latest News - Page 218

EA is going private in a megaton $55 billion deal--the largest leveraged buyout in history. The publisher could become very different in the coming years as a result of the deal, as the new buyout comes with high levels of debt and responsibility.

When EA goes private in the current deal, the company will be saddled with $20 billion in debt, with JPMorgan making a standalone commitment to raise funds. According to new reports from Bloomberg, the loan is expected to have a single-B rating, indicating a risky loan with higher interest rates.

There's speculation that the new privately-owned EA will tighten its belt even more in order to pay back this debt, which could lead to more layoffs, project cancellations, and hasten the work towards direct-to-consumer AI implementation.

Halo Studios confirms the next Halo game will be revealed at this year's Halo World Championships in October.

Halo is making a triumphant return to the mainstream. Last year, 343 Industries rebranded into Halo Studios and announced multiple new Halo games built in Unreal Engine 5. Next month, the studio will finally show off their creations to the world.

Halo Studios had already confirmed more than one game was in the works, and reports indicate that the games include a Halo CE Remake with new-and-improved mechanics like sprint, and an always-online multiplayer game. Both of these titles are expected to be cross-platform, but the Halo CE Remake may be campaign-only and not feature multiplayer.

After spending time in the Windows Insider Release Preview circuit, Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 25H2 to the public, and it contains many improvements behind the scenes.

Windows 11 users will begin to get 25H2 now, and according to Microsoft, the update isn't a large one, but does contain significant improvements to the inner workings of Windows 11, such as advancements in build and runtime vulnerability detection, in addition to AI-assisted secure coding. The update contains all of the features in Windows 11 version 24H2, as both versions use a shared code base and services branch, which means the update will be streamlined for users.

In addition to the update being streamlined, the shared codebase enables Microsoft to continue rolling out new features to both 24H2 and 25H2 simultaneously. Furthermore, the update removes PowerShell 2.0 and the Windows Management Instrumentation command-line.

The world record holder for the highest IQ has announced he has converted all his assets into Bitcoin, as he expects the digital currency to become the world's "ultimate reserve asset."

YoungHoon Kim is the self-proclaimed world record holder for the highest IQ ever recorded, with a claimed IQ score of 276. Kim's assertion that he has the highest IQ ever recorded is far from widely accepted in the scientific community, and additionally, the figure of 276 exceeds that of standard psychometric scales, which typically see a reduction in reliability past the 160-200 range. Furthermore, VICE, along with other outlets, found some difficulty in verifying Kim's claims, and many major psychologists and high-IQ communities have dismissed the stat as implausible.

Despite the criticisms about his claim, organizations such as the GIGA Society and the United Sigma Intelligence Association have backed Kim's claims. It's worth noting that Kim assisted in the founding of the United Sigma Association. Kim predicts there will be a 100x increase in the price of Bitcoin over the next 10 years, which far exceeds financial firms, which typically predict a rise of between 5 and 20 times.

Capcom has made it clear that when Windows 10 reaches its imminent end-of-support deadline in mid-October, Monster Hunter games are also shuffling off into the realm of unsupported software.

PC Gamer spotted Capcom's announcement on Steam, which states that the publisher will "no longer guarantee" that titles from the Monster Hunter franchise will run okay on Windows 10 going forward.

Capcom said:

Apple's upcoming iPad Pro with an M5 chip has been unboxed before the company has even announced it, and if you expected any significant changes, you will be disappointed, as it looks exactly the same as the current iPad Pro model.

The unboxing and hands-on comes from Russian tech YouTuber Wylascom, who unboxed the M4 MacBook Pro in October 2024, weeks before Apple officially announced the device. That hands-on video proved to be legitimate following the official announcement from Apple, leading us to suspect that Wylascom's recent video on the M5 iPad Pro is also legitimate.

One of the first things Wylascom mentions after opening the M5 iPad Pro is how it looks exactly the same as the M4 generation, meaning it uses the exact same chassis, and simply has a processor that's approximately 15% faster than its predecessor. Notably, Apple is yet to even announce the M5 processor, meaning this is the first look at the upcoming next-generation silicon, and it's within a completed product, which also hasn't even been announced. A double exclusive for Wylascom.

The developers behind Terminator 2D: No Fate have blamed President Trump's trade tariffs for the title now being delayed.

Terminator 2D: No Fate was scheduled to release on October 31, but now its launch is being pushed back to November 26, with the developers of the title, Reef Entertainment, writing in a statement that due to the ongoing global trade tariff changes shipments of the components for the Day One and Collector's Edition have been delayed. Reef Entertainment has delayed the launch of Terminator 2D: No Fate as it intends on releasing all editions of the game at the same time.

President Trump's trade tariffs have had a widespread effect on the gaming industry, with Xbox recently announcing another price hike of its consoles, marking the second price increase in the same year, while Sony followed suit as well with a price hike of its consoles.

MSI unveiled a brand-new GPU design at the recent Tokyo Game Show 2025 event, featuring a 16-pin power connector that is hidden inside a magnetically detachable back panel.

The design is reminiscent of SAPPHIRE's Radeon RX 9070 XT NITRO+ graphics card that we reviewed earlier this year. Not only is it one of a handful of RDNA 4 GPUs to adopt the new 16-pin power connector for power delivery, but it also introduced an innovative way of hiding the power connector inside a removable panel on the backplate.

The new MSI design, as seen here via Japanese YouTube creator @harucan5492, is for a new GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Ventus 3X model featuring a hidden power connector and a removable backplate. It's also a White Edition GPU, which is one of the most popular colors for graphics cards in the Asia region.

AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF) is the company's driver-based Frame Generation technology that adds the option to generate frames and boost performance/smoothness in thousands of games. As a driver-based tool that is a part of the Radeon Adrenaline Software's HYPR-RX suite, AFMF 2 launched last year, bringing improvements to latency, image quality, and stability.

The technology also pairs with AMD Radeon Anti-Lag or Radeon Anti-Lag 2 to reduce latency, with AMD touting the technology as a viable solution for boosting performance on mobile devices with lower-powered integrated Radeon graphics.

AMD has continued to update the technology, with AFMF 2.1 launching earlier this year, receiving generally positive feedback due to its further improvements in latency and image quality by reducing ghosting. And now, thanks to some driver sleuths over at the Guru3D forums, The Creator and ecffg2010, it appears that AMD is preparing to launch AFMF 3, also known as AMD Fluid Motion Frames 3.

If you ask fans of both the original and the sequel, Blizzard's StarCraft franchise has been missing in action for far too long. Unlike Warcraft, which has successfully transitioned from its RTS roots into the world of massively multiplayer games, mobile experiences, movies, and competitive card games, StarCraft has rarely moved beyond its RTS origins.

Which is why it's always exciting to see news from Blizzard with StarCraft in the title, even if it's the announcement that the sci-fi franchise is crossing over into the world of another Blizzard IP, Diablo. Yes, the studio has just released a batch of new premium paid-for skins for Diablo 4 inspired by the iconic characters, races, and units of the StarCraft universe.

'The Rebel Marshal' skin for the Barbarian sees the melee-focused character get a Terran makeover inspired by Jim Raynor. The 'Overqueen of the Swarm' skin for the Necromancer class takes its inspiration from Broodmother and the second-in-command of the Zerg Swarm, while the 'Queen of Blades' skin for the Spiritborn takes its inspiration from the Queen of Blades herself, Sarah Kerrigan.

In recent times, the idea of a new GPU being available for its launch MSRP (the recommended price point set by companies like NVIDIA or AMD) has become something of a myth for most people. With the launch of the new GeForce RTX 50 Series and Radeon RX 9000 Series earlier this year, although some MSRP models have been available, picking up a brand-new GPU for less than a 10 to 30% markup over the suggested retail price has been challenging.

As we head toward the holiday season, it's now possible to pick up a brand-new GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics card at or even below the MSRP price point. These price drops aren't limited to selected models either, as you can easily find GeForce RTX 5060, RTX 5060 Ti, RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, and even RTX 5080 graphics cards for a decent price. At a time when the cost of all PC, console, and gaming hardware is on the rise due to the current economic climate and AI boom, this is both surprising and welcome.

Examining retailers like Newegg and Amazon, let's take a look at some of the GeForce RTX 50 graphics cards currently available at a price point that better reflects the launch-day MSRP, starting with the GeForce RTX 5060.

With several credible leaks from various sources in recent months, right now it's only a matter of time before NVIDIA officially announces the GeForce RTX 50 SUPER Series refresh. For those that need a refresher, the lineup includes three models: the GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER, RTX 5070 Ti SUPER, and RTX 5080 SUPER.

The key takeaway is that these GPUs are expected to offer a substantial 50% increase in VRAM capacity. Alongside increases to clock speeds and some modest specification increases for the GeForce RTX 5070 SUPER 18GB GPU, overall performance boosts compared to the non-SUPER variants will likely be modest, and in the 5-10% region. Unless, of course, you're looking at a workload that takes advantage of the massive boost to VRAM capacity.

The only real question right now is when we can expect to see them. The latest rumor, which originated from Benchlife (via Videocardz), suggests that the GeForce RTX 50 SUPER Series may arrive later in 2026 than initially expected.

NVIDIA's Audio2Face technology is a part of its push to create lifelike or realistic 3D avatars powered by generative AI. As part of the pipeline, Audio2Face enables the creation of realistic digital characters that can be used for games or even customer service agents by leveraging generative AI for real-time facial animation. You can see it in action in the video below.

Audio2Face works by taking a speech audio track to create an animation by analyzing speech patterns and sounds, as well as the emotion or intonation. The latter is crucial, as it helps separate Audio2Face from simple lip synching, as the animation attempts to capture and visualize the emotional intent or details in the speech audio track.

For game developers, Audio2Face could become an invaluable tool for animating numerous digital characters - speeding up development time and opening the door to a new level of fidelity for smaller teams. And with that, NVIDIA has announced that it is open-sourcing the Audio2Face models and SDK so that "every game and 3D application developer can build and deploy high-fidelity characters with cutting-edge animations."

Samsung will be unleashing monster-fast Gen6 SSDs onto the market in 2027, teasing it'll have new Gen6 SSDs in 512TB capacity in less than two years.

During the GMIF Innovation Summit 2025 event in Shenzen, China, SSD manufacturers have come out of the woodwork teasing their next-gen SSD technologies. The enterprise and HPC server segments will see multiple new technologies unleashed in 2026/2027 that will help unlock even higher speeds across the board (CPU, GPU, networking, storage) with PCIe Gen6 SSDs being a big part of that.

Samsung VP & Chief Technology Officer of its Memory Business Unit, Kevin Yoo, said that his firm is working on next-gen CXL 3.1 and PCIe 6.0 CMM-D products which should be available next year. Yoo teased that Samsung's next-gen PM1763 Gen6 SSD solution will be launching in early 2026, offering double the performance, improved power efficiency, and 25W power consumption. The company is also preparing its 7th Gen Z-NAND with GIDS for 2026, too.

Electronic Arts just announced plans to go private in the largest leveraged buyout in gaming history. EA CEO Andrew Wilson, who will stay on to lead the publisher after the deal, tells employees this is a "new era of opportunity."

EA will soon be under private ownership. Saudi Arabia's PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners raised $55 billion to buy all Electronic Arts shares at a $210 premium, and if approved, the deal would take EA private.

One of the conditions of the deal was that Andrew Wilson would continue as CEO. A new memo from Wilson may give clues on the direction that this new EA will take moving forward, as Wilson's words can typically add vital context into what's on the horizon (for example, EA's four main business tenants, Play, Watch, Create, and Connect, were first revealed by Wilson).

Middle-earth Enterprises is working on a new game that aims to do for Lord of the Rings what Hogwarts Legacy did for Harry Potter.

A new Lord of the Rings video game is in development at the transforming Embracer Group, sources tell Insider Gaming. The production is said to be a third-person action game, but official details are light on whether or not RPG elements will be involved.

Stakeholders have big plans for the project, and hope that it can rival Hogwarts Legacy. This game may be separate from the Lord of the Rings MMO in development at Amazon Games.

Windows 11 is bringing another exclusive feature to Copilot+ PCs, and this time it's about organizing your photo collection - at least partially.

Many of us have an expansive collection of photos on our computer, and it may be tricky to find what you need amongst that sprawl.

This is where the new feature comes in for the Microsoft Photos app in Windows 11, although it's only in preview at the moment, and the extent of the functionality is rather limited.

Microsoft's Xbox Series S is a capable machine when it comes to processing, but more developers are saying the memory is a problem.

The Xbox Series S has been controversial right at launch; what appeared to be a low-cost entry point to Xbox was discovered to be a significantly weaker console that's a lot less powerful and a lot slower than the Xbox Series X. Cross-platform parity meant devs had to scale their games to work on both systems despite the discrepancy.

Interestingly enough, it's not really the processing power that developers are having the most trouble with. The Series S only has 10GB of unified GDDR6 RAM, meaning both the GPU and system pull from the same memory--there's no dedicated video RAM separated out. That's nearly 40% less than the Series X's 16GB of RAM. It's not just the capacity, though, but the speed of the memory itself. The Series S' system memory is much slower than the Series X, with the Series S RAM reaching 224GB/sec max speeds compared to the Series X's maximum of 560GB/sec.

Daniel Houser, the founder and creative lead of Rockstar Games, has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 6 is the first GTA game he wasn't involved in writing.

In a recent interview with IGN, Houser confirmed that he has no involvement in GTA 6, but he is certain the game is going to be exciting and great. For those unfamiliar with Houser, the co-founder of Rockstar Games was a lead writer on every GTA game since GTA: London 1969, and also wrote both Red Dead Redemption games, along with other Rockstar titles such as Bully and Max Payne 3.

Houser departed from Rockstar in 2020, but past rumors indicated he oversaw the development of multiple GTA 6 story drafts, which were later discarded.

AMD's Zen 6 architecture is expected to come with major power efficiency and latency improvements as Team Red seems to have implemented a new chiplet architecture that has already been showcased in the company's Strix Halo APUs.

The discovery was made by YouTuber High Yield, who pointed out in a recent video the architectural difference between AMD's Strix Point APUs and Zen 2,3,4, and 5 CPUs. Here's what was found. AMD currently uses what is called "SERDES PHYs" on the CCD (Core Complex Die) edges, the part of the CPU that contains the CPU cores. On the edge of these CCDs are high-speed serial lanes, which are used to communicate across the substrate, or the material that is beneath the dies.

SERDES PHYs is a serializer/deserializer, and AMD has been using this technique to communicate between chips since Zen 2. However, it appears that it will soon be changed. But first, here's how SERDES PHYs work in a nutshell. Data from the CPU cores is serialized into high-speed bitstreams, sent across the substrate, and then deserialized again on the other side. While this technique has worked well since Zen 2, it has two major downsides: it consumes extra power because the hardware has to encode/decode, clock recovery, and latency, as the data needs to be converted back and forth.