AMD has officially launched its new Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9000 series "Shimada Peak" CPUs, offering up to 96 cores and 192 threads of Zen 5 processing power for HEDT systems.

AMD says its new Zen 5-based Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9000 series CPUs offer an IPC performance uplift over the Zen 4-based Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series CPUs of up to 26%. The new Threadripper PRO 9000 series processors feature the Zen 5 architecture and its full 512-bit FPU data-path, boasting significant performance uplifts in applications that use the AVX-512 instruction set.

AMD has been working hard at tweaking the IOD (I/O die) to support higher memory speeds of DDR5-6400 natively, AMD EXPO profiles, and CKD.

In some new 6G trials using the 300GHz band, researchers have breached 280Gbps connectivity speeds: which is around 28x faster than 5G, enough speeds to download 50GB of data in just 1.4 seconds flat.

The new 6G benchmark trial was made possible by ensuring that the signal transmitted was super-clean, with Keysight's Vector Component Analyzer playing a central role in the 6G tests, build on the latest N524XB series PNA-X Microwave Network Analyzers. This enabled the use of spectral digital predistortion (DPD) to minimize any distortion and optimize the signal integrity to reach 280Gbps speeds using 6G.

The tests used NTT's indium phosphide-based J-band power amplifier, reaching 35 GBaud with 256-QAM modulation at 0dBm output, and +9.1dBm saturated power.

ASUS has just launched its latest QD-OLED ROG Swift gaming monitor, with the introduction of the new ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDMR, an iteration of its ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDMR, but this time with AI technology and DisplayPort 2.1a UHBR20.

The new ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDMR gaming monitor features the same 32-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED panel, but unlike the ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM, the new PG32UCDMR (note the "R" there) features DisplayPort 2.1a UHBR20, where as the non-R model relied on DisplayPort 1.4 which only packs 32.4Gbps of bandwidth. The new PG32UCDMR features DP2.1a UHBR20 which rocks and rolls with the full 80Gbps of bandwidth, capable of offering uncompressed visuals at higher resolutions and refresh rates.

DisplayPort 2.1a UHBR20 features 20Gbps of bandwidth per lane, with four lanes offering a huge 80Gbps of bandwidth. This new bandwidth enables not just 4K @ 240Hz with HDR and 10-bit color depth, but also offers 8K @ 60Hz with dual 4K @ 144Hz modes.

Beat Saber is officially dropping support for Sony's PSVR2 this month.

Despite major technological innovations, the PlayStation VR2 didn't make a substantial splash in gaming the way that Sony had hoped it would. Maybe it was the steep $549 price tag on top of having to already own a PS5, or maybe it was the games selection. Whatever the case, it looks like the PSVR2 is winding down both on a platform and partner level.

Today, Beat Games announced that Beat Saber on PSVR2 and the original PSVR will no longer receive new updates and content, and that multiplayer functionality is also being removed on January 21, 2026.

NVIDIA is reportedly working on another custom GPU for the Chinese markets, with rumors pointing to a GeForce RTX 5090DD -- replacing the RTX 5090D which is under a "full sales ban" in the country.

In a new post on X by leaker @MEGAsizeGPU we're hearing that NVIDIA is preparing a GeForce RTX 5090DD with the same GPU core count with 21760 CUDA cores and the tweaked GB202-240-K-A1 GPU. In a follow up post, leaker @kopite7kimi noted that but the memory is scaled down to 24GB (down from 32GB on the RTX 5090) on a 384-bit memory bus clocked at 28Gbps and the same 575W TDP but the leaker teases "and there's a surprise".

NVIDIA launched its cut-down GeForce RTX 5090 back in January 2025, tweaked to meet US export controls, but its AI TOPs power was sliced down, but the GPU retained its same GB202 GPU with 21760 CUDA cores and 32GB of GDDR7 memory. This new RTX 5090DD has the VRAM cut down from 32GB to 24GB, a big difference, but retains all of its gaming power.

A new feature in Donkey Kong Bananza has fans speculating about a modern day Mario Paint game on Switch 2.

The Nintendo Switch 2 feels ripe for a Mario Paint sequel. The new upgraded console supports USB mice and its JoyCon controllers can be tilted sideways and converted into a makeshift mouse cursor, with built-in sensors simulating those of a computer mouse. It even supports the original Mario Paint mouse that released on the Super Nintendo in 1992.

Nintendo has been tight-lipped on any possibility of a Mario Paint on Switch 2, but we've now had a glimpse of what that might look like, at least on a conceptual level. The new Donkey Kong Bananza game on Switch 2 features an interesting new creation toolset called DK Artist mode, where gamers can paint, mold, and customize digital 3D creations in a kind of studio environment.

We've heard a lot about macOS Tahoe 26's new features recently, with that big Liquid Glass redesign being a key change - and now comes news that Terminal is getting a makeover.

In fact, this is the first time Apple has revamped the appearance of Terminal, although that isn't staggeringly surprising in some ways, given that it's the very epitome of function, not form, in the macOS library of apps.

MacRumors just noticed that Apple revealed the new look for Terminal in its State of the Platforms presentation at WWDC25.

If you've taken the plunge with Nintendo Switch 2, you may have experienced the handheld disabling its rumble effect - and some gamers are complaining that this is happening to them surprisingly often.

IGN picked up on this, as well as plenty of Switch 2 owners on Reddit (like the above person) who are seeing the effect switched off with the following message displayed on-screen: "Rumble has been turned off due to prolonged use."

So, it seems that the idea is that if lots of rumble is coming through with a game, the Switch 2 will proactively turn off the effect - perhaps to save battery. After all, longevity is a priority with handhelds and rumbling the Joy-Con uses power.

WB Games gets restructured with new leadership and content focus while its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, plans to split in two parts.

Following an expensive multi-year merger, Warner Bros Discovery is breaking up, and that means big changes across all segments. WB Discovery will split into two groups: Global Networks and Streaming & Studios, and WB's games division will be nestled under the studios branch. So...how will all of this affect gaming?

WB Games will now focus on four core billion-dollar IPs: DC (primarily Batman and Superman), Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones. The entire video games unit is effectively being restructured and bifurcated to work on these franchises.

DOOM: The Dark Ages is receiving its Path Tracing update this week, and we got to check it out early, running on a GeForce RTX 5080 in 4K. Path Tracing, or Full Ray Tracing, uses cutting-edge technology to calculate realistic shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion, global illumination, and more, covering everything related to in-game lighting.

DOOM: The Dark Ages already features ray-tracing on all platforms, with developer id Software leveraging the technology for global illumination and even hit detection. The Path Tracing update, which introduces DLSS Ray Reconstruction support, improves the game's fantastic visuals and lighting to deliver a seamless, more immersive cinematic action experience.

As seen in titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, it's the little details that make DOOM: The Dark Ages so impressive with Path Tracing enabled. From how light from objects interacts with each other to how weapons look more like a part of the world in first-person, especially when you see things like fire and ominous red lighting reflected on the Slayer's shotgun.

Until GTA 6 arrives on PlayStation and Xbox next year, GTA V will remain one of the most popular games on all platforms. Earlier this year, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto 5: Expanded & Enhanced on PC, introducing several visual improvements to the game that first debuted on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Part of the visual overhaul included the addition of ray-tracing and support for AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution technologies.

However, the ray-tracing in the GTA V update was pretty basic. The reflections were console-like and lower quality than other RT-heavy PC games, and the ray-traced global illumination only covered a single 'bounce'. Tracing and calculating multiple light bounces is hardware-intensive, but it is something that modern GeForce RTX GPUs and AMD's new RDNA 4 line-up can handle.

As part of the game's GTAV Title Update 1.71 for the new GTA Online 'Money Fronts' update, the team at Rockstar is improving the Grand Theft Auto 5: Expanded & Enhanced's ray-traced effects.

With the recent announcement of the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds from Microsoft and the Xbox team, which will introduce a new Xbox-focused version of Windows 11 when it launches later this year, the company gave us our first look at its plans for the next Xbox console and the future of Xbox gaming.

Earlier today, we reported on Xbox President Sarah Bond's announcement that it has partnered with AMD to co-engineer silicon for next-generation consoles. This part of the announcement is business as usual. For generations, Sony and Microsoft have been developing custom CPU and GPU hardware for PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

However, this "multi-year" partnership now extends to a "portfolio of devices," including handhelds like the ROG Xbox Ally, as the handheld's Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip features prominently in the announcement video from Sarah Bond.

2K and Gearbox have detailed the launch plans for the upcoming Borderlands 4. Although attention is being placed on the game's lack of an $80 price tag (turns out the game will launch for $70), PC gamers will probably want to take a closer look at the game's minimum and recommended hardware requirements.

When it comes to PC specs, the 'recommended' settings are the ones that you should pay the closest attention to, as they refer to running the game at a high resolution with visuals on par with or better than console, and at a decent frame rate. Borderlands 4's recommended specs are causing a bit of a stir in the PC gaming community because it's a triple sting of asking for a high-end CPU, GPU, and RAM.

On the CPU front, Gearbox says the game requires 8+ CPU Cores for the best performance, listing the Intel Core i7-12700 and AMD Ryzen 7 5800X as a baseline. On the GPU front, Gearbox says the game requires a GPU with 12+ GB of VRAM, listing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT as the baseline.

Bungie has announced it will be delaying the release of Marathon to focus on several aspects of the game, including making it more challenging, rewarding, increasing visual fidelity, and adding more social experiences.

This official delay by Bungie comes on the heels of the developer being caught in the middle of a negative press spiral, with the first problem being that Alpha play tests of the game generated poor player feedback, and the developer admitting to stealing artist designs for Marathon assets. The latter of the two really caused the sentiment around Marathon to be negative, with reports stating morale at the developer dropped to an all-time low following the controversy.

Additionally, following the negative response from the Alpha play tests and the artist debacle, reports stated the entire marketing plan for the game had to be reworked, along with the roadmap to release. Moreover, it was reported at the end of May that a delay was being discussed between Bungie and Sony executives, as neither wanted to release the game in what was described as a "now actively hostile environment."

GeForce Game Ready Driver 576.80 is here, adding day one support for Remedy's new co-op shooter set in the Control universe, FBC: Firebreak. It also adds support for DOOM: The Dark Ages' path tracing or full ray-tracing update, which is set to launch tomorrow on PC, June 18.

Remedy's FBC: Firebreak uses the same technology that powered Alan Wake 2. It's launching with full path tracing on day one with support for DLSS 4, including DLSS Ray Reconstruction and Multi Frame Generation. With path tracing enabled, the game delivers stunning cinematic reflections, shadows, ambient occlusion, and more, adding a new level of immersion and detail to the game's Federal Bureau of Control setting.

With the 'High' Full 'Ray Tracing setting enabled in FBC: Firebreak, NVIDIA's benchmarks show that you'll want a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti or higher to experience 200+ FPS performance with DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation. Entry-level path tracing on mainstream GeForce RTX 5060 is available at 1080p.

ASUS has just announced its new ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 Dhahab CORE OC Edition graphics card, ready to rizz up your rig... if you live in the Middle East, or buy it at some utterly ridiculous price on eBay. Check it out:

The new ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 Dhahab CORE OC Edition graphics card includes a factory overclock on its GPU, with speeds of up to 2760MHz (and I'm sure a little more through manual overclocking) as well as the usual 16GB GDDR7 memory found on the RTX 5080.

ASUS really does go all-out with its Dhahab Edition graphics cards, with the ROG Astral RTX 5080 Dhahab CORE OC Edition evoking the image of a gold brick, with the card radiating premium, premium, premium on every edge and crevace of the card. It looks like a stunner, with skyscraper imagry that emphasizes the ROG Astral RTX 5080 Dhahab CORE OC Edition "towering innovation".

Launching games into subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus may negatively impact long-term sales for indie game developers--and this path may become "very damaging" to studios, a Revenge of the Savage Planet developer says.

Xbox Game Pass is another tool for developers and publishers, and it can be a boon or a bane depending on how everything shakes out. The FTC v Microsoft trial from 2023 highlighted the "cannibalism" effect of Game Pass wherein players will just subscribe instead of buying games they want--lower-cost, but potentially longer-term subscriptions "replace" game sales in this case. While big-name publishers like EA and Ubisoft can afford to hedge these bets, smaller-scale studios may not be able to take on the risk.

On the flip side, some of these games may not even get made without the help of subscriptions. It's true that launching games into PS Plus or Xbox Game Pass can secure lucrative multi-year deals to fund game projects, but what happens after all that's over? It's hard to say exactly--the deals are secretive and widely vary--and we do know about a bonus fee structure for active players, but if your indie game is on Game Pass for multiple years, does that impact sales?

Square Enix has clarified what the new Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles remaster does and does not include.

Final Fantasy Tactics is coming back with a big new re-release, complete with upgraded visuals, full voice acting, and major quality of life improvements. Unfortunately, the updates will begin and end with the base game, and will not include anything outside of the 1997 original. That means no extra jobs, characters, or features like co-op multiplayer that were introduced in the enhanced PSP version, The War of the Lions.

This was to be expected--overhauling the full range of Final Fantasy Tactics would be more expensive, plus War of the Lions is a PSP game, so there's potentially some hang-ups with PlayStation on that front. War of the Lions added some nifty mechanics and even had playable versions of Cloud Strife and Final Fantasy XII's Balthier. The PSP version also added new classes like the Dark Knight and a bunch of new battles and quests.

Microsoft is making good on its promise to bring more Activision Blizzard games to Xbox Game Pass.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers are getting some pretty big drops this month, especially if you're an RTS fan. Microsoft reveals that all three Warcraft games are coming to Game Pass PC and Game Pass Ultimate this month, but predictably these games will be PC-only and have not been adapted for consoles (yet?). It's the remastered trilogy, though, and not the original games that are coming to Game Pass; Warcraft I & II Remastered and the unpopular-at-launch Warcraft III: Reforged. All three games will be available on June 26.

On the Activision front, another major Call of Duty game is crossing over, this time with Sledgehammer's 2017 shooter Call of Duty: WWII. That one will drop June 30, and will include both the console and PC version of WWII.

Marathon has been delayed to an unspecified period so that Bungie can make big changes.

Today, Bungie announced that Marathon has been pushed back and will no longer release on September 23.

The studio is taking this extra time to make some major adjustments to the extraction shooter, including the addition of proximity chat, more emphasis on survival gameplay, dynamic environmental storytelling, and what sounds like a new visual overhaul that will add a darker tone with grittier themes straight out of the original Marathon trilogy.