Xbox is getting its first new boot-up sound in years, and while it might seem like a small change, it signals something much bigger happening behind the scenes at Microsoft.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma revealed the updated startup sound in a recent X post, confirming it will begin rolling out to Xbox consoles next week. The refreshed animation features a more modern, glass-inspired version of Xbox branding alongside a redesigned sound effect, replacing the startup audio players have been hearing since the Xbox Series X and Series S launched in 2020.

The update arrives during a major transition period for Xbox. Since taking over earlier this year, Sharma has overseen sweeping changes across the division, including the return to the "We Are Xbox" branding, Project Helix announcements, Game Pass pricing changes, and a renewed focus on console identity after a tragic marketing campaign that left Xbox fans confused and what an Xbox console actually is, or, at the very least, what Xbox was trying to be as a brand.

Anthropic is dramatically increasing Claude's usage limits after striking a massive compute partnership with SpaceX, highlighting how the AI arms race is quickly becoming a battle over infrastructure.

The company announced it has secured access to SpaceX's Colossus 1 AI supercomputer, gaining more than 300 megawatts of new compute capacity powered by over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs. Anthropic says the added power will directly improve availability for Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers, while also allowing the company to raise API and usage limits for developers substantially.

This is a major moment in the broader AI industry narrative. Companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, and Google are no longer just competing on models; they are competing on raw compute access. Anthropic has faced mounting criticism in recent months over aggressive Claude rate limits, especially surrounding Claude Code and Opus usage.

Capcom has doubled down on its design for Resident Evil Requiem's character Grace, despite widespread backlash over how NVIDIA's DLSS 5 neural rendering altered her facial features. Notably, the NVIDIA video linked below is measuring at

In a recent interview with Eurogamer, producer Masato Kumazawa framed the controversy as a positive, stating that the strong fan reaction to Grace's original design proved the team "got the design right."

Kumazawa and director Koshi Nakanishi emphasized that the game has been well received overall, with over 6 million units sold in just 16 days, making it the fastest-selling Resident Evil title to date.

Project Fantasy is the game that Hitman developer IO Interactive has always wanted to make, but has it been scrapped? CEO Hakan Abrak confirms the game is still in development.

Three years ago, IO Interactive announced Project Fantasy, a new online RPG set in a fresh IP. The game, which had previously been known through rumors and reports as Project Dragon, represents an unexplored frontier for the action game studio that explores "deeply personal" feelings about old-school gaming origins, including the classic Fighting Fantasy roleplaying books from days of yore.

While details on Project Fantasy are light, it was believed that Xbox was funding the project. Specifics haven't been confirmed, and Xbox has cut lots of funding for third-party projects throughout the years as it downsized to cut costs, laying off thousands of workers, shutting down studios, and canceling first-party games in the process. It's now been confirmed that Project Fantasy hasn't been scrapped, and that it's in a good position financially.

Taiwanese motherboard manufacturer Biostar has announced plans to showcase "next-generation AMD" motherboards at Computex 2026. This makes Biostar one of the first vendors to hint that next-gen AMD platforms will appear at the show, potentially tied to Ryzen CPUs based on the upcoming Zen 6 architecture. The lineup is expected to include a new Valkyrie gaming model for enthusiasts, as well as more mainstream designs to suit a range of users.

Biostar doesn't explicitly say what it means by "next-generation," but the context isn't hard to read. AMD is working on Zen 6-powered Ryzen desktop CPUs codenamed Olympic Range, which are rumored to scale up to 24 cores. Along with the usual generational uplift in performance and efficiency, platform updates are also expected. We have already seen early groundwork, with board makers rolling out features such as EXPO 1.2 support for CUDIMM and low-latency DDR5, as well as upcoming enhancements like CPPC Highest Frequency.

Given these factors, it seems plausible that early designs of next-gen AM5 motherboards could appear at Computex, not just from Biostar but other board partners as well. However, another possibility is that Biostar is branding a refreshed 800-series lineup as next-generation. AMD has already advanced its AM5 platform to the X870E and X870 generation, so if Biostar is pointing to a genuinely new chipset rather than another X870 refresh, that would suggest X970 or a related 900-series platform for next-gen Ryzen processors.

Valorant Mobile has hit 10 million daily active players in China without a global release, proving just how hungry mobile gamers are for competitive FPS action.

The game, launched in August 2025, is already outperforming expectations, with Tencent and Riot Games reaping the rewards of a focused regional rollout.

Riot Games confirmed the milestone via Weibo, noting the mobile title has already surpassed 10 million daily players in just under a year. With 170,000 downloads and $1 million in first-day revenue, Valorant Mobile has become one of the most successful mobile game launches in recent memory.

CCP Games just bought back its independence from Pearl Abyss for $120 million, and now the developer is changing its name and making an ambitious AI partnership.

Eve Online developer CCP Games today announced big changes at the company. The group has rebranded to 'Fenris Creations' and has teamed up with Google's DeepMind AI to help build its EVE Forever initiative.

Specific details on the partnership and how exactly Google's AI will be used remain vague, however, the studio says that it's primarily research-based, and that all testing will be done in secured, offline versions of EVE. This isn't about funding, as Fenris Creations' CEO Hilmar Veigar explains that the game is still quite lucrative: "the company remains profitable, with strong reserves and the ability to keep investing in the long-term health of New Eden."

Elon Musk has settled a years-long legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for $1.5 million over his delayed disclosure of a major stake in Twitter.

The agreement, reached without Musk admitting fault, marks the end of a contentious dispute that began in 2022 when the SEC alleged he waited 11 days to reveal his purchase of a 5% stake in the company. The regulator claimed the delay was intentional and that Musk would not have had to pay approximately $150 million in potential shareholder losses.

The settlement, approved by a court, resolves one of Musk's most high-profile legal entanglements. The SEC argued that Musk used "gamesmanship" to stall its investigation, while Musk previously accused then-SEC chair Gary Gensler of "harassment." This case is the largest of its kind in SEC history, with the fine reflecting the severity of the alleged violations, according to a Reuters report.

Campaign Evolved won't be the only Halo game that comes back, as sources tell game reporter Rebs Gaming that Halo Studios is working on two new Halo remakes--including a Halo 3 remake that could launch during a well-timed anniversary.

There are plans underway to remake Bungie's entire mainline Halo trilogy, not just CE. New reports indicate Halo 2 and Halo 3 will also be remade in Unreal Engine 5, complete with new features and content that weren't previously available in the games. The new chapters are said to be in early development at Halo Studios, and it's likely that both games will also launch on PS5 similar to Halo Campaign Evolved.

No release window information was offered, but we can't help but notice Halo 3 will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2027. The original game launched in 2007, and we could see Halo 3 remake, or maybe even a Halo 2 & 3 remake double-game package, release next year to coincide with this momentous occasion.

It's hard to ignore Microsoft's recent efforts at improving the Windows 11 experience, including more control over updates, faster performance, and storage fixes. AMD is now joining that effort in its own way. According to the latest patch series posted to the Linux kernel mailing list (via Neowin), AMD is adding a new CPPC-based element called "Highest Frequency" that could improve how Windows 11 and Linux handle CPU scheduling and boost behavior.

For context, CPPC, short for Collaborative Processor Performance Control, already helps operating systems figure out which CPU cores are fastest for a given task. Windows 11 and Linux rely on CPPC to prioritize preferred cores for gaming, productivity, and multitasking.

However, on some systems, the relationship between CPPC performance values and actual clock speeds doesn't always map cleanly across all cores. This mismatch leads to inaccurate boost prediction and less efficient scheduling. That is what AMD's new Highest Frequency is designed to fix.

Nintendo fans may soon have a full slate of new games to sink their teeth into, as a leaker has said that new Metroid, Zelda, and Smash Bros. titles/content are currently in development.

The claims, which suggest 2027 - 2028 will bring new entries or updates to these iconic franchises, have reignited excitement around Nintendo's next-gen hardware and IP roadmap. To maintain the pace of Nintendo Switch 2 sales, Nintendo needs to keep releasing new titles to give gamers a strong reason to upgrade.

According to KiwiTalkz, a prominent video games journalist who regularly interviews developers, Nintendo is currently working on something new in the three aforementioned franchises for the Nintendo Switch 2. Kiwi Talkz hinted at a potential wave of first-party games slated to launch in a "year or two".

Unbox Therapy has released the most detailed video yet of Apple's rumored foldable iPhone Ultra, offering a tangible look at the device's form factor and ergonomics.

The 10-minute video from Unbox Therapy showcases a dummy unit that aligns with recent leaks, featuring a passport-like shape when folded and a more tablet-like form when opened. Measurements provided in the video show the device to be 117 mm high, 84.27 mm wide, and 11.02 mm thick when closed, with a 5.2 mm thickness when unfolded. The unit also demonstrates the hinge mechanism and how the device wobbles when placed on a surface.

This foldable device is part of Apple's long-rumored strategy to enter the foldable market with a foldable iPhone, a space currently dominated by Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi. The dummy unit suggests Apple is moving toward a more compact, multi-form factor design that could appeal to users looking for both portability and a larger-screen experience. The device's ergonomics and button placement are also highlighted, showing how Apple is refining the user experience for a foldable form factor.

Forza Horizon 6 has officially gone gold two weeks ahead of its May 19 release, giving players and developers a healthy buffer ahead of launch.

Playground Games confirmed the final build is locked and ready for distribution, with preloads now live on Xbox and PC. This early gold status only signals that Playground Games is extremely happy with the condition of Forza Horizon 6, which has now set the stage, even more than previous marketing material, for a polished next-gen racing experience.

The game features an expanded soundtrack with 9 radio stations spanning electronic, rock, and synthwave, marking the largest music library in the series to date. Accessibility features like AutoDrive, Proximity Radar, and high-contrast mode have also been highlighted, with post-launch support for ASL and BSL sign language in cinematics.

Whether you're looking to create an engaging product showcase to engage with an audience or looking to enhance and breathe new life into an existing video, look no further than the Vmake AI Agent and the Free AI Video Enhancer tool.

Built for the modern era of short-form marketing and talking-head videos, the Vmake AI Agent-powered UGC (User-Generated Content) video generator is a powerful new way for creators, individuals, and small businesses to create impressive videos and grow their audience. The Vmake Agent offers a complete video creation solution that covers ideation, video generation, editing, packaging, and publishing.

The powerful Vmake AI Agent offers an intuitive interface and a personalized way to generate videos that go above and beyond. For example, if you're a boutique lifestyle brand that designs fashion for trendy consumers, Vmake will guide you through creating an energetic short-form marketing video with a young presenter who highlights product features while showcasing real-world scenarios.

SteelSeries is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, and the gaming hardware brand has just announced a pair of new wireless gaming headsets: the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni and Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2. Both are second-generation versions of existing headsets, with the Arctis Nova Pro Omni's Hi-Res Wireless audiophile sound and broadcast-quality microphone making it the company's latest flagship.

The new Arctis Nova Pro Omni is Hi-Res Wireless Certified by the Japanese Audio Society (JAS) and supports 96kHz/24-bit wireless audio over 2.4GHz and Bluetooth, with an expanded frequency range of 10Hz to 40kHz. It also features premium Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) that SteelSeries says "blocks up to 40% more background noise versus the competition," with AI Noise Rejection on the ClearCast Pro microphone, which reduces background noise by up to 96% during chats.

The Arctis Nova Pro Omni also includes the company's GameHub for connecting and switching between multiple audio sources, as well as a dual-battery system for long-term use. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni is available today, with an MSRP of $399.99 USD.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is on track for release this October on PC and consoles, bringing high-speed racing back to the world of Star Wars video games. For fans who grew up playing Star Wars Episode I: Racer on the Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, or PC, this looks and feels like a spiritual successor of sorts, albeit one that expands the vehicles beyond just pod racers.

And as we're talking about the return of a style of Star Wars gaming that has been missing in action for decades, the visuals are getting a major glow-up thanks to Unreal Engine 5, ray tracing, and, on PC, native support for DLSS 4.5 on day one. This includes DLSS Super Resolution with the impressive second-generation Transformer model for all GeForce RTX gamers and the new Dynamic Multi Frame Generation mode for GeForce RTX 50 Series owners.

A game that's a little closer on the horizon, 007 First Light, is also set to get native DLSS 4.5 support when it launches on May 27. From Hitman studio IO Interactive, this new third-person action-adventure looks to present a cinematic James Bond film in-game. On PC, the game will feature an exclusive path-tracing mode developed in collaboration with NVIDIA, enhancing visuals with more realistic, immersive lighting.

AMD has announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2026, and, naturally, Data Center revenue of $5.8 billion accounts for the bulk of the $10.3 billion in total revenue, driven by AMD EPYC processors and AMD Instinct GPU shipments. That said, Client and Gaming segment revenue was right up there with its $3.6 billion, representing a 23% year-over-year increase.

Breaking this down, AMD's Ryzen CPUs generated $2.9 billion in revenue for the Client segment, a solid 26% year-over-year increase, with the Gaming segment's 11% growth to $720 million "driven by solid demand for AMD Radeon GPUs." In fact, it sounds like Radeon GPUs carried the segment, as AMD notes lower semi-custom revenue for the quarter compared to last year, which covers consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

With Radeon driving Gaming growth for AMD, this is attributed to the well-received Radeon RX 9000 Series of desktop GPUs for PC gaming and local AI, as well as the company's commitment to expanding its neural rendering suite with the arrival of FSR 4.1 upscaling and Ray Regeneration 1.1 for enhancing ray-traced lighting detail.

Based on the work of researcher Andy Nguyen, aka TheFlow, you can turn a PlayStation 5 into a Steam Machine-like device that runs Linux as its operating system. However, it's not an easy mod, and there are several caveats to getting Linux up and running on a PS5. According to a new deep dive into Linux on PlayStation 5 by Digital Foundry, it only works on a launch-era PlayStation 5 running system software (firmware) up to version 4.5.

As that firmware dates back to December 2021, finding a Linux-ready PlayStation 5 console to play Steam games could be quite difficult. From there, PS5 Linux leverages an exploit to boot the operating system from a USB stick, which can also be installed in the console's M.2 SSD expansion slot to boost speeds.

With access to the Ubuntu 26.04 LTS distribution, PS5 Linux offers 15GB of memory, all eight cores of the Zen 2 processor boosted to 3.5 GHz, and all 36 CUs of the RDNA 2 GPU clocked at 2.23 GHz. The tool also provides access to cooling, with the option to boost fan speeds to compensate for overclocking. And with that, although the output resolution was locked to 1080p, Digital Foundry was able to test gaming performance and compare that to the same games running natively on the console.

In the modern era of PC builds with panoramic views and tempered glass panels as standard, choosing the right memory requires more than a glance at a spec sheet. For those who care about aesthetics, choosing the right DDR5 memory kit now also means taking stock of the physical design. And when it comes to looks, XPG's new NOVAKEY RGB DDR5 memory presents something we haven't seen before.

According to the company, the NOVAKEY RGB DDR5 series includes the world's first patented 'Infinity Mirror' design. The infinity mirror look has been growing in popularity in recent years, as it blends reflective glass with RGB lighting to create an impressive 3D effect. So, in a way, it was only a matter of time before it hit the DDR5 market for PC gamers and enthusiasts. And it's compatible with all major lighting software, covering ASUS, ASRock, GIGABYTE, MSI, and more.

Spec-wise, you're also looking at solid performance and options for gamers, creators, and enthusiasts, with speeds of up to 6,400 MT/s and capacities up to 32GB per module. XPG notes that NOVAKEY RGB DDR5 memory kits will also be available with ultra-low latencies and CL30 timings, with Power Management IC (PMIC) and On-die ECC (Error Correction Code) for reliability.

We have heard rumblings about DDR6 in the past, mostly centered around early design plans and targets. However, it now seems the next generation of Double Data Rate (DDR) memory is moving closer to production. Apparently, major memory manufacturers have already begun initial development of DDR6 memory, and the launch window could be around two years away.

According to a report from South Korean media outlet TheElec, the memory makers have asked substrate suppliers to prepare designs for DDR6. The report states that memory manufacturers and substrate makers typically engage in this kind of joint development about 2 years before the product is supposed to launch. It is also important to note that the JEDEC DDR6 standard has not yet been finalized.