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AMD confirms next-gen EPYC 'Venice' Zen 6 CPU has 256 cores, will debut in 2026
AMD has confirmed its next-gen Zen 6-based EPYC "Venice" and next-next-gen Zen 7-based EPYC "Verano" CPUs are cooking right now, with up to 256 cores on its upcoming Zen 6-based EPYC "Venice" CPU.
During its keynote today at its Advancing AI event, AMD confirmed not only its next-gen EPYC processors but also next-gen Instinct AI series GPU family lineups. AMD launched its new Instinct MI350 series today as well as teasing its next-gen Instinct MI400 series, which will boast HBM4 memory launching in 2026.
AMD's upcoming Zen 6-based EPYC "Venice" CPUs will feature two different variants: a standard Zen 6 variant and a denser Zen 6c variant, which will be featured in the SP7 and SP8 sockets, with the former aimed at higher-end solutions, and the latter at entry-level servers. The new platform will feature 16-channel and 12-channel memory support, too.
ASUS's gold ROG ASTRAL GeForce RTX 5090 charity auction enters final day with $20K highest bid
The ROG ASTRAL Charity Auction is entering its final day, and the highest bid on the gold-plated ROG ASTRAL GeForce RTX 5090 Dhahab Edition GPU is $20,180 USD. The limited-edition flagship GPU is signed by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, and the money raised will go to the Tzu Chi USD humanitarian aid foundation, which reaches 133 countries and regions.
Open to US and Canadian residents, the charity auction offers one of the most opulent and extravagant GPUs ever created. ASUS's 'Dhahab Edition' GeForce RTX 5090 was created to celebrate the rapid technological evolution of the Middle East, blending a sand and skyline motif with the ROG ASTRAL's quad-fan design (a first for the company), vapor chamber cooling, enhanced power delivery, and flagship overclocked performance.
Some tasteful calligraphy also spells out "strength, courage, and unity" in Arabic. Of course, the big thing here is that this is a GPU made with literal gold, 6.5 grams of 24K gold. So even though the current highest bid has crossed the $20,000 barrier, it makes sense when you consider how rare and extravagant the GPU is.
AMD's next-gen Instinct MI400 GPU confirmed: rocks 432GB of HBM4 at 19.6TB/sec ready for 2026
AMD has just teased its next-gen Instinct MI400 AI accelerator, which will double the AI compute performance over the just-announced MI350 series, with 50% more memory, and close to 2.5x the memory bandwidth thanks to the use of next-gen HBM4 memory.
The company shared some fresh new details on its next-gen Instinct MI400 series AI accelerator, with 40 PFLOPs (FP4) and 20 PFLOPs (FP8) which is double the AI compute speeds of the new Instinct MI350 that was just launched today. AMD's new Instinct MI400 series AI chip will boast 50% more memory capacity over the MI350 which has 288GB of HBM3E, while the new MI400 has a huge 432GB of HBM4 memory.
AMD's use of the new HBM4 standard will bring the company up to full competitiveness against NVIDIA which will be using HBM4 on its upcoming Rubin R100 AI GPU, with AMD's new Instinct MI400 AI chip and its 432GB of HBM4 offering a huge 19.6TB/sec of memory bandwidth, up from just 8TB/sec on the MI350 series. The new AI GPU will also sport a 300GB/sec scale-out bandwidth per GPU, so we should expect big things from MI400 in 2026 as it battles Rubin R100 in the HBM4-powered AI fight.
Days Gone developer Sony Bend lays off 30% of workers, new project in the works
Sony's first-party Bend, Oregon studio is letting go of more workers shortly after Sony axed an online game project that the team had been developing.
Days Gone developers at Sony Bend are being laid off, new reports from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier indicate. The Oregon-based studio will lay off 30% of its staff, or about 40 people in total.
Specific details about the layoffs weren't shared by the company, but Sony has cited rising costs as a major reason for cross-segment layoffs across its divisions, especially in interactive entertainment, where costs can be particularly high.
Report: Native Xbox handheld cancelled as Microsoft reveals new Xbox Ally X duo
Microsoft has reportedly cancelled its plans for a native Xbox handheld device, sources tell The Verge.
Microsoft recently made history with the first Xbox-Windows handheld duo, the Xbox Ally and Ally X, made in conjunction with third-party OEM partner ASUS. Microsoft has said its goal was to bring a console-like experience to Windows using the handheld's Xbox controller-like inputs and design.
Now as the company reveals this new higher-end handheld PC duo there are reports that Microsoft has scrapped its plans for an Xbox handheld that could potentially natively play console games. Sources tell The Verge's Tom Warren that the device has basically been cancelled.
Switch 2 power closer to Series S than PS4, Koei Tecmo dev says
The Nintendo Switch 2's upgraded performance profile is closer to the Gen 9 Xbox Series S console than it is to Sony's last-gen PlayStation 4, one developer says.
Compared to its 2017 predecessor, the newly-released Switch 2 is a powerhouse of handheld performance, complete with an upgraded chip that enables 4K gaming. The real secret sauce of the Switch 2 is its built-in upscaling tech which allows devs to take lots of visual shortcuts and squeeze out more frames.
The Switch 2's mid-generational overlap makes it somewhat uneven to compare with predecessor consoles, but as far as capability goes, one developer has likened the Switch 2 more to an Xbox Series S, a console that targets 1440p 60FPS performance. The Switch 2 actually has more onboard RAM than the Series S (12GB versus 10GB) and nearly as many TFLOPs as the Series S.
Continue reading: Switch 2 power closer to Series S than PS4, Koei Tecmo dev says (full post)
Drake has his own updatable radio station in Grand Theft Auto 6
A famous musician has seemingly accidentally leaked some information about how music and radio stations will work in Grand Theft Auto 6.
That artist is Jermaine Dupri, an American rapper and Grammy Award-winning producer, who appeared on the New Rory & Mal Podcast, where they got onto the topic of adopting music and the creation of music in a world that is becoming more and more virtual. Dupri explained that from his perspective, making music for the virtual world can even be exclusive, and fans of an artist would have to enter the virtual space to listen to that music. Dupri provided an example with Drake and Grand Theft Auto 6.
Continue reading: Drake has his own updatable radio station in Grand Theft Auto 6 (full post)
Nintendo confirms some Switch 2 consoles are dying before low battery warning
One of the biggest hurdles portable console makers attempt to overcome when designing a handheld device is balancing battery with performance, as it's all well and good if the device is super powerful, but it would be useless if you can only game on it for 30 minutes.
So, a balancing act is required between how much of the hardware capabilities are used, and how much in-game performance they can achieve for a specific amount of electricity. The end result is the average amount of battery life for the handheld console.
Nintendo states Switch 2 owners should get anywhere between 2 and 6 hours of playtime from the 5,220mAh battery, but, unfortunately, some owners of the new console are reporting their playtimes are more often than not landing on the lower end of that scale.
Silent Hill 1 remake announced by Konami, Silent Hill 2 dev Bloober Team is making it
The first Silent Hill game from 1999 is getting an official remake, Konami today announced.
After many years of static, Konami is now going all-in on the Silent Hill franchise. Following the huge success of 2024's Silent Hill 2 remake, which sold over 2 million copies worldwide, the series is returning with yet another modern upgrade.
This time around the first Silent Hill will get the reboot treatment, and the Polish horror mavens at Bloober Team are returning to craft the experience.
Gamers slam $80 price for Outer Worlds 2, developer shifts blame to Xbox
The Outer Worlds 2 is the first Xbox game to receive the new $80 price tag, sparking backlash from many gamers upset about the decision to increase Xbox game prices. The director of the game has now responded to those complaints.
In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Brandon Adler, the director of The Outer Worlds 2 development studio, Obsidian, explained that it isn't up to Obsidian Entertainment to determine how much they sell their game for, as they are just the development studio. That decision is made by the publisher, which in this case is Xbox Game Studios. Adler said that any complaints about the price of The Outer Worlds 2 should be aimed at Xbox, not Obsidian.
Microsoft previously announced it would begin charging $80 for games in 2025, citing the current economic climate, rising development costs, inflation, and the value their games offer. Notably, Nintendo was the first to begin charging $80 for its games, with Mario Kart World being the first title with the new price tag. Shortly after Nintendo's announcement of the new price, Xbox announced its price hike, which was accompanied by a price increase for Xbox consoles.
Xbox business enjoying 'really good success,' Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer says
Microsoft's gaming business is apparently doing very well behind the scenes as Xbox CEO Phil Spencer gives a quick update on the state of the cross-platform media segment.
All signs point to Xbox gaming being on the rise. Xbox earnings hit a record-breaking $5.72 billion last quarter, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recognized that Xbox games took over the PS Store once again, and reports suggest Xbox Game Pass subscribers have broken 35 million.
While we don't know what Xbox's bottom line actually is--we don't get operating profit info for Microsoft's games segment--it sounds like the $68.7 billion Activision merger has done well for the company.
MindsEye developer responds to performance and stability issues, outlines remedy
The developer behind MindsEye, the recently released title from former Rockstar veteran Leslie Benzies, has responded to the performance and stability complaints with a remediation plan.
Benzies' new studio, Build a Rocket Boy, has issued a statement regarding MindsEye's performance problems. These problems have gotten so bad that PlayStation has decided to issue refunds for the title to those who request them. Sony famously removed Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store in 2020 due to performance problems, staining the game's brand even to this day.
It was quite some time and many optimization updates before CD Projekt Red earned back its good graces with gamers. One may argue that the reputation was reestablished after the release of Cyberpunk 2077's DLC Phantom Liberty.
PlayStation support refunding MindsEye due to performance issues and bugs
PlayStation support has started to refund purchases of MindsEye due to performance issues.
MindsEye, the newest game from former Grand Theft Auto lead developer Leslie Benzies, is making the headlines for the wrong reasons. The game is so plagued with various issues like visual bugs and general instability on PS5 that Sony is offering refunds to gamers.
For its part, PlayStation Support says that it Sony is "aware of this game's optimization and are investigating the situation," and it's possible we could see MindsEye delisted from the PlayStation Store for a period of time. Back in 2020, Sony removed Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store due to performance issues, a move that dealt a significant blow to CD Projekt RED's goodwill with fans and overall sales revenue.
Don't update your iPhone before knowing the big downside
Apple unveiled iOS 26 at the WWDC 2025 keynote earlier this year week and now the new operating system update has been pushed out in a beta form, meaning you can download it right now if you so choose.
However, there are a few things you should first consider before downloading the update, and the first is whether you like the newly announced Liquid Glass design. Apple unveiled Liquid Glass at WWDC 2025, and in a nutshell, it's a complete overhaul of the user interface of iOS, particularly on the visual side.
Liquid Glass implements translucency to almost every UI element on the device, and while the aesthetics at first glance are quite nice, there is a downside that many users who have downloaded the update have pointed out.
Continue reading: Don't update your iPhone before knowing the big downside (full post)
The Witcher 3 to get brand-new story DLC, earliest release slated for 2026
After showcasing The Witcher 4 in a recent tech demo that shook the internet, a new report has surfaced claiming developer CD Projekt Red is working on a new story for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a decade after the game released.
The report comes from Polish YouTuber Remigiusz Maciaszek, who shared information in a new episode of his podcast where he said he has heard from multiple sources that CD Projekt Red is working on a new story-based DLC for The Witcher 3, and that it's in active development.
This DLC is reportedly being handled by Fool's Theory, a studio that consists of former senior developers who worked on The Witcher 3. It was only at the end of last month that CD Projekt Red confirmed that 60 million copies of The Witcher 3 have been sold, and that Cyberpunk 2 has entered into the pre-production phase.
Midjourney accused of 'Bottomless Plagiarism' in landmark AI lawsuit by Disney and Universal
A lawsuit filed in a California district court by Disney and NBCUniversal has claimed that the popular generative artificial intelligence program and service, Midjourney, has claimed the company behind the tool has continuously violated both companies' intellectual rights>
The lawsuit accuses Midjourney of ignoring its previous requests to stop violating its intellectual property rights, which Disney and NBCUniversal have traced back to its generative AI tools, such as image generation, More specifically, the lawsuit provided an example of how it believes Midjourney is violating intellectual property rights, such as the AI tool enabling users to generate an image of Disney-owned "Star Wars" character Darth Vadar in a variety of different settings and performing particular actions. The AI "obliges by generating and displaying a high-quality, downloadable image."
Disney and NBCUniversal are framing the lawsuit against Midjourney as a stance on protecting the "hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us," with Disney's chief legal compliance officer, Horacio Gutierrez saying in a statement, "Our world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment, creativity and innovation-investments only made possible by the incentives embodied in copyright law that give creators the exclusive right to profit from their works."
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered's first big post-launch update is here
The recent surprise announcement and release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, which recreates the iconic 2006 Bethesda RPG in Unreal Engine 5, has been one of the year's biggest releases. With new and returning players diving back into the game, although the response has been positive, the release still contained several bugs, performance issues, and missing quality of life features.
The good news is that the game is set to receive two major patches and updates in the coming weeks. The first will focus on major bugs, quest blockers, and quality-of-life fixes, and the second will focus on performance. Developed by Virtuos in partnership with Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Update 1.1 is now available in Steam Beta.
The patch notes can be found below. Some of the highlights are that the Local Map is now standard inside interior spaces and that the first-person camera is no longer set above the player's head. Here are the full Update 1.1 release notes.
be quiet!'s new mainstream Pure Power 13 M PSUs are reliable and extremely quiet
be quiet!'s new Pure Power 12 M power supplies represent the company's latest iteration of its popular mainstream PSUs for PC enthusiasts and gamers. With a semi-passive cooling system and five wattages from 550W to 1000W, the Pure Power 12 M line-up also arrives with 80 PLUS Gold and Cybenetics Gold certification.
As for features, you're looking at power supplies that fully comply with the latest ATX 3.1 standard and support modern PCIe 5.1 devices. The semi-passive cooling system has also been designed for silent operation during low to medium loads, with quiet active cooling powered by a 120mm fan only kicking in when the PSUs are fully utilized.
They also sport a clean modular design for simple cable management and installation, making them perfect for systems with a new GeForce RTX 50 Series or Radeon RX 9000 Series graphics card.
Scalpers list ASUS's new ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab Edition GPU for up to $22,900 on eBay
ASUS released one of the most exotic graphics cards earlier this year with its ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 Dhahab Edition, with the card made exclusively for the Middle Eastern market seeing scalpers make some profits by listing the card for upwards of $22,900.
Since you cannot find the ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 Dhahab OC Edition anywhere but the Middle East, getting your hands on one requires one of two things: you have the cash for the card, and live in the Middle East, or someone else buys it, and you pay whatever premium they're demanding (if you seek this card so much).
It seems like the re-sellers have someone in the supply chain of China, which gave them the path to getting their hands on the stock that was destined for the Middle East. Now we've got eBay sellers listing the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 Dhahab OC Edition for $8500, $14,998, and a whopping $22,990... far above the $6806 MSRP.
Disney and Universal sue Midjourney, says AI firm is a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism'
It's no secret that the advanced and powerful AI models used for image generation have been trained using copyrighted material. Case in point: the images in this article were created using Midjourney's AI image generator and simple prompts like "Mickey Mouse and Darth Vader in a courtroom."
And with news breaking that Disney and Universal are now suing Midjourney for copyright infringement, it's not all that surprising when you use the powerful AI tool to create an image of any Disney or Universal character with impressive accuracy in seconds.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles this week, claims that Midjourney has scraped the massive content libraries of Disney and Universal to train its AI image generation model. The suit doesn't hold back, either, calling Midjourney a "copyright free-rider" and a "bottomless pit of plagiarism."






















