Latest News - Page 314

Electronic Arts decided to cancel the Black Panther title being worked on by Cliffhanger Studios, which was then followed by the studio's closure. This raises the question of whether EA will follow through with its commitment made in 2022 to make three games based on Marvel characters.

In recent statements sent to IGN, EA has said that despite the closure of Cliffhanger Studios and the cancellation of the Black Panther game, the relationship with Marvel "remains strong" and the publisher is still committed to following through on its previous statement to complete three games based on Marvel characters. Notably, of those original three games, which Black Panther was one of them, the first is an Iron Man game, which is currently still in development and planned for release.

Motive Studios is developing the Iron Man game, and now that Cliffhanger Studios is gone, Motive appears slated to tackle the remaining two Marvel titles. However, given the fragility of the gaming industry and seemingly EA's studios, it wouldn't be surprising if the Iron Man game flops, that the two remaining Marvel-based projects will also be canceled. Let's hope that doesn't happen, and the talented team at Motive fulfills on an impressive single-player Iron Man experience.

Some PC gamers are getting a bit frustrated with a perceived lack of progress in the fixing of bugs with AMD's GPUs, and there's a particularly weird glitch with Oblivion Remastered that remains unsolved by the latest driver, and it's rather ruining the experience for some players.

AMD announced the release of version 25.5.2 of its Adrenalin graphics driver (as caught by VideoCardz), and it delivers support for F1 25, and a fix for a bug causing crashes when path tracing is turned on with RX 9000 GPUs. However, as you can see from the above Reddit thread, there are numerous complaints about bugs that haven't been fixed.

That includes the known issues mentioned by Team Red, which are intermittent crashing when using a multimonitor setup with AMD FreeSync and an RX 9000 GPU, alongside stuttering when Alt-Tabbing and streaming to Discord (again with multiple monitors). The latter is a bug which has been around for quite some time, too, with AMD seemingly struggling to cure this particular gremlin.

Lost data can cause immediate concern and even panic. Files that were once accessible - whether a digital photo or an important document - are no longer accessible.

For individuals or businesses running a Synology/QNAP NAS for file storage, there are ways to mitigate the risk of data loss through regular manual or automated backups, storing files in multiple locations, and regularly reviewing these processes.

But what happens when specific files and folders can no longer be opened? Your Synology NAS is no longer on your network as a storage location. You might also hear noises and clicks coming from inside the device. Thankfully, there are solutions.

Bungie isn't the only development studio experiencing morale at an all-time low, as now, Respawn Entertainment is reportedly experiencing low employee morale after 100 staff were laid off and two games were canceled.

The news of the Black Panther game being canceled and the development studio Cliffhanger Games being shut down has spread to Respawn. Some employees at the studio are so concerned that they are now taking to social media to voice their concerns.

Patrick Wren, a senior encounter designer at Respawn, took to Bluesky to write, "Morale has been at an all-time low. I can say that much." Wren added, "I am just sorry for everyone who just wants to make cool video games in this industry."

Microsoft's plans for a dedicated portable console have slightly changed, with a recent report from Windows Central (WC) stating that Microsoft's own Xbox-labeled handheld has now been put on the back burner.

It should first be noted that the device we are discussing here isn't the Xbox and ASUS portable console codenamed "Project Kennan," that one is still on track for release, possibly unveiled at an upcoming Microsoft event.

The console that has now been shelved is strictly Microsoft's own internal Xbox first-party handheld, with Windows Central reporting that while there are three prototype devices currently in development, the release plan has now been put on the back burner for prioritization on Windows 11 gaming performance, specifically for devices such as ASUS's Project Kennan.

When most people think about a mechanical keyboard for gaming and general PC use, the sound is often a key factor. Traditional mechanical keyboards have a loud clicky sound, which in recent years has evolved into a nice and smooth "thwocky" sound dampened by multiple layers of foam.

There's no right sound for a mechanical keyboard, with the focus in 2025 mostly being on reducing echo and rattle sounds to highlight the sound you're after - even if that's a loud click or satisfying "thwock". That said, a growing number of people out there want a silent or quieter keyboard, which is probably why the more silent linear-style switches are the most popular today.

Ducky's new Cushion 98, a compact 98-key mechanical keyboard, features what the company calls Sush Switches, on top of a typing experience that can only be described as typing on a pillow - a firm, responsive pillow that also happens to feature per-key RGB lighting.

Consider this one a small leftover from our packed week of Computex 2025 coverage. At ASRock's booth, we saw the company's new flagship 'concept' Radeon GPU - the ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi White. More than just a white-colored version of the impressive ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi that we've already reviewed, the physical design has been refined to include an LCD on top.

In addition, the top now features a full RGB light strip and a more fully enclosed design than the original we reviewed a couple of months ago. It looks the same underneath the hood, with a similar 3100 MHz out-of-the-box overclock and premium Taichi 3X cooling system with a 16-power-phase design and phase-change thermal pads.

Per our review of the black and gold ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi model, thanks to RDNA 4's massively improved ray-tracing performance and new FSR 4 upscaling technology, the premium Taichi variant from ASRock proved to be one of the fastest models we encountered. Its overall 1440p and 4K gaming performance is comparable to the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and GeForce RTX 4080.

Synthetic benchmark results for AMD's upcoming mainstream RDNA 4 GPU, the Radeon RX 9060 XT, have appeared online. They show a decent performance improvement compared to the previous generation's Radeon RX 7600 XT.

The Geekbench 6 results covering Vulkan and OpenCL tests, paired with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, 32GB of DDR5 memory, and a GIGABYTE X870E AORUS MASTER motherboard, show up to a 30% improvement when compared to its RDNA 3 counterpart. Geekbench is not precisely the best benchmark for replicating real-world gaming performance, but it's a promising result nonetheless.

The Vulkan score of 124,251 places performance somewhere between the GeForce RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti, while the OpenCL score of 109,315 places its performance below the RTX 5060, which is surprising. However, this is still notably higher than the Radeon RX 7600 XT.

There have been reports of Ryzen 9000 desktop CPUs failing, most notably the current gaming chip champ, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. In several cases, the common denominator was that the affected CPUs were all paired with ASRock motherboards. The company is now updating its firmware and BIOS for its boards to mitigate the risk of more Ryzen 9000 Series CPUs failing.

This video by Tech Yes City went through the latest BIOS update from ASRock (version 3.25), which changes Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) settings, namely lowering power and voltage-related settings to rectify the issue. In a follow-up video by Gamers Nexus, ASRock sat down with the channel to confirm that the problem was motherboard-related and not due to AMD's Ryzen chip design.

In the video, ASRock apologizes and notes that it will cover all shipping and related costs for damaged hardware. However, it notes that it has yet to see a damaged motherboard, as the damage is limited to CPUs.

The boss of the Borderlands franchise was recently caught in hot water after he responded to a fan who said Borderlands 4 would "fail" if it were priced at $80. The CEO said, "real fans" would find a way to buy the game if it were that much.

The backlash over that comment has sparked its own form of negative marketing for Borderlands 4, with many gamers pushing back at the idea of Borderlands 4 meeting the newly established $80 price tag, citing growing problems with the general economy resulting in less funds to spend on personal entertainment, and the price increases of games and gaming hardware getting close to pricing many fans out of the experience.

Randy Pitchford, the CEO of Gearbox Software, has provided some more context on his "real fans" comment, acknowledging that the language he used "triggered some people." Pitchford pushed back against the idea that the intent behind his comment was to make "some big statement" and that it was reflective of how he feels about the audience, which many suggested he is taking for granted by alienating those willing to pay $80 for Borderlands 4 as "real fans".

Lian Li's next-gen AIO cooler for Intel and AMD CPUs is here. The HYDROSHIFT II LCD-C 360 Series, which sports a unique and impressive design, is now available starting from $159.99 (for the fanless option). One design aspect that stands out is that the redesigned flexible tubes can be side-mounted to the 360mm radiator for improved chassis compatibility and a "tubeless appearance."

Of course, you can still see the tubing as it leads to the pump and the CPU cover, but the included sliding tube clamp allows you to align it perfectly with your build to minimize the amount of AIO tubing you see. Another aspect that stands out is that the pump mounting latches into place before screwing it in, making the whole installation process easier than ever.

As the name suggests, the HYDROSHIFT II LCD-C 360 Series includes a 2.1-inch IPS LCD with a 480x480 pixel resolution, 500 nits brightness, and a 60 Hz refresh rate. Displays on an AIO pump are standard, and we saw hundreds at Computex last week. However, the HYDROSHIFT II LCD-C includes an Offline software-free mode for changing the display, thanks to the inclusion of a rotatable cap on the pump.

Elden Ring Nightreign has finally released, and Bandai Namco has already released an update addressing some day-one problems, such as framerate issues.

Bandai Namco has taken to its website to publish the first patch for Elden Ring Nightreign, with the publisher confirming that PC players using the "latest graphics cards" may experience framerate drops. The patch does cover PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and the PC version of the game via Steam, with the overall goal of the update to "improve gameplay and stability." FromSoftware has requested players update their game to the latest version before launching for the best experience possible.

As for the PC related issues, the patch notes state, "Some PC configurations using the latest graphics cards may experience frame rate drops." Bandai writes that an investigation has been launched into the issue, and in the meantime, players can lower their graphics settings from High to Medium, or even Low, to fix the framerate problems. Moreover, Bandai recommends players install the latest graphics card drivers.

Announced earlier this year at CES 2025, NVIDIA has finally launched its native GeForce NOW streaming app for Valve's Steam Deck PC gaming handheld. For those looking to play some of the latest games, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and DOOM: The Dark Aces, with DLSS 4, ray-tracing, and settings turned up, the GeForce NOW app presents a serious visual upgrade over running titles natively.

NVIDIA notes that playing games via the GeForce NOW app on the Steam Deck also leads to 50% longer battery life. The app also supports 4K 60 FPS gameplay with DLSS 4, Reflex, and HDR10 when connecting the handheld to a capable TV. With various subscription tiers offering up to RTX 4080 performance levels, GeForce NOW offers performance and visual fidelity unheard of in the handheld gaming space.

GeForce NOW differs from other cloud-gaming services because it offers direct access to games you already own. The library now includes over 2,200 games across Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft, Battle.net, and Xbox (including PC Game Pass).

The Nintendo Switch 2 launch is only a matter of days away, and while Nintendo's next-generation console can play many of the original Switch games, it won't be able to play some of your favorite movies/TV shows.

Unfortunately, users who wanted their Nintendo Switch 2 to double as a media-playback device will be disappointed to learn that the Nintendo Switch 2 comes with less support for streaming services than the original Switch, as Nintendo has updated its official compatibility page stating Hulu, Crunchyroll, Niconic, and Abema, "cannot be used on Nintendo Switch 2."

Nintendo doesn't explain why the Switch 2 doesn't support the aforementioned streaming apps, nor did the company place any of the apps in the to be "fixed at a later date" category, suggesting they will never get support. However, that doesn't mean it's impossible for the developers of those apps to add support unless Nintendo has specifically banned their compatibility.

NVIDIA announced its financial results for Q1 FY26, which ended on April 27, 2025. Total revenue hit $44.1 billion - up 12% from the previous quarter and an impressive 69% from a year ago. Naturally, much of the media focus has been placed on the AI side of the business, including a $4.5 billion write-off for its H20 inventory due to the whole China situation.

However, even though it's now a small piece of the overall NVIDIA pie, the company's Gaming and AI PC segment, which covers everything GeForce RTX and even SoCs for Nintendo Switch consoles, hit a record $3.8 billion in revenue - its highest ever.

NVIDIA's Gaming revenue for Q1 FY26 was up 48% from the previous quarter and 42% from the same period a year ago. In terms of new GPUs, Q1 saw NVIDIA rapidly roll out its new GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards for gaming desktops and laptops. The company dropped models from the flagship RTX 5090 to the mid-range RTX 5070 at a pace we haven't seen before.

Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games is looking for Cinematic Animators at some of its studios, with positions open for someone in Frankfurt and Manchester, who need experience developing for current, and next-gen consoles.

We know that Microsoft and Sony both have next-gen consoles in the works, with a new Xbox and the upcoming PlayStation 6 consoles in the works right now, one of the most expensive games of all time -- Star Citizen -- should now be expected to drop on the next-gen Xbox and PS6 consoles.

CIG itself hasn't said a single word on whether we'll see Star Citizen on consoles yet, and the current-gen Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro consoles are decent systems now, but the next-gen Xbox and PS6 could better handle Star Citizen. All the way back at PAX 2013, I interviewed Cloud Imperium Games boss Chris Roberts, where I asked his thoughts about consoles and he simply stated: "I don't care about consoles"... but it seems nearly $1 billion later, Roberts' decision has changed.

NVIDIA has said that Huawei's new AI developments are far more capable than people though, so much so that they're more powerful than what NVIDIA is allowed to get into China, effectively forcing them out of the market.

Considering NVIDIA kick-started the AI revolution without competition from anyone (including AMD and Intel) but over the last few years multiple competitors have entered the ring, and one of them is from China: Huawei. Huawei has been hard at work developing new AI hardware to compete with NVIDIA, which has been facing ever-increasing US export regulations that have stopped the company from pumping China full of its AI chips.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said: "Huawei's technology, based on our best understanding at the moment, is probably comparable to an H200. They've been moving quite fast. They've also offered this new system called Cloud Matrix, which scales up to even a larger system than our latest generation, Grace Blackwell. Huawei, as you know, is a formidable technology company. And they're not sitting still. They look for ways to compete, and they're quite formidable".

After being unceremoniously turfed from Facebook in 2017 after being "outed" as a supporter of President Trump, Oculus VR creator Palmer Luckey has returned to Meta in a different way: partnering with the company to make the best XR headsets for the US military.

The big new deal was funded through private capital, without the use of any US taxpayer funds, and has been designed to save the US military billions of dollars by using high-performance components and technology that were originally created for commercial use.

Anduril explained on its website: "This partnership comes at a pivotal moment in the evolution of national defense. America's national security has benefited from U.S. technological leadership at every phase of the computing revolution, from the first microchips and PCs to today's internet and mobile devices. As a new era of computing takes shape-built atop AI and body-worn devices-Meta and Anduril are committed to maintaining America's technological edge while reinforcing our economic and national security".

As you may be aware, Apple's desktop OS may be renamed - it could be macOS 26, rather than macOS 16 - but whatever the name will be, rumor has it that the fresh version won't be compatible with some relatively recent Macs.

Apple Insider reports (and take this with the usual caution reserved for anything filtering down from the rumor mill) that pre-release builds of macOS 26 require a MacBook Pro 2019 or later, or a MacBook Air M1 or better. With an iMac, you'll need a 2020 or later model to be good to go with the new take on macOS.

This means that models as recent as the iMac from 2019 may be ruled out in the compatibility stakes, or MacBook Pro laptops from 2018. Moreover, the MacBook Air with Intel CPU from 2020 is also left out in the cold in theory.

While Intel's Nova Lake desktop chips are rumored to be ushering in a new socket when they arrive in 2026 - groan - you may be able to take a little solace from the latest speculation that at least your cooler might be good to go with this range of CPUs.

Yes, the theory is that Intel is set to shift to a different socket, LGA1954, with Nova Lake. Arrow Lake currently uses LGA1851, and of course Arrow Lake Refresh, if it exists and pitches up this year at all, as some rumors suggest, will doubtless use that socket too.

However, as Tom's Hardware noticed, Ruby Rapids on X has highlighted a shipping manifest from NBD (see above, and add salt appropriately) that shows us the LGA1954 socket has the same dimensions as LGA1851 (45 x 37.5mm).