Latest News - Page 354

The original Hades, from indie studio Supergiant Games, is one of the modern era's most critically acclaimed and beloved action roguelikes. It's one of those games that has inspired a new generation of indie games, and its sequel is on track for release later this year. Already available to play in Early Access on PC, Hades 2 is also coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch 2.

As part of a new developer deep dive into the game's creation and how the team at Supergiant Games has approached developing the sequel, we also learn that the game's console debut will be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch. This surprising revelation was posted on Nintendo's official YouTube channel because most people expected the full release to debut on all platforms simultaneously.

Hades 2 is still on track for an Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 release; however, the timed exclusivity for Nintendo Switch hardware could mean those versions might not arrive until sometime in 2026. Naturally, PC gamers won't have to wait. In addition to being able to play the game right now on Steam, the full release will also arrive as a big Version 1.0 patch sometime later this year.

Blizzard has unveiled its first roadmap for Diablo 4, with 2025's 'The Age of Hated' roadmap including information on upcoming seasons and new features while teasing what's in store for 2026. The forthcoming 'Belial's Return' season is set to run from April until July, and it will overhaul the Lair Boss system while bringing one of the franchise's major villains to the game - Belial.

The roadmap notes that this season will bring the first cross-franchise "IP collaboration" to the game. "We can't shed light on them currently," Blizzard writes. "But we're extremely excited to meld the Diablo universe with universes that complement its dark themes." The first thing that comes to mind is Dark Souls, Elden Ring, or The Witcher - which would be an interesting addition to Diablo. More than one "IP collaboration" is coming, which is exciting.

This upcoming 'Belial's Return' season also overhauls the Battle Pass and Season Journey system with The Reliquary. Other highlights in the roadmap include some information on the rest of the seasons set to arrive in 2025, including one focusing on the game's Nightmare Dungeons. Also, console players will get keyboard and mouse support, and leaderboards will finally be a thing.

During the Nintendo Switch 2 close-up, Nintendo showcased a surprise addition to the new console, a camera designed for GameChat.

Nintendo revealed GameChat during the presentation, which is a Switch 2 exclusive feature that enables players to join a chat room to play games together, or simply hang out while players enjoy titles separately. However, GameChat also comes with video feed support, which is why Nintendo is launching a camera alongside the Switch 2.

The newly announced camera is a dedicated 1080p camera specifically designed for the Nintendo Switch 2, while technical specifications for the device haven't been fully revealed, such as the sensor it uses, any motion tracking capabilities, etc, another Switch 2 camera has popped up. But this one features the aesthetics of a Piranha Plant. The standard Switch 2 camera is priced at $49.99, while the Piranha Plant camera is currently only available on the Nintendo UK store for £33.99, or $43 USD.

During the Nintendo Switch 2-focussed Direct, gamers were quick to notice that one of Nintendo's main features for the Switch 2 wasn't working as smoothly as the company may have wanted. This feature is GameChat, specifically the game screen sharing option.

The presentation showed a group of players enjoying a game of Mario Kart World, with Nintendo then saying if a player wants to share the screen of their game, they simply need to press the new C button (GameChat button) and select the share screen option. This feature works across titles, meaning players don't have to be in the same game to share their game with other players in what appears to be a Discord-like room that players can join.

Unfortunately, it appears these shared screens, which during the presentation can be up to four at one time have a significantly reduced frame rate. In a recent interview with GameSpot, Nintendo Switch 2 hardware director Takuhiro Dohta explained why these shared screens have a reduced frame rate, saying Nintendo wants game screen sharing to be useful but not get in the way of the main game that's being played.

G.SKILL has just introduced its first 64GB modules of DDR5 memory, with the first 128GB DDR5-8000 memory kit also unveiled (with dual 64GB modules).

The company has introduced its new Trident Z5 Royal memory which has been optimized for 8000 MT/s at CL44, with dual 64GB modules for a huge 128GB DDR5-8000 memory kit. This is a big deal, as until now we have been limited to (still huge) 48GB modules, with a maximum of 96GB kits -- and in between, 24GB modules for 48GB kits -- but now we have a huge 128GB kit for "capacity-hungry applications".

The new DDR5-8000 memory kits were running on CL44-58-58 timings on an ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX motherboard and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor. The company also showed off its new Trident Z Royal DDR5-8000 memory in 32GB x 2 (64GB total) with DDR5-9000 speeds at CL48-64-64, on an ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 APEX motherboard and Intel Core Ultra 7 265K processor.

AMD is reportedly gearing up to add "AI" to the name of its new gaming handheld APU, with rumors of the new Ryzen Z2 family of processors seeing a flagship Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU.

In a new post on X by leaker Hoang Anh Phu, we're hearing that the Ryzen Z2, Ryzen Z2 A, Ryzen Z2 Go, Ryzen Z2 Extreme, and Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APUs will take the gaming handheld processor battle to Intel and its Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" series of processors.

Each of the Ryzen Z2 series APUs will have a mix of Zen 3, Zen 4, or Zen 5 processor cores with integrated GPUs that range between RDNA 2, RDNA 3, and RDNA 3.5. The flagship Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU will reportedly feature Strix Point silicon with up to 8 cores, and 16 threads of Zen 5/c cores, and up to 16 cores of RDNA 3.5-based GPU... and we can't miss out on that XDNA 2-based NPU for AI workloads.

GPMI is here as a Chinese alternative to HDMI, with a consortium of over 50 companies in China -- including Chinese tech giants like Huawei, Hisense, and TCL -- introducing General Purpose Media Interface (GPMI) which offers up to 192Gbps of bandwidth, and up to 480W of Power Delivery.

The new GMPI standard is available in two varieties: a smaller Type-C model with 96Gbps of bandwidth and up to 240W of power, while a larger Type-B model offers the full 192Gbps of bandwidth and 480W of power.

GPMI has been developed as a third-generation audio and video interface, leaping over the limitations of older standards like DVI and VGA, and blowing away HDMI 2.1 and its 48Gbps of bandwidth, and DisplayPort 2.1 with 80Gbps of bandwidth with its blistering 192Gbps of bandwidth... enough for any display in the forseeable future.

FromSoftware and Bandai Namco have dropped new gameplay footage for the deadly Duchess class in the new PvE Elden Ring game.

Elden Ring Nightreign is due out next month, bringing a unique PVE co-op spin to FromSoftware's games. Players will choose one of five classes and work together to outlast the night, taking down horrendous bosses and collecting loot along the way. FromSoft aims to capture some of those lightning in a bottle moments that happened with Elden Ring, but on a multiplayer level, and with some roguelike elements thrown in (read more about Nightreign's gameplay here).

Anyone who participated in Nightreign's network test will recognize the Duchess class, and the devs have released some new footage that shows off her skills in action, including the Finale ability that makes her completely invisible to nearby enemies.

Nintendo's new Switch 2 will supercharge first-party games like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom with 4K 60FPS gameplay.

The Switch 2 is apparently capable of some pretty impressive performance, at least when compared to its predecessor. According to hands-on reports from the recent Nintendo Switch 2 event, the handheld-console hybrid can achieve 4K 60FPS in games like Tears of the Kingdom when docked.

The Switch 2's new 4K-ready gaming is made possible by a customized NVIDIA Tegra processor that facilitates DLSS upscaling, allowing much more performance to be squeezed out of the smaller integrated package. The Switch 2's Tegra SoC features both RT Cores for raytracing and Tensor Cores for built-in DLSS support, and is said to deliver 10x the graphical performance of the Switch 1.

Why do some Switch 2 games cost $80? In Nintendo's own words: value.

Nintendo's new Switch 2 software and hardware prices are delivering sticker shock.to consumers; the system was priced at $450 in the US, but could go higher because of tariffs, and software has a new MSRP of $80 on the platform. Nintendo is pricing its own premiere launch first-party Switch 2 game, Mario Kart World, at $80 in a bid to push adoption of this new cost.

$80 is a lot, but it is Mario Kart, and Nintendo has sweetened the pot to get people to buy. Mario Kart World is pretty sizable in scope and content with its interconnected world and new Grand Theft Auto-like free roam mode, mimicking the kind of broader gameplay mechanics, modes, and features you'd typically see in expansions or DLC-driven updates. It feels like Nintendo decided to pack in any sort of future expansion content upfront and charge extra in the process. (Note: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold over 67 million copies across the last 8 years at a $59.99 MSRP).

Ahead of Apple's official unveiling of its upcoming iPhone 17 line-up, a dummy unit for the company's rumored iPhone 17 Air has surfaced, showcasing what will be Apple's thinnest iPhone ever released.

Bloomberg reporter and Apple insider Mark Gurman put to bed some Apple rumors over the weekend, which previously suggested Apple was introducing a two-tone color design for its iPhone 17 Pro, with the Bloomberg reporter clarifying the upcoming device will have a mono-color design, meaning the camera area will be the same color as the rest of the device.

As for the elusive iPhone 17 Air, a dummy unit has appeared in the hands of X user Majin Bu, who posted a selection of photos of the unit showing it also features a mono-color design. Notably, the color of dummy units isn't indicative of the final design of the device, as dummy units are mostly used for dimensional purposes by accessory manufacturers to prepare their products ahead of the launch. The color of the dummy unit won't influence the dimensions.

Nintendo has delayed pre-orders in Canada to make sure all of North America is on the same track.

A bit ago, Nintendo made the controversial (but apparently necessary) decision to delay Switch 2 pre-orders in the United States. Nintendo may simply have to raise the price of the Switch 2 in North America, especially the United States, because of ongoing trade tariffs. Now that pre-order uncertainty has been extended to Canada.

"Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in Canada will not start on April 9, 2025 in order to align with the timing of pre-orders to be determined in the U.S. Nintendo will provide updated information at a later date. The launch date of June 5 is unchanged," Nintendo told website MobileSyrup.

It's a dark day for achievement hunters, as Nintendo has confirmed that the upcoming Switch 2 will not have any system-wide achievements.

Nintendo is not breaking from its longstanding mould of passing on the inclusion of having a system-wide achievement list such as Xbox's Gamerscore, or PlayStation's Trophies system, and the Switch 2 will be no different as Polygon has asked Nintendo's Vice President of Player and Product Experience if the upcoming console will have its own built-in achievement system, and he said, "Nope." Achievement hunters will be somewhat satisfied to know that doesn't mean Nintendo Switch 2 games won't have their own achievement lists.

In fact, two Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games have already been confirmed to have achievements, and those are: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. These achievements will be introduced through the Zelda Notes features in the updated Nintendo Switch App. To unlock these achievements, players will need to defeat bosses, reach shrines, and reach certain in-game milestones. Moreover, players will be able to track their achievements against their friends within the Nintendo Switch App.

If you've ever imagined that it might be hell to work in a fast-food restaurant, someone has taken that thought very literally, making a Doom 2 mod that has the player serving the various demons that we all loved to frag many moons ago in this ancient shooter.

PC Gamer noticed the Doom 2 mod, which is called 'Put The Fries In The Bag' and comes from a modder by the name of SlendyMawn.

As explained in the YouTube clip above, the modder created the fast-food restaurant setting (a well-known brand - and yes, this whole thing is a copyright and legal minefield) in Ultimate Doom Builder.

We have finally gotten to take a close-up look at the Nintendo Switch 2, and during the presentation the company showcased a launch title called Welcome Tour, which was confirmed to have a price tag.

However, Nintendo didn't reveal during its Direct presentation how much Welcome Tour would be at launch, just that it was launching alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 with Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. For those who don't know, Welcome Tour is a "game" dedicated to explaining the different features and parts of the Nintendo Switch 2 within a virtual world.

Nintendo showed throughout its presentation that users will be able to touch the different buttons and features on the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware within the virtual world to get an explanation of what they do and how to use them. These explanations will come in the form of text boxes with animations showing how to use the feature or in mini-games that enable a user to practise using them. In an interview with The Verge, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser confirmed the price tag for the digital-only Welcome Tour will be $9.99, and the reason for that is as follows:

NVIDIA's RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti models are apparently set to use GDDR7 video RAM and a 128-bit memory bus, or that's the latest from the GPU grapevine.

VideoCardz, often a source of graphics card rumors, got the scoop on this, noticing the mentions of these specs on NBD (a shipping data platform).

The site discovered GPU shipping manifests that show NVIDIA's graphics cards, albeit not named explicitly, but referred to as PG152 boards with GB206 chips (which is what the rumor mill believes the RTX 5060 models are - the vanilla version will be a cutdown GB206, as you might guess).

Apple is caught in a downward spiral of its stock price following President Trump's sweeping tariffs that are targeting some of Apple's main sources of manufacturing.

On Monday, Apple's stock price dropped by another 3.7%, marking a 19% decrease in just three days. The downward spiral was caused by President Trump's new trade tariffs aimed at many countries around the world, but particularly the leaders in manufacturing, but particularly China. The goal of the tariffs is to bring manufacturing back to encourage companies to bring manufacturing to the United States to avoid paying the newly implemented levies, which in the case of China, one of Apple's biggest manufacturers, will be a 57% increase on all imported goods.

Apple's other main manufacturers are India, Vietnam, and Thailand, but these countries didn't dodge Trump's tariffs either, with many of them also being hit with hefty new taxes. So, what will happen to Apple with the new tariffs?

Valve continues to print money with its Counter-Strike franchise as reports indicate the hub for PC gaming made a staggering $100 million from just Counter-Strike 2 cases in just the last month.

The report comes from Dextero, which states that throughout March 2025, no less than 32 million cases were opened by Counter-Strike 2 players, and for every one of these case opens, it requires a $2.49 key, which is paid directly to Valve. At $2.49 per key and 32 million cases, Valve has raked in $82 million in just openings. On top of that already staggering amount of money, Valve takes a 15% cut from any purchases made on the Steam marketplace, where many of these cases were bought.

So, by adding in the cut from the Steam marketplace and the total number of cases opened (keys), Valve has managed to pull in more than $100 million in revenue just from cases. This isn't counting any transactions on skins, knives, etc -- all of which Valve takes that 15% of the transaction's value.

Families trying to enjoy the new Minecraft movie are having to deal with delinquent fans who are deciding to trash the cinema by throwing food and drink around over an internet meme.

Cinemas are having to warn movie fans about attending the newly released "A Minecraft Movie" over several instances of fans participating in a social media trend and a seemingly weird internet meme where viewers scream "Chicken Jockey" at a specific scene in the movie. If it were just the screaming, it would be annoying, but as part of the meme, viewers are throwing popcorn, drinks, and other items around the cinema when the "Chicken Jockey" appears on screen. In one instance that was captured on TikTok, the police were called as a result of the outburst.

At the end of March, screenshots leaked showcasing Star Wars: Bruno, the placeholder for Respawn Entertainment and Bit Reactor's turn-based strategy title. According to reports from MP1st, the mysterious project has an official name, and it is set to be unveiled at Star Wars Celebration Japan later in April.

EA and Lucasfilm Games first announced Respawn's Star Wars strategy game in January 2022, alongside the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and a Star Wars FPS project, which was cancelled two years later in 2024. Respawn's RTS game has survived, however, and as reported by MP1st, it will be released under the title Star Wars: Zero Company.

Star Wars: Zero Company is being developed in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and Bit Reactor, a studio formed by former XCOM developers. The title features turn-based tactical gameplay, and previous leaks highlighted imagery including a squad of Mandalorians, a Jedi character, and concept art of the game's possible in-game hub.