Latest News - Page 37

Crimson Desert's developer has revealed that it's going to improve the story of the open world action-adventure, and that a DLC is in the works and coming along nicely.

Pearl Abyss wrote a dev update (flagged by Wccftech) in which it shared news of the updates for the game that'll be rolled out from June through September.

The main point of interest is story improvements based on feedback from Crimson Desert players, with the dev noting that it's going to "further strengthen the narrative flow of Kliff's journey and to make it more engaging". This will involve "working to refine and improve the coherence of key scenes" among other measures.

With ASUS's Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand celebrating 20 years at Computex 2026, the company has unveiled a suite of new and special-edition hardware that all feature a stylish, premium black-and-gold aesthetic. From cases to motherboards, graphics cards, and peripherals, two highlights from the latter are the new ROG Azoth Extreme Edition 20 mechanical keyboard and ROG Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 gaming mouse.

The ROG Azoth Extreme is still one of the most impressive gaming keyboard releases in recent years, with our review highlighting its gasket-mount design, OLED display, and deep customization. The 20th anniversary edition model maintains the 75% form factor with a new look, updating the hot-swappable ROG NX switches to a transparent design that retains the same impressive type-feel.

The underlying hardware remains unchanged from a material perspective, and you've still got tri-mode connectivity and impressively fast 8K polling, but the multiple layers of damping and other elements also include 20th-anniversary-edition flourishes. Even the premium carbon fiber positioning plate has been updated to include the anniversary gold style. In fact, there's even some real gold, with the magnetic nameplate on the underside now 24K gold-plated to commemorate the celebration.

Liquid cooling has become pretty standard in recent years thanks to the abundance and affordability of AIO liquid coolers for CPUs. At Computex 2026, we got to see a wide range of new AIO liquid cooler offerings from ASRock, from the entry-level Rock series aimed at gamers on a budget to the flagship Taichi 360 Holo that features a very cool holographic display on the pump.

The holographic film spins like a fan, creating a 3D effect that extends beyond the pump (which our camera couldn't quite capture). An impressive lineup, but there was one model on the way later this year (around Q3) that immediately grabbed our attention because it looked more like a custom closed-loop solution than an AIO. The standout, or first major, feature of the new Taichi Aqua 360 LCD cooler is its detachable, magnetic display that extends, allowing it to be placed on another surface, like your case.

The display, which is a 3.4-inch IPS LCD with 480 x 480 resolution, might be pretty standard in the era of larger displays and curved action, but it's what's underneath that makes it a standout cooler. Remove the display, and you actually see the liquid in the impressive 4,000 RPM dual pump, which includes dual connectors and safety measures to warn users when one pump loses power or encounters an issue.

ZOTAC's new MAGNUS One Ultra (EU275080C), which was also on display with a special 20th anniversary finish at Computex 2026, immediately caught our attention. Not because it was a mini PC smaller than a PlayStation 5 console, but because the compact, sturdy build housed a desktop GeForce RTX 5080.

Yes, while other compact PCs opt for more efficient, smaller desktop GPUs like the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti or laptop variants of enthusiast-class cards, ZOTAC chose one of the most powerful 4K gaming GPUs currently available. As you can see, the GeForce RTX 5080 powering this new MAGNUS One Ultra is one of ZOTAC's impressive Solid models, and when paired with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 20-core, 20-thread processor, it's a formidable combination.

Small, compact mini-PCs built for gaming and local AI workloads are becoming increasingly popular because they take up less physical space and are small enough to slot under a big-screen TV for a more immersive gaming experience. And it was the latter that hit our "we want one" switch, as this is a mini PC that could easily run Resident Evil Requiem and Forza Horizon 6 in 4L at 100+ FPS with full ray tracing and DLSS 4.5 rendering.

ASUS ROG has unveiled a new OLED gaming monitor specifically designed for esports gamers, with the company informing me on the showroom floor at Computex 2026 that it worked directly with top esports gamers to tailor the XG259QWPG Ace for competitive gaming.

The XG259QWPG Ace is a 24.5-inch 1920 x 1080p TrueBlack Glossy Tandem WOLED panel that sports a 540Hz refresh rate and a 0.2ms response time. So, what makes the XG259QWPG Ace designed for esports besides the obvious specifications mentioned previously? ASUS ROG has placed markings on the monitor that enable players to quickly adjust their display to their preferred orientation for the game they are playing.

Additionally, the XG259QWPG Ace features a new Quick On-Screen Display (OSD) menu, enabling players to make quick adjustments to the display's core settings. ASUS ROG has even considered esports gamers who are still using TN panels and will be hesitant to make the jump to OLED due to color differences.

ASUS ROG, the leader in OLED gaming monitors, has unveiled the expansion of its already substantial line of gaming OLED displays at Computex 2026, and each of the three newly announced displays offers significant improvements in areas that have been somewhat lacking in OLED displays.

ASUS ROG has unveiled the ROG Swift OLED PG27UCWM, PG32UCWM, and the Strix OLED XG259QWPG Ace. Each of these displays has been equipped with GaNFET technology in its power supply, enabling significant heat dissipation.

ASUS ROG informed me at their press event that their GaNFET-equipped displays waste 35% less heat at the hottest point in the system, along with a 10% drop in vent temperature. The real-world result of this new heat-dissipation technology is a longer lifespan for the OLED panel, which ASUS ROG estimates to be 25% longer than previous generations.

Computex 2026 is officially underway, and we visited the ASRock booth to see what the company has been cooking up. Sadly it's still too early to see even a tease of next-generation motherboards, but there's still plenty to like with current boards. To celebrate 10 years of its Taichi brand, ASRock showed off a pair of 10th Anniversary Edition boards. One features the Intel Z890 chipset, while the other features AMD's X870E chipset.

Both boards feature a subtle design aesthetic, free of excessive branding and lines that run every which way. Many Taichis appeal for exactly this reason.

The X870E Taichi 10th Anniversary appears to be based on the currently available X870E Taichi. It features a 24+2+1 phase VRM with 110A stages, an ESS Sabre DAC, 10G LAN, USB4 and all the goodies you'd expect from a high-end board. It includes a 64MB BIOS ROM, so it is all set to support upcoming Zen 6 processors.

Although PCIe Gen5 SSDs still feel like they're coming into their own, at Phison's Computex 2026 booth, we were given a friendly reminder that PCIe Gen6 was right around the corner. The company's in-house developed PCIe Gen6 controller, the X3, is built for enterprise first (naturally), but it's set to deliver a 2X performance increase over PCIe Gen5.

And that covers all of the most important specs. Sequential read and write speeds for the Phison X3 reach an incredible 28 GB/s, which is double the 14 GB/s speed of Gen5 SSDs and controllers. Not only that, but Random Read and Random Write (IOPS) both hit 6,800K, which is again, double what Gen5 delivers.

And this even extends to power efficiency, which Phison measures in MB/s per watt. Here the PCIe Gen6 X3 delivers 4,000 MB/s per watt compared to Gen5's 2,000 MB/s. Again, that's double. For the data center and AI factory markets, a 2X increase is a game-changer, with Phison noting that X3-powered SSDs will be available in capacities up to 2PB. That's 2 Petabytes. Yeah, remarkable.

Anyone who has been looking at consumer memory and storage prices recently would understand why so many people are looking backward instead of forward when it comes to affordable storage. This is why Phison's E37T controller feels like an oasis in a desert of AI and data center products. Even setting aside the current market reality, it's a game-changer.

The Phison E37T controller is an engineering feat worth celebrating, as it powers the first DRAMless SSDs capable of fully maxing out their PCIe Gen5 interfaces, delivering speeds over 14.9 GB/s. And the E37T does so while drawing less than 5W of power. Throw in impressive random read and write speeds, and it's a Gen5 SSD controller that truly makes Gen5 feel like it lives up to its promise. No need for additional cooling or expensive DRAM.

At Computex 2026, we spoke with Phison's Chris Ramseyer, who told us this controller was designed with consumers in mind. Not only that, but he and his team at Phison saw where the industry was headed years ago and knew that, with the DRAM trend shifting toward data center and enterprise first, they needed to come up with something for everyone else. For gamers, enthusiasts, and everyday PC users.

ASUS came out swinging at Computex 2026, showcasing a range of new and exciting products. That might not extend to motherboards as we await new chipsets and CPUs, but that didn't stop ASUS from showcasing the stunning ROG Crosshair X870E Edition 20.

This board is not to be confused with the ROG Crosshair 2006 that we covered previously, though that is also a glorious-looking board we were happy to see in person. The X870E Edition 20 is a new beast.

The board comes with a flagship-tier spec, including support for a massive nine M.2 SSDs! On the back, we spotted dual 10G LAN ports, loads of fast USB ports and a 24+2+2 phase VRM with enormous heatsinks. Along with the 6.67-inch AMOLED display atop the ROG Ryujin, it's safe to say that essentially every conceivable feature possible on a 2026 consumer motherboard is present.

Intel's 'Wildcat Lake' Core 300 series of processors is built for the entry-level PC segment, balancing CPU, GPU, and NPU power in low-power systems. Powered by the company's cutting-edge 18A process node, similar to what's found in Panther Lake, the big thing here is the introduction of the RibbonFET architecture, which dramatically improves efficiency compared to more traditional FinFET designs.

Recently, we've begun to see benchmarks for unreleased products pop up online, which has led to some significant buzz surrounding the lineup. For example, a PassMark benchmark result for the entry-level Core 3 305 from the Wildcat Lake series, which features 6 CPU cores and a single Xe3 graphics core, delivered multi-threaded performance that beats the Apple A18 Pro found in the MacBook Neo.

It even managed to edge out the Core 5 315, which is encouraging. Today, while exploring the various tech-based sights and sounds at Computex 2026, we noticed an Intel engineering board for a Wildcat Lake system with an Intel Core Processor 360, Xe3 graphics, 16GB of LPDDR5 memory, and Phison's aiDAPTIV AI20EH storage built for local AI. The SSD sports 768GB of storage with an impressive 85GB of cache. Basically, this is a low-power, efficient look at a laptop that could be a game-changer for efficient local AI workloads.

Google rolled out its largest Search update in 25 years at its I/O developer conference last month, swapping traditional link-based results for AI-generated overviews, conversational follow-ups, and a default AI Mode. However, a significant number of users have pushed back against the AI-heavy direction and, in the process, many have ended up at DuckDuckGo.

Traffic to DuckDuckGo's No AI search page tripled after Google's announcement and has continued to surge. Daily visits have averaged about 84% above baseline, peaking on May 28 at a new traffic record. US app installs were up 18.1% week over week during the May 20 to May 25 period, with iOS installs peaking at 69.9% week-over-week growth. Third-party analytics firm Apptopia backed up the numbers, reporting a 29% increase in average daily US downloads over the same stretch.

"Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out. As a result, their results are getting worse, not better. We want to be the place that puts users in charge and allows them to decide how much or how little AI they want," said DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg. Chief communications officer Kamyl Bazbaz put it even more simply: "People just want a choice."

For roughly six decades, the semiconductor industry has followed a simple and reliable formula: make transistors smaller, pack more of them onto a chip, and watch performance climb. That formula, commonly known as Moore's Law, is now running into hard physical limits. A research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign thinks the next gains will come not from going smaller, but from going vertical.

Led by materials science and engineering professor Qing Cao, the team has developed a method for stacking multiple active layers of silicon circuits directly on top of one another on a single chip, achieving device yields between 98% and 100%. The results were published in Nature.

Building high-performance silicon circuits typically requires temperatures approaching 1,000 degrees Celsius. Once the team installs the first layer of circuitry and metal wiring, they must keep any subsequent layers below 400 degrees to avoid damaging what is already in place. Previous attempts to work around this used alternative materials for the upper layers, but those devices consistently underperformed compared with standard silicon transistors.

Before we get a sequel to Larian Studios' Game of the Year RPG Baldur's Gate 3, Wizards of the Coast is reportedly heading back to the Sword Coast for a remake of the original games. According to an anonymous source speaking with PC Gamer, 2000's Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn is currently in development. While the report is only confident about the existence of a Baldur's Gate 2 remake, it states that a full rebuild of both titles could be happening.

The source claims development on the Baldur's Gate 2 remake is already underway and that Kevin Martens, co-lead designer on the original game at BioWare, has joined the project. Martens is also known for his work on Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights, and Diablo 3. Gameplay details and a release window are still up in the air, as is the overall scope of the remakes.

The first two Baldur's Gate games, and the expansion Throne of Bhaal, were developed using BioWare's Infinity Engine. They use an isometric perspective with pausable real-time combat built on a modified version of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons ruleset, a system that was phased out of the tabletop game over two decades ago.

CD Projekt Red has been very clear about one thing since announcing The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past: stop calling it a DLC. According to the studio, there is a meaningful difference between the two, and it matters a lot for what players should actually expect from this release. Multiple members of CDPR's team have made it clear that Songs of the Past will be similar in scale to Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty, or The Witcher 3's critically acclaimed Blood and Wine.

CDPR community manager Marcin Łukaszewski clarified the studio's internal definition of DLCs on social media, explaining that at CD Projekt Red, DLCs are small, free pieces of content, such as the bonus cosmetics and outfits previously released for The Witcher 3. Expansions, by contrast, are major paid releases with new story content, characters, and many hours of gameplay. Songs of the Past firmly falls in the latter camp.

That distinction was reinforced by Cyberpunk 2 associate game director Paweł Sasko, who shared a clip of Idris Elba making the same point when Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty launched, noting that CDPR builds big, substantial expansions and gives away anything smaller for free.

NZXT is a brand known for PC gaming hardware and cooling that delivers clean aesthetics, with stylish use of RGB and panoramic views. At Computex 2026, the company is not only debuting a new design direction for its hardware but is announcing and launching its new H6 and H6 RGB+ compact dual-chamber mid-tower cases and RGB Fans series. The dual-chamber design of the H6 isolates heat from the PSU while delivering a cleaner cable-free look for the main component bay.

The new design language for NZXT cases maintains the pristine white finish the brand is known for while delivering a modern, stylish look to the mesh and other panels. The new H6 and H6 RGB+ deliver panoramic views of internal components (sans PSU) thanks to the seamless wraparound curved tempered glass panel that improves upon the previous generation case's two-piece design. With all that glass, you might be wondering if cooling would be a problem, but thankfully, the H6 and H6 RGB+ match its style with thermal performance and design.

The angled front-right fans aren't merely there to look cool; their angle helps deliver airflow to the GPU and CPU, while the intake fans at the bottom of the case complete the picture. And with room for 10 120mm fans in the compact design, there's also support for a top-mounted radiator up to 360mm, alongside a 120mm rear exhaust fan. And this is what separates the H6 from the H6 RGB+, as the latter comes pre-installed with two of NZXT's brand-new F360 RGB Reverse Single-Frame fans for intake.

We got our first look at MSI's massive MEG Maestro 900R case back at CES 2026, where it was on display with the company's limited edition flagship MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Lightning Z graphics card that released earlier this year. At Computex 2026, the MEG Maestro 900R is back, with MSI noting that the design has been finalized and that a release is expected sometime in Q3 2026.

As per the headline, this is the sort of flagship case built for premium components, and as a centerpiece for the sort of high-end build you probably won't ever get to see in person. The bare-bones case, which is huge, weighs 33 kilograms (almost 73 pounds), and that's without any components installed. During a special pre-brief at MSI's headquarters, we got to see two MEG Maestro 900R cases side-by-side, one with the aforementioned LIGHTNING Z GPU installed and one that was empty.

As for the case itself, the design is all about a 'centered layout,' with 4mm-thick triple-sided tempered glass. And due to the overall weight and size, MSI has designed a custom detachable and rotatable motherboard tray that can be moved around or removed from the case entirely to make building a MEG Maestro 900R rig easier. There's also a pre-installed vertical GPU bracket, with support for 14 fans or dual 420mm radiators.

MSI was founded in 1986, and to celebrate its 40th anniversary, the company has unveiled an amazing-looking motherboard ahead of Computex 2026. The MSI MEG Z890 Ace Draco Epic features a beautiful theme that MSI says is inspired by Draco, a constellation in the northern sky. Of course it's also inspired by MSI's Lucky dragon mascot.

The Draco Epic is based on the existing MEG Z890 Ace. We were told the specifications of the two boards are identical, with only the design being different. Not that it needs much - if anything in the way of upgrades, as the Z890 Ace is a top end board, with only the ultra-expensive halo tier MEG Z890 Godlike sitting above it in MSI's lineup.

The Z890 Ace Draco Epic is loaded with features, including a powerful 24+2+1+1 phase VRM with massive heatsinks, dual Thunderbolt 4, 10G LAN, five M.2 slots and 60W USB PD, among many other features.

MSI is off to the Computex 2026 races, and it's unveiled a flagship B850 motherboard that puts some X870 models to shame. The MPG B850 Carbon Max WiFi packs high-end features and a fantastic aesthetic into a board that looks every bit as premium as its X870E stablemates.

The B850 Carbon Max includes three ARGB zones, and has headers for more, making it a board that's well suited for tailored builds. It's got a beefy 14+2+1 VRM and large heatsinks, making it a good option for overclockers. It also includes an OC engine, or in other words an external clock generator for fine-tuning overclocks.

Other features include 5G LAN, 320MHz full-speed WiFi 7, four M.2 slots and 20Gbps USB. USB4 is absent, but I'm only aware of 2 other B850 boards that include that. It's also got plenty of DIY-friendly features and a 64MB BIOS ROM, so it's well positioned to accept Zen 6 processors in the future. MSI probably knows a thing or two about them already!

In 2026, it seems like not a day goes by without a PC or gaming component seeing a price increase. In that same vein, the Steam Deck OLED is getting more expensive in Asia, and this is not the first time it has happened. KOMODO, the official Valve hardware distributor for the region, announced updated pricing for Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, starting June 1.

The new prices for the 512GB and 1TB models are as follows: JPY 137,980 and JPY 167,980 in Japan; KRW 1,298,000 and KRW 1,578,000 in South Korea; TWD 26,280 and TWD 31,800 in Taiwan; and HKD 6,488 and HKD 7,788 in Hong Kong. Compared with March 2026 pricing, the 512GB model is now 38% more expensive in Japan and Taiwan and 45% more expensive in South Korea.

Perhaps more egregiously, the 1TB model has jumped 46% in Japan, 41% in Taiwan, and a steep 51% in South Korea. Hong Kong, which was exempt from the March adjustment, is now up 41% and 42% for the 512GB and 1TB models, respectively, compared to launch pricing.