Latest News - Page 384

Following the hit performance of Metaphor: ReFantazio, and the combination of decades' worth of sales and RPG mastery, SEGA says that Atlus is a critical part of its games business.

Atlus is one of the most celebrated game-makers on the planet, and for good reason: The devs have significantly innovated the RPG space with their games that span entire console generations. SEGA took notice of Atlus with an acquisition in 2013, and since then, Atlus has become a consistent earner through its dedicated fanbase.

While SEGA undoubtedly realizes Atlus' value (they see the full extent of game sales, costs, and profits) it's still great to see a global media company recognize core talent. In a recent Q&A with investors, SEGA leadership says that Atlus will continue to be supported over time. The Persona series has become a best-seller with nearly 24 million copies sold to date.

One analyst thinks that Rockstar Games could have a $100 option for GTA 6 at launch, or sell the game at a blanket $100 MSRP with bonus online currency for GTA Online.

GTA 6 could indeed be priced at $100 when it launches, Wedbush Securities managing director of equity research Michael Pachter has told investors in a recent research note. In the note, which was seen by VGC, Pachter says:

The first Battlefield Labs playtest will kick off this week according to the latest reports, where "concepts and mechanics" will be tested this Friday, March 7.

In a new report from Insider Gaming, we're learning that this playtest will be the first in EA's brand new Battlefield Labs program, announced earlier this year. The first playtest is scheduled for March 7 and will take place for around two hours and be played on the PC.

In an email sent to Battlefield Labs participants, the playtest is in a "closed test environment" (CTE) and that recording, streaming, and talking about the game are strictly prohibited.

Apple's new Mac Studio is powered up by up to the M3 Ultra processor, packing up to 32 CPU cores, up to 80 GPU cores, up to 96GB of unified memory, and ultra-fast Thunderbolt 5 connectivity.

Inside, the new Apple M3 Ultra processor features a 32-core CPU with 24 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores, which is the highest number of CPU cores on a Mac to date. Not only that, but the new M3 Ultra chip has up to 80 GPU cores, which is more than any other Apple Silicon chip released, ever.

We have 96GB of unified memory that can be increased up to a huge 512GB of RAM, while the SSD storage can be bumped up to a massive 16TB. You've also got 4 x Thunderbolt 5 ports on Apple's new Mac Studio, as well as dual USB-C ports, an SD card reader on the front, HDMI output, ultra-fast 10GbE wired ethernet, dual USB-A ports, and more.

Acer is launching 6 new custom Radeon RX 9070 series "RDNA 4" graphics cards with new entries in the BIFROST PREDATOR and NITRO series. Check them out:

Both of Acer's new custom RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 graphics cards feature a triple-fan design with a silver and black theme, with a 2.5-slot design. We should expect the higher-end overclocked RDNA 4 cards to feature 3 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors and up to 340W of power flowing into the custom Radeon RX 9070 XT.

Acer's new BIFROST PREDATOR model is exclusive to the flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT, and while this could change, the flagship RDNA 4 card has the highest GPU clocks out of the new models Acer has just revealed. The new BIFROST PREDATOR Radeon RX 9070 XT offers 2.97GHz GPU clocks out of the box for 304W power, and while overclocked, a slightly higher 3.1GHz GPU clock for 340W of power.

BYD is spicing up the EV market in China with the addition of a new on-vehicle drone system as a new premium feature in its autonomous driving system and premium EVs. A drone... that launches from your car.

BYD is the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, with the Chinese company launching the "Lingyuan" drone system in partnership with China's largest drone maker, DJI. The new drone system sits on the roof of the EV with a docking station, enabling the drone to take off, land, charge, and track EV travels.

The first-of-its-kind drone system is now available in mainland China for 16,000 yuan (around $2195 USD) which includes a drone, a drone hanger, an on-board module handl,e and apps for artificial intelligence (AI) recognition, and film editing.

Football Manager may get its own subscription model, and could be the latest series to follow the franchise-as-a-service business model.

Today, SEGA published the translations of its recent Q&A session in a Q3 earnings call with Japanese investors. Included in the documents is a confirmation that SEGA is exploring the idea of a subscription for Football Manager. This move looks to be directly inspired by fan feedback and could be welcome news to the millions of people who play the best-selling sports franchise every year.

SEGA recently made the tough decision to cancel Football Manager 25 as part of its restructuring plan for European teams. SEGA incurred a write-down expense of around $26.7 million due to FM25's cancellation. The developers at Sports Interactive also faced technical issues with the game that reinforced the decision.

Those paying for YouTube in the US now have a new option to fork out less money to watch with no adverts (mostly) on the platform, a 'Premium Lite' plan.

This ad-free subscription (with a slight catch that we'll come back to) has been a pilot scheme in the US (and elsewhere, including Australia), but is now becoming an official offering from YouTube priced at $7.99 per month.

This is just in the US right now, but Australia will be in line for the same treatment in the "coming weeks" (as well as Germany and Thailand, which are also set to have their pilots converted to a full rollout).

Apple has launched a new MacBook Air powered by its M4 SoC in what came as no surprise to anyone - but there are pleasant surprises here, make no mistake, particularly on the pricing front.

This was the launch which was expected yesterday by many - and we got a new iPad Air M3 instead - but the new MacBook Air M4 has now arrived, or rather, pre-orders are live (ahead of shipping on March 12).

As expected, there are MacBook Air 13-inch and 15-inch flavors packing the M4 chip, with a baseline level of 16GB of RAM (mirroring Apple's move with other devices), and a new 12MP Center Stage camera.

The Gears of War Collection has reportedly been added to the PlayStation Store backend, but the listing states the game doesn't feature multiplayer.

The rumor comes from Detective Seeds, who is typically known for sharing game deals, but recently posted a claim on X that the Gears of War Collection is slated for launch in mid-August, and it will be PS5 Pro enhanced. Notably, Seeds states he was informed by his unnamed source the GoW Collection won't have multiplayer PVP, and will be a campaign focus release.

Seeds followed up with another post that states the game has been loaded onto the PlayStation storefront on the backend side and "It shows 1 player and does not show support for additional players. I asked about co-op, but no clarification on that yet."

Dell's Alienware brand is ushering in a new twist on the QD-OLED formula with the revelation of a more affordable gaming monitor using this tech.

The relatively wallet-friendly model in question is the incoming Alienware AW2725D, a 27-inch monitor that sports a QD-OLED panel with a 1440p resolution and is set to retail at $549.

It comes with a 280Hz refresh rate, and is apparently very similar to the existing AW2725Q, the primary difference being the inbound panel drops the resolution from 4K to 1440p in order to trim pricing down by $350 - a big drop.

A well-known Call of Duty leaker has released some details on the upcoming Call of Duty title scheduled to release sometime in 2026, and according to the leaker, some big changes are on the way.

Call of Duty leaker The Ghost of Hope took to X to share some "exclusive" details about Call of Duty 2026, with the post stating the new game is "Modern Warfare IV" and is currently in development for the next generation Xbox console, which, if true, pigeon holes the release date for the next Xbox to at least be in 2026.

As for more Call of Duty details, Ghost writes that if Call of Duty: Warzone doesn't cause players to return through the Verdansk update, there won't be a Warzone 3. Additionally, the engine for Call of Duty 2026 is reportedly being overhauled to address problems identified in Modern Warfare II, such as "visual clutter."

Apple's latest iPhone offering, the "budget-friendly" iPhone 16e, has been put under the razer blade and screwdrivers by the folks over at iFixit, and what they found was quite interesting. The iPhone 16e gained a higher repairability score than the other iPhone 16 devices, but, of course, with a few caveats.

For those who don't know the difference between the iPhone 16e and the rest of the iPhone 16 line-up, here's a quick buying guide if you are considering purchasing the standard iPhone or the iPhone 16e. However, in a nutshell, Apple has removed some key features from the iPhone 16e to reduce its cost. Notable features that have been removed are as follows: no MagSafe charging, no camera control interface, no macro photography, no dynamic island, fewer graphics cores, no Cinematic mode or Action mode, and a dimmer display.

The main hit for the iPhone 16e versus the standard iPhone is definitely in the camera department, but there are some improvements with the 16e versus the standard, and they come in the form of battery life, Apple's new C1 modem, and repairability. According to iFixit, the iPhone 16e automatically gets extra points for Apple including a repair manual in the box for the charging ports, one of the most replaced components in a smartphone.

The rumors were true; Activision was secretly developing a remaster of the cult classic Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 has been confirmed, along with its release date.

It seemed like the game was all but confirmed by the developers and Activision after rumors began swirling and intentional teasers were dropped. Professional skateboarder Tyshawn Jones kicked the excitement into high gear after he appeared on The Breakfast Club and said he was in a new Tony Hawk remaster and that this title would be released soon. Shortly after that interview, a mysterious date appeared within the Call of Duty Black Ops 6 map Grind, and then the same date appeared on the official Tony Hawk game website.

That date has finally rolled around, and we have got the announcement everyone was expecting, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 is coming, and it will be released on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 (PlayStation 5), PS4 (PlayStation 4), Nintendo Switch, Battle.net, and PC (Steam) on July 11, 2025. In the above official reveal trailer we get a quick look at the graphical improvements that have been made over the first game, along with a teaser of new "legendary parks," more skaters, and "gnarlier tricks".

GAMEMAX is known for creating impressive PC and gaming hardware with an eye toward performance, style, and reliability. Today, the company is refreshing its brand identity with a new lion-powered logo that marks an exciting new era centered around its cutting-edge next-generation product lineup and new Project SIMBA initiative for content creators around the world.

GAMEMAX's 'Roar to the Future' event, which you can watch above, broadcasted the brand's new vision while showcasing prototypes for its next-gen product lineup to gamers, creators, media, and PC enthusiasts everywhere.

The new green-colored lion-themed logo isn't merely about looking cool (and it does look fantastic); it also signifies GAMEMAX taking leadership over its future as a brand committed to innovation and sustainability, with a community-driven focus.

NVIDIA's stock took another major hit this week, dropping nearly 9% in a single day, following President Donald Trump's confirmation that new tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China would go into effect. The sell-off wiped over $200 billion from NVIDIA's market cap, bringing it down to $2.73 trillion, its lowest point since September.

Prior to this, NVIDIA had almost fully recovered from the DeepSeek panic selloff, which saw the company lose $600 billion in market value in January after concerns over low-cost AI competition. However, as reported by Yahoo, this latest drop shows how fragile market sentiment remains.

The new 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, alongside a 10% tariff on Chinese goods, have reignited fears of rising manufacturing costs. While NVIDIA's AI chips are produced in Taiwan, which is currently exempt from tariffs, many of its products are assembled in Mexico, meaning these new trade restrictions could impact pricing and supply chains.

The Russo brothers, directors of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, are stepping deeper into gaming with the help of Fortnite's former creative lead, Donald Mustard. While their main focus is on building original IPs, they've made it clear that a new Avengers game isn't off the table.

In a recent interview with Variety, Joe Russo was asked whether AGBO - their production company - would consider developing games based on Avengers: Doomsday or their upcoming Amazon series Citadel. "We would definitely be open to it," he said, while emphasizing that AGBO's bigger priority is creating large-scale franchises from the ground up.

AGBO has already begun expanding into the gaming space, recently announcing The Electric State: Kid Cosmo, a mobile game that ties into their upcoming Netflix film. But the real shift comes with Donald Mustard - one of the key figures behind Fortnite - joining AGBO to help shape its interactive storytelling efforts.

Microsoft debuted the Copilot app for Mac users last week, and this week, the Redmond-based company has thrown a fresh coat of paint onto the Copilot app for Windows users. Introducing, the new and approved Copilot app.

Microsoft explained in a new blog post the Copilot app for Windows 11 has been changed to fall in line with the rest of Windows 11's aesthetic design, with the implementation of a sidebar for separating multiple chats users have with Copilot, native context menus, and an overhauled user interface. Notably, the Copilot app for Windows, when it launched,d was simply a web view of the Copilot website, which came with problems such as delayed responses, missing features for specific users with unknown reasons as to why, and other various minor issues.

Those all seem to be stamped out with the release of the Copilot app, or at least I can report my experience with the app has been quite smooth throughout my time using it (a few days). Additionally, it appears that no features are present on the web version have been lost with the native Copilot app, so you can expect the full functionality with the new app. For those who have never used the Copilot app, users are able to query Copilot with a wide variety of questions either through natural language text or through the Copilot Voice feature. All chats with Copilot will be saved in the sidebar.

Sony has just opened up the PlayStation Beta Program, giving players a chance to sign up for early access to upcoming games, system updates, and new features. Instead of juggling multiple beta sign-ups across different platforms, Sony has streamlined everything into one place, making it easier for players to test-drive new PlayStation experiences before they launch.

As detailed in the PlayStation Blog, the program is free to join, and once registered, players can be considered for a range of betas across PS5 and PC games, PlayStation system updates, PlayStation App features, and user experience changes on PlayStation.com. If selected, you'll receive an invite and can decide whether to participate.

For PC players, this means potential access to upcoming PlayStation ports and software updates, along with early hands-on time with PlayStation's evolving ecosystem. It's also another sign that Sony is doubling down on its PC audience, with more titles making the jump from console to desktop.

Starting today, GTA 5 PC players can access the next-gen enhancements introduced in Grand Theft Auto 5: Expanded & Enhanced for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, which launched in 2022. This free update brings improved graphics options, AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS support, enhanced audio, and various gameplay and technical upgrades to bring GTA 5 into the modern era.

With this update, the previous version of the game - now called Grand Theft Auto 5 Legacy - will be removed from digital storefronts and replaced by the Enhanced Edition. Players can still access the old version through the game's launcher, though there's little reason to do so unless their hardware struggles to run the upgraded edition.

Some of the most significant improvements include ray-traced shadows and reflections, which were first introduced on consoles. PC players will also get exclusive visual upgrades such as ambient occlusion and global illumination, along with improved support for higher resolutions, aspect ratios, and frame rates. While Rockstar plans to introduce frame generation support for both AMD and NVIDIA hardware in the future, players can now take advantage of AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS. Those with SSDs and DirectStorage will also see noticeably faster load times.