Diablo 4's microtransaction prices were out of control, but they weren't always meant to be.

Blizzard has made headlines with Diablo 4's cosmetic prices, usually for the wrong reasons. Earlier in March, the publisher charged charged $20 for town portal reskins. The current store isn't much better in pricing, with $20+ character cosmetics skins being the norm.

But it wasn't always going to be this way. Before he left in January 2024, in which Blizzard subsequently laid off over 1,900 people, ex-Blizzard president Mike Ybarra intended to reduce the microtransaction pricing of Diablo 4's controversial storefront. That's according to a report from Jason Schreier's new book Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment, which says that Ybarra wanted Blizzard to move away from the live service model and reduce the reliance the company had on recurring microtransaction-driven revenues.

It was only yesterday that publications began reporting on a Russian YouTube channel that posted a video of what the YouTubers claimed to be, and it certainly appeared to be upon a watch, an unboxing of an unreleased M4 MacBook Pro.

The news was shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a known and credible Apple insider. Gurman wrote the M4 MacBook Pro, which is scheduled to be announced by Apple at the end of October, appeared to be real, and while it remains unconfirmed, the model, unboxing, and displayed specifications line up with previous information. Gurman also pointed out that this could be Apple's first full retail leak, which is when a full retail device, not a prototype, is leaked from a factory line or Apple internally to the public before an announcement was even made.

To add more credibility to the legitimacy of the M4 MacBook Pro, it now appears it's being sold on a Russian classified ads site. As you can imagine, the price of the M4 MacBook Pro is incredibly inflated, and judging from the listing, it appears the laptop is the base model with a 14-inch display, 16GB of unified memory, a 512GB SSD, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, and the M4 Chip with its 10 CPU cores.

Hurricane Milton has reached landfall in Florida and as resident protect their homes as much as they can one meteorologist was honored for his contributions to the field by having his ashes poured into the eye of the monsterous Milton.

That lucky scientist was Peter Dodge, a radar scientist and hurricane hunter who worked with the National Hurricane Center and Aircraft Operations Center and an avid participant of hurricane aircraft missions where he served as an onboard radar scientist. Dodge passed away on March 3, 2023, and during a hurricane reconnaissance flight of Hurricane Milton, Dodge was dropped into the eye of the historic Category 5 hurricane, as reflected by the Vortex Data Message, which is a log of in-flight observations made by hurricane reconnaissance aircraft.

The Vortex Data Message captures important details about the hurricane, such as its location, wind speed, pressure, storm's center location, intensity, and other meteorological data. The below image shows the Vortex Data Message, and at the bottom reads a tribute to Dodge, "PETER DODGE HX SCI (1950-2023) 387TH PENNY." The tribute message was translated by Ars Technica, who wrote "HX SCI" means "hurricane scientist," and "387TH PENNY" refers to the term "penny," which means "hurricane penetration," or the act of entering a hurricane during a hurricane reconnaissance mission.

AMD could announce the Ryzen 9800X3D processor very soon - maybe even later today - in what might be a bid to run interference with the arrival of Intel's Arrow Lake desktop CPUs.

Moore's Law is Dead (MLID) has the story on this one, with the leaker informing us (get that saltshaker now) that AMD is currently putting out briefings on the Ryzen 9800X3D, which will be the first Zen 5 chip with 3D V-Cache (the others will follow a bit later - perhaps early next year).

MLID says that AMD now has the final marketing material ready, and the release of the Ryzen 9800X3D should happen in the next week or two.

Back in August, MSI detailed how it was planning to boost the performance of AMD Ryzen 9000 series CPUs, and it detailed three new profiles: PBO Enhanced Mode, Set Thermal Point, and High-Efficiency Mode.

We were invited to tour MSI's motherboard factory, where we saw the manufacturing process for MSI's new Z890 motherboard range. During the presentation, MSI gave us an overview of all of its new motherboards, the improvements it made compared to its previous generation, and how it was going to utilize the new offerings from Intel's Arrow Lake CPUs. MSI let us go hands-on with a few PCs equipped with Intel Core Ultra chips and MSI's new overhauled BIOS.

MSI showcased its Set Thermal Point profile and how it compares to Precision Boost Overdrive. The CPU being tested was a Ryzen 9 9950X, and MSI set the thermal point profile to 85, which operates the CPU at a lower voltage and temperature. The magic here is that MSI's specific optimizations can maintain the same performance with the thermal limit being set, which means users will be able to run their CPU with less voltage, resulting in it being cooler but without any loss of performance. We were showcased a performance chart that we are unable to share publicly, but can describe.

MSI has officially rolled out a new feature on its new range of X870 and Z890 motherboards designed for Intel and AMD's new generation of CPUs, and the new feature enables more performance to be squeezed out of onboard NPUs.

The new motherboards for AMD's Ryzen 9000 series and the Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) come with brand-new chipsets that have a range of hardware improvements. To accompany these hardware improvements MSI has overhauled its BIOS interface into what its calling Click BIOS X, and during a recent tour of MSI's motherboard factory in Shenzhen, China, we were able to spend some time with some setups featuring Intel's new Arrow Lake CPUs and the new BIOS interface.

All of MSI's new range of motherboards come with the new BIOS interface, and one of the built-in features is AI Boost. This was a particularly impressive feature as the setting within the BIOS enabled overclocking for the NPU, which MSI claimed to improve AI performance and efficiency by up to 5%. According to MSI, enabling the new feature will provide the user with "faster data processing, enhanced AI performance, improved efficiency in AI tasks, better multi-tasking capabilities, and maximized hardware utilization."

MSI is ready for Intel's upcoming new generation of desktop CPUs, which will be released under the moniker Arrow Lake.

MSI has revealed its highly anticipated lineup of new Z890 motherboards that come with support for Intel's Arrow Lake desktop CPUs, which have seemingly already had some of their performance benchmarks leaked online. By the time this article has gone live, more performance benchmarks will likely be online as we are nearing the official launch of Intel's new chips. As for MSI's upcoming range of boards, MSI invited me for a behind-the-scenes tour of its motherboard manufacturing factory in Shenzhen, China, where it was making some of the boards detailed below.

MSI had its main four boards on display at its press event: the Pro Z890-A Wi-Fi, the MPG Z890 Edge Ti Wi-Fi, the MPG Z890 Carbon Wi-Fi, the MEG Z890 Ace, and the MAG Z890 Tomahawk Wi-Fi. Each of the boards offers unique aesthetics and functionality, but all come ready for Intel's Arrow Lake CPUs. Additionally, each of the boards will come with Thunderbolt 4 support that will enable fast data transfer speeds. Moreover, the improvements to connectivity and additional power to the board via an extra 8-pin connector enable charging up to 60W on some boards, which is especially helpful for users that have multiple devices such as laptops, smartphones, power banks and tablets.

Not all Wi-Fi is the same; most of us know this well. Regardless of the underlying internet speed and whether or not you're connected to fiber or Starlink up in the sky, device speed can vary dramatically. The new Wi-Fi 7 standard is a game changer for wireless speeds and how it handles multiple connections, but many early Wi-Fi 7 devices were kind of Wi-Fi 7 in name only.

With the arrival of next-gen Intel Core Ultra 200 Series CPUs and a new range of Z890 motherboards, the latest chipset not only adds high-speed USB4 and all manner of support for PCIe Gen 5 storage and other goodies but also sees a shift to Wi-Fi 7 - supported by the always impressive Intel KiLLER network technology.

As much flack as Intel has received in recent months for the issues surrounding its Raptor Lake CPUs, production and foundry delays, and other things - Intel's network technology, whether its Ethernet or Wi-Fi, has remained rock solid. And when it comes to Wi-Fi 7 in the new range of Z890 motherboards for Arrow Lake processors - you're looking at full Wi-Fi 7 speeds and bandwidth.

MSI has a pretty impressive line-up of motherboards for Intel's new Core Ultra 200 Series CPUs - from the high-end MEG Z890 ACE to the stylish PRO Z890-A WIFI and the PC gamer-focused MAG Z890 TOMAHAWK WIFI and MPG Z890 CARBON WIFI.

In addition to supporting new chips, they come equipped with advanced full-speed Wi-Fi 7, multiple M.2 storage slots that include support for PCIe Gen5, and more USB ports than you'd think possible. With more and more desktop PCs being used for generative AI workloads, some models, like the new MPG Z890 CARBON WIFI, even support installing multiple graphics cards.

Outside of AI, desktop graphics cards for PC gaming - especially on the high end - have only gotten bigger in recent years. They have triple slots or higher thickness, lengths extending beyond the motherboard's end, chunky heatsinks, and three fans as standard. MSI, and other board makers for that matter, have noted and are factoring the larger size, weight, and power consumption into their new motherboard designs.

Recently, when pictures of new 2024 motherboards for new CPUs began to appear online, many noticed the addition of a new 8-pin PCIe power connection on the bottom of specific boards. Located on the opposite end of the main motherboard and CPU power plugin, this led to speculation about what it could be for.

Is it for the upcoming release of the GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080? NVIDIA's next-gen flagship graphics cards are rumored (from multiple credible sources) to require 600W and 400W of power, respectively. Or, is it to compensate for the dramatic increase in CPU power consumption in recent years - precisely, on the Intel side of the fence?

The answer is yes, no, all of the above, and more. During a recent visit to MSI's factory in Shenzhen, China, where we saw MEG Z890 ACE, PRO Z890-A WIFI, MAG Z890 TOMAHAWK WIFI, and MPG Z890 CARBON WIFI, we asked one of the company's leading engineers and designers about the new connector to find out what it's used for.

This year, AMD and Intel have announced and released their next-gen desktop CPUs with the new Ryzen 9000 Series and Intel Core Ultra (Series 2). New processors mean new chipsets, in this case, Intel Z890 and AMD X870, and countless new motherboards hitting retail shelves as we close the year.

During a recent tour of MSI's impressive factory in Shenzhen, China, where we saw Intel Z890 motherboards being produced at a mind-boggling scale, we got to go hands-on with a few Intel Core Ultra 200 builds with MSI's new boards. New CPUs and new motherboards are always exciting, but when you throw in a brand-new, modern BIOS redesign - it all feels 'next-gen.'

MSI is calling its revamped, redesigned, and overhauled BIOS interface and UI the Click BIOS X system. We went hands-on with two systems: an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU and MEG Z890 ACE motherboard and an Intel Core Ultra 5 245K CPU and MAG Z890 TOMAHAWK WIFI motherboard.

Enthusiast-level gaming motherboards can arguably be some of the most impressive pieces of technology within a PC, especially when considering the motherboard is responsible for the correct communication between components, power regulation, etc.

MSI has been at the forefront of impressive enthusiast-level gaming motherboards for quite some time, and right at the top of the company's offerings is its GODLIKE series. Likely picked up in the name, the GODLIKE series is meant to have as many bells and whistles as a motherboard possibly can, and just like the Z790, the upcoming Z890 has followed suit with some substantial improvements.

The Z890 GODLIKE, which currently doesn't have an official release date, but I can confirm will be launched sometime in Q4, has expanded storage capabilities with support for up to 6x M.2 (2x Gen5 + 4x Gen4) and 4x SATA 6Gbp/s. Moreover, the Z890 GODLIKE has expanded on its connectivity offerings, with support for 2x USB 3.2 20G (1x Rear Type-C / 1x Front Type-C PD60W), an insane 13x USB 3.2 10G ports (8x Rear Type-A + 5x Rear Type-C), 4x USB 3.2 5G (4x Front Type-A), and 4x USB 2.0 (4x Front Type-A). Comparatively, the Z890 GODLIKE has 23 USB ports, compared to the Z790 GODLIKE's 18.

Intel has finally revealed its new Intel Core Ultra 200 Series desktop CPUs, with the new Arrow Lake architecture set to power the next generation of Intel systems and builds for the foreseeable future. A new generation of Intel CPUs also means a new generation of motherboards, with various Z890 models hitting the market - including several from MSI, like the new MAG Z890 TOMAHAWK WIFI.

The Intel Core Ultra 200 series differs from previous generations because, like recent mobile Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake chips from the company, it incorporates a new design and layout that now includes a dedicated NPU for AI processing. Until now, running local AI off a CPU with a powerful NPU has been limited to mobile devices, so Arrow Lake marks a shift for desktop CPUs everywhere.

As part of our recent tour of MSI's factory in Shenzhen, China, and seeing its new Intel boards up close, we learned one interesting fact about Intel's Core Ultra 200 Series - the new NPU design means the hotspot is changing. The cooling requirements are also changing, so you'd want to pair a Core Ultra CPU with the new MSI MPG CORELIQUID i360 or i240.

More details have emerged regarding Intel's upcoming next-generation desktop CPU generation named Arrow Lake, and one of the additions in the new generation of CPUs from the Blue Team is the inclusion of direct Thunderbolt 4 support.

A few weeks ago, I was demoed the performance of Intel's next-generation Arrow Lake CPUs and was shown performance metrics based on engineering samples. Throughout that presentation, I was also shown the additions Intel has made to its Arrow Lake CPUs and how they will be reflected in the LGA-1851 platform. Intel's new platform will include a slew of upgrades, such as Wi-Fi 7, NPU overclocking, Thunderbolt 4 support, and much more.

The inclusion of Thunderbolt 4 is particularly exciting as it helps users such as content creators or home entertainment enthusiasts who deal with large file sizes organize their files much faster and more effectively. Moreover, Thunderbolt 4 comes with support for multiple 4K displays, 15W PD charging (up to 100W), daisy chain connection, and 40Gbps of high-speed data transfer. MSI's new range of Z890 motherboards will all feature Thunderbolt 4 support, and below, you will find some images of some of the company's offerings.

Regarding Intel's new Arrow Lake CPUs and Z890 motherboards for the latest Core Ultra 200 Series processors, DDR5-8000 is the new 'standard.' This is according to MSI, who recently gave us a detailed look at its full line-up of Z890 boards coming soon from the return of the beast with the Z890 Godlike to the popular MAG Z890 TOMAHAWK WIFI.

DDR5-8000 kits are already here, but they're not the most popular kits. Over at Newegg, the most popular DDR5 memory kits as of October 2024 feature speeds of DDR5-6000 and DDR5-6400 - which is a definite increase from the DDR5-5600 or so from a few years ago.

AMD's new BIOS for X870 and other AM5 boards has recently added a DDR5-8000 one-click EXPO overclocking profile. So, the next generation of Intel CPUs (which will take a little while to gain a foothold in the market) will have no issue supporting DDR5-8000 as a default or standard XMP memory profile; it'll probably end up being the new standard for all DDR5 soon.

NVIDIA's next-generation flagship GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card could cost somewhere between $1999 and $2499, according to the latest leaks.

In his latest video, Tom from Moore's Law is Dead said that one of his sources just said that NVIDIA briefed them with some new GeForce RTX 50 series "Blackwell" gaming GPU pricing. This source said that the new RTX 50 series GPUs will be launching in 2025, and are preparing people with some higher pricing.

NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 32GB could cost between $1999 and $2499, the GeForce RTX 5080 16GB could cost between $1199 and $1499, and finally, the GeForce RTX 5070 12GB costing between $599 and $699.

It was only a year ago that Casio was forced to repel cyberattackers that were probing its digital infrastructure, but now according to the company it has detected a breach.

The company took to its Japanese website to officially announce that it had detected a security breach after conducting an internal investigation. The breach was detected on October 5, 2024, and the investigation found that the unauthorized access had caused a system failure, "resulting in the inability to provide some services." Casio has already reported the breach to authorities and brought in a third-party security firm to investigate the breach and determine if customer data was stolen.

Judging by the hiring of a third-party security firm to look for any stolen files, it appears the breach may have been a ransomware attack. However, Casio hasn't confirmed that any data was stolen. Additionally, no ransomware groups have claimed responsibility for the hack.

Intel is about to launch its next-gen Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake" CPUs, and now we're getting discount bombed with 14th Gen Core CPUs on the cheap... like, really cheap... check it out:

Amazon and Newegg both have discounts on Intel's fleet of current-gen 14th Gen Core CPUs, with the likes of the flagship Core i9-14900K dropping from its MSRP of $599 down to $445, and the mid-range champ in the Core i5-14600KF dropping from its $304 MSRP to just $204.99 right now. Damn good stuff to see ahead of Arrow Lake.

Newegg is enjoying its "discount bombs" with the 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" CPUs in both K and KF variants of the Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 processor offerings. There are regular discounts that are amplified -- or discount bombed -- even further.

OpenAI has just received one of the first engineering builds of the NVIDIA DGX B200 AI server, posting a picture of their new delivery on X:

Inside, the NVIDIA DGX B200 is a unified AI platform for training, fine-tuning, and inference using NVIDIA's new Blackwell B200 AI GPUs. Each DGX B200 system has 8 x B200 AI GPUs with up to 1.4TB of HBM3 memory and up to 64TB/sec of memory bandwidth. NVIDIA's new DGX B200 AI server can pump out 72 petaFLOPS of training performance, and 144 petaFLOPS of inference performance.

OpenAI Sam Altman is well aware of the advancements of NVIDIA's new Blackwell GPU architecture, recently saying: "Blackwell offers massive performance leaps, and will accelerate our ability to deliver leading-edge models. We're excited to continue working with NVIDIA to enhance AI compute".

Amazon released New Word on September 29, 2021 and after amassing a big player base of more than 900,000 concurrent players on Steam, the MMORPG eventually fell off as there was a lack of end-game content to satisfy hungry players, among other reasons.

Currently, New World averages less than 10,000 concurrent players on Steam, and at the same time, a year ago, it had more than 50,000 concurrent Steam players. Unfortunately, this is a common curse of MMORPGs, but the failure of New World didn't dissuade Amazon from having another attempt at the notoriously difficult gaming genre, as Amazon Games recently published Throne and Liberty, an MMORPG developed by NCSOFT.

A new article published on the Amazon Games website reveals Throne and Liberty has already amassed more than 3 million registered players, with 24 million hours played in the game, and 11 million hours watched on Twitch. According to Vice President for Amazon Games, Christoph Hartmann, "Bringing THRONE AND LIBERTY to players around the world has been a huge shared undertaking by our team and our friends at NCSOFT, and we're so pleased to see the results as players join the game. We're only getting started, and we have a series of updates planned including our first castle siege coming soon."