I've got to admit, I was surprised to see Sony's new PlayStation 5 Pro console capable of running games at 8K -- even if it's with AI-powered PSSR upscaling -- but the company is making sure our expectations aren't too high. Gran Turismo 7 will run at 8K on the PS5 Pro, which is exciting... but it won't be every game.

This is just a $699 console after all, and not some $6000+ gaming PC with a $2500+ graphics card that is magnitudes faster than the PS5 Pro. Anyway, in a new interview with IGN, PlayStation Senior Principal Product Manager, Toshi Aoki said that while the PS5 Pro has 8K gaming support, "that's not our headline".

Aoki explained: "So even with the PS5 Pro, we do have 8K games support, but that's not our headline. It's more of the cherry on the cake...if you are one of the small percentage of people who have an 8K TV, you could get that from supported games. It is something that we have to work together with developers and also the TV manufacturers in the future....But right now we are really focused on the main use cases, which is 4K TV owners having that high-level visual fidelity and playing at [60 FPS]".

Sony announced its PlayStation 5 Pro console not too long ago, with beefed-up internal hardware and a higher $699 price that has gamers divided.

Well, the company itself has started talking about the pricing of its new PS5 Pro, as well as the decision-making process behind leaving the disc drive out of the package. In a new interview with IGN, PlayStation Senior Principal Product Manager, Toshi Aoki, explained: "Well, the technologies that I just mentioned that we are putting in to deliver new experiences for game players, and also not just the technological differences, but the SSD, the Wi-Fi 7, and the new technologies that surround the gameplay as well. So it's more of a full package that will give that exceptional value to the players... the most engaged players that we're targeting".

He continued: "With the PS5 Pro, we are offering all these new tech innovations, and we added the two terabyte SSD, as well as the Wi-Fi 7. We believe as a full package that it offers for the most players. For the disc drive, it is an option for players. Not all players have discs, even though most players may...but we have the option for being able to add that for those players. So I think it's more of the balance of the value proposition that we're giving".

MSI has just confirmed that it will support CUDIMM DDR5 memory on AMD Ryzen 9000 and Ryzen 8000 series CPUs.

What is CUMM exactly? It's a memory that enhances signal integrity, which allows memory manufacturers to drive up memory frequencies that are independent of the memory controller. The benefit? You'll get improved stability and reliability at higher memory speeds, with CUDIMM memory modules starting at 6400MT/s.

But, we have multiple memory manufacturers that have already announced CUDIMM memory kits, with speeds of 9200MT/s up to 9600MT/s with the promise of 10,000MT/s+ kits in the future. AMD will be lifting the embargo on its new X870E and X870 motherboard reviews, so we'll find out everything we need to know in the coming days.

MSI's fleet of X870 motherboards will feature "True Wi-Fi 7" with 320MHz 5.8G support on all X870 and X870E motherboards, "unlike others" the company is pointing out (and by others, MSI means GIGABYTE and ASUS).

The company is pushing a new marketing strategy that shows the advantages of using "True Wi-Fi 7" with our friends at Uniko's Hardware teasing that MSI will support the ATX 3.1 165W design with an additional 8-pin power connector, the full-fledged Wi-Fi 7 with 320MHz 5.8GHz support.

This will be combined with MSI's features like "EZ" GPU and SSD removal, a brand-new BIOS, and MSI wanting to step into the limelight with next-gen GPU support for NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 graphics cards with an additional PCIe power connector on X870 and X870E motherboards.

Intel's next-generation Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake-S" desktop CPUs are here again, this time they're being sold by third-party Chinese seller Taobao, in engineering sample (ES) form.

The new Intel Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors will arrive on the new LGA 1851 socket, with the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K processor expected to battle AMD's just-released Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series CPUs... but not the monster Ryzen 7 9800X3D expected in October.

Anyway, leaker "haruzake5719" is back with a product link to the page on Taobao, the Chinese online marketplace, with early Intel Arrow Lake-S engineering sample (ES) processors.

It's one of the studio's most beloved franchises. It birthed esports as we know it today and has been missing for many years - at least in terms of new games. According to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, Blizzard is working on a new first-person shooter in the StarCraft franchise.

With development led by ex-Ubisoft and Far Cry veteran Dan Hay, it's said to be in the early stages of development - with no word on whether or not it's a single-player, co-op, or competitive game.

Interestingly, this new project marks Blizzard's third attempt to create a StarCraft spin-off with an action or shooter focus. In the early 2000s, the studio canceled the stealth-action game StarCraft: Ghost, which was far along in development.

AMD has been kicking goal after goal with its CPU business, but the GPU side of the company has been struggling for many, many years now... and now, there's a new issue: oversupply of RDNA 3 graphics cards, so RDNA 4 is being pushed back to Q1 2025 according to new rumors.

In a new video from leaker Moore's Law is Dead, we're hearing that AMD is pushing RDNA 4 to Q1 2025 as there is an "oversupply problem" and that "RDNA 4 is MUCH better" in price/performance, and with too many Radeon RX 7000 series "RDNA 3" graphics cards on the market, it means RDNA 4 is being pushed.

A couple of sources talked to MLID, confirming a "HUGE" oversupply problem with RDNA 3 and that low-to-mid RDNA 3 graphics cards are selling "OK" but the higher-end Navi 31-based GPUs aren't "moving at all right now".

KLEVV, the premium brand of Essencore and creator of great-looking and high-performance memory and storage, has announced a pair of new storage options. First is the futuristic and stylish KLEVV GENUINE G560 PCIe Gen5x4 NVMe M.2 SSD, which boasts impressive read and write capabilities of up to 14,000 MB/s and 12,000 MB/s, respectively.

Interestingly, this is the company's first PCIe Gen5 SSD, and it's coming in solid thanks to specs that include 4K random IOPS (up to 1,400K), 5th Generation LDPC technology, and what the company is calling a revolutionary 23x-layer 3D NAND.

Best of all, the stylish design includes passive cooling, with the aluminum fin-style heatsink blending in nicely with the white finish. The new KLEVV GENUINE G560 PCIe Gen5x4 NVMe M.2 SSD is designed for enthusiast and professional gamers, content creators, and general enthusiasts looking for a super-fast SSD and is available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB variants.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9000X3D series CPUs are on the way, with the star of the show leaked in some of its glory: the upcoming Ryzen 7 9800X3D which will be the "Ultimate Processor for Elite Gaming".

In a new video from leaker Moore's Law is Dead, we're learning a few facts about the upcoming Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, which is listed as a "2024 product" on the leaks docs he saw, while the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D processors are not listed as 2024 products. So, expect a CES 2025 reveal (and possible release) for the higher-end 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors.

Another note is that the 9800X3D is listed as having 104MB of cache in total, which lines up with previous rumors, while the 9800X3D is referenced as being "designed for increased frequencies". MLID notes that there are multiple terms like "the best" and the "Ultimate Processor for Elite Gaming" which will see AMD position the 9800X3D as the best X3D processor for gamers.

It's generally known that connecting via Bluetooth increases the overall input latency for gaming controllers or any wireless peripheral like a mouse or keyboard. Bluetooth is more power efficient and doesn't require a dedicated receiver as it's a universal wireless standard. However, for competitive gaming, it's a crutch compared to low-latency wireless or a dedicated wired connection.

At the recent LG webOS Summit 2024, LG partnered with Razer and MediaTek to showcase the brand-new Bluetooth Ultra-Low Latency (BT ULL) technology - a world first. With an LG TV, a Razer Bluetooth gaming controller, and the new BT ULL tech, LG demonstrated a game-changing 1ms input latency or lag with Street Fighter 6.

The input latency for Bluetooth controllers varies, but modern Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation controllers supporting Bluetooth wireless usually feature input latency in the region of 10ms to 20ms. So yeah, the 1ms input latency of Bluetooth Ultra-Low Latency is a game changer.

For those looking forward to discovering more about the next generation of GeForce RTX 50 Series cards, it's been a wild week of leaks from trusted insiders and sources. NVIDIA leaker @kopeite7kimi on X provided detailed specs for the GeForce RTX 5090 and the GeForce RTX 5080, which are expected to get a full reveal and launch early next year.

After rumors pointing to these new flagship GPU specs getting 'locked in' sometime in September 2024, the probability of this information being true is high. As reported earlier, the GeForce RTX 5090 will be an absolute beast - 21,760 CUDA Cores, 32GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, and a confirmed 600W power draw or rating.

The Blackwell flagship is also built using the GB202-300-A1 chip. On the other hand, the GB203-400-A1 GeForce RTX 5080 will be a little more down-to-earth, with 10,752 CUDA Cores, 16GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, and a 400W power rating.

Blizzard revealed some of its upcoming plans during the recent Xbox Tokyo Games Show 2024 event, which include an Overwatch 2 collaboration with anime hit "My Hero Academia" as well as StarCraft: Remastered, and StarCraft II both coming to PC Game Pass.

The upcoming Overwatch 2 x My Hero Academia collaboration will kick off on October 17 and run through October 30, providing gamers with the change to get skins of characters like Deku, Uravity, All Might, Kirko, and Tomura Shigaraki. All premium skins, all costing money of course -- at around $19 a pop -- with bundles at around $67.

Blizzard's other big announcement was that StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II: Campaign Collection arer coming to PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions on November 5. The original StarCraft is free on Battle.net, or $15.99 for the Remastered version which is headed to PC Game Pass anyway.

MSI is cooking up its new MEG Vision X AI pre-built PC that will feature Intel's new Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors, and NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 50 series "Blackwell" gaming GPUs.

The company teased its new MEG Vision X AI pre-built PC earlier this year at Computex 2024, but now more details have surfaced and what we'll find inside of the system. The details of the MEG Vision X AI pre-built PC were revealed during MSI's recent factory tour in Shenzhen, China, with reports teasing we'll see two major components inside.

The first, is Intel's new Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake-S" desktop CPU, where we should expect multiple SKUs on offer inside of the MSI MEG Vision X AI pre-built PC, right up to the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K processor (24 cores, 24 threads, at up to 5.7GHz).

NVIDIA is expected to debut its next-gen GeForce RTX 5080 with 16GB of ultra-fast, next-gen GDDR7 memory... but now we're hearing fresh rumors that an RTX 5080 will launch with 24GB after the first 16GB model launches. Alrighty!

The new flagship GeForce RTX 5090 will ship with a huge 32GB of GDDR7 memory, which is 8GB more than the 24GB of GDDR6X memory on the RTX 4090. The GeForce RTX 4080 launched with 16GB of GDDR6X memory, and the suped-up RTX 4080 SUPER also continued on with 16GB of GDDR6X... now the RTX 5080 is launching with 16GB and I'm sure gamers are going to say "but, there's no VRAM capacity upgrade!"

Well, that's where this new RTX 5080 with 24GB GDDR7 memory steps in, which would be fantastic to see as there's going to be a huge gap between the RTX 5090 with 32GB and the RTX 5080 with 16GB. The RTX 5080 with 24GB would sit perfectly in the middle, and I'm sure would rock higher GPU clocks, the additional 8GB more GDDR7 memory, and of course: a higher price tag.

NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 graphics cards are rumored for a (huge) debut at CES 2025, with some major new rumors filling out the picture of what to expect from the Blackwell gaming GPUs.

We had some specs on the GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 teased yesterday with rumors, but new rumors are suggesting that we'll have a CES 2025 launch... and some more hardware details. NVIDIA is expected to debut a brand new PCB design and new Founders Edition coolers which run on a single 12V-2x6 power connector, squashing rumors of dual PCIe power connectors on the RTX 5090.

The upgraded PCB will house 16 GDDR7 memory modules, each with 3GB of memory capacity and running at speeds of somewhere between 28-32Gbps, which will result in the highest memory bandwidth on a consumer graphics card in history: 32GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit memory interface -- if run at 32Gbps GDDR7 spec -- will provide an insane 2.0TB/sec of memory bandwidth. Wow, wow, wow. Do want.

Opinion: Sony says it removed the PS5 Pro's disc drive to give consumers more choice, but the firm isn't offering a dual-SKU Pro lineup (one with a disc, and one without). The lack of a disc drive by default is indicative of Sony's push for higher hardware and software sales profits.

Sony, like Microsoft, wants to maximize profits...but unlike Microsoft, Sony is more industrious with its strategies to boost hardware profits (this is partly because no Xbox has ever turned a profit). Microsoft also has far fewer consoles sales than Sony, with Xbox generating just 13% of annual revenue from console sales (Xbox made $2.8 billion from HW from June 2023 - July 2024, compared to Sony's $7.9 billion).

The PS5 Pro's overall design and MSRP is reflective of some very forward-thinking motives for Sony. The Pro isn't just about hardware profit maximization, but also leans into future economics with software, and it's all because of the system's absent disc drive.

If you've upgraded your Mac to the latest desktop operating system from Apple, macOS 15, then you may have been seriously annoyed by the way screen recording permission requests now work.

The good news is that there's now a fix, sort of - not from Apple, but a third-party software developer that has produced an app called Amnesia.

To recap briefly, with macOS 15 the mentioned permission requests now happen repeatedly, so instead of having to grant an app that engages in screen recording - whether that's screen grabbing, or screen sharing in the likes of Slack - permission once, you're asked multiple times.

Xbox is growing in Asia, and could continue to get bigger as Microsoft lays key partnerships with Japanese and Asian game studios.

Microsoft's gaming presence is apparently doing quite well in Asia, especially in Japan, where Xbox has made a bigger splash in the region than ever before. Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer gave a quick update at Tokyo Game Show 2024, where he said:

"We're continuing to see growth in the region. This year, more people are playing with Xbox, across all devices in Asia, than ever before. We've seen the largest number of Xbox console players in the region to date."

Two of the most popular video games in South Korea are coming to Xbox Game Pass PC.

Microsoft has announced more Activision-Blizzard games are coming to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, and the new entries are titanic in reach and popularity. Blizzard's StarCraft titles will soon be included in Game Pass PC and Game Pass Ultimate, the company announced at TGS 2024.

"On November 5, Starcraft Remastered and Starcraft II will be available with PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate," Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer said during Tokyo Game Show 2024 stream.

With hands-on impressions of games running natively on PlayStation 5 Pro hardware, it's safe to say that for console gamers looking for the best visual fidelity, Sony's mid-generation refresh won't disappoint. From in-race 60FPS ray tracing in Gran Turismo 7 to the impressive Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 running at a full 60 FPS with Fidelity Mode visuals.

Throw in PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution or PSSR upscaling, which uses AI like NVIDIA's DLSS to deliver a crisper and cleaner image compared to the baseline PS5 console, and there's definite hype surrounding the Pro after the lukewarm initial reaction.

However, the PlayStation 5 Pro, even at $699, will not be able to compete with a high-end or mid-range GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU in terms of its overall performance and ray-tracing capabilities - case in point: Remedy's Alan Wake 2.