UK-based Analyst firm Ampere Analysis examines how the Switch 2's launch has affected third-party game sales, leading to a substantial +76% increase in software earnings on the Switch ecosystem.

Thanks to unrelenting software exclusivity, consumers typically buy Nintendo first-party games to play on Nintendo consoles. These titles are designed to be must-haves that can't be played anywhere else. Yet the Switch 2's release has catalyzed a mighty push of third-party software--which makes sense, because 3P vastly outnumbers Nintendo's catalog.

According to a new report from Ampere Analysis, the Switch 2's release helped boost third-party software sales by over 75% year-over-year, tacking on an additional $1 billion in revenue over a 9-month period. (Note: these sales are across both the Switch 1 and Switch 2 platform). The firm does a breakdown estimation on how much the top companies earned during the launch blitz, with Warner Bros. leading the charge primarily due to Hogwarts Legacy's success.

ASUS UK has revealed pricing for its updated family of ROG Zephyrus G14/G16 laptops with Intel's latest Panther Lake CPUs, as reported by Notebookcheck. If you were looking to get your hands on one of these laptops, be ready to pay a hefty price. ASUS UK has ballooned the price tag of the base G16 model by almost 30% as compared to last year. This is largely because the new base model now sports an RTX 5070, pushing the entry point into a higher price bracket.

It is important to note that these prices reflect the market in the United Kingdom, which is subject to VAT (Value Added Tax). That said, our comparison is within the same market, so we're likely to see a similar upward trend in the global market as well. The USD pricing provided in this article is estimated by removing the UK's standard VAT from the list price.

The floor for ASUS' 2026 lineup has shifted significantly. The most affordable G14 (GU405AP-SY004W) now starts at £2,899 (~$3,195), packed with an RTX 5070 and the Core Ultra 9 386H. If you want the larger G16 (GU606AP-TB003W) with the same specs, that entry point climbs to £3,199 (~$3,525). For context, last year's G16 with the RTX 5060 is now available for as low as £2,099 ($2,320). Whether you compare it to the base MSRP (a 30% hike) or to current retail prices (a massive 60% jump), there is a clear upward trend in pricing for these newer models.

Sony has long been rumored to be quietly working on a new handheld gaming device, and now renowned leaker KeplerL2 has shared details on how powerful Sony's upcoming device will be.

KeplerL2 became a voice of authority in the PC gaming community for accurate leaks on GPU architecture, providing SKUs, hardware specifications, and more. Now, Kepler has written in a new post on the NeoGAF forums that the GPU within Sony's PS6-generation handheld is "a bit ahead of XSS in raster (and ofc massively ahead in RT/PT)." Adding, the new handheld will also come with Sony's AI-powered upscaler, which would presumably be a version of PSSR, likely PSSR 3.

Sony is currently calling the PS6 handheld "Project Canis", and leaked specifications indicate that it will be rocking 4x Zen 6c cores, 2x Zen 6 LP cores, 16x RDNA 5 CUs, 192-bit LPDDR5X (24GB), and a 135mm² TSMC 3nm chip. According to Kepler, this device will outperform the Nintendo Switch 2, and depending on the AI upscaling performance, will beat out competing Microsoft handhelds such as the Xbox ROG Ally X. Kepler writes that Sony's new version of PSSR for the handheld will even be better than DLSS 4.5, which NVIDIA only announced at GTC 2026.

Salesforce is bringing a massive overhaul of its popular enterprise communication platform, Slack. The headline is a serious makeover for Slackbot, the platform's AI-powered personal agent, transforming it from a simple chatbot into a full-fledged enterprise agent capable of drafting emails, scheduling meetings, and going through your inbox for specific information. This release puts Slack closer to what the company describes as an agentic operating system.

The most useful addition is "reusable AI skills", which let users define specific tasks for Slackbot from start to finish. Once created, these tasks can be deployed on demand across a variety of scenarios. There is also a strong focus on sharing and co-developing tools within an organization, meaning if you find a prompt useful, you can share it with your team. Slack comes with a built-in library of AI skills, but users can also create their own.

Slackbot also gets a Deep Research mode, and the chatbot will now conduct multi-step investigations rather than instantly responding. The new version also brings MCP (Model Context Protocol) client integration, allowing Slackbot to connect to and coordinate with external services and tools. This includes creating Google Slides, drafting Google Docs, and interacting with more than 2,600 apps in the Slack Marketplace.

With the controversial DLSS 5 set to launch later this year, which leverages AI to transform a game's lighting and visuals to achieve a more photorealistic look, it sounds like this might only be the beginning of a DLSS future focused on advanced neural rendering. According to a new rumor from the known NVIDIA and GeForce RTX insider 'anthony256,' the company plans to debut DLSS 6 with the Rubin-powered GeForce RTX 60 Series.

As for what it will enable game developers to do, well, it's definitely ambitious and controversial. Leveraging the advanced 6th Generation Tensor Cores in the GeForce RTX 60 Series that are currently being tuned and finalized specifically to accelerate neural rendering, DLSS 6 will take a bold leap beyond even Multi Frame Generation and DLSS 5, with a powerful new AI model that can generate "infinite gameplay."

Now, the claim of leveraging AI to generate "infinite gameplay" is a little vague, so let's take a closer look at a couple of DLSS 6 examples that NVIDIA is reportedly showcasing to game developers to get them on board. One includes a form of procedural generation in which DLSS 6 takes an existing open-world Elder Scrolls-style RPG and leverages its visual assets and game data to generate new locations, enemies, and even boss battles in real time. The demo apparently expands the developer-created world as you play, making it larger and packed with more to do.

Elon Musk has teased that Tesla is quietly working on a secret new vehicle, and that it will be much "cooler" than a classic minivan.

The teaser from Musk comes from an official reply from the Tesla CEO on X, in which he responded to a user who asked him to build a minivan. Musk wrote, "Something way cooler than a minivan is coming". Musk didn't provide any more details on this mystery vehicle, but that didn't stop Tesla fans from stirring the pot of speculation. Some users landed on a "CyberSUV," which would essentially be a modified version of the Cybertruck, better suited for suburban environments.

There were also guesses that Tesla is working on a Robovan, which Musk has mentioned in the past, but has never seen the light of day. While many are excited about the idea of Tesla creating something "way cooler" than a minivan, those who have been following Musk's "teaser" announcements in the past will know to be cautiously optimistic about timelines and even touted products making it to public release.

DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Multi Frame Generation is now available. After going hands-on with NVIDIA's updated Frame Generation technology in recent days, it's safe to say that it not only improves the Multi Frame Generation technology that debuted with DLSS 4, but it's a version of the technology that makes a lot more sense for a lot more games. And this all comes down to the Dynamic part of the technology, which is a game-changer in the making.

Now, it's worth reiterating what DLSS Frame Generation and Multi Frame Generation do, and what they're useful for, alongside their strengths and weaknesses. As most PC gamers who have used the technology know, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation and competing technologies leverage AI to generate frames between traditionally rendered or upscaled frames, enhancing motion clarity and smoothness.

Although latency increases when frames are not natively rendered, Frame Generation also leverages NVIDIA Reflex to ensure that a game with Frame Generation enabled still feels as smooth as one running natively at around 60 FPS. Multi Frame Generation takes this one step further by increasing the number of generated frames, leveraging GeForce RTX 50 Series hardware to keep frame pacing and latency in check, delivering the immersion that comes from playing a game running at 200+ FPS.

Microsoft and Playground Games are preparing to launch Forza Horizon 6, Playground Games' next foray into the world of Horizon, and this time it's headed to Japan.

Forza Horizon 6 is launching on May 19, but ahead of the debut, details about a preview have surfaced online, easing some cautious fan concerns. One of the biggest concerns with Playground Games' description of the Forza Horizon 6 world was whether the world would feel hollow, given how big it is. That doesn't seem to be the case, as a YouTuber with an Xbox Series X preview build of the title has described a world with abundant traffic and extremely detailed environments.

Unsurprisingly, the video showcasing the preview has been taken down from the channel, along with subsequent Reddit posts outlining the YouTuber's experience. The early code provided to the YouTuber granted access to one hour of progression, after which the YouTuber entered free roam around Tokyo. Despite takedowns of the content, some Reddit posts have gathered the details into a list.

Crimson Desert, the latest large-scale open-world action-adventure RPG from the developers at Pearl Abyss, has garnered quite a lot of attention since it released on March 20, 2026, and now we are starting to get some sales figures.

A report by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, citing a shareholders' meeting with the CEO of Pearl Abyss, states that Crimson Desert sold 2 million copies worldwide within the first 24 hours of its launch and, by the end of the first four days, had moved 3 million copies. That number has now increased to 4 million copies sold, as positive word of mouth and healthy reviews keep attracting new players to the latest open-world RPG.

The shareholder meeting also revealed that Pearl Abyss is looking into a Nintendo Switch 2 port for Crimson Desert, but such a port will entail compromises, as the Switch 2 has vastly different hardware specifications than the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series consoles. At the moment, Crimson Desert has nearly 37,500 reviews on Steam, with the majority giving it a positive score, earning it the "Very Positive" moniker.

Earlier this month, Build a Rocket Boy's CEO, Mark Gerhard, alleged that they had obtained proof that the launch of MindsEye was sabotaged by "external and internal forces". The launch was investigated and yielded sufficient results that Build a Rocket Boy is pursuing legal action.

Now, in a recent interview with GamesBeat, Gerhard has said a mission is coming to MindsEye, and it will be called Blacklist. The mission will feature a female protagonist and some of the evidence of sabotage uncovered during the investigation. Previously, Gerhard told a publication that he would use the names of the people responsible for the sabotage in the new mission, likely as NPCs.

This sabotage has been alleged by Gerhard since MindsEye launched, receiving mostly negative reception, with many citing bugs, unplayable levels, graphical glitches, and numerous other issues related to a lack of polishing. Gerhard has been claiming there was a "concerted effort" to "trash the game and the studio," and that those responsible were paid-off influencers or paid-for spam bots running a smear campaign against Build a Rocket Boy and MindsEye.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Season 3 is set to arrive on April 2, 2026, and ahead of the official launch, Dave Chappelle has been made available as a new operator within the store.

The season 3 update is quite beefy with new content, as there are new multiplayer maps, modes, Zombies map, a new Warzone Point of Interest (POI), and additional cosmetics. Included in the Season 3 update is the Half-Baked Tracer Pack, which is a reference to the movie of the same name starring Dave Chappelle.

The new pack features the Dave Chappelle operator and two skins inspired by his character in the movie. Additionally, the pack features new blueprints, weapon charms, and a new finishing move called "Fish Food".

Anthropic is one of the biggest AI companies on the planet, and a leak was detected on Tuesday morning that exposed the source code of Claude Code, a developer-focused capability that integrates Anthropic's AI assistant, Claude, into programming workflows.

According to the company, the leak was detected shortly after version 2.1.88 of Claude Code was made public, as the newly released version mistakenly included a source map file that exposed more than 500,000 lines of code and nearly 2,000 files. As you can probably imagine, internet sleuths were able to extract the files before Anthropic could deploy a fix, as a link to an archive containing them was posted to X by security researcher Chaofan Shou. The post caught the attention of more than 27 million users.

An Anthropic spokesperson confirmed the leak, saying the company is now reviewing steps to prevent a similar egregious human error from occurring again. The spokesperson provided a statement, saying, "Earlier today, a Claude Code release included some internal source code. No sensitive customer data or credentials were involved or exposed."

Rumors began circulating yesterday about a new big Lord of the Rings game being in development by a studio under the Embracer Group, the owners of the Lord of the Rings game rights. That studio was supposedly Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developer Warhorse Studios, but new information has surfaced suggesting otherwise.

A new report from Insider Gaming claims that the new Lord of the Rings game, backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) for a whopping $100 million, isn't being developed by Warhorse Studios but by Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the Tomb Raider games. According to sources close to the game's development, Crystal Dynamics is working on this new Lord of the Rings game alongside Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst.

Previous rumors indicated that this new Lord of the Rings game would be very similar to Hogwarts Legacy in terms of design, with the studio aiming to create a large, open-world action experience. Embracer was asked for comment on the recent rumors, and it responded that it doesn't comment on rumors or speculation. Crystal Dynamics was also asked to comment, but declined the offer.

Fans of retro gaming, specifically the 1980s and early 1990s era of PCs, arcades, and consoles, probably know all about Evercade. Essentially, it's a series of dedicated hardware and licensed game cartridges that let retro gaming fans play classic games and build a physical library. With everything from Pac-Man to Space Invaders, Tomb Raider, and Duke Nukem covered, it's an impressive line-up that continues to grow.

This week, Evercade creators Blaze Entertainment have announced a brand-new retro gaming handheld compatible with all Evercade game cartridges, called the Evercade Nexus. Sporting a 5.89-inch, 840 x 512-resolution IPS display with a 500+ nit brightness rating and a modern controller setup, the Evercade Nexus is set to launch in October 2026 with an affordable price tag of $199.99 USD.

With pre-orders now open, one of the coolest features of the Evercade Nexus is that it's launching with a brand-new cartridge courtesy of the company's collaboration with the Xbox studio Rare. The Banjo-Kazooie double-pack includes enhanced and official recreations of two N64 classics, Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. And with that, a special limited-edition N64-themed Evercade Nexus 64 Edition is also available to pre-order via retailer Funstock for $229.99.

Microsoft is facing a new probe from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to determine if the company has an unfair market advantage with its enterprise software suite.

The new investigation focuses on Microsoft's widely used ecosystem, which includes everything from Windows and Office apps such as Word and Excel to Teams, and AI-powered tools like Copilot. The investigation is to determine if Microsoft's scale and integration across these products give the company an unfair market advantage.

Notably, the designation from the Competition and Markets Authority isn't intended to bust Microsoft for doing anything illegal, but rather to ensure a level playing field for cloud licensing practices and the bundling of AI tools with enterprise software. The CMA conducted a "strategic market status" (SMS) investigation in the past, which revealed that Microsoft and Amazon are highly dominant in the cloud market, with both companies controlling approximately 30-40% of the infrastructure.

When it comes to keyboards, Razer is best known for its high-performance gaming offerings in the Huntsman and BlackWidow ranges. Today, the company has announced a new productivity-first wireless keyboard, and one designed for ergonomics. At a glance, the standout feature of the new Razer Pro Type Ergo is its split ergonomic layout, which supports natural hand positions for a more comfortable, strain-free typing experience.

A 10-degree base slope, support for multiple angles and tilts, and a built-in plush wrist rest further enhance the comfort and ergonomics. Razer notes that the Pro Type Ergo has been designed for a "productivity market that has barely moved," offering all-day professionals and PC users a comfortable and feature-packed premium keyboard option.

The Razer Pro Type Ergo features ultra-low-profile, finger-shaped keycaps, with a split design that includes two 'B' keys, dual spacebar keys, and a centered backspace key for easy access. It also sports multiple dedicated macro keys, two Razer Command Dials, and shortcut keys for switching between multiple devices.

With the release of DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Frame Generation with up to 6X Multi Frame Generation, the latest NVIDIA App update is also introducing the new Auto Shader Compilation feature, designed to reduce load times and in-game stuttering. Available in Beta, NVIDIA Auto Shader Compilation (ASC) rebuilds DirectX 12 shaders while your PC is idle after a driver update.

Anyone who has been playing alongside a steady stream of PC gamers in recent years will be all too familiar with the "Compiling Shaders" process, which can take several minutes. This un-skippable step runs before you can start playing and is all about leveraging your CPU to convert generic shader (i.e., graphics) code into an optimized format for your specific GPU model.

This compilation process often needs to be rerun after a GPU driver update to minimize stuttering and other performance issues. That moment when a PC game's status briefly freezes while a new visual effect is rendered is referred to as "shader stutter." With Auto Shader Compilation (ASC), NVIDIA is looking to minimize this and the need to sit through shader compilation.

When NVIDIA debuted DLSS 4.5 earlier this year, it released only the first half of the update: the new DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution, which introduced a powerful transformer-based upscaling model that delivered a notable improvement in image quality. The upgraded DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution offers its biggest benefit when playing games at 1440p or 4K using the Performance preset, delivering native-like results with a significant performance boost.

Today, the second half of the DLSS 4.5 update arrives for GeForce RTX 50 Series owners, featuring DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Multi Frame Generation with up to 6X Multi Frame Generation. Now, even though the latter might look like NVIDIA simply adding more AI-generated frames to boost smoothness and perceived performance, it's the DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Multi Frame Generation that's the most interesting.

Multi Frame Generation was built for the GeForce RTX 50 Series to take advantage of modern high-refresh-rate displays, with 4K 240 Hz and 1440p 360 Hz monitors becoming increasingly popular options. DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Multi Frame Generation is the natural evolution of Frame Generation technology, as it allows users to set a target frame rate that represents the maximum refresh rate and resolution of their display, and then let Dynamic Multi Frame Generation do the rest.

Intel recently launched its Arrow Lake refresh CPUs in the form of the new Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, both of which we recently reviewed. When it comes to the more affordable Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, we praised its multi-threaded performance and value for money, with the $199 USD price point feeling spot-on in a consumer technology market where prices are seemingly increasing everywhere.

Part of the value also derives from the integrated Arc or Xe graphics that offer impressive iGPU performance for a desktop processor. However, Intel is planning to debut a 'KF' Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus variant on April 3, which will reportedly keep the same specs and optimizations but disable the iGPU - making it a pure CPU that requires a dedicated discrete GPU for a PC to boot.

Now, when it comes to desktop PCs, discrete GPUs - especially when it comes to gaming - are essential, and many systems out there rarely, if ever, make use of a CPU's iGPU. Of course, when it comes to troubleshooting hardware or GPU issues, having an iGPU can be a lifesaver, but the new Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus looks to be an option for those looking for an affordable CPU that lets them save some money or put that toward other components.

Noctua, a brand known for its quiet and high-performing air coolers, is getting ready to launch its first AIO liquid cooler. As OC3D.net reports, Asetek and Noctua have jointly announced that the new liquid cooler has passed production validation testing and is on track for its Q2 release date just before Computex.

The news confirms that Noctua has finalized development of its upcoming AIO cooler, and its manufacturing lines are ready to begin production of the new unit. Noctua previously confirmed the unit would be released in Q2 this year in a roadmap the company released in late 2025. The currently unnamed Noctua liquid cooler will launch in 240mm, 360mm, and 420mm variants and will take advantage of Asetek's Emma G8 V2 pump that operates at approximately 3,600 RPM. The pump will be covered in a "triple-layer noise-reduction" cover to reduce vibration and noise generated from the pump. The new pump will also sport three pump speed profiles, enabling users to prioritize performance or quiet operation.

The cooler will take advantage of Noctua's existing SecuFirm2+ mounting kits, which already support all of Intel and AMD's modern sockets, including AM4, AM5, LGA 1851, LGA 1700, and LGA 1200. SecuFirm2+ also boasts support for offset mounting on Intel and AMD CPUs, a feature that is already supported with Noctua's latest air coolers. Offset mounting provides Noctua coolers with better thermal conductivity compared to the stock mounting setup Intel and AMD's sockets provide, depending on the CPU's IHS and die layout.