Latest News - Page 53

Razer has introduced a new keyboard in its competitive-focused Huntsman series, one best described as a more affordable version of the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL 8K we recently reviewed. And it does not compromise performance, with the Razer Huntsman V3 TKL 8KHz dropping the 'Pro' but keeping the same impressive Razer Analog Optical Switches Gen‑2 and true 8,000 Hz polling.

The big differences between the two come down to additional features: the new Razer Huntsman V3 TKL 8KHz drops the programmable control dial and wrist rest for a more streamlined, gaming-focused TKL design. The result is a more affordable Huntsman, with the new non-Pro variant priced at $169.99 USD versus the $219.99 USD of the Pro model.

Naturally, having Razer's next-gen analog or magnetic switches opens the door to on-the-fly adjustments to each key's actuation point via onboard controls or Razer's new Synapse Web interface, with Rapid Trigger and Snap Tap also supported. Razer notes that its switches arrive pre-lubricated with the Razer Huntsman V3 TKL 8KHz sporting internal foam dampening for a clean 'acoustic profile.'

Micron has confirmed it has begun shipping its fastest-ever DDR5 Registered Dual In-Line Memory Modules to customers, featuring 256GB capacities and speeds of up to 9,200 MT/s. At more than 40% faster than DDR5 RDIMMs currently in volume production, these modules represent a meaningful jump in what server memory can deliver.

The new modules are built on Micron's leading-edge 1-gamma process technology and use advanced 3D stacking alongside through-silicon-via packaging to meet those capacity and speed targets. Micron also claims that a single 256GB module delivers 40% power savings compared to running two 128GB modules together to achieve the same capacity, providing a significant efficiency gain for data center operators running thousands of servers.

With its new 256GB DDR5 RDIMM modules, Micron aims to deliver higher bandwidth and greater DRAM density by maximizing memory capacity per CPU socket. This helps provide the performance and power efficiency required for high-end AI servers.

As part of iOS 26.5, Apple has finally added end-to-end encrypted RCS conversations with Android users in the Messages app. This has been one of the most long-awaited updates in mobile messaging, closing one of the last obvious gaps between iMessage and Android messaging and bringing cross-platform privacy protection to everyday conversations. The feature is now rolling out to users in beta.

Google and Apple described the rollout as the result of a cross-industry effort to bring encryption to RCS. With iOS 26.5, users will see a lock icon and a small "Encrypted" label at the top of the chat while having an encrypted conversation with an Android user. Apple says encryption will be enabled by default, but device owners can confirm it in Settings under the RCS Messaging menu of the Messages section.

To use end-to-end encrypted RCS, you must be on iOS 26.5 and use a supported carrier. The feature is only beginning to roll out in beta, so not all users will have access just yet. Apple still frames iMessage as the best way to communicate between Apple devices, but this update helps further close the gap between green and blue bubbles.

PS5 sales are dwindling as Sony faces turbulence midway through the PS5 generation, caused by a perfect storm of inflation and increasing supply costs.

Following two back-to-back price hikes, the PlayStation 5 isn't doing so well on the shipment level. Sony's latest FY25 earnings report shows that the company only shipped 1.5 million PS5 consoles in Q4'25, which happens to be the lowest-ever quarter in the company's ninth console generation.

The PS5 is also being lapped by its predecessor, at least in unit shipments. The end of Holiday 2025 marked the PS5's 22nd quarter on the market and when aligned with the PS4, we see that the PS4 is ahead by 3.3 million.

Sipeed has launched its new K3 series Single Board Computers, powered by the RISC-V ISA. Using SpacemiT's new "Fusion Architecture" with dedicated matrix multiplication blocks, Sipeed claims these systems can run 30B LLMs locally at over 10 tokens per second.

SpacemiT, a fabless Chinese semiconductor designer, is the silicon architect, while Sipeed serves as the hardware integrator. The K3 SoC is packaged with 32GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory and 10GbE networking, offering an alternative to proprietary AI hardware for enthusiasts and researchers. Prices start at $299 and go up to $629 for the 32GB flagship.

At the silicon level, the K3 SoC features 8 general-purpose X100 cores, each with 4 MB of L2 cache. The company claims the X100 performs similarly to ARM's Cortex-A76 core. The K3 also offers 8 A100 AI matrix units with TCM (Tightly Coupled Memory) and supports up to 1024-bit RVV 1.0 vector processing. These deliver up to 60 TOPS of performance (format unspecified) and support BF16, FP16, FP8, INT8, and INT4 data types.

World-famous singer Dua Lipa has recently filed a $15 million (£11 million) lawsuit against Samsung for using her likeness to sell TVs without her permission or consent. The complaint was filed on May 8th, 2026, in the US District Court for the Central District of California. The complaint accuses Samsung of copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and misappropriation of Lipa's image and likeness.

According to the lawsuit, Samsung is using an image of Dua Lipa taken at the 2024 Austin City Limits Festival on its TV product boxes. The complaint claims that Ms. Lipa owns the rights to the image, and Samsung's packaging was "designed to improperly capitalize on Ms. Lipa's hard-earned success" for the promotion of their products. Samsung was thus sent multiple "cease and desist" letters from Ms. Lipa's legal team, all of which were ignored according to the lawsuit.

The suit alleges that Samsung was profiting financially by using Dua Lipa's likeness and quotes several social media comments from fans of Ms. Lipa who were apparently convinced to buy a Samsung TV just because of her appearance on the box. According to Ms. Lipa's legal team, Samsung has violated California's right of publicity statute, as well as trademark and copyright infringement claims. The singer is demanding $15 million in damages, as well as punitive damages and legal costs.

After the disastrous Forza Horizon 6 leak just a couple of days ago, it looks like another big game has leaked before its official launch date. RespawnFirst has reported that Unknown Worlds' Subnautica 2 has leaked online 48 hours before its Early Access date. Unfortunately, the leak has already spread, and the game has appeared on websites of ill repute ahead of launch.

The Early Access date for Subnautica 2 was set to be May 14th, 2024, but the leak has now made the game playable for pirates worldwide. This situation is quite similar to the Forza Horizon 6 leak we reported earlier, but it is not quite as bad. At least Subnautica 2 was only 48 hours away from officially launching, but Horizon 6 was leaked 10 days before it was meant to be officially available.

This wave of game leaks has led to immense speculation online. Gamers on social media platforms like X and Reddit are arguing over security concerns and whether Steam should be held accountable for these leaks. Others are blaming the pre-load mechanisms, but that seems less likely. Perhaps the most likely source of these leaks is review copies given in advance to game reviewers and media outlets.

Big news in the fighting game world as previous Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada joins a once strong rival, SNK.

In December 2025, Katsuhiro Harada announced he was leaving Bandai Namco and the Tekken franchise. The update was a big blow to the Tekken community, as Harada is seen as an irreplaceable force in the fighting game world. Now it's been revealed that Harada didn't actually retire--he just changed sides.

Today, Harada reveals VS Studio, a new subsidiary of SNK that will focus on new games, including--you guessed it--fighting titles. After all, SNK is best known for titles like King of Fighters and Fatal Fury. According to a press release, VS Studio has the tagline "beyond tradition, crafted to perfection," and the VS in the group's name has multiple meanings--versus, video game software, visionary standard, volition shift, and vanguard spirit.

If your graphics card was somehow struck by lightning, would you expect it to survive? Probably not, but this happened to an NVIDIA RTX 3070 (in an indirect way), and the GPU was somehow repaired to a usable state.

VideoCardz noticed this tale from repair expert Brother Zhang, who has performed miraculous repairs on graphics cards in the past.

At the start of the above YouTube video, you can see the PC in which the RTX 3070 was installed, in its post-lightning strike state, with the inside of the computer essentially a melted mess (including the figurine decorations therein).

Forza Horizon 6 on PC is not only about choosing the highest visual settings and jumping into the next race. A smooth setup matters, but players also need a clear plan for progression, credits, upgrades, and the garage they want to build over time.

That is where many players get slowed down. The game can look great, but the experience still feels limited if the player does not have the right cars, enough credits, or a progression path that matches how they actually play. A good PC experience should cover both sides: how the game runs and how the player moves forward inside it.

PC players usually think about performance first. Frame rate, visual quality, ray tracing, upscaling, controls, and display settings can all change how a racing game feels. Forza's official PC breakdown highlights the PC version of Forza Horizon 6, including ray-traced reflections, ray-traced global illumination, ultrawide support, advanced upscaling options, live settings previews, and benchmark tools.

Apple's Vision Pro headset is reportedly being shelved for years, with the next iteration not expected until 2028 at the earliest.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a known Apple insider with a fantastic track record of understanding the company's inner workings, Apple is shifting its focus to AI-powered wearables like smart glasses and camera-equipped AirPods. The Vision Pro, launched in early 2024, has struggled to gain traction, with only 600,000 units sold to date.

The Vision Pro is still quite far away in terms of design to what Apple desires with its AR glasses, but that's not what has caused skepticism among top executives. The headset's high price and heavy design have been cited as key barriers to adoption, along with practical use cases that warrant a general consumer, or even a power user, getting one.

eBay's board of directors formally opposes GameStop's $56 billion share buyout proposal and shares major points of concern with the deal.

A bit ago, GameStop made an offer to acquire eBay for $125 per share in a half-cash, half-stock deal worth around $56 billion. On the same day the proposal was announced, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen went live with CNBC in a quizzical interview and was unable to answer exactly where the remaining buyout funds would come from--GameStop may be $15 billion short.

Fast-forwarding to today, and eBay has now rejected GameStop's offer. Paul Pressler, the chairman of eBay's board of directors, tells the GameStop CEO: "We have concluded that your proposal is neither credible nor attractive."

Discord Nitro is now the cheapest version of Xbox Game Pass, offering a "Starter Edition" that gives subscribers access to over 50 PC and console games.

The integration, confirmed by both Microsoft and Discord, is rolling out to Nitro subscribers in waves and is available on the $9.99/month Nitro plan. This move adds a competitive edge to the $14.99 Game Pass Core and $19.99 Game Pass Ultimate tiers, which offer broader access and features like cloud streaming and multiplayer on consoles.

The Starter Edition, while more limited in scope, includes a curated selection of games and is directly integrated into Discord's "Now Playing" status system. Subscribers can launch Game Pass games directly from the platform, likely through the Xbox app, and take advantage of exclusive discounts on gaming peripherals from brands like Logitech G, SteelSeries, and KontrolFreak.

A year after its release, Noctua has finally released a black version of its NF-A12x25 G2 120mm fans for PC builders who desire a more conventional color scheme over Noctua's love it or hate it beige and brown default color scheme. The Chromax.Black version of the NF-A12x25 G2 costs the same as its brown counterpart and is going for $34.95 on Amazon at the time of writing.

Just like all of Noctua's outgoing Chromax black fans and coolers, the new black NF-A12x25 G2 fans are fully blacked out from the fan blades to the rubber grommets that help dampen vibrations during operation. Unlike most other fan manufacturers, Noctua is unable to create black versions of its products on a dime. The complexity of Noctua's fans is so extreme that even changes in color pigmentation can shift the reliability and performance of its fans without additional development.

Noctua described the complications of making Chromax black models of its products in a recent article, where it noted that its designs for some of its latest fans (including the NF-A12x25) are built at the absolute maximum of what injection molding can accomplish, even with the advanced polymers it uses, such as Sterrox LCP. Changing color pigments can impact the molding process, including affecting how a mold cools and solidifies. Noctua has to modify its injection molding process to account for the side effects that different color pigments have on the molding process. In a worst-case scenario, Noctua says it will recreate a product design completely from scratch just to make a black version.

SEGA has officially cancelled its unique ideas for a new kind of game genre--the mighty live service Super Game.

It's an end of an era for SEGA, or at least a conceptual end. I've been reporting on SEGA's interesting-sounding new Super Game idea for years now, and while the publisher never really explained the idea properly, it was nonetheless interesting. SEGA spoke of a new kind of living game genre where titles continually evolved over time, moving both strong game sales and monetization along the way.

Now SEGA has clarified some things in its latest FY26 earnings report. Due to the immediacy of its current business, which still requires the company to release new games that sell millions of copies every year, the Super Game initiative has been cancelled altogether. SEGA was prepared to spend around 100 billion yen ($634 million) across 5 years to fund its first Super Game, with the plan to release multiple Super Games by 2030.

Microsoft is offering those searching with Bing a chance to win some tempting prizes which are part of a $2,000,000 giveaway.

Windows Latest noticed a pop-up promoting this big 'prize drop' which appeared after a Bing search.

Apparently, half of that money, a cool million, is being given away as cash, and the other half in various prizes.

Pearl Abyss's latest Q1'26 results give an indication of how much money a publisher collects after a successful multi-million AAA product launch.

According to the latest figures, Crimson Desert generated nearly $200 million for South Korean developer Pearl Abyss in less than a month after launch.

The figures show that Crimson Desert, which is now recognized as an official new IP from the studio, made around 266.5 billion Korean won (roughly $179 million) in revenue in the Q1 period. As a result of the game's huge success, Pearl Abyss's revenue was up 420% to a staggering 328.5 billion Korean won (about $220 million). This effectively means that Crimson Desert accounted for 81.3% of all revenue for the period.

Valve is preparing to launch four versions of the Steam Machine, with a reservation system to prevent scalper markups.

Code in the latest Steam update hints at four distinct models and two Steam Frame packages, according to data mined by the Steam Machine subreddit. The four models remain unnamed, but previous leaks suggest they could include 512GB and 2TB storage variants, which, with the now four versions, could simply mean a Steam Machine bundle with and without a Steam Controller. Valve engineers confirmed that it intends to release at least two variants, though the memory crisis could have forced adjustments.

The reservation system mirrors the one used for the Steam Controller, which sold out instantly and was heavily resold at inflated prices. This move signals a more controlled launch strategy, with Valve likely aiming to avoid the chaos that followed the Steam Controller's release.

Microsoft exec Scott Hanselman has fired back at critics who accused the company of "cheating" over its Windows 11 speed boost feature, defending the practice as common across modern operating systems.

The controversy centers on the Low Latency Profile, a performance tweak that briefly boosts CPU speed when launching apps or menus, making Windows 11 feel snappier to the user. However, critics have accused Microsoft of taking shortcuts to achieve this new level of perceived performance in Windows 11, but Hanselman rebutted on X that all major OSes, including macOS and Linux, employ similar techniques to reduce latency and improve responsiveness.

Hanselman emphasized that this is not a novel trick, but a well-established method used in computing to prioritize specific tasks. He noted that even smartphones dynamically scale CPU performance in real time, a process known as dynamic frequency scaling.

According to a new rumor, Intel plans to bring back on-package memory with its upcoming Razor Lake-AX processors, expected to launch sometime in 2028. This will see the return of memory sitting close to the chip, which is something we haven't seen from Intel since its Lunar Lake SoCs, so this move will undoubtedly be used to enhance performance and efficiency, with a similar approach to AMD's Ryzen 'Halo' products like Strix Halo.

And with that, it looks like Intel's next-gen Razor Lake-AX processors will go head-to-head with AMD's next-gen Medusa Halo processors. The memory type for Razor Lake-AX is still to be determined, but with the release and launch a little while off, the expectation is that it will adopt the LPDDR6 standard for extra bandwidth.

This would make sense as Razor Lake, an optimized version of Nova Lake, will also bring improvements to its CPU technology and integrated Arc 'Celestial' or even 'Druid' graphics. This would position a premium Razor Lake-AX chip as something tailor-made for high-end portable computing, AI, and PC gaming.