Helldivers 2 has had a somewhat tumultuous week following Sony Interactive Entertainment's announcement that PC gamers will soon be required to connect to a PSN account to access the game.

Sony has since backpedalled on that announcement, saying via the PlayStation X account that none of the the previously announced changes were going to go ahead and that it's still learning how to engage with the PC gaming community. The initial news of forced PSN and Steam connection resulted in massive backlash in the form of negative review bombing the game's Steam listing and an uproar in the Helldivers 2 Discord.

Spitz, the Helldivers 2 community manager stopped posting in the game's dedicated Discord server on Saturday, one day after the changes were announced. PCGamer reports the community manager left then server and has only returned today, telling the community he was almost fired for his last public comments about the controversial situation.

Supergiant Games' Hades is not only one of the most critically acclaimed and celebrated games of all time, serving as the high watermark for narrative-driven rogue-like action games, but it was a game that went from great to genius through its Early Access period.

With a recent technical test for the highly anticipated Hade II proving to be a success, developer and publisher Supergiant Games has decided to launch Hades II into Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Yes, you can play the game right now. Which, according to the team, "has more environments, foes, and fully-voiced characters than the full version of the original Hades game." However, it isn't complete with key areas, foes, and narrative events set to be added in the months ahead.

NASA Goddard has taken to its YouTube channel to share an incredible visualization of what it would look like to fall into a supermassive black hole.

The space agency explains via the description of the video that a NASA supercomputer was used to create a scenario where a camera, or as NASA put it, "a stand-in for a daring astronaut," was placed within the orbit of a supermassive black hole. The camera orbits the supermassive black hole, pulled in by its intense gravity, and then passes the black hole's event horizon.

The space agency explained that the supermassive black hole within the visualization is approximately 4.3 million times the mass of our Sun, and the entire video was created using the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation. The event horizon is the boundary around a black hole that light can no longer escape due to the gravity intense gravity of the astronomical object.

Quad-slot, triple-fan graphics cards are not unheard of, but they're massive units that push the limits of what you can fit inside a standard PC chassis and still have some room left for airflow. XFX, one of AMD's closest partners for creating Radeon graphics cards, has unveiled its latest flagship, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX Phoenix Nirvana - with dimensions (346 x 130 x 66mm) that make it one of the biggest gaming cards on the market.

Currently available for pre-order in China, with a price that translates to around $1100 USD, the Phoenix Nirvana should make its way to global markets as the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is set to be the most powerful ADM gaming GPU for at least another year or so. So, even though the Radeon RX 7900 XTX first launched in December 2022, there's enough room to launch a new flagship variant.

With next-gen RDNA 4 targeting a more mid-range market, the Radeon RX 8800 XT is set to fall behind the Radeon RX 7900 XTX in performance. With its 24GB of VRAM, the 7900 XTX is also a capable AI GPU in addition to being a 4K gaming card.

A group of cybersecurity researchers has discovered multiple security vulnerabilities within a wide range of software running on devices.

According to reports, the global smartphone brand is Xiaomi, and its security flaws are present within its own implementation of Google's Android operating system, which is a different system to the one present on Android devices in the US. Security researcher and founder of mobile security startup Oversecured, Sergey Toshin, said his team found twenty vulnerabilities throughout the Xiaomi devices, ranging from holes in the settings application to the Bluetooth software.

Toshin said the most egregious of these security vulnerabilities would have enabled hackers to gain "system privileges," which may have led to user passwords being stolen and access to social media accounts.

Razer's latest peripheral for gamers isn't a keyboard, mouse, or headset but an accessory for the Meta Quest 3 virtual reality and mixed reality headset. The Razer Facial Interface and Razer Adjustable Head Strap System for Meta Quest 3 are designed for comfort and VR gaming, looking to elevate the Meta Quest 3 immersion compared to the out-of-the-box experience.

The Facial Interface component has been designed to improve the weight distribution of the Meta Quest 3 headset while reducing the pressure points for longer gaming sessions. It has also been designed to work with the Meta Quest 3 charging dock, so there are no compatibility issues.

With hypoallergenic materials for the Facial Interface and high-performance nylon in the Adjustable Head Strap System, the design builds on the Australian Good Design Award accessories Razer has created for previous Meta Quest models.

NVIDIA will release its next-gen Blackwell-based GeForce RTX 50 later this year, with rumors flying that the RTX 5090 will launch first... and now we're hearing the RTX 5080 will launch first.

In a post on X, leaker "kopite7kimi" said that rumors of the GeForce RTX 5090 launching first are "not true" and that the GeForce RTX 5080 "should be released first". There is absolutely nothing official from NVIDIA regarding the GeForce RTX 50 series, with recent confirmations from the supply chain that the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 would be launched this year, while the rest of the RTX 50 series GPUs will launch in 2025.

RTX 5080 launching first: I can't see this happening, with the RTX 4090 still on the market and kicking ass, the RTX 5080 should deliver better overall rasterization performance than the RTX 4090, with new GDDR7 and a new GPU architecture, power improvements, and more. The RTX 5090 will trounce the RTX 4080, but launching the RTX 5080 first feels a bit weird.

'Compact without compromise' is how Corsair describes its new CORSAIR ONE i500 PC, a stylish new off-the-shelf desktop rig sporting 'real wood panels.' With full liquid cooling and GeForce RTX 4090 level graphics, it can be customized with up to 192GB of DDR5 memory and 24TB of storage to make it an absolute monster.

We've reported on the CORSAIR ONE i500 PC a couple of times in the past week, covering a teaser and a premature retail listing for the new PC. Today, the official announcement from Corsair offers full specs and details on the rig - confirming that both the RTX 4090 GPU and the Intel Core i9-14900K processor in this beast are liquid-cooled to shrink the overall size down by up to 30% compared to standard desktop chassis.

The overall look is modern and sleek, with Corsair positioning the rig as something for content creators, AI professionals, and gamers. We're talking about a premium PC here with the Core i9-14900K, GeForce RTX 4090, 2TB M.2 SSD, and 64GB 6000 MT/s DDR5 CORSAIR ONE i500 configuration currently listed for $4,699.99 USD.

Microsoft is set to close the Xbox 360 Store on July 29, 2024, almost 19 years after the console first debuted in November 2005. Quite possibly the most popular Xbox console of all time, both in terms of sales, market share, and iconic games like Gears of War, Halo 3, and Fable 2, sunsetting the Xbox 360 Store isn't necessarily a doom-and-gloom scenario.

From July 2024, players can no longer purchase new games, DLC, and other content from the Xbox 360 Store and Xbox 360 Marketplace. The Movies & TV app is also going away, with Microsoft and the Xbox team confirming that "TV and movie content will no longer be viewable on your Xbox 360."

The good news is that you will still be able to play Xbox 360 games and DLC that you have already purchased, not only on Xbox 360 consoles but also via backward compatibility on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles.

Skywind is one of the most ambitious mod projects currently in development. It presents a complete remake of Bethersda's classic Morrowind in the Skyrim engine. The mod has been in development for well over a decade, since Skyrim was released in 2011.

Over the years, the team has been providing updates on the game's progress, with the latest outlining that it's shaping up to be a bigger game than Skyrim, with over double the NPCs and four times as many voice actors.

To put that into context, Skyrim has around 1,100 NPCs voiced by 70 actors, while Skywind has 3,000 NPCs voiced by 300 actors. The 2024 update video goes into great detail, outlining all aspects of the ambitious mod and its development progress. Covering everything from animation to art and level design, it's a fascinating insight into the mod creation process.

Apple is reportedly working on its own AI chip according to sources of The Wall Street Journal, which reports the Curpentino-based giant is building AI chips for its data centers to run new AI-based features that'll be announced at WWDC 2024 next month.

The World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) is where APple will unveil its plans for the future of AI with its products and services, with the WSJ reporting: "Apple has been working on its own chip designed to run artificial intelligence software in data center servers, a move that has the potential to provide the company with a key advantage in the AI arms race".

The project is called ACDC which stands for Apple Chips in Data Center, but I can see some truly awesome marketing from Apple using the "ACDC" branding if they do it right. Come on, Apple... you know you're going to do it anyway.

Samsung has established a new dream team of engineers to secure HBM memory chip deals for AI GPUs from NVIDIA.

The news is coming from South Korean outlet KED Global, which reports Samsung's new task force features about 100 "excellent engineers" who have been working on improving manufacturing yields and quality with the first objective being passing NVIDIA's tests.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang asked Samsung to raise the yields and quality of its 8-layer and 12-layer HBM3E memory chips for supply according to industry insiders on Monday. HBM3E memory is the cornerstone of NVIDIA's next-gen Blackwell B200 AI GPUs, as well as the new beefed-up Hopper H200 AI GPU, each with HBM3E memory mostly from Samsung's South Korean HBM rival: SK hynix.

Pure Storage has teased it has gigantic 150TB SSD modules in testing right now, and before you get too excited that 150TB of SSD could be inside of your gaming PC, these bad boys are enterprise storage beasts.

General Manager of Hyperscale Solutions at Pure Storage, Bill Cerreta, announced that volume shipments of Pure Storage's huge 75TB SSD have started, and that the company has "something brewing in the lab," eluding to the monster 150TB SSD module.

"In April of 2017 we shipped our first Direct Flash Module or DFM. It's hard to believe that it's been 7 years. The DFM was a new idea: using software to directly connect to raw flash, creating a simpler SSD with all the smarts elevated to the host. We had just completed a three-year project to fundamentally change storage system architectures, but how could we be sure we made the right choice? So, we hedged our bets and kept shipping off-the-shelf SSDs in parallel".

TSMC is focused on getting its advanced packaging production capacity to new levels, with the company boosting advanced packaging capacity at its Zhonghe, Nanka, and Jiake fabs, which are "all in the process of expanding production".

The news is coming from Taiwanese media outlet Ctee, reporting that the Chiayi Science Park was finalized this year and is expected to build two advanced packaging plants first. The first phase of Jiake will see the breaking ground ceremony in the coming weeks, and into operation in the second half of the year.

The second phase of Jiake is expected to begin construction in Q2 2024, with operation in Q1 2027 which is still a few years away, which Ctee reports will continue to expand the market share of AI and HPC.

The HBM market is unstoppable right now, attached to the insatiable AI demand that is fueling SK hynix and Micron to sell all of their HBM memory allocation for 2024, and 2025.

In a new report from TrendForce, Senior Research Vice President Avril Wu says that the HBM market is poised for robust growth, "driven by significant premiums and increased capacity needs for AI chips". HBM unit sales are multiple times higher than conventional DRAM, and about 5x higher than DDR5.

Wu explains: "This pricing, combined with product iterations in AI chip technology that increase single-device HBM capacity, is expected to dramatically raise HBM's share in both the capacity and market value of the DRAM market from 2023 to 2025. Specifically, HBM's share of total DRAM bit capacity is estimated to rise from 2% in 2023 to 5% in 2024 and surpass 10% by 2025. In terms of market value, HBM is projected to account for more than 20% of the total DRAM market value starting in 2024, potentially exceeding 30% by 2025".

AMD and NVIDIA are both pumping out new generations of AI hardware, with the two GPU giants eating all of TSMC's advanced packaging capacity for not just 2024, but also 2025.

In a new report from UDN, the site reports that TSMC will contract advanced packaging production capacity of its in-house CoWoS and SoIC for this and next year, as AI GPU hardware orders aren't slowing down. TSMC expects revenue contributed by server AI processors to more than double this year, and once NVIDIA's new Blackwell B200 AI GPUs are being pumped out later this year, 2025 is going to be a bananas year for TSMC.

In response to the insatiable AI demand, TSMC is now actively expanding its advanced packaging production capacity, with industry estimates that TSMC's CoWoS monthly production capacity will be between 45,000 and 50,000 by the end of 2024. This is a gigantic 3x increase from the 15,000 in 2023, and it's expected to hit 50,000 in 2025.

Resident Evil 9 will apparently take some cues from Dead Island when it releases in 2025.

New reports from insider DuskGolem may shed new light on Capcom's plans for the next mainline Resident Evil game. According to inside sources, Resident Evil 9 has been in development since 2018 and has had the longest dev time of any game in the series (7 years). Sources also say RE9 has the biggest budget out of all of the zombie-infested survival games.

But what about the locale? It sounds like Resident Evil 9 could be similar to Techland's 2011 hit Dead Island. DuskGolem further states that RE9 will take place in a "fictional rural town on an island in the Southeast Asia Sea inspired by Singapore specifically."

Sony's new PlayStation 5 Pro won't have a unique devkit design, Digital Foundry reports.

The PS5 Pro makes some big leaps over the base PS5 that was released in 2020. The mid-gen upgrade is a combination of brawn and brains, complete with a new RDNA 3.0 GPU with a +45% uptick in power alongside new AI-powered image reconstruction technology to deliver more convincing 4K visuals from 1080p inputs. While the specs are pretty different, there's one area where both the PS5 and PS5 Pro will stay the same: Their devkits.

According to Digital Foundry, who has received info from Sony's developer portal, the PS5 Pro devkit is identical to the original PS5's. You know, that V-shaped manta ray design that popped up everywhere--including in watermarked patent images.

Sony's new mid-gen PlayStation 5 Pro upgrade is expected to have an AMD RDNA 3 GPU that's capable of max speeds of 2.35GHz.

New reports from Digital Foundry highlight new upgrades in Sony's upcoming PS5 Pro. More documentation for the PS5 Pro has been leaked via Sony's developer portal, and this time we have new info on the PS5 Pro's GPU solution.

According to the reports, the PS5 Pro's GPU will have 60 RDNA 3.0 Compute Units (CUs) and can boost to a whopping 2.35GHz, which indicates a max 36 TFLOPs of compute power. That's a 5.4% increase over the PS5's 2.23GHz max GPU speeds. This boost will be hard to achieve and maintain, though, and only certain games are expected to really push the PS5 Pro to its 2.35GHz GPU speeds.

After days of review bombing, Sony has officially reversed its controversial decision with Helldivers 2.

Good news for PC players: Helldivers 2 will no longer require a PlayStation Network account in order to play. Sony had originally mandated that all Helldivers 2 users on Steam would have to make a PSN account and link it to their Steam account by June 4 or else they wouldn't be able to keep playing.

This caused massive backlash, leading to over 100,000 negative reviews for Helldivers 2 on Steam. Valve also started to delist Helldivers 2 in the dozens of countries that couldn't make a PSN account, and lots of refunds were issued. Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead tried to triage the issue, working with Sony behind the scenes and promising updates soon. Now Sony has made the decision to just scrap its original mandate altogether.