Latest News - Page 722

Valve has announced the Steam Best of 2023 lists covering the top sellers, the most played, games that left Early Access, most played on Steam Deck, most played with a controller, and VR's best sellers. Instead of a numerical list, Valve's 'Best of Steam 2023' puts games into different sales tiers: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

These tiers cover Gross Revenue, including in-game and full-game purchases, while the tier for 'Most Played' games separates them into different Peak Concurrent Players categories.

Some key takeaways: Baldur's Gate 3 and Starfield were incredibly successful, two of the most popular new game releases. Apex Legends, Counter-Strike 2, PUBG, and Destiny 2 are the most popular free-to-play first-person shooters - with Call of Duty: Warzone also in the mix.

CD Projekt Group is confident it can self-fund all 5 of its new video game projects, including a new Witcher trilogy.

Following 2015's best-selling The Witcher 3, and 2020's record-breaking Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt has been able to consistently generate high sales revenues from its games. During Cyberpunk's controversial launch, the company sold 13 million copies and made $541 million in sales--almost 5x the budget of the game. Alongside a multi-faceted business model that includes a fully-fledged software distribution storefront, the sci-fi shooter's performance helped CD Projekt amass a significant asset pile to fund future games and growth.

Cyberpunk 2077 has seen various price fluctuations and re-releases, including steep discounts post-launch, a game-of-the-year-style re-release for next-gen consoles, and the standalone launch of the Phantom Liberty expansion. The company also re-released The Witcher 3 for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. This cyclical product slate is often used in the industry, and it's a key part of CD Projekt's business model.

Thousands of game developers lost their jobs in 2023, but next year may be even tougher as studios maintain current their reduced headcounts.

This year wasn't great for game workers; the industry shed nearly 7,000+ jobs throughout 2023, culminating in the largest series of layoffs that the interactive entertainment market has seen in decades. Companies are slashing personnel to reduce costs, closing down studios like Volition and Free Radical while laying off hundreds of workers and cancelling projects along the way. Inflation has necessitated an economic "correction" among many markets, and gaming, with its $100 million+ budget games, has been hit hard by the current business climate.

Some companies like CD Projekt RED are preparing to move forward with the current staff that they have right now. In a recent interview with Polish newspaper Parkiet, CD Projekt Group CEO Adam Kicinski says that there won't be many new hires throughout 2024, despite CD Projekt working on multiple projects in parallel.

Even with the advent of affordable big-screen TVs, projector technology continues to advance steadily. The benefits of a projector for big-screen entertainment versus a TV are numerous, especially for watching movies - the big reflective display is exactly like sitting in a theater.

One of the most recent bits of projector tech becoming more and more mainstream is the rise of the laser projector. They are brighter, with better color accuracy, when compared to LED lamp-driven projectors, and they're more efficient and last longer. The only real downside is cost, at least it was.

The Dangbei Atom is the company's first Google TV laser projector with an affordable price-point of $899.99 USD - and it's coming soon. It's set to be joined by the Dangbei Mars Pro 2 in 2024, a 4K laser projector with HDR10+ capabilities and an impressive 2450 ISO Lumens brightness.

As part of LG's "Zero Labor Home" vision, the company has announced a new cutting-edge robotic smart home Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent that can move, learn, comprehend, and engage in complex conversations. Don't let the cute robotic animal look fool you; LG is collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies to develop this new AI agent as a smart solution to enhance "users' daily lives."

For something small and "cute," LG has opted not to refer to it as a robot or even give it a name. The press release refers to the new AI-powered technology as the 'LG smart home AI agent.' Perhaps this is a way to differentiate it from popular robotic pets like Sony's Aibo Robot Dog.

Even though the two-legged design with wheels is in line with robotic pets or companions we've seen in the past, LG's AI agent has the intelligence to interact with users while expressing itself through movements.

The first Nintendo Switch flashcart officially has a name: The Mig Switch, and the creators are confident that Nintendo won't be able to patch it out via firmware updates.

Nintendo's Switch handheld-console hybrid suffered a critical hardware-based exploit at launch, but after that, gamers haven't been able to really do much with a stock device in the way of modding. To be able to play game dumps, users had to get ahold of a hacked Switch--flashcarts don't exist. Well, until now.

It appears that a device called Mig Switch is the first flashcart for Nintendo's best-selling console. The creators say that the Mig Switch is compatible with all Switch models, including the newer Switch OLED. It comes with a dumper and the flashcart casing, but an SD card is not included.

Yoshi-P believes that the future of gaming could be in the clouds, but it will take time to make that happen.

Streaming games via the cloud is not an ideal way to play most titles, especially fast-twitch shooters. Right now cloud gaming simply hasn't matured, and this is more than a decade after the technology was really first introduced in a mainline package. That being said, cloud has expanded dramatically, pushing to all forms of gaming: From PC to the Big 3 console family, there's some sort of cloud-based offering for games distribution and access.

How far much will cloud gaming evolve in another 10 years? Yoshi-P, producer and director of beloved Final Fantasy XIV and its expansions (and Final Fantasy XVI), recently said he believes cloud could eventually replace all platforms and consoles over time.

The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft for alleged unauthorized use of the publication's copyrighted works to train its AI via large language models (LLMs).

The lawsuit (The New York Times Company v. MICROSOFT CORPORATION 1:23-cv-11195) could be a landmark case that establishes precedent for artificial intelligence, namely those fueled by large language models like ChatGPT.

On Wednesday, December 27, the The New York Times filed a complaint against OpenAI and Microsoft for allegedly using its lawfully protected written material to train AI chatbots like ChatGPT. More specifically, NYT is suing both parties for copyright violation. One exhibit (Exhibit J) provided 100 instances where chatbots quoted NYT articles verbatim.

Learn how to maintain your PlayStation 5 console with this informative video.

Whether you got a new PlayStation 5 console for Christmas or you're like me and have a launch 2020 model, odds are that you're going to clean out the system at some point. Unfortunately for PS5 owners, the console's unique ventilation design makes it a kind of dust trap and often you'll see dust build up on the vents in the back of the console and the intake fins on the sides of the unit.

Luckily repair expert TronicsFix, who has brought many a broken console back to life, shows us the most efficient and safe way to clean PlayStation 5 consoles.

ASUS has a new custom GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12GB graphics card on the way, and now we've got some leaked photos of the new card, which rocks the updated 12V-2x6 power connector.

The upcoming ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER DUAL graphics card features a dual-fan custom design and a smaller 2.46-slot form factor which makes it perfect for smaller rigs. You'll have the updated RTX 4070 SUPER inside, which should get you closer to 10-15% more performance over the RTX 4070 non-SUPER card.

We can also see that ASUS is extending the backplate on the back of the RTX 4070 SUPER DUAL graphic card, which extends past the PCB itself. Nice touch there, ASUS.

LG has just officially teased its next-gen 2024 gram series laptops, with plenty of them powered with AI features thanks to their included Intel Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" processors. Check them out:

First off, LG has its new gram Pro and gram Pro 2-in-1 laptops, with model numbers 16Z90SP and 17Z90SP, respectively. Both of LG's new gram Pro laptops feature an Intel Core Ultra processor with its new hybrid Meteor Lake architecture, as well as an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card.

LG's new gram Pro (model 16Z90SP) laptop features an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, up to 1TB of Gen4 SSD, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 discrete graphics card with 4GB of GDDR6 memory, and display options of either 16-inch 2880 x 1800 OLED panel, and a 2560 x 1600 LCD panel. Personally, I'd recommend that delicious OLED panel. The OLED panel has a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, while the LCD panel has a refresh rate of up to 144Hz.

AMD could be prepping to launch a new range of RDNA 3 GPUs for desktops in 2024, with regulatory filings pointing to three new variants - the Radeon RX 7700, Radeon RX 7800, and Radeon RX 7600 XT. New components must be registered with the EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission) before making their way to the market - and this info comes via relatively unknown GPU maker Artek.

However, model names and variants can often be listed to cover all bases - even those that exist but are eventually canceled. Looking at the current Radeon RX 7000 Series line-up, there are some definite gaps and holes to fill when you remove RDNA 2 and previous-generation Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards from the equation.

As per our review of the Sapphire PURE AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, 1080p gaming presents a 37.8% performance increase or uplift over the mainstream and entry-level Radeon RX 7600. A truly massive gap leaves plenty of room for either a Radeon RX 7600 XT or a Radeon RX 7700.

MSI is currently cooking its new 2024 motherboards, with HardwareLuxx reporting the company has new 2024 motherboards ready for both AMD and Intel users with the new ATX12VO standard.

The new ATX12VO standard started a few years ago and will replace the huge 24-pin power connector we've all been using for years now with a smaller, more compact 10-pin power connector. Not only is the new ATX12VO power connector smaller, but it also has benefits in 12V power delivery into motherboards.

MSI talked about its new 2024 motherboards with HardwareLuxx, the company talked up its new "Project Zero" motherboards, which have power and interface connectivity on the opposite side. They're sleek boards, and I wish more motherboard makers would do a similar thing on their boards.

NVIDIA's current-gen H100 AI GPU is deployed across the world in countless data centers, supercomputers, and AI platforms... with over 3.5 million units expected to ship in 2024.

Market analysis source, Stock Talk, has published an estimated figure on the power consumption of all of these NVIDIA H100 AI GPUs in the wild. In the tweet, it said: "By next year, NVIDIA's ~3.5 million units of deployed H100 GPUs will consume a whopping 13,000 GWh of electricity annually, which is greater than the power consumption of some entire countries like Guatamela and Lithuania".

This is something we have heard before, where crypto mining installations were using as much power as countries, where I reported back in 2020 that one particular Bitcoin mining facility in Kazakhstan was using enough power for 180,000 homes. Another story in 2021 pointed to the fact that Bitcoin mining was using more electricity than countries like the Netherlands and Argentina.

A new leak confirms that MSI is prepping to release multiple GeForce RTX 40 Series SUPER GPUs in the new year, with at least 12 models and variants for the new GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, and GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER.

With four models for each, the list points to MSI releasing a flagship SUPRIM X model for the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16GB. The list also confirms more of the specs for the upcoming SUPER refresh, including the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER seeing its memory capacity increase to 16GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, with the GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER maintaining its 12GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus.

The list comes via Videocardz.com, which obtained the information from various retailer listings. Thanks to the cards debuting in January 2024, full model names were found, with the full list covering the company's Ventus, Gaming X Slim, and SUPRIM X GPU line-ups.

Rambus has just announced its new 4th Gen RCD (Registering Clock Driver) for DDR5 memory, with speeds clocking in at 7200 MT/s for up to 50% more bandwidth.

Rambus chief operating officer, Sean Fan, said: "With memory being an essential enabler of server performance, the need for greater memory bandwidth continues its meteoric rise driven by demanding workloads like generative AI. The Rambus Gen4 DDR5 RCD is the latest demonstration of our commitment to providing leadership products ahead of the market need to support our customers' current and planned server platforms".

The company says that its new 4th Gen RCD for DDR5 memory modules -- RDIMMs are the key here -- is already sampling to customers this quarter and that the firm expects new data center CPUs and server platforms to use their new RCD modules. This is because they feature a 50% bandwidth uplift over first-gen RCD, which shipped with 4800MT/s speeds, while the new RCD memory ships with a faster 7200MT/s of bandwidth.

ASUS will have a lot to show off at CES 2024 early next year, including its new ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop, which rocks AMD's new flagship Ryzen 9 8945HS "Hawk Point" APU.

The next-gen ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop has shown up on Geekbench as the ROG Zephyrus G14 GA403UV, seeing ASUS and AMD team up once again for a new gaming laptop. The current-gen ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop (model GA402) features a Ryzen 9 7940HS processor and up to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU.

There's also a 16:10 aspect ratio, a 14-inch Mini-LED display for that gorgeous monitor goodness, as well as a high-end cooling system featuring vapor chamber cooling and liquid metal. We should expect some cooling technology upgrades with the new ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop, for sure.

The US government is reportedly gearing up to expand its restrictions on China, moving from the AI GPU industry into the DRAM industry in the country. This could have a devastating effect on local manufacturers who are involved in the production of DRAM.

Business Korea is reporting that the Biden administration is ramping up its restrictions on Chinese technology manufacturers, with the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), managed by the US Department of Commerce, planning to survey around 100 different companies in multiple industries to assess their dependency on Chinese suppliers.

Depending on how this survey goes, the US will reshape its trade policy moving into the future, where it's expected to see US sanctions and its net on CHina getting bigger and bigger, which will eventually move into the defense-focused industries as well. AI GPUs were the beginning it seems, DRAM is another important part, and the dominoes keep falling.

CD Projekt Group still has no plans to sell the company to a larger video games firm like Sony, Microsoft, or even overseas groups like Tencent, NetEase, and Nexon.

Polish game developer-publisher CD Projekt is fiercely independent. The company has seen massive success with two mega-sellers: The Witcher 3, and Cyberpunk 2077, a sci-fi FPS that made record-breaking earnings at launch but embroiled CD Projekt in harsh controversy. Over the next 3 years after release, CD Projekt spent millions of dollars on Cyberpunk 2077's redemption arc, culminating in a series of massive updates and a fully-fledged ultimate edition with a strong expansion.

CD Projekt was very independent before hand, but after Cyberpunk 2077's turn-around, the studio has become even more maverick. Those investments took a lot of effort, money, manpower, and planning, and now that CD Projekt has successfully turned around Cyberpunk 2077, the studio is doubling down on its independence.

Starfield's new user reviewers have fallen to mostly negative on Steam, many of which are from gamers who have spent over 100 hours playing.

Like the online game before it, Bethesda's latest space sim is proving to be quite divisive (at least among PC gamers). Starfield sits at a mixed user review rating on Steam, but the game has fallen to mostly negative in the recent reviews category. It's worth noting that a portion of these recent verdicts are actually from people who played the game for a longer period: Over 14,000 of the total 86,000+ reviewers played more than 100 hours of Starfield.

According to Steam's metrics, there were 7,280 newer Starfield reviews made from November 28 to December 27. Of this number, 67%, or 4,889 of the reviews, were negative and did not recommend that other people buy and play Starfield.