Latest News - Page 73

Google is embedding ads directly into AI-generated search answers, marking a major shift in how it monetizes its search engine.

According to new details from I/O 2026, Gemini 3.5 Flash is now surfacing tailored ads within AI Mode responses, alongside traditional organic results. The company is calling this a "new generation of ads" designed for the AI era of Search.

The new ad formats include "Conversational Discovery ads" and "Highlighted Answers." The former tailors ads to specific search queries, such as recommending products to fix a smell in a house, which could vary from deodorizer to a cheap box of baking soda.

Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong has reportedly slipped into Taiwan for a meeting with MediaTek, in an effort to steal the chip designer as a foundry client from TSMC.

The move underscores Samsung's aggressive push to expand its foundry business and challenge TSMC's dominance in the sector. According to a report from WCCF Tech, Lee made the trip to Taiwan, on May 21 with a high-level entourage with the goal of meeting with MediaTek's CEO Cai Lixing.

According to reports, Lee was offering MediaTek incentives, including lucrative memory deals, or priority access to its memory. This is reportedly a common tactic by Samsung to attract new foundry partners, as it was the strategy Samsung used to attract Qualcomm as a foundry client. Furthermore, the conversation between Samsung and MediaTek comes at a time when the relationship between TSMC and MediaTek is fairly strained.

Grand Theft Auto VI is set to arrive in November 2026, as recently iterated by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick at the Take-Two earnings call.

Shortly after the call, rumors began flying that suggest Rockstar Games is preparing to drop a new trailer for GTA 6 on Tuesday next week, and the possibility of a surprise reveal at Sony's State of Play event on June 2nd. If the leaks are true, it could be one of the most hyped reveals of the year.

The trailer speculation comes from insider Graczdari, who claims Rockstar has given Sony a crumb of the GTA 6 marketing, but what it has received is something special. While the source has a solid track record, as they leaked the box version of Oblivion Remastered, the PS5 port of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and the Switch 2 port of 007 First Light. However, they are a relatively new leaker.

It appears that the original Chromecasts out there are running into serious problems, with a raft of reports from owners of the first-gen hardware suggesting that all is suddenly not well with their devices.

9 to 5 Google (via TechRadar) highlighted the reports from first-gen Chromecast owners on Reddit who are complaining that everything has become rather hit-and-miss with their hardware.

In the Reddit thread entitled 'Looks like Google just killed every Gen 1 Chromecast in existence' (see above), some folks report YouTube no longer works - that seems to be a common issue - or that other streaming services are failing, like HBO Max or Paramount+, while others are fine.

Since its official reveal, Ubisoft has given a lot of details about Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. The game is edging closer to launch, and earlier this month, Ubisoft hosted an event to let select members of the community play an early copy of the game. During the event, the directors gave even more details about the game and made it clear that Resynced was much more than a graphical overhaul of the 2013 classic.

According to Kotaku, creative director Paul Fu and game director Richard Knight were adamant that Black Flag Resynced was a completely new game from the ground up. They likened it more to being the next mainline Assassin's Creed game than a remaster of a past one. They also claimed that the game contains "zero code" from the original Black Flag, and the new one uses Ubisoft's Anvil engine, which is also the basis of Assassin's Creed: Shadows.

Bungie is set to hold more job cuts following a decision to dial-back its breadwinning live service game.

Disappointing news for Destiny fans today as Bungie announced that they will be retiring the game from active development, effectively sunsetting the project into maintenance mode and ceasing all future content. This means all upcoming expansions have been cancelled.

There was hope among Bungie faithful that Destiny 3 could be in development, but that's not the works right now, so fans shouldn't expect to see a surprise announcement at Sony's upcoming State of Play. Sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that the Destiny 2 dev team does not currently have a project lined up, and that these workers are pitching new ideas to management, including new games set in the Destiny series.

If you play Fallout 4 on a Gen 9 Xbox, Bethesda has some good news for you.

Fans have been waiting months for an update on expanded mod support in the recent Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition, and now after months of waiting, Bethesda has dropped some news. The studio says that all platforms are getting a mod storage boost, allowing all console users to download and hold more mods and creations in their digital queue.

A new Fallout 4 update will release on May 27th that drastically increases the mod storage on Xbox Series X/S consoles to a whopping 100GB. That's bigger than some games, which basically allows Fallout 4 gen 9 Xbox users a new kind of freedom that they haven't ever experienced before, and it could be a signal of things to come for new Bethesda titles, maybe even The Elder Scrolls VI and/or Fallout 5.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected to help drive Take-Two's record-breaking earnings forecast of up to $8.1 billion revenue for FY27.

Rockstar's incoming GTA 6 is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in history when it releases onto the market this November, and the game is forecasted to do some pretty big numbers on the financial side. Take-Two Interactive just posted its last earnings results, including some eye-opening expectations for this fiscal year, FY27.

According to the slides, Take-Two expects to earn between $7.9 and $8.1 billion in net revenue during FY27, with Grand Theft Auto 6 strongly contributing to the results. Net bookings will be higher at $8 - $8.2 billion, the company predicts, with recurrent consumer spending making up 65% of net bookings for the year, or $5.2 to $5.3 billion.

The devs behind 007 First Light uncovered several new engine upgrades that are being implemented into their upcoming James Bond game. In a video by Digital Foundry, DF's Alex Battaglia sat down with six developers from IO Interactive discussing 007 First Light's graphical upgrades and performance. Some of these features include a new real-time global illumination system, dynamic asset streaming, and a software-based ray tracing solution that is highly optimized and scalable across multiple platforms.

The lighting system in 007 First Light has been significantly upgraded since the engine was used with Hitman 3. IO Interactive has developed a new ray-traced real-time global illumination system that takes advantage of a screen space component to adjust lighting on a per-pixel basis, with a probe-based solution serving as a fallback. By contrast, the Hitman games used an inferior static solution using box reflections.

The ray-tracing system 007 First Light is using is a proprietary software-based solution that does not take advantage of RT cores on NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel GPUs. Despite this, IO Interactive states its RT solution is very well optimized and is not lacking in capability. The switch from hardware-acceleration to software is aimed at providing better scalability across a broad range of platforms. Having one ray-tracing solution for the engine simplifies the rendering pipeline, making the engine run better on various hardware and reducing development time on the development side. IO Interactive also revealed that the ray-tracing pipeline has been almost entirely rewritten to take better advantage of GPU resources.

AMD has officially announced the Ryzen AI Max PRO 400 series processors, the successor to the Strix Halo-based Ryzen AI Max 300 lineup. Codenamed "Gorgon Halo," the new family is designed for commercial AI PCs, mobile workstations, and small-form-factor desktop systems. It looks like the focus remains on professional and AI workloads rather than the broader consumer pitch of its predecessor.

The lineup launches with three SKUs: the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495, the Ryzen AI Max PRO 490, and the Ryzen AI Max PRO 485. All three are built on the same Zen 5 CPU cores, RDNA 3.5 integrated graphics, and XDNA 2 NPU architecture as the 300 series. The core configurations remain unchanged, with the main differentiator being a significant upgrade in memory capacity.

The Ryzen AI 300 series topped out at 128GB of LPDDR5X-8000 unified memory. The 400 series pushes that up to 192GB of faster LPDDR5X-8533, a 50% increase. This is arguably the most important spec on paper, because the CPU and GPU share a single memory pool on this platform, meaning the integrated GPU gets access to far more memory than any discrete laptop GPU can offer.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick seems to indicate that Grand Theft Auto 6 won't get delayed again and will meet its November launch date.

Take-Two's latest FY26 earnings report just released, and in the prepared remarks, company CEO Strauss Zelnick reiterate GTA 6's release during the FY27 period.

"Our Fiscal 2026 performance was exceptional and exceeded our initial expectations at every label. We believe Fiscal 2027 will establish new record levels of operating performance driven by the November 19th launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, along with strong execution across our portfolio," Zelnick said in a press release.

Infinity Ward is poised to reveal Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 imminently, according to a new report that suggests the developer is nearing the announcement of its next major title.

The leak, originating from Insider Gaming, aligns with recent chatter on social platforms and gaming forums, where users speculate a June 2026 reveal is in the works, with a potential October release window. The developer has confirmed it is working on new content for the Modern Warfare series, despite the recent launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

This follows a pattern of annual releases for the franchise, which has seen consistent updates and expansions over the past several years, but has recently waned in popularity and public reception following the release of Black Ops 7. Additionally, Infinity Ward has been teasing the project on YouTube and Instagram with vague yet promising content hinting at a major seasonal update or a full reveal.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 6's marketing campaign is set to begin "soon," with the rollout described as "astonishing" and reflective of where audiences and attention are today.

Zelnick revealed in a recent interview that Rockstar Games and Take-Two will be following its signature strategy of a short but high-impact marketing push, beginning close to the game's launch.

The CEO also confirmed that the plan aligns with Rockstar's past approach, which has focused on building intense anticipation by revealing as few details as possible about the title until it's perfectly ready. This strategy has historically helped maintain mystery and momentum ahead of major releases.

Subnautica 2 has passed another sales milestone, this time breaking 4 million sales in just a matter of days--all while in early access on consoles and PC.

Unknown Worlds' management looks to be well on their way to those bonuses after all as Subnautica 2 has proven to be a multi-platinum hit. The game has surpassed 4 million copies on PC and Xbox n just 5 days, the developers have announced in a new press release. These numbers indicate that the sequel now makes up more than a quarter of total Subnautica franchise sales--as per the studio, the series has sold more than 18.5 million copies worldwide, outselling other franchises like Silent Hill (17.1 million) and Dragon's Dogma (14 million).

"We're incredibly grateful for the response from players around the world. Seeing millions of players dive into this new world during Early Access has been an incredible moment for the team. Community feedback continues to help shape the future of Subnautica 2, and we're excited to keep building the experience together with our players," said Fernando Melo, Executive Producer of Subnautica 2.

SpaceX has revealed its financials for the first time, showing a $4.9 billion loss in 2025 despite $18.7 billion in revenue. However, that isn't the biggest news here, as the Elon Musk-led company is preparing for an IPO, and its filing shows it could raise as much as $80 billion, and value the company somewhere around $1.75 trillion.

The filing, required ahead of its IPO, marks a major shift for SpaceX, which has long operated under a veil of secrecy, at least when it comes to its financials. Revenue for 2025 rose 33 percent year-over-year, but the company swung from a $791 million profit in 2024 to a staggering $4.9 billion loss.

First-quarter 2026 losses matched the full-year 2025 loss, raising questions about long-term financial sustainability. Capital spending nearly doubled to $20.7 billion, with a large chunk going toward AI development and infrastructure.

Bungie is ending development of Destiny 2, and the game's final update will release next month, the developer today announced.

Destiny 2 will soon be content complete and put into maintenance mode, Bungie today confirmed in a somber news post. The game's final update will go live on June 9, 2026 as a kind of digital send-off from the developer. The studio confirms that Destiny 2 will still remain playable and it hasn't been revealed how exactly the content availability will work.

"As our focus turns towards a new beginning for Bungie, we will begin work incubating our next games. To that end, on June 9, 2026, we will release the final live-service content update for Destiny 2 to begin that new journey as a studio.

Trump Mobile's website is reportedly leaking customer data, including names, addresses, and order numbers, and the fallout has seemingly already revealed a customer base that is much smaller than previously believed.

The breach, uncovered by YouTubers Voidzilla and penguinz0, suggests that the Trump T1 Phone may have only 30,000 pre-orders from roughly 10,000 unique customers, which is a stark contrast to the 590,000 figure once floated in early speculation.

The leak came through a simple security exploit, allowing access to a database that not only exposed customer information but also painted a bleak picture for the Trump T1 Phone's commercial viability. According to TechRadar, and the YouTubers, the hacker doesn't intend to use the information, which includes names, addresses, email addresses, and "everything short of a credit card number," said penguinz0.

Sony's recent PlayStation Plus announcement wasn't just concerning an Essential tier price hike--all PS Plus tiers across the 1 and 3-month options now cost more.

Just a few days ago, Sony confirmed a price hike for PlayStation Plus subscriptions. The announcement had apparently been misinterpreted, as it was believed the increase would only affect the Essential tier. That's not the case, and both the Extra and Premium PS Plus tiers are also becoming more expensive across their respective 30-day and 90-day offerings.

Visiting the PlayStation Plus website shows the new prices in effect. The price increases range from $1-5, with increases in the tune of 10-13% across the various tiers.

Apple is reportedly testing a quad-curved display for the iPhone 19 Pro, a design that wraps the screen around all four edges to eliminate bezels.

The prototype, currently at the evaluation stage, features a hole-punch cutout for the front-facing camera, but Face ID is said to be fully hidden under the panel. The news comes from according to Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station, a renowned Apple leaker with a very healthy track record of revealing Apple design choices. The quad-curved display is reportedly destined for Apple's purported 20th-anniversary iPhone next year, which could feature a more refined version of the quad-curved display seen in the evaluation model, and have no cutouts.

The leaker has a history of accurate Apple leaks, including the iPhone Air and the triple 48MP rear camera system on the iPhone 17 Pro. The challenge for Apple lies in integrating Face ID and the front-facing camera under the panel without compromising quality, and according to reports Apple engineers are finding it difficult to cover up the selfie camera cut out.

Apple's long-rumored OLED MacBook Pro is on track for production despite ongoing delays, with reports suggesting a 2027 release.

While initial leaks in 2021 hinted at a 2023 launch, recent supply chain updates from 9to5Mac, citing a report from Bloomberg and The Elec, now place the device's arrival in early 2027 due to ongoing DRAM shortages and component constraints.

The M6 MacBook Pro is expected to feature a thinner design, improved power efficiency, and potentially a touchscreen display, which, if true, will mark a major shift for Apple's premium laptop line. Perhaps the biggest upgrade, or at least the most noticeable at first glance, is reportedly the adoption of an OLED panel, which would bring Apple's premium line of laptops up to the latest-generation pixel technology.