Latest News - Page 76

The PC hardware market is in an unprecedented state, with memory and storage prices increasing dramatically, and the biggest players all focused on serving the data center market and the AI boom. However, even in this climate, Dell has announced a new, affordable Alienware gaming laptop, the Alienware 15 for 2026.

Alienware is Dell's premium PC gaming brand, so seeing a more affordable entry is both surprising and welcome. Starting at $1,299 USD, the new Alienware 15 certainly hits the right sweet spot, price-wise, especially for a laptop with a 15.3-inch 16:10 WUXGA (1920x1200) panel that sports a 165Hz refresh rate and is built for gaming. And best of all, it has gone through the same rigorous testing as the flagship Area-51 for durability and long-term reliability.

However, as we're talking about an affordable gaming laptop in 2026, the entry-level $1,299 configuration features 16GB of DDR5 memory, the 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 220 processor, and the GeForce RTX 4050 laptop graphics card. For those wanting an Intel processor or the more powerful GeForce RTX 5060 laptop GPU, the price increases pretty dramatically. That said, no matter the choice, owners will have access to NVIDIA DLSS to boost performance.

LG is set to break the boundaries of gaming monitor performance with the world's first 1000Hz, 1080p display, the UltraGear 25G590B launching this year.

This 24.5-inch IPS panel is designed for competitive esports players who demand the fastest possible response times and frame rates, offering a native 1000Hz refresh rate at Full HD resolution. Unlike previous 1000Hz monitors that were limited to 720p, the 25G590B marks a major leap in performance without sacrificing resolution.

This makes it a compelling option for FPS and other high-speed competitive games where split-second reactions can mean the difference between victory and defeat. LG has positioned the monitor as a tool for not just gamers, but also for anyone who needs pixel-perfect clarity with extreme responsiveness.

ZOTAC GAMING is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and in the lead-up to Computex 2026, the company is giving away a wide range of impressive hardware, from GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards to PC cases and all-in-one mini PCs built for gaming, like the ZBOX MAGNUS ONE. And in keeping with the anniversary theme, the giveaways are all custom 20th-anniversary-edition hardware.

On the official promo page for the event, ZOTAC notes that it plans to unveil and showcase several "exciting new products" at Computex this year, and that this little competition is part of the company's initiative to give back to the community. There are 20 prizes up for grabs, with new items given away weekly. And, the company says that each week the "prizes only get better," so be sure to bookmark the competition to maximize your chances of winning something cool.

The celebration is currently in its third week, and this week (May 18 through to May 24), ZOTAC is giving away two very cool GPUs, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5070 Twin Edge (20th Anniversary Edition) and the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SOLID SFF (20th Anniversary Edition).

It's always going to be an uphill battle when it comes to performance and compatibility for any new player creating and releasing a new discrete graphics card for PC gaming. Even Intel required months, if not years, to fine-tune its Arc Graphics drivers and architecture to deliver a noteworthy alternative to NVIDIA's GeForce RTX and AMD's Radeon RX offerings. The latest player to join the lineup of PC gaming GPUs is Lisuan Technology, a Chinese company that is on the cusp of releasing the new Lisuan LX 7G100 gaming GPU.

What makes this release interesting is that it has officially earned Microsoft WHQL certification, the first for a Chinese GPU manufacturer. This essentially means that official driver support for the Lisuan LX 7G100 gaming GPU will receive the all-important Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification tick for Windows.

Game support for the first-generation GPU will be broad, including popular APIs such as DirectX 12, Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL 4.6, and OpenCL 3.0. Lisuan Technology has previously stated that performance would be comparable to the GeForce RTX 4060, but in-game performance will depend on driver support and optimizations. On that note, the company says that right out of the gate, over 100 titles will run as intended on the GPU.

Nintendo has announced a goofy experimental new smartphone app Pictonico that turns photo-taking into a game, and a gallery into a canvas for wacky minigames.

Nintendo is embracing its unpredictable energy with Pictonico, a new mobile app that allows users to take and transform digital photos in a gamified way. The experiences are kind of like little social microgames, not unlike WarioWare infused with the zany spirit of the Game Boy Camera from the 1990s, while adding a new level of personal fun when players play with their friends.

Pictonico will be free but it will also have microtransactions, and the free version is predictably limited--quite restricted, actually. The selling point here is the minigames, which Nintendo sells in two "volumes"--Volume 1 is $7.99, and Volume 2 is $5.99. Unfortunately, Pictonico's free version only has three minigames.

Xbox is preparing for more change in the next few years than it has seen in its entire 25-year history, according to a senior Microsoft executive.

Guy Richards, director of ID@Xbox, revealed during the Digital Dragons Conference 2026 that the company is entering an era of unprecedented transformation. "We believe there's going to be more change happening in the next couple of years than the 25 years that got us here," he said. This includes a return to the iconic green branding, the revival of the FanFest event, and ongoing overhauls to Xbox services such as Game Pass, Copilot AI, and other features within the Xbox ecosystem.

Under new CEO Asha Sharma, Microsoft is shifting how it operates, bringing in leaders from its CoreAI division and rethinking long-standing strategies. The company has already made significant moves to change Xbox, such as rebranding to XBOX, reducing Game Pass pricing, and potentially returning to exclusive titles. With Project Helix on the horizon, the changes could shape the next generation of Xbox hardware and software.

Valve has updated Steam, adding 17 new genre tags for games to better organize the different types of experiences. This includes a brand-new genre tag for the popular Vampire Survivors and similar action-packed roguelite experiences called 'Bullet Heaven.' Valve's description of this new genre says it's the opposite of Bullet Hell, with gameplay and mechanics focused on "upgrades while automatically attacking hordes of enemies."

The new Bullet Heaven genre and style tag is now live, with the official store page for the tab showcasing Vampire Survivors and all the games inspired by its unique take on gaming. This includes Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, Megabonk, BALL x PIT, and many more.

Valve giving this new style of game a name is important because, up until now, most gamers have been referring to these titles as Vampire Survivors clones or Survivors-like games in much the same way we referred to FPS games as DOOM clones in the 1990s or, more recently, hard-as-nails third-person action-RPGs with a focus on combat as Souls-likes. Whether or not Bullet Heaven catches on remains to be seen, but here is a look at the full list of new Steam game tags and genres with links to their store pages.

Back in 2024, Microsoft almost started forcing laptop manufacturers to replace the Right Ctrl key on new Windows 11 PCs with a dedicated Copilot key, similar to the two Start keys. A few OEMs replaced the right-hand Ctrl or Context Menu key outright, while others made space for it. In all cases, the key has been practically useless to anyone uninterested in Microsoft's AI assistant.

Microsoft has finally acknowledged the obvious. In a recently published support document, the company stated that customers who rely on the Right Ctrl key or Context Menu key for keyboard shortcuts or assistive technologies experienced workflow challenges on these devices.

As a result, Microsoft has confirmed that a Windows 11 update coming in 2026 will add a setting to remap the Copilot key to either the Context Menu key or the Right Ctrl key. The new setting will be available under Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Keyboard. Some PC manufacturers already offer Copilot key remapping in their own software, but Microsoft's solution will be distinct in that it will apply across all Windows 11 PCs with a Copilot key, regardless of manufacturer.

Intel's new Core 300 "Wildcat Lake" platform has been making waves since its official launch, and laptops powered by the new chips are already starting to appear. Several OEMs, including Honor, ASUS, and HP, have launched Wildcat Lake models in China. The cheapest of the bunch is the CHUWI UniBook, which is priced at an estimated $449 US.

The UniBook is powered by the Intel Core 3 304, which is the entry-level chip in the Wildcat Lake lineup. Keep in mind that this is a 5-core, 5-thread CPU with 1 "Cougar Cove" P-core and 4 "Darkmont" LPE-cores, boosting up to 4.3 GHz. Importantly, the Core 3 304 is built on Intel's cutting-edge 18A process node, the same node used for the higher-end "Panther Lake" chips. The chip is not meant for heavy workloads, but it should have no trouble handling everyday tasks like web browsing, office applications, and video calls.

For the rest of the spec sheet, the UniBook sports a 14-inch IPS display with a 1920x1200 resolution and 100% sRGB coverage, paired with 8GB of LPDDR5X memory and a 256GB PCIe 3.0 SSD. Connectivity is a notable strong suit, with two full-function USB-C ports, three USB-A ports, HDMI 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and a TF card slot, all running Windows 11 Pro. CHUWI also claims up to 20 hours of battery life from the 53Wh cell inside.

In a new collaboration between ASUS and AK Studio, a Taiwanese modding team, the ROG Xbox Ally X is getting a one-off Cyberpunk 2077 rebrand. ASUS calls it a one-of-a-kind professional mod, not a new retail model, featuring a vibrant colorway and details throughout the chassis that Cyberpunk chooms will instantly recognize.

For starters, this is a case mod for the ROG Xbox Ally X, not an entirely new console. The handheld is wrapped in signature Cyberpunk yellow, with decals throughout, including matching typography and weathered accents inspired by Keanu Reeves' Johnny Silverhand and the game's grimy Night City setting. It's safe to say this isn't just a simple skin.

ASUS says this handheld is one of a kind, which means it won't be a retail product. At best, one of these may be given away as a prize in a competition. There are only three of these bad boys in existence right now, so while not strictly one-of-a-kind, it's still impossibly rare according to the folks over at ASUS.

The Intel Core 300 "Wildcat Lake" family has been showing up on PassMark fairly regularly over the past few weeks, and now we have a new addition to the list. We have already covered PassMark entries for the Core 5 320 and Core 5 330, and now we're moving up the stack. The Intel Core 7 350, which is the second-fastest SKU in the Wildcat Lake lineup, has just appeared on the benchmarking platform for the first time.

As a quick refresher, Wildcat Lake is Intel's new lineup of affordable, low-power chips designed for entry-level and mid-range notebooks. The Core 7 350 is a 6-core, 6-thread CPU with 2 "Cougar Cove" P-cores and 4 "Darkmont" LPE cores, with P-cores boosting up to 4.8 GHz. It sits just below the Core 7 360 in the hierarchy, sharing identical specifications aside from not supporting Intel's SIPP enterprise validation program.

On PassMark, the Core 7 350 scored 4,228 points in single-threaded performance and 16,237 points in multi-threaded. Those are the best numbers any Wildcat Lake chip has posted on the platform to date. To put that into context, the Apple A19 Pro scores around 5,172 in single-threaded and 14,836 in multi-threaded. That means the Core 7 350 trails the A19 Pro by around 18% in single-core performance, but leads it by approximately 9% in multi-core performance.

A new open-source project is giving Linux users a chance to experience low-input-latency gaming, finally closing a gap that Windows has long held over Linux. Called "low_latency_layer", it adds support for NVIDIA Reflex and AMD Anti-Lag 2 to AMD and Intel GPUs on Linux.

The project (available on GitHub) essentially adds a Vulkan layer that implements VK_NV_low_latency2 and VK_AMD_anti_lag device extensions, bypassing official driver-level support from AMD, Intel, or NVIDIA to expose latency-reduction technologies directly to games.

Low-latency methods keep the CPU from falling too far behind the GPU. When frames linger in the pipeline, input appears older by the time it shows on screen, which is crucial in competitive shooters. NVIDIA Reflex and AMD Anti-Lag 2 address this by improving the synchronization between the game engine, CPU, and GPU.

Lords of the Fallen 2 is no longer locked to the Epic Games Store, and is now free to launch on any PC storefront, including Steam.

New filings from CI Games spotted by Polish publication Bankier show that the company has now freed its latest game from an exclusivity deal with Epic Games. It's been revealed that Epic and CI Games have terminated their multi-year rights deal that originally made Lords of the Fallen 2 exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

In the filing, the Polish game developer notes that it has been "released from its obligations under the binding agreement," and that the termination was "conditional in nature."

Following an underwhelming launch, Bungie is now prioritizing content that adds more game types to Marathon, including some mysterious PVE modes.

Bungie has announced it's currently experimenting with two new PVE-oriented modes, and both will be available when season 2 drops on June 2. The exact features of these Nightfall modes haven't been revealed so far, but Bungie says one of the modes will have a "light touch" of PVP. The developer wants to create mood-based playlists and something like a PVE mode could help take the edge off of competitive play, not unlike strikes versus the crucible in Destiny.

"In Season 2, we will be experimenting with two modes, one at the beginning of the season and one towards the middle/latter half of the season. The experimental mode at the beginning of the season will focus more on PVE, but with a light touch of PVP. The second experimental mode will be a PVE-only mode that's focused on crews being tasked with completing objectives together and making some progress across matches," Bungie wrote in a major Marathon season 2 update post.

Many years ago, Gearbox did the unthinkable: At the eleventh hour of the game's release, they decided to completely remake the game in a new art style. Now it's been revealed how much this cost Take-Two, especially at a time when the group didn't have that much capital to spend.

Old-school gamers may remember Borderlands 1's original art style--a more realistic, gritty visual representation that felt more in line with the popular shooters of the era, but one that lacks the timeless look and feel of cel-shaded graphics. In the end, Gearbox bravely made the decision to scrap this original style and go with the comically iconic visuals the series is known for, but it wouldn't have happened without the approval of Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

In a recent interview with David Senra, games mogul Strauss Zelnick briefly discussed an interesting piece of yesteryear gaming lore regarding the Borderlands art swap. According to Zelnick, the overhaul ended up costing $50 million in developer costs and tacked on a full year of development for the game. It was ultimately the right move--the Borderlands series has now sold-in more than 100 million units, and that may not have happened if the game didn't have its bombastic style.

Xbox's new CEO Asha Sharma wants to know what changes should be made, and now gamers have a more direct line to share their input with the company.

Microsoft seeks to transform the Xbox brand in a new kind of modern revitalization of gaming. The company has made big moves like pulling Call of Duty from Game Pass subscriptions, as well as small moves like changing the name to a retro all-caps moniker. It wants to keep morphing and molding around what gamers actually want, and that's the main motivation behind the new Xbox Player Voice program.

The feedback program is basically a stylized forum where gamers can sign up, make posts, and share feedback. Other users can also upvote specific topics to increase visibility, not unlike Reddit. The top requests are making more exclusive Xbox games, making online multiplayer free on Xbox, to allow disc-based games on Project Helix, and to ensure more games come to the backwards compatibility program.

Sony will no longer release its singleplayer first-party games on PC as the group revalues its portfolio.

According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Sony's PlayStation games division held a meeting today that discussed first-party games on PC. At the town hall, PlayStation boss Hermen Hulst reportedly said that all narrative-driven singleplayer games from first-party studios will be exclusive to PlayStation consoles and will no longer come to PC.

This implies that Sony has attached new value to its first-party games as the portfolio relates to its PlayStation ecosystem, which is an important consideration as the company gears up for its next-gen PS6 console. The move also comes at a time when Sony's PS5 shipments reach an all-time generational low. Both the PS5 and PS6 generations will undoubtedly be bridged with backwards compatibility, and locking software to the platform adds more value while bringing back a more fierce platform rivalry in the process.

Sony is increasing the price of its baseline PS Plus subscription by $1 as the company aims for more digital profits.

The games industry is being squeezed right now on the supply and creation side, with SG&A increasing alongside tough-to-procure video games components. While most companies have already trimmed as much fat as comfortably possible, they're still being pressured to deliver continued profits. Companies like Sony have navigated global volatility with record gaming profits, and now PlayStation's digital frontier is being monetized even further.

Starting May 20, Sony is increasing the price of its PS Plus Essential subscription from $9.99 to $10.99, and its 3-month Essential tier is also increasing by $3, from $24.99 to $27.99. The move has been quite unpopular as PS Plus is required for basic features like online play and cloud game save backups, and fans aren't happy about the announcement following the recent PlayStation 5 console price hike.

We all love a good GIF, but one person has taken their love for GIFs to the extreme by building a gaming PC with nothing but GIFs displayed all over the PC's side panel. Several-Bar-6512 on the PCMR subreddit, posted a video of their creation displaying dozens of GIFs inside of an O11 Dynamic Evo XL across nine screens facing the chassis' tempered glass panels.

The system is quite literally a work of art and chaos at the same time. The hardware displaying the GIFs consists of nine separate displays featuring various sizes and resolutions, powered by three Raspberry Pis. The inclusion of the Raspberry Pis keeps all of the GIF rendering separate from the main machine. 3D printed mounts are responsible for holding all of the monitors in place inside the PC. The PC itself is equipped with top-of-the-line components featuring a Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU, MSI X870E Carbon WiFi motherboard, MSI Ventus 3X RTX 5090 OC Edition graphics card, 96GB of DDR5 RAM, a 9100 Pro 4TB NVMe SSD, and the aforementioned O11 Dynamic Evo XL case paired with a mixture of 15 Noctua 120mm/140mm fans.

The Redditor revealed they worked "over many weekends and evenings" getting the "GIF PC" created and spent an exorbitant amount of time finding and downloading all the GIFs necessary for the project. The total amount of GIFs displayed on the system amounts to over a whopping 15,000 after filtering through over 17,000 GIFs online. It was not just a matter of getting the right GIFs downloaded; the Redditor wanted every single tile to have a purpose, so they also spent "roughly 200 hours" categorizing, trimming, looping, adjusting the aspect ratio, and setting the right animation speed for each GIF.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has called Grand Theft Auto 5 the most valuable entertainment IP ever created, crediting its success to the frequent updates and social nature of GTA Online.

Speaking with podcaster David Senra, Zelnick revealed the title has generated "a lot" in revenue, with over 225 million copies sold since 2013. Zelnick emphasized that the game's longevity is due to its evolving multiplayer mode, which keeps players connected and engaged. "You can actually talk and connect and play together," he said, highlighting how online games are inherently social experiences.

He even used his mother's online bridge game as a relatable example of how digital spaces can foster real-world connections. The comments come ahead of GTA 6's November 2026 release, which is already generating sky-high expectations. While Zelnick and Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser have both praised the franchise's "freedom" and genre-blending, the CEO's focus on social engagement adds a new layer to the conversation about what makes GTA stick with players for years.