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At Intel's big Innovation 2023 event, CEO Pat Gelsinger confirmed that the company would adopt a 3D Cache approach for CPUs in the future - though it won't be a part of the upcoming Meteor Lake roadmap. The confirmation came during a Q&A session where someone asked if Intel was considering adopting something similar to AMD's 3D V-Cache processors.

AMD 3D V-Cache powered Ryzen X3D processors have proved to be excellent performers for PC gaming. However, the 3D stacking of cache is a TSMC packaging technology for chips that AMD has taken advantage of - so it's not proprietary.

Intel confirming that it is planning to adopt a similar thing for upcoming CPUs is interesting stuff. Still, Pat Gelsinger added, "We're doing that differently in our composition," with the company looking to stack CPU compute on top of memory. And Intel will leverage its own process technology and foundries to deliver the technology.

It's been a very busy couple of weeks regarding the still-to-be-announced Nintendo Switch 2 gaming console, with rumors pointing to a 2024 release for Nintendo's next-generation hardware. First, several sources revealed that Nintendo showcased the new hardware at Gamescom to select developers with 4K DLSS-powered demos of The Legend of Zelda and Unreal Engine 5.

After that, we looked at the potential NVIDIA chip that will power the Switch 2, based on the company's Ampere architecture and advanced Samsung 8nm process - with hardware-accelerated ray-tracing and AI-powered DLSS rendering. From there, to temper expectations and remind us that Nintendo will always be Nintendo, leaks from Activision confirm that the performance target sits in the PS4 and Xbox One range - not the PS5 and Xbox Series generation.

But, with technology like DLSS (something that isn't possible on the current aging Switch hardware), the console can punch well above its weight class. And a new job listing at Nintendo America confirms DLSS is coming - and it could be a custom version.

The next installment in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise, due for release on October 5, will see the series return to its roots by focusing on stealth, investigations, and assassinations in a single detailed location - Baghdad in the year 861. And with the release right around the corner, Ubisoft has outlined what to expect with the PC version and what you'll need to run the game in 4K.

Compared to some of the recent high-profile PC releases, Assassin's Creed Mirage looks to be less intensive on hardware - with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, and Intel Arc A770 able to hit 1440p 60fps using the 'High' detail mode. All three of these cards only feature 8GB of VRAM, too, so it doesn't look all that taxing.

Ubisoft's announcement for the PC features, which includes support for uncapped frame rates, ultrawide and multi-monitor displays, and keyboard and mouse controls, also reinforces that it has partnered with Intel for the game's release. This means no DLSS or AMD FSR support, just Intel's XeSS Super Sampling.

ASUS has finally launched the cheaper version of its popular ROG Ally gaming handheld, with the USD 600 model sporting a different chipset in the form of the non-Extreme AMD Ryzen Z1 APU. Outside of this, it retains the same impressive 7-inch 120 Hz 1080p display, 512GB of internal storage, and 16GB of DDR5 memory.

However, major differences exist between this model and the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip in the more expensive launch ROG Ally, which costs roughly $100 more. Feedback from reviewers who have gone hands-on with the new Ryzen Z1 model has shown that it is not as powerful as Valve's Steam Deck - which was one of the ROG Ally's big selling points.

The Phoenix-based Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU is one of the fastest mobile processors for gaming, sporting 8 cores, 16 threads, and a boost clock of over 5 GHz. The Ryzen Z1 only comes with 6 cores, but the real difference for portable gaming comes from the Z1's four RDNA 3 cores versus the Z1 Extreme's 12.

Microsoft is responsible for accidentally leaking incredibly sensitive information about its Xbox games business, not the FTC, the Commission says.

On September 15, a wave of documents and files were uploaded to the FTC v Microsoft court exhibits list. These files included information about Xbox and Microsoft's post-merger plans. Accidentally included in the dearth of files was a series of highly sensitive PDFs and slides that revealed Microsoft's plans, including new consoles, how much Xbox pays to include titles day one on Game Pass, expected subscriber growth rates as a result of the ZeniMax buyout, an upcoming games list, and more.

This is the largest leak in video games history, and it gives consumers, investors, analysts, and competitors a clear look at Microsoft's gaming strategy through 2030. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't the Federal Trade Commission who uploaded the files, but Microsoft themselves.

Opera has produced new versions of its desktop and Android browsers which are customized to offer chess fans a whole bunch of extras.

The new browsers built in partnership with Chess.com allow you to play a game of chess right in the sidebar.

As well as the ability to play a game of chess online, you can tackle chess puzzles, and access a whole load of chess-related articles, videos, and streamed matches, allowing you to brush up on your skills in various ways.

Chief Product Officer for Windows and Devices at Microsoft, Panos Panay, just left the company in a rather surprising turn of events.

Panay announced his departure on X (formerly Twitter), noting that he is forever grateful for his time at Microsoft.

As you may be aware, he's been a stalwart at the company for a long time - almost two decades in fact - and an ever-present figure at a whole bunch of Windows and Surface launches throughout the years.

Mortal Kombat 1 is the latest entry in the long-running fighting game franchise, and it's available to play on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch. A reboot and sequel, it brings back classic characters and a rich cinematic story to experience alongside the over-the-top violence and gore.

And with players getting Early Access to the game ahead of its official launch this week, all eyes have been on the Nintendo Switch version of the game - and not for a good reason. With the Switch version commanding the same premium price tag as the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game, visually (to borrow a term from the game), it's a realm apart.

No one was expecting the Nintendo Switch version of Mortal Kombat 1 to look on par with the PS5 release, but this goes beyond running the game at the Switch's native resolution of 720p and dialing down a few settings. It looks like the aftermath of one of the in-game Fatalities - a mess.

Intel's latest driver non-WHQL driver release for Arc graphics (version 31.0.101.4826) not only supports some of the biggest PC game releases on the horizon but also dips into the back catalog to boost performance for a few classics. Namely, Hitman Absolution and Bioshock Infinite, two titles getting a sizable bump to 1080p performance when running on Intel Arc graphics cards.

Up to 17% for Hitman Absolution and 27% for Bioshock Infinite. This builds on the major driver update we got in August, which focused on improving performance on some of the most popular and most-played DirectX 11 titles, including Apex Legends, GTA V, and Overwatch 2.

At the time, Intel told us that the per-game optimizations were being approached from the perspective of what's highest on the Steam charts and then working their way down. Seeing more DirectX 11 titles get some Arc love is great, especially when it arrives alongside Day One support for new titles.

NVIDIA's next-generation GPU architecture, codenamed Blackwell, is the successor to the current Ada Lovelace generation and the beginning of a new era of GPU design for the company. This is due to Blackwell being used for both the company's data center and AI side in addition to consumer GPUs for PC gaming and creators - a shake-up from the Hopper and Ada mix we see today.

Information on Blackwell has been swirling around the internet for a few years, with the early word indicating that the next generation of GPU architecture will adopt a chiplet design similar to AMD's approach with RDNA and the flagship Radeon RX 7900 Series. New info from NVIDIA insider kopite7kimi points to NVIDIA's Blackwell being very different at the top end - between the data center and consumer versions.

GB100, rumored to be the flagship Blackwell GPU, will adopt a chiplet or Multi-Chip Module (MCM) design, pointing to NVIDIA making a major change to packaging. With new info outlining that the consumer flagship GeForce RTX 5090 will use GB202, the PC gaming side will remain monolithic.

Although the GeForce RTX 4090 is still considered to be the absolute pinnacle (and overkill) of modern gaming GPUs capable of delivering triple-digit 4K performance, rumors are already swirling around NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce RTX 50 hardware - specifically the flagship GeForce RTX 5090.

The latest round of information on what will be the top Blackwell architecture cutting-edge 3nm GPU for PC gaming comes via multiple sources: panzerlied at Chiphell, NVIDIA insider Kopite7kimi, and GPU news outlet Videocardz.com. The GeForce RTX 5090 is set to be as much of a monster and upgrade over the previous generation as the GeForce RTX 4090.

First up, though, it looks like NVIDIA will be producing two Blackwell GPU series, one for high-performance computing (HPC) and AI with the 'GB1' label, with 'GB2' GPUs for gaming. So, what's in store for the GeForce RTX 5090 and GB202 GPU? A lot, let's dig in.

New public court documents included in the FTC v Microsoft trial exhibit list given an idea of what Xbox plans to do after it acquires Activision.

Activision Blizzard King isn't just making its money from game sales and microtransactions, but advertisements from King's lucrative ad tech platform. Microsoft plans to take advantage of Activision's advertising platform and expertise on a post-merger basis, and has indicated it will incorporate advertisements in PC and mobile games.

The exhibit PX1763 filing may be one of the most important files in the entire list. It's a slide deck of the Project Denali valuation model that was used to help convince Microsoft's board of directors to greenlight the Activision buyout. In this document, Microsoft outlines three value drivers for the acquisition.

Microsoft reveals more details about how much money Xbox Game Pass actually makes.

Over the last few years, we've pieced together a lot of information and data about Microsoft and its video games division. In October 2022, we uncovered that Xbox Game Pass on console made $2.9 billion in revenue in 2021, as per a regulatory document. Shortly after, Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer said Game Pass made around 10-15% of content and services revenues, leading to our own adjusted calculations.

Now Microsoft has delivered concrete data on Game Pass revenues. According to a newly published Xbox slide deck from the FTC v Microsoft federal case, Xbox Game Pass generated an average of $9.26 per subscription. We know that there were around ~25 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers as of January 2022, so Xbox Game Pass may have generated around $231.5 million in revenue for the month of April 2022.

New court documents in the FTC v Microsoft case reveal in-depth figures from Xbox's secretive data vault.

Days ago, the Northern California District Court uploaded a series of new exhibits to the recent Microsoft-Activision merger federal trial. One of these documents has an eye-opening view of revenue metrics that the games division typically keeps under wraps.

Exhibit PX1240 is a slide deck of an internal gaming review from April 2022. While nearly all of the slides in the deck have been redacted and blacked out, two particular slides (pages 49 and 50) have been left untouched. In these slides, Microsoft reveals useful KPIs (key performance indicators) like MAUs (monthly active users), monetized users, and gaming hours. These numbers are much more important to Microsoft now that it has shifted towards a service-oriented and subscription-first business model.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is a phone that has had a strange history and it isn't even on the market yet. Now it's closer than ever to a release and it's leaking once again.

The Galaxy S23 FE wasn't even sure to be a thing a few months ago with some reports claiming that there wouldn't be one. That now seems to be a long time ago with more and more leaks showing that yes, the phone is real. And yes, it probably isn't going to be all that much longer before it goes on sale.

The latest leak comes courtesy of leaker Evan Blass and shows a 3D version of the Galaxy S23 FE spinning around. The video is of a dark gray device so it isn't all that easy to see the display or its bezels, but we do get a good look at a device that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Galaxy S23 proper.

When it comes to the world of the smart ring there aren't all that many competitors in the market. The Oura Ring is very likely the one that you've heard of, but there might be a big new player on the way. And it's doing its best to ruin the surprise.

That new player is of course Samsung, and we've been hearing of the potential for a Galaxy Ring for a few weeks now. Details are sparse, but Samsung appears to have not only confirmed that the Galaxy Ring is indeed real but also when it will be announced.

The Galaxy Ring is something that is now almost nailed on for a release sooner rather than later. The Galaxy Ring name was found in the latest build of the Galaxy Wearable Android app with details posted to a Korean forum. There is also a small image showing the ring, but it's just an outline drawing that doesn't show us much.

As we've already reported, buying a new iPhone 15 Pro Max for the September 22 launch date is essentially impossible right now. Apple clearly knows that it has an availability issue and it's already a problem that it's trying to fix - by throwing money at it.

There are thought to be a couple of key issues for Apple, not least the fact that production of the iPhone 15 Pro Max started the latest but the model also happens to be proving extremely popular with buyers. But supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also notes that the company's new tetraprism 5x zoom camera is proving to be an issue. So Apple is taking action to fix that to allow it to build more iPhone 15 Pro Max handsets more quickly.

Writing as part of a larger Medium post discussing the current iPhone 15 Pro Max situation, Kuo says that the iPhone 15 Pro Max's new tetraprism compact camera module (CCM) is the main bottleneck for production. To improve the production yield of the CCM by supplier LGIT, Apple is thought to have told lens supplier Largan to increase the specifications of its wares - to counter the issues LGIT is experiencing.

When Apple announced the iPhone 15 Pro Max it also took the wraps off of the new tetraprism camera lens that makes the new 5x optical zoom possible. The iPhone 15 Pro doesn't have the same camera because of a lack of space, we're told, but a new report suggests that will all change when the iPhone 16 Pro arrives next year.

A new report by supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple is getting set to bring the same 5x optical zoom capability to the smaller 6.1-inch iPhone 16 Pro next year. Apple previously hinted that the iPhone 15 Pro Max's larger 6.7-inch display meant that there was enough internal space for the special light-bending lens.

Kuo was writing as part of a longer Medium post when he claimed that both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro are expected to feature the new tetraprism telephoto camera.

A newly-published email chain reveals that Microsoft consulted with Matthew Ball, a leading force behind the emerging metaverse trend, to help with its growing Game Pass subscription.

California district courts recently uploaded a new batch of exhibits, documents, and files from the FTC v Microsoft federal case. These documents have shown that The Elder Scrolls 6 will be exclusive to Xbox and PC, highlighted Microsoft's initial plans to propose an acquisition of SEGA, and some interesting tidbits about Game Pass.

According to exhibit PX1087, Microsoft hired metaverse pioneer and ex-Prime Video strategist Matthew Ball to help solidify plans and ideas around Xbox Game Pass. The email chain reveals that Ball wrote an expansive 13,000-word white paper for Microsoft that discusses subscription models in length.

Bethesda's next Elder Scrolls RPG will skip PlayStation, new court documents from Microsoft indicate.

Microsoft apparently has no plans to release The Elder Scrolls VI on PlayStation consoles and may keep the massively-anticipated RPG exclusive to Xbox and PC. The latest evidence of TESVI's exclusivity is found in a recently uploaded court document in the FTC v Microsoft case (23-cv-02880).

In the document, Microsoft's legal counsel submits a table (PX0027-004) with upcoming first-party Xbox games. The table is meant to illustrate how Microsoft handled games on a post-acquisition basis and that the company did not instantly make specific titles exclusive to Xbox after buyouts. To prove a point, Microsoft's lawyers focus on ZeniMax games, and The Elder Scrolls VI is listed on the table with a "expected 2026 or later" release timing and an apparent confirmation that the upcoming RPG will not be on PlayStation.