Gaming - Page 119

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is now out in the wild and running natively on Macs, with the flagship M4 Max chip inside the MacBook Pro 16 laptop running the game with ray tracing enabled at 1600p 61FPS average.

In some new tests from ComputerBase and its community running Cyberpunk 2077 across three benchmarks: Medium Preset, Ultra Preset, and the Ray Tracing Medium Preset, under two resolutions with 1920 x 1200 (1200p) and 2560 x 1600 (1600p).

Upscaling was enabled, with MetalFX upscaling set to Balanced with ray tracing is disabled, and to Performance when it's enabled. V-Sync was off, Maximum FPS was off, and Windows Mode was disabled, running Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition in full-screen mode.

EA's highly anticipated Battlefield 6 will be released later this year and is currently making waves thanks to the recent gameplay trailer, hands-on previews, and upcoming Open Beta. Even though the game looks like it's going to ship in a well-optimized state, with the minimum GPU spec asking for a GeForce RTX 2060 and a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti recommended for 1440p 60FPS action, Battlefield 6 won't be receiving Steam Deck support.

During a recent Battlefield 6 multiplayer reveal event for media and creators, PCGamesN sat down with Battlefield chief Vince Zampella to discuss the possibility of the game running on PC gaming handhelds like Valve's Steam Deck and ASUS's ROG Ally.

"It does not work on Steam Deck," Vince Zampella responded when asked about the game running on PC gaming handhelds. "I think there are some non-Steam-Deck handheld platforms that it will work on, probably, right? But I don't think, you know, it's probably not the best way to play the game."

Windows is still the most popular operating system for PC gaming, with 59.9% of gamers using Windows 11, and a further 35.2% still using the soon-to-be end-of-life Windows 10. This is the latest data from Valve as part of its monthly Steam Hardware & Software Survey results for July 2025, which also shows that an increasing number of PC gamers are moving to or gaming on Linux.

Part of this is due to the popularity of Valve's Steam Deck PC gaming handheld, which runs on SteamOS or "Arch Linux". With reports pointing to Valve officially releasing SteamOS for desktop PCs in the future, alongside a potential lineup of dedicated Steam PCs hitting the market, there's a growing community of PC gamers out there looking to make the switch from Windows to SteamOS for PC gaming.

The current process to get SteamOS running on a desktop PC with AMD hardware isn't all that difficult, and the latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey results show that Linux is gaining ground. The July 2025 data shows that Windows' market share on Steam dropped by 0.44% while Linux's market share grew by 0.32%.

Sony's next-generation PlayStation 6 console has been rumored to launch with a new PS6 handheld, which in new early specs leak, we can expect AMD Zen 6 CPU cores and RDNA 5 GPU cores, with performance of the PS6 handheld to be half of what the standard PS5 does.

In a new video leaker Moore's Law is Dead discusses his latest PS6 handheld early specs leak, with TSMC handling the 3nm production of the chip, which will feature Zen 6c CPU cores and RDNA 5 GPU cores, with rasterization performance said to be ~0.5x the PS5, and should beat the Xbox Ally X handheld in performance.

The new semi-custom Canis APU will feature 4 x Zen 6c CPU cores and between 12-20 RDNA 5 Compute Units which will reportedly be clocked at between 1.6GHz and 2.0GHz inside the PS6 handheld. MLID says Canis has a 128-bit memory bus with LPDDR5X-7500+ memory used, and manufacturing of Canis for the PS6 handheld will take off in mid-2027 with a likely Fall 2027 or Early-2028 release.

Although Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the most universally-loved video games of all time. the developers at Larian want to shake things up with their secret new game.

Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios is hard at work on their next game, but there's no telling what it will be. Now on the second anniversary of BG3's release, Larian Studios boss Swen Vincke teases the new project.

According to Vincke, the game (which hasn't even been announced or revealed yet) may be a breath of fresh air for fans, the same way that Baldur's Gate 3 helped revivify the cRPG genre and bring it to the mainstream. Of course, we don't know exactly what type of game this is, only that it's "crazy" and it'll deliver fun in "surprising ways."

SEGA shows off the first glimpse of gameplay from its new Virtua Fighter game, which is in development for PS5 and Xbox.

A new Virtua Fighter is on the way from SEGA for the first time in nearly 20 years. The project still doesn't have a name, and SEGA hasn't made a big marketing push just yet, but the company did confirm the new Virtua Fighter is being developed by the group responsible for the Yakuza game series.

SEGA's official descriptions for the game are very basic and don't reveal much: "An all-new title in the iconic Virtua Fighter series has been revealed at the hands of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio," reads the small info snippet.

A new developer diary for Skyblivion shows just how far the total conversion mod has come, and the team is still confident about launching Skyblivion this year.

Skyblivion might be the most ambitious user-created mod in history, aiming to completely rebuild Oblivion within the Skyrim engine. The project has been in development since 2012, and over the past 13 years, the team has made incredible strides. The latest dev diary showcases footage from The Gold Coast, including the city of Anvil, as well as the Siege of Kvatch battle sequence. Thanks to the progress, the free Skyblivion mod is set to release sometime in 2025.

"While we're not in a position to provide an exact release date just yet, we remain confident that we'll meet our goal to launch this year," the devs say in the latest Skyblivion footage.

DICE guarantees Battlefield 6 will run at 60FPS minimum on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, but that's only for the fidelity mode. The game can go even higher in performance mode...which isn't yet available on the Series S.

Battlefield 6 looks to be one of the most well-optimized games in recent memory. The PC spec requirements are very reasonable, and DICE is touting Battlefield 6 can hit some impressive numbers on consoles.

A Battlefield Labs participant reveals some metrics. The results show that BF6 will run at 60FPS on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles in fidelity mode, and up to 90FPS in performance mode. The Xbox Series S, however, currently doesn't have a performance mode, likely due to the console's weaker specs. Battlefield 6 really shines on PS5 Pro, where it can hit 120FPS.

Battlefield 6 is looking like it'll be one of the biggest games of 2025, with a Twitch streamer saying his 9800X3D + RTX 5080 system can run the game at 1440p @ 300FPS+ in its current form.

Twitch streamer "Bruhskey" says that his AMD Ryzen 9 9800X3D + 32GB DDR5 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 (without an optimized driver for the game) can run Battlefield 6 at an average of 330-370FPS. Considering that Battlefield 6 requires an RTX 3060 Ti 8GB graphics card for the recommended GPU, 300FPS+ on the second-fastest RTX 50 series GPU is an impressive thing to see (especially in its early form).

The streamer notes that a friend of his was using the same RTX 5080 but with an Intel Core i9-14900K processor and was getting 110FPS less performance in Battlefield 6 "while matching settings". It seems like AMD's new X3D processors will matter "A LOT" for Battlefield 6, and that's a fantastic thing for EA, AMD, and PC gamers who have an X3D processor.

Battlefield 6 will support AI upscaling at launch, including NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, and Intel XeSS. Intel has even confirmed that Battlefield 6 will support its new XeSS 2 upscaling when the game launches in October, and it should be live inside of the upcoming beta weekends coming soon.

We have already seen the PC system requirements for Battlefield 6 and they're pretty tame considering how good the game looks, as well as its next-gen physical destruction technology, with NVIDIA's mid-range GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB graphics card running the game without a problem.

But, you'll want all of the performance you can squeeze out of your system and that's where AI upscaling technology like DLSS, FSR, and XeSS steps in. Battlefield 6 can reportedly run on Intel's not-so-fast Arc A380 graphics card at 1080p 30FPS on low settings, which gives you an idea of how well optimized the game seems (and it's still in beta form).

Blizzard has opened pre-orders for Diablo 2 Resurrected in China, and the bonuses are highly advantageous to people who spend more money.

Diablo 2 Resurrected is coming to China, and gamers who pre-order the deluxe or ultimate packs will get a distinct head start. The deluxe pack gives Chinese players access to one of the most powerful items in the entire game right at the start--the Stone of Jordan, a ring so valuable that people can play the game for years and never find one. And these bonuses actually give you two SoJs that can be accessed immediately.

The pay-to-win bonuses don't end there. Most games give you a starter pack, but having played Diablo 2 for so long, I can say that these bonuses are much more pronounced than other games. The deluxe edition also includes a 30% buff to experience and gold that lasts for a full 30 days, and a bunch of smaller runes that are tremendously useful for early-level runewords. All of these things will dramatically improve the day one user experience.

Mastercard's rules and policies are the main reason why some adult games have been removed from Steam and Itch.io, new reports from Kotaku indicate.

A bunch of adult video games have been delisted from Steam, sparking a wide discussion on censorship. Credit card companies have been caught in the cultural crossfire as consumers blame Visa and Mastercard for the decision. Now Mastercard has issued a statement that shirks any responsibility, saying that: "Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restriction of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations."

Valve says otherwise. In a quote given to Kotaku, Valve says that it couldn't directly reach Mastercard, and that it coordinated with payment processors and banks instead. The pressure came from payment processors and banks, who in turn pressured storefront operators. Essentially, payment processors are afraid of being cut off from Mastercard due to rule violations, specifically Rule 5.12.7. This rule states that Mastercard has "sole discretion" on whether or not to allow a transaction to go through.

CD Projekt's PC games storefront is giving away 13 games for free to protest theongoing censorship of adult video games.

Thanks to pressure from payment processors like Visa and Mastercard, digital PC stores like Steam and Itch.io are removing some adult games from their catalogs. While Itch.io has re-indexed adult content, the move has sparked controversy and prompted a discussion on consumer rights, censorship, and whether or not these companies should be able to control what people can and cannot buy.

Some stores are going the other way, though. GOG.com, short for Good Old Games, is actually giving away free adult games to fight the power, so to speak. The games include highly mature titles like Postal 2, HuniePop, and Agony (alongside a myriad of sexual titles).

BioShock 4 is getting reworked as executive management disapproves of the game's direction, Bloomberg reports.

2K Games isn't happy with the new BioShock game. The project has been in production for over 10 years, and is being developed by 2K studio Cloud Chamber. That's a long development cycle, and on top of that, the BioShock project failed an internal review with 2K Games bigwigs. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reports that 2K execs have issues with the game's storyline, and higher-ups decided a shake-up was in order; studio head Kelley Gilmore has been pushed out.

Parent company Take-Two has also decided to cancel a new BioShock remake project that had been in simultaneous development with BioShock 4.

Nintendo is raising the price of the full Switch 1 family of consoles, and the Switch 2 could be next in line, the company today announced.

Starting August 3, the Nintendo Switch will become more expensive in the United States. Nintendo also warns fans that the Switch 2 could also become more expensive in the future, undoubtedly due to the ongoing tariffs and worldwide economic disruption.

Retailer Target has already revealed new Switch pricing; the base model went from $299 to $339, the Lite from $199 to $229, and the OLED from $349 to $399.

While Call of Duty adds Beavis and Butthead and American Dad crossovers, Battlefield 6 will take a different tack with cosmetics that fit the war-based military franchise.

Battlefield 6 will have skins, and while it has not been expressly confirmed just yet, these could be monetized with in-app purchases. EA has a penchant for this, and Battlefield 6 is a comprehensive platform of services and content ranging from singleplayer campaign, multiplayer, and custom play through the Portal creator.

A big part of the Battlefield experience is immersion, and EA has spent millions on things like destruction effects to make the game look and feel more interactive. DICE is in no hurry to break this immersion with outlandish skins and cosmetics. A bong-toting Seth Rogen isn't going to show up in Battlefield 6, and Roger the alien won't blast enemies in an exo suit.

There's no shortage of gamers who want a new entry in The Sims franchise - which is one of the most heavyweight PC gaming hitters of all-time - but we've been assured this isn't happening.

Furthermore, an EA executive has laid out the case for why The Sims 5 is actually a bad idea for fans - and to be fair, what she says makes some sense.

This is Laura Miele, president of EA Entertainment, who spoke on the topic of another incarnation for The Sims in a lengthy interview with Variety (hat tip to GamesRadar).

The new-and-improved Switch 2 console has sold over 6 million units since release, Nintendo has officially confirmed.

Nintendo just released its Q1'26 financials, giving an official figure on Switch 2 sales. Globally, the Switch 2 console has sold-through over 6 million units in just 7 weeks, and this meteoric figure has unlocked two major performance milestones for the company. The Switch 2 is the fastest-selling video games hardware of all time, with 5.82 million sold in less than a month (the Switch 2 debuted on June 5, and Nintendo's Q1 period ended June 30), and 6 million in 7 weeks, whereas quarters typically last 12 weeks.

The sheer enormity of the numbers show that the Switch 2 also had the best-ever launch sales of any video games console in history. Sony's PS5 debuted at 4.5 million, the Xbox Series at an estimated 3.1 million, and the Switch at 2.74 million.

Battlefield 6 is set to launch on October 10 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, and with the first trailer showcasing the game's impressive destruction and return to the all-out warfare and action of entries like Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4, there's a level of excitement and buzz surrounding the latest entry in the long-running multiplayer series that hasn't been seen in years.

With the action set in a near-future 2027, and maps covering real-world locations like New York, and the return of the classic Operation Firestorm, there's a lot to be excited about, especially when you add in the return of classic modes like Conquest and Rush. However, with all of that 'next-gen' destruction going on, you might be wondering what sort of PC you'll need to play the latest installment in the Battlefield franchise.

Well, it looks like Battlefield 6 is shaping up to be one of the better optimized games of 2025 - which is fantastic news for a large-scale multiplayer game. The minimum and recommended specs for the game are now live, and you can check them out below. And yes, the recommended GPU for this is the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB graphics card from 2020.

NVIDIA's GeForce NOW cloud gaming library continues to expand in August 2025, with eight new titles joining the service this week and another ten more announced, so far, for the remainder of the month. The list includes Obsidian's Grounded 2, which is now available to play in Early Access on Steam and PC Game Pass, and the highly anticipated Mafia: The Old Country, which is out next week.

GeForce NOW's unique take on cloud gaming has been a success for the company. Not only does its subscription model include cloud access to games that you own or have access to as part of Xbox's PC Game Pass subscription service, but it also offers high-quality streaming on powerful GeForce RTX hardware with access to technologies like DLSS, G-SYNC, and more.

In addition to the miniaturized backyard-survival of Grounded 2, this week's GeForce NOW additions also include new Steam releases like Frosthaven and Dead Take, as well as PC Game Pass and Xbox arrivals like Farming Simulator 25 and High on Life. Here's the complete list of games added this week, and what's been announced so far for August 2025.