Gaming - Page 149

At Computex 2025, ZOTAC is showcasing what it's currently calling a 'Gaming Handheld Prototype.' After speaking with the team and reviewing the physical design, I realized that the company is creating what you could refer to as an unofficial Steam Deck 2 - the OLED model.

Let's start with the mobile AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, commonly found in laptops. The prototype doesn't feature the Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip because AMD's latest gaming handheld chip is hard to come by and currently limited to a handful of partners. The gaming performance should be identical, as the AI 9 HX 370 features the same Radeon 890M GPU as the Z2 Extreme, often referred to as Strix Point.

The Steam Deck 2 picture takes shape when you look at the custom version of the gaming-focused Manjaro Linux OS.

Until now, MSI's Claw gaming handhelds have been a rarity in the portable gaming space, with previous iterations shipping with Intel Meteor and Lunar Lake chips with integrated Arc graphics. At Computex 2025, MSI unveiled the new MSI Claw A8, powered by AMD's latest Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip for PC gaming handhelds.

We got to go hands-on with the MSI Claw A8 at AMD's product and technology showcase and were impressed with its performance in Final Fantasy XVI and Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. The new handheld sports the same 8-inch Full HD 120 Hz, VRR, touchscreen display and 1TB of internal M.2 SSD storage as the Claw 8 AI Plus we saw last year.

Shifting to an AMD APU brings MSI's Claw handheld more in line with the competition, such as Lenovo's Legion Go series and ASUS's ROG Ally. On the plus side, the MSI Claw A8 features the latest Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip with integrated Radeon 890M graphics, making it one of the first handhelds to sport AMD's latest flagship portable PC gaming hardware.

In celebration of the release of DOOM: The Dark Ages, ASUS ROG has constructed a new gaming PC to capture the essence of the iconic DOOM Slayer.

ASUS had the new PC on display at the ROG Media Day, where it unveiled a selection of new products it will be showcasing at Computex 2025. DOOM: The Dark Ages was used to showcase the power of many of ASUS ROG's latest laptops and PC configurations, along with the unveiling of a new DOOM: The Dark Ages-themed graphics card, which will be priced at $2,000. That graphics card was also found in The Dark Ages-themed PC, which ASUS informed me was built to represent the iconic DOOM Slayer.

The desktop PC is the same color as the Slayer armor and has custom DOOM glyphs placed on the CPU cooler and underneath the OLED gaming monitor. Moreover, the case features a nice red LED throughout its design, which represents the blood the Slayer leaves in his wake as he carves through the hordes of Hell. Below are all of the juicy specifications for this awesome rig, which looked spectacular in person.

id Software's DOOM: The Dark Ages, the third game and prequel entry in the modern DOOM re-imagining for the studio, is available now for PC and consoles. Running on id Tech 8, the ray-tracing-only game has already shipped with ray-traced global illumination and RT powered gameplay mechanics like hit detection as standard for its impressive visuals and first-person action.

In June, the game will receive an update on PC that will enable Path Tracing or Full Ray Tracing with support for DLSS 4's new AI-enhanced Ray Reconstruction, dramatically improving the game's visual fidelity. As seen in the screenshots provided by NVIDIA for Computex 2025, the Path-Traced version of DOOM: The Dark Ages looks phenomenal, with better reflections and more realistic lighting.

Ray Reconstruction has been a game changer for games with Full Ray Tracing, and on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, DLSS 4 Super Resolution and Multi Frame Generation will deliver triple-digit performance. Check out the comparison shots of DOOM: The Dark Ages with Path Tracing enabled below.

DLSS 4 arrived alongside the GeForce RTX 50 Series earlier this year. The new AI transformer model for Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction boosts performance and image fidelity for all GeForce RTX GPU gamers. DLSS 4 also includes Multi Frame Generation; however, this feature is currently exclusive to the new RTX 50 Series GPUs.

At Computex 2025, NVIDIA announced that over 125 games and apps support the technology, the fastest adoption for a new DLSS version or technology update. A big part of this is due to the new DLSS Override feature in the NVIDIA App, which allows you to enable DLSS 4's features in games that already support older versions of the technology.

As part of its gaming announcements at the show, NVIDIA has announced 10 more games on the horizon that will add support for DLSS 4 - either natively or via the DLSS Override feature in the NVIDIA App. This includes F1 25, which is out later this month, Remedy's FBC Firebreak, and NVIDIA's Portal with RTX update of Valve's classic first-person puzzler.

Computex 2025 has kicked off, and NVIDIA has announced an improvement to Project G-Assist that aims to improve the liveliness of thriving Discord communities.

Project G-Assist was recently released as an experimental AI assistant that's directly integrated into the NVIDIA App. The purpose of the AI assistant is to enable users to have direct control over their RTX PC via a simple, easy-to-use AI assistant that can be interacted with via text and voice prompts. Examples of how users can take advantage of G-Assist would be to tweak a game's settings to hit a specific performance target, such as 120FPS in-game. G-Assist would make the appropriate changes to the game's graphics settings so the requested performance target is met, all without user intervention.

That same level of interoperability between G-Assist and apps is now making its way to social apps such as Discord, with NVIDIA announcing new open-source plugins that cover home automation systems, such as smart lighting services, and now Discord. What will G-Assist be able to do with Discord? Users will be able to prompt G-Assist to send the last video they recorded, such as some ShadowPlay captured footage from a game, and send it straight through to the user's Discord channel.

Ubisoft has plans to supercharge three of its biggest blockbuster franchises, but the exact strategies remain under wraps.

A bit ago, Ubisoft announced a huge $1.2 billion partnership with Tencent; in exchange for a big cash influx, Tencent gets 25% stake of a new Ubisoft subsidiary. This new Ubisoft subsidiary is separate from the main Ubisoft unit and will handle all future development and production of Ubisoft's three biggest franchises: Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry. Now the French games-maker has shared more details about its aspirations for the future.

In the recent FY25 earnings materials, Ubisoft notes that it will "focus on building brand ecosystems capable of becoming evergreen, billion-euro franchises." What the slide didn't say is that Ubisoft wants its 3 core franchises to each eventually make 1 billion euros per year.

The previous reports were true: Assassin's Creed Shadows is indeed the second best-earning game in the franchise when it comes to launch sales.

Ubisoft recently announced its FY25 earnings results, and with it came an update on Assassin's Creed Shadows' overall performance. Based on early indicators, we already knew the game was successful, but now we have more of an idea of how Shadows weighs against other Assassin's Creed games.

According to Ubisoft, Shadows had the second-best day 1 sales revenues in the series, with only Assassin's Creed Valhalla outperforming (for reference, Valhalla went on to make over $1 billion in consumer revenues in just two years). Shadows made history for Ubisoft as the best Assassin's Creed property in day one performance on the PlayStation Store. At the time of writing, Shadows is #21 out of the top best-selling PS Store games.

Bungie has been caught in hot water after an independent artist accused the developer of stealing her work for assets within the developer's upcoming title, Marathon.

The independent artist ANTIREAL accused Bungie of directly ripping off some of their art pieces that date back to 2017, and Bungie has admitted to the theft in a recent statement where it apologized to the artist and announced an investigation has been launched into scanning the game's assets for any other instances of artistic plagiarism. Bungie blamed the theft of ANTIREAL's art on a former Bungie artist and pledged to make things right with the artist.

In a live stream on Friday, Bungie apologized for the art plagiarism and addressed some of the feedback it received following the Alpha playtest. Now, Forbes has spoken to both former and current Bungie employees and has learned several things about what is happening at the studio, such as current morale across the studio, the internal audit of the game assets, conversations about a delay, reworking of a marketing plan, and more.

NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang is here on the ground in Taipei, Taiwan for Computex 2025, with the company kicking off its opening keynote tomorrow morning at 11AM Taipei time, at the Taipei Music Center in Taipei City. You can tune into the livestream below:

The NVIDIA keynote is expected to be around 1.5 hours long and will have multiple guests, many of them from Taiwan, as the company extends its success into all things AI, GPUs, and gaming. NVIDIA started its journey into AI dominance back in 2027 with the Volta GPUs and Tensor architecture, which has become much more mainstream in the last 8 years, pushing RT into the GeForce RTX 20 series that was introduced in 2018.

Since then, NVIDIA has pumped out its Hopper and Blackwell GPU architectures, where right now it's new GB200 NVL72 AI servers are the bleeding edge of AI systems... that is, until GB300 arrives later this year under the new Blackwell Ultra AI series GPUs with new GB300-based AI servers.

The gaming monitor market was graced with QD-OLED not too long ago, but as with the majority of new technology when it's first introduced, its price point is out of reach of the general consumer. QD-OLED gaming monitors were no different, but now the technology is starting to mature prices are beginning to trickle down to the more affordable price points, meaning gamers are able to snag pretty great deals on what is easily the best pixel technology available for gaming.

But what is the peak or cream of the crop when it comes to QD-OLED panels? How far can they truly be pushed? Computex 2025 is about to kick off, and we have already gotten a peek behind the curtain at what will be showcased at the trade show, with MSI exclusively confirming to me they will be unveiling a 500Hz QD-OLED panel.

Now, MSI isn't the only monitor company to unveil a bleeding-edge display such as this, as Acer has informed me it will be matching MSI's variant with the Predator X27U F5, a 2560 x 1440 (QHD) monitor sporting a 500Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms (GtG) response time.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is right around the corner and we are already hearing about the possible third-party games Nintendo's newest console will be able to support, with the latest title pegged to release on Nintendo's newest hardware now being Red Dead Redemption 2.

The news comes from GameReactor, which writes that it has heard through an unnamed source that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be released on the Nintendo Switch 2 not too long after the console is released on June 5. According to the publication, which cites a source "close to Rockstar," the critically acclaimed Wild West open-world title is slated to release on the Switch 2 "later this year". Notably, the publication writes that the same news was independently heard and reported by other publications such as Nintenduo.

GameReactor writes the release of a Switch 2 version of Red Dead Redemption 2 could be released alongside a "next-gen upgrade patch" for current-gen console hardware, which would bring the title up to speed with the performance capabilities of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S through a "next-gen upgrade patch." It should be noted that Rockstar hasn't confirmed anything regarding the Switch 2, and neither has Nintendo regarding any newly announced Rockstar title.

With less than a month until the release of Dune: Awakening, Funcom has shared fascinating statistics about player behavior during the early-May beta weekend.

In a recent blog post, the development team revealed that players explored only 25% of Hagga Basin, the game's starting survival map, throughout the weekend. WIth large expanses of desert, vehicles naturally proved essential for traversal, with an impressive 214,919 vehicles crafted.

Combat was equally significant, with close to ten million scavengers - the game's primary enemy type - eliminated during the test run. Dune: Awakening utilizes third-person action-based combat, which lends itself to a relatively accessible gameplay experience compared to tab-target based MMOs.

GameStop has confirmed that additional Switch 2 units will be available in-store and online at launch, even for customers who didn't secure a pre-order. Launch events will begin at 3 PM local time on June 4th, with pickups starting at 12 AM EST / 9 PM PST.

GameStop shared the news on X in relation to the console's midnight release, stating that "additional units will be available in-store and online at launch." The post also confirms that launch events will kick off at 3 PM local time on June 4, with actual pickups beginning at midnight on June 5.

A reputable Switch 2 tracker, Jake Randall, clarified that this means customers will be able to pay for their Switch 2 units in-store starting at 3 PM - without requiring a pre-order. Meaning, you can get there a few hours before, lock in your console, and come back to pick it up at midnight.

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is being shut down after a 14-month run. The game will be delisted from app stores on May 19th, and while servers will remain online, support for the game will be discontinued.

As detailed in a recent X post, the game's discontinuation was announced due to a failure to "meet expectations" with mobile-first players. The wind-down suggests the game underperformed against internal KPIs, particularly in relation to Activision's successful Call of Duty: Mobile, which still maintains a highly active playerbase.

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile was developed by multiple internal Activision studios, including Solid State Studios and Beenox. The game holds a "generally favorable" 76 on Metacritic, and the game was noted to be "fast-paced and enjoyable". However, the free-to-play FPS was criticised for its connectivity issues, poor frame rates, and glitches.

The launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 is right around the corner, and ahead of the highly anticipated console's release, Nintendo has revealed which original Switch games will receive a free Switch 2 upgrade.

A big part of the Switch 2 is being able to play original Switch games on the brand new console with improved graphical fidelity and performance. But which games will be coming with this free upgrade? Nintendo has taken to its website to detail an unfortunately short list of games that will be receiving a free Switch 2 upgrade that will add new features to the title and improve graphics.

Nintendo has detailed the improvements that are ready for twelve first-party Nintendo titles. Owners of the Switch 2 will be available access these free updates on the day the Switch 2 releases, which is currently scheduled for June 5. Below you will find a full list of the title and the improvements it will receive after downloading the free Switch 2 version upgrade.

Bungie has published a response following claims that art seen in the game was stolen from an independent artist without their permission. The developer has admitted that an oversight has occurred.

Independent artist N2 took to X to share an image showcasing the stark similarities between assets within Bungie's upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon, and designs the artist posted to X in 2017. The artist showed that many of the designs Bungie's team of artists used were, in some cases, directly copied from their own work without their permission. The original designs are still available on X.

The independent artist's accusations sparked a response from Bungie, who took to X to assure the artist that an investigation was immediately initiated following the accusations. It was discovered that a former Bungie artist is responsible for the use of the plagiarized decals that ended up within Marathon.

Apple has officially denied Fortnite's return to iOS platforms, Epic today announced.

Fortnite will not be returning to the App Store. Epic had originally submitted Fortnite on May 9, and today the company confirmed Apple's decision.

"Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union. Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it," the official Fortnite Twitter posted this morning.

Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the Grand Theft Auto franchise has responded to concerns that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be delayed again, following the announcement the title's release date being moved to May 2026 due to developer Rockstar games needing more time to complete its creative vision.

GTA was initially meant to release in 2025 when it was first unveiled via its first trailer in December 2023, and as we inched closer to the release window of Fall 2025, fans and the media began to suspect that a delay could be in the works. Unfortunately for eager gamers, those suspicions proved to be true as Rockstar announced via a short statement on its website that GTA 6's release date has now moved to May 2026, specifically May 26, 2026.

Shortly after the announcement of the delay, Rockstar released the second trailer for GTA 6, showcasing much more of the title in what seems to be unprecedented levels of graphical detail. With the precedent now set for GTA 6 being delayed, many fans and publishers alike are concerned the title will be delayed again, but Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick doesn't believe that will be the case. In fact, Zelnick stated he would be very surprised if GTA 6 was delayed for a second time.

Arrowhead, the studio behind Helldivers 2, won't be working with Sony as an external publisher or partner on their next game.

With at least 12 million copies sold, Helldivers 2 has been a megaton success for Swedish indie studio Arrowhead. The game apparently has done so well that Arrowhead can now self-fund their own games and keep all development decisions in-house.

Company CEO Shams Jorjani confirmed the news on Discord, saying that the move to internal development will allow Arrowhead to "call 100% of the shots."