Gaming

Rumors of the Nintendo Switch 2, or at least its performance potential, having been revealed at a recent trade event have been corroborated in two separate reports. Allegedly, some devs had the opportunity to witness a Switch 2 tech demo, with the hardware utilizing Nvidia’s DLSS technology to produce output that would be acceptable from a PS5 game.

The Asus ROG Cetra TWS gaming earbuds have a US$99.99 list price on Amazon, but the 25% discount which currently applies to the black color choice brings it to the lowest price in 30 days of US$74.99. Meanwhile, the white version of this handy audio accessory is 20% off and can be acquired for US$79.99.

Now listed by Dell US for the same price, the S3422DWG curved gaming monitor is down by 30% on Amazon, so those interested can acquire it from both sources at US$349.99. In Amazon's case, however, the list price of this 34-inch monitor with 144 Hz refresh and 3,440 X 1,440 pixels is US$499.99.

AYANEO is finally taking orders for the Pocket Air, an Android 12-based gaming handheld based around a 5.5-inch AMOLED display and a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset. Available with up to 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage, the AYANEO Pocket Air currently starts at US$279 with a 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage configuration.

The ViewSonic VG3419C is a new gaming monitor equipped with a 34-inch VA panel that outputs at 1440p and 120 Hz. The VG3419C also has a 1500R curvature, a USB hub and three video inputs, among other features.

AYANEO has released a new teaser for the FLIP, its first clamshell foldable. Supposedly 'coming soon', the AYANEO FLIP will feature 'astonishing performance' and looks rather different to the device shown in earlier teasers.

Another potential Nintendo Switch 2 release date period has been put forward by a semiconductor industry market analyst. There are already plenty of next-generation Switch release date rumors circulating, with many believing 2024 will be the magic year for fans. It has been suggested that Nintendo might even make a Switch 2 announcement before the end of the year.

AYANEO has finally launched the KUN, a Steam Deck alternative on account of its similar input methods and gamepad buttons. The AYANEO KUN has a larger 8.4-inch display though, as well as a 75 Wh battery, an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U APU and up to 64 GB of RAM.

GPD is now selling the Win Mini, a 7-inch gaming handheld that measures 168 x 109 x 26 mm and weighs 520 g. While the GPD Win Mini is smaller than most competing gaming handhelds, it still packs up to the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U, 64 GB of RAM and a 2 TB SSD, as well as a 44.24 Wh battery.

Anbernic has released the RG405V, a 4-inch gaming handheld powered by a Unisoc Tiger T618 chipset, 4 GB of RAM and a 5,500 mAh battery. The Anbernic RG405V comes in three finishes, including an unusual Wood Grain option.

The successor of the Samsung Odyssey G9, namely the Odyssey OLED G9 G95SC with model number LS49CG954SNXZ arrived earlier this year and is now down to US$1,599.99 on both Amazon and Samsung US (from US$1,799.99 list price). On Amazon, this price tag is also the lowest in the last 30 days.

It has been rumored that PS5 Pro dev kits have already been sent out to presumably major developers with close links to Sony. There are some expectations that the PlayStation 5 Pro will be released in 2024, with a huge franchise title already associated with the potential “world’s most powerful console”.

An exciting handful of Nintendo Switch 2 leaks have been shared on social media with the various claims making for a heady mixture. Switch 2 backwards compatibility is touched upon as are a couple of other features, but astonishingly there is also an outlandish statement that Final Fantasy VII Remake runs like a PlayStation 5 game on the next-generation Nintendo console.

The PlayStation Portal can now be pre-ordered in multiple countries, including the UK and the US. Sony has also brought the device to many Eurozone countries, with Canada and Japan availability scheduled for later this month.

HTC Vive's XR Elite is a flagship virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) headset that goes for well over US$1,000. However, the OEM has decided to sweeten that deal for a limited time with its new PC VR Bundle offers. It purports to help the user "save over US$280" by throwing the accessories and titles possibly needed to get into headset gaming in for free.

The GPD Win Mini is almost here after a long wait. According to the company, the Win Mini will be orderable from next week, starting at US$699 with an AMD Ryzen 5 7640U APU, 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. GPD has now added a top tier 64 GB of RAM and 2 TB SSD option too.

The XMG Apex series receives a significant performance boost with the addition of AMD's Ryzen 7 7840HS APUs that replace the previously installed Ryzen 7 7735HS. There is also a new WQHD display option and the 17-inch model now features liquid metal for cooling the processor and graphics card.

Whether you're in it for the brain-tickling strategy, or you're simply looking for an adventurous game to take a break from all the MMORPG and FPS games, the Steam Strategy Fest has something for you to explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate. This includes three of the best 4X games around.

AMD claimed in its launch presentation that the RX 7700 XT will be able to outperform the RTX 4060 Ti. While first-party performance claims should always be taken with skepticism, it seems that Team Red’s official numbers for the RX 7700 XT might not be far off as leaked 3DMark Time Spy Graphics score of the GPU places the board comfortably above the RTX 4060 Ti.

Lenovo's first handheld gaming console, the Legion Go, is now official. It packs a 44 Hz 16:10 screen, an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, detachable controllers and plenty of customizable buttons.

Lenovo has launched an exorbitantly-priced gaming laptop with top-of-the-line gaming hardware. The Legion 9i features a mini LED panel, an Intel Raptor Lake-HX processor, a GeForce RTX 4090 and more.

ViewSonic has released the VX2776-2K-OLED in China, a 26.5-inch gaming monitor equipped with a 1440p OLED panel. The ViewSonic also has a 240 Hz refresh rate, 0.3 ms response times and high DCI-P3 colour space coverage, among other features.

Nintendo has now revealed a Mario Red Edition version of the Switch - OLED Model. As rumours suggested, the Switch - OLED Model Mario Red Edition will be available this October, shortly before the arrival of the forthcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder game.

The HPCE power connector standard presented by Asus appears to be an elegant solution that fixes melting power connector issues and cluttered PC case interiors. Employing a slot similar in size with a PCIe X1 interface, the HPCE standard promises to deliver more than 600 W of power for the next gen flagship GPUs.

The new G6 features a 16-inch display with 1920 x 1200 resolution and 165 Hz refresh rate. Processor options range from the latest i7 Raptor Lake to the older 12-th gen Alder Lake, while the GPU side supports up to an RTX 4060.

The Meteorish TJD T101 is now available to back on Indiegogo. Equipped with a 10.1-inch display and a 60 Wh battery, the TJD T101 comes with either the Ryzen 5 7640U or Ryzen 7 7840U and at least 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD.

Panasonic has just announced the SoundSlayer GNW10 “wearable immersive gaming speaker system” that rests on one's shoulders to deliver surround sound for gaming. This is the second of its kind in Panasonic’s gaming speaker lineup, offering upgraded sound and wireless connectivity over the previous model. The GNW10 will be available from December 2023 for a yet-undetermined price.

The Lenovo Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 with an RTX 4070 GPU, a Core i7-13700HX CPU, and a 16-inch 1600p resolution display is currently enjoying a US$150 discount at Lenovo's official store. The gaming laptop also features a wide variety of ports, an 80 Wh battery, and a 4-zone RGB keyboard.

Intel is reportedly launching the Arc Battlemage GPUs sometime in 2024. Per the latest leak from RedGamingTech, the flagship Battlemage die, the BMG G10, could pack 54 Xe cores, 16 GB of GDDR6 VRAM, and a 256-bit wide memory bus. The leaker alleges that early samples of the BMG G10 GPU aren’t hitting the performance targets due to hardware issues.

PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium will cost remarkably more. The price increase will be global and is effective on September 6.

Analogue has announced a new version of the Analogue Pocket. Available in a few days, the new Analogue Pocket utilises luminescent plastic to glow in the dark without increasing power consumption. The Analogue Pocket Glow in the Dark will be a strictly limited edition affair and will retail for US$249.99.

Shargeek, the maker of distinctive 'cyberpunk' power accessories such as the Storm 2 power bank, has announced that it will operate under the updated brand name of Sharge going forward. By any name, its transparent-esthetic, tech enthusiast-friendly design DNA is still expressed in its upcoming take on the MagSafe power bank, touted as the first of its kind to boast (visible) active cooling.

AYN Technologies has started shipping the Loki Zero, a Windows gaming handheld based around the AMD Athlon Silver 3050e APU. The AYN Loki Zero debuted over a year ago and is still orderable for US$249.

AYANEO has now revealed full details about the Pocket Air, including a launch date. The AYANEO Pocket Air will be orderable from next week, with initial shipments scheduled for a week later.

Another special edition of the Nintendo Switch OLED Model is supposedly being prepared for launch before the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. A well-known leaker has managed to acquire multiple details about the so-called Nintendo Switch OLED Model Mario Red Edition but fans might feel a bit disappointed about what could be coming.

A rumored reveal of a Nintendo Switch 2 console at a recent trade fair has spurred speculation once again about what Nintendo has planned for its next-generation Switch (NG Switch). A well-known industry observer has stated that their sources have claimed the Switch 2 was shown off to a lucky few, which if true, could indicate an announcement is incoming.

Powkiddy is now selling the RGB30, a 145 x 86.5 x 18 mm and 207 g gaming handheld powered by a Rockchip RK3566 chipset and 1 GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The Powkiddy RGB30 also has a 720p display and a 4,100 mAh battery, among other features.

AYANEO has provided more details about the KUN, its 8.4-inch gaming handheld. Now confirmed to be launching next week, the AYANEO KUN will be available from US$999 with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U APU that scales to 54 W, an 8.4-inch IPS display, a 75 Wh battery, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. Alternatively, AYANEO plans to offer the gaming handheld with up to 64 GB of RAM and 4 TB of storage.

Shortly after topping at US$2,198.99, the Asus ROG Strix G16 (2023) gaming laptop with the G614JI-AS94 model number is now down to US$1,649.99 thanks to a discount of 18% applied to the new list price of US$1,999.99. This machine employs the Intel Core i9-13980HX alongside the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070.

Introduced as office-oriented minimalist cases or as RGB-illuminated versions aimed at gamers that also feature a tempered glass transparent side panel, the two new midi ATX tower cases from Sharkoon are already available as VS8/VS9 (black) and VS8 RGB/VS9 RGB (white or black). The suggested prices are 49.90 Euros (US$54) and 59.90 Euros (US$65).

Designed with gaming and professional use scenarios in mind, the Toshiba X300 3.5-inch mechanical hard drive features 512 MB cache memory and spins at up to 7200 RPM. With a list price of US$584.99, the model HDWR31GXZSTA with 16 TB of storage is now down by 50% on Amazon, so it can be snagged for US$294.99.

AMD's Frank Azor confirmed that they are not holding back Bethesda from including support for DLSS in Starfield if they wish to. While all GPUs from the Radeon RX 590 and GeForce RTX 10 Series onwards can leverage AMD's upcoming FSR 3 tech, frame generation via Fluid Motion Frames will require RDNA 1 or a Turing card at the minimum.

The RX 7800 XT and the RX 7700 XT supply at launch could be plentiful if the newest report from Moore’s Law Is Dead is accurate. The leaker alleges that AMD has been stockpiling Navi 32 dies and is only waiting for the “RDNA 2 supply to sell through before being released”. Additionally, it appears that NVIDIA will decrease the channel pricing of the RTX 4060 Ti to make the GPU more competitive vs the new Radeon boards.

The tipster behind a recent claim that the Nintendo Switch 2 would actually materialize as the Nintendo Focus has offered up some new details about the Switch successor console, some games, and even a Pro controller. Interestingly, there was a time when the Nintendo NX, which later became the Switch, was rumored to be heading for release as the Nintendo Focus.

LG US has just augmented its UltraGear series of gaming monitors with new variants, two of which have 27-inch screens and one of which is 32 inches. Of those, the 27GR83Q-B has a 240Hz refresh rate, whereas the 27GR93Q-B and 32GR83Q-B are 144Hz. Nevertheless, all three are touted as "battlefield centerpieces" with AMD FreeSync Premium, 1ms latencies and offers of 30% off their RRPs with free fast shipping for a limited time.