Gaming

Gigabyte has revealed the G34WQCP, an updated version of another 34-inch curved gaming monitor that the company has been selling for a few years. While not yet available to order, the Gigabyte G34WQCP is likely to officially launch soon for roughly $399.99 in the US.

A Chinese company called Metaphyuni has launched Genesis Cube in China. While it may seem like any other mini PC with a powerful AMD processor, it's the first to feature the Ryzen 7 8845HS with an 80W TDP mode. This mode prioritizes performance over noise and should make this system perform better than any other similarly-equipped mini computer.

The Nubia RedMagic 9S Pro is set to be released in China on July 3. This new phone will feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 “leading version,” which has already been shown to be a better performer than the regular variant of the chipset. A day before the official launch, the company shared photos of the phone, offering a first look at the upcoming flagship.

The M25 is a new retro gaming handheld that closely resembles a particular Sony PlayStation accessory. Available for under $100 with 64 GB or 128 GB of storage, the M25 also has a modest battery capacity, a compact display, 4 GB of RAM and runs EmuELEC 4.3 by default.

Supposedly, a set of developers is working towards delivering the first FPGA console aimed at hardware emulating SEGA systems, including the Master System, Genesis and Saturn. Allegedly, a Virtex Ultrascale+ FPGA chip should be powerful enough to play SEGA Dreamcast games, too.

The 2024 Steam Summer Sale is in full swing, and the Deep Discounts category is where you'll find the best deals on games that can be best described as old but gold. Enjoy one of the best strategy city builder games in recent years, indulge in all-out insanity with Borderlands 2, or play as Gotham's most famous hero in Batman: Arkham Knight — all for under $6.

OnePlus has confirmed that its latest top-end smartphone has the extra Pixelworks "end-to-end tuning" necessary to play IRX-certified games such as Diablo: Immortal. The AI-based augmentations are touted to boost the Ace 3 Pro's powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 graphics and the Super Frame Rate features of its up-to-date Android 14-based OS.

Epic Games Store is currently giving away Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition. This free game will be available to claim until July 4, and after that, a new title will be up for grabs. As the store revealed, this new free game happens to be The Falconeer, an aerial combat game published by Wired Productions and developed by Tomas Sala.

The Rabbit R1, originally launched as an AI-powered device designed to offer a less distracting experience than a phone, got modded to run Android. This allows the device to be opposite what it was designed to be, to function like a phone. It also opens the door to doing much more than you can do with its Rabbit OS, such as running games.

While bringing one-click optimal settings for an additional four titles, the GeForce Game Ready Driver 556.12 also provides DLSS 3.5 optimizations for The First Descendant, as well as DLSS 3 and Reflex to Payday 3, a title that previously received DLSS 2 and DLAA support. The update targets both desktop and mobile GPUs, as usual.

Valve has offered up a bevvy of new updates for the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED. Rolling out on its Beta and Preview software channels, the updates not only add Game Recording functionality but also make various desktop mode and general improvements.

Starting with FSR 3.1, AMD is separating frame generation from image upscaling. This means that older GPUs from Nvidia as well as Intel's Arc GPUs can now benefit from frame generation in select games.

MSI has unveiled the world's second laptop powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D. It appears to be a China-only SKU and features 32 GB RAM, a 1 TB SSD and a 240 Hz IPS panel.

Nintendo is now selling its latest Switch Lite refresh, possibly one of the last before it finally announces a Switch 2 console. Launching this September to coincide with the release of a new Zelda game, the new version comes in a special gold colour option.

Earlier this month, rumours emerged of Powkiddy having created a new retro gaming handheld under the auspices of the 'K56'. Supposedly set to rival the likes of the AYANEO Pocket Micro, KT Pocket R1 and ZPG A1 Unicorn in terms of performance, it turns out that the Powkiddy K56 may have been nothing more than the stuff of fan fiction.

Anbernic has now officially confirmed the existence of the RG40XX H after a spate of alleged leaks. Resembling the RG Cube, the RG40XX H appears set to arrive in three colours. Specifications for the Anbernic RG40XX H have now been confirmed, too.

A Nintendo leaker accidentally outed their source to Bloomberg, while other leaks allegedly originated from a Google employee with access to Nintendo's YouTube channel. Nintendo retaliated by tightening up its IT security and pushing at least one leaker into hiding.

Valve tested the waters with its experimental Steam Controller, but it was discontinued in 2019. Now, nearly five years later, a new officially licensed gamepad is on its way, but it's not made by Valve. Instead, it's from Hori, and the gaming controller is called Wireless Horipad for Steam.

Powkiddy is now selling the V10 globally, a 3.5-inch retro gaming handheld that measures just 103.2 x 94 x 22.5 mm. The Powkiddy V10 comes in multiple colours, including a pair of nostalgic transparent options.

In order to get more people onto its Xbox Cloud Gaming service, Microsoft is bringing it to select Amazon Fire TV devices via the Xbox TV app. With an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and a Bluetooth controller, quite a few folks will be able to stream Xbox games using their TVs.

The Epic Games Store is giving away another free game this week. Described as a horror RPG, the game is available to play on Windows and Mac with low system requirements.

Following significant disgruntlement within the community, MSI has reconsidered its stance on firmware updates for OLED monitors outside of the top models. There are some quirks for end users, however, depending on the country and, in some cases, the specific monitor.

RedMagic is preparing to release a new Realm gaming monitor. Building on last year's 49-inch model, the new 32-inch edition features a new Gen 3 QD-OLED panel from Samsung Display that will rival the Dell Alienware AW3225QF and ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM, among others.

You can finally record gameplay natively using Steam overlay. The feature is in beta for desktop users and also available for the Steam Deck.

A patent filing has shown off what Microsoft's cloud-based console would have looked like. It was called Project Keystone and would have served as a cheap console replacement. However, it got scrapped due to pricing issues.

Nubia's upcoming gaming smartphone, the RedMagic 9S Pro, has shown up on Geekbench. It runs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Leading Version, which is essentially a regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with a slight boost on its Cortex-X4 core.

RedMagic, a brand that's best known for its gaming phones, has made its entry into the gaming laptop market. The first unit, called Gaming Laptop 16 Pro, will launch on July 3 in China. It features an Intel Core i9 14900HX, Nvidia RTX 4070, a 16-inch 2.5K screen, and an aluminum alloy chassis with "MacBook-level" craftsmanship.

Anbernic has not officially commented on the release of its next 4-inch gaming handheld yet. Nonetheless, new leaks have confirmed not only more information about the device, but also that it will launch as the RG40XX H with a native landscape display and not the RG40XX.

Team Red will present its new "Neural Texture Block Compression" next week at an event in London. The AI-powered method seems to be an alternative for Nvidia's "Random-Access Neural Compression of Material Textures" that has not yet seen actual implementation.

Interview Notebookcheck had an opportunity to speak with MSI's regional marketing managers Bruce Lin and Green Lin about the MSI Claw, Windows-on-Arm laptops and its future plans. While MSI will stick with Intel for the foreseeable future, it is open to the idea of collaborating with AMD for handheld chips at a later point.

The company is hosting a product launch conference on July 3, where the new 'Phantom Blade' controller is expected to debut alongside the Red Magic 9S Pro and an 'AI Gaming' Laptop.

The Steam Summer Sale will start this Thursday, June 27. While Valve has yet to reveal the full roster of games that will be discounted, the trailer has confirmed that strategy favourite, Stellaris, and smash hits Palworld and Content Warning will both be discounted in the Steam Summer Sale. It also teased a new category called Deep Discounts, which appears to slash prices by up to 95%.

The Ultimate 2C is 8BitDo's latest attempt at releasing a budget wireless controller. Available in multiple colours for a mere $29.99, the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C has hall effect joysticks and triggers, extra bumper buttons and custom button mapping functionality, among other features.

Denki, a YouTuber who often takes a deep dive into interesting old game console tech, has found a rare Sony Bravia TV with PlayStation 2 integrated into its base. The YouTuber had to pay $700, but when it was released in 2010, this Bravia KDL22PX300 was available at around £200.

The Evnia 32M2N8800 is Philips' attempt at rivalling the Alienware AW3225QF, ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM and MSI MPG 321URX, among other Gen 3 QD-OLED gaming monitors. As such, the Evnia 32M2N8800 offers 4K and 240 Hz visuals, as well as a series of modern ports and 1,0000 nits peak brightness.

The AGON GAMING C27G4ZXE is AOC's latest gaming monitor, only a week on from the introduction of the AGON GAMING C27G2Z3/BK. Based around a curved Fast VA panel that outputs at 1080p, the budget gaming monitor also offers a 280 Hz refresh rate, 0.03 ms response times and a 4,000:1 contrast ratio.

CheckMag The best gaming handhelds have come a long way since the Game Boy era. Today's devices offer advanced features, up to 10 hours of battery life, and cater to diverse tastes, from retro gamers to those wanting handheld PCs. Below are the top 5 handheld gaming consoles available right now, each tailored to different gaming preferences.

The Steam Deck LCD has received a 15% price cut. It applies to the 64 GB and 512 GB variants and is valid until July 11.

A game that got canceled for the Nintendo Switch platforms in 2020 now has its trailer up for the Switch gaming consoles and is set to launch next month. This title, Deliver Us The Moon, was initially launched in 2018, but that launch was for PC, and the developers later brought it to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and PS5.

Powkiddy has confirmed new details about the V10. Billed as a pocketable retro gaming handheld, the Powkiddy V10 will start for well under $50 and will be available in multiple colours at launch, including a transparent purple option.

The ASUS TUF F15 gaming laptop with a Core i7-13620H CPU and an RTX 4070 laptop GPU is currently on sale for less than $1,100. The discounted price should make the ASUS TUF F15 an excellent value as the CPU and GPU combo on offer will play all modern games at high frame rates with some games even managing to saturate the 144 Hz native refresh rate of the display.

Anbernic has yet another compact retro gaming handheld in development. Following the success of the RG Cube, it seems that Anbernic is looking to deliver another 4-inch gaming handheld, albeit with the innards of recent RG35XX options and last year's RG405M.

The PlayStation Store is currently running another major discount campaign where gamers can get many games for up to 90 percent less - including various full-price games.

An industry insider says Sony could let you play some PlayStation 3 games on your PlayStation 5. However, only a handful of titles will be playable, at least at launch.

The increasingly popular portable console maker ONEXPLAYER is promoting officially refurbished models as well as new ones during its latest Mid-Year 2024 sale. They include devices powered by leading mobile processors from Intel and AMD, such as the 7-inch Mini Pro and latest Ryzen 7 8840U-based 2 Pro.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate codes are on sale on CDKeys. The retailer is offering a three-month subscription code for just $29.29, a solid 30% discount from what it generally goes for. Other subscription codes are also enjoying a generous price cut, with the 12-month code dropping to $127.99 from $179.19.

Until tomorrow, gamers can pick up an action RPG from GOG for free, which normally costs $30. There is also a discount of up to 40 percent on the three available DLCs.

CheckMag Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto franchise is undoubtedly one of the cornerstones of modern gaming, both from a technical as well as a cultural point of view. Starting from 1997, Rockstar has produced some of the finest open-world titles in the history of computer gaming as part of this franchise. With GTA VI arriving in 2025, it's worth looking back in to the past and glossing over the most iconic entrants to the acclaimed franchise.