Gaming

CD Projekt Red has announced The Witcher 3's next-gen update will be launched on December 13. It will include both DLCs, some third-party mods and some content from the Netflix series. The company will reveal more information about the remake via live stream next week.

Once in a while something magical happens, and an excellent game that was once prohibitively expensive suddenly becomes reasonably priced for a limited time. Such is the case with the three excellent titles we've rounded up here. Each of them had an impact on its fanbase and patient gamers can now experience those thrills at a discount.

A small Chinese GPU maker, 51Risc, is now offering the RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU as a desktop PCIe card. The misleading branding, which says RTX 3070 TiM, actually compares to and is US$69 cheaper than the RTX 3060 Ti at MSRP. The RTX 3070 TiM sports largely the same specs as that of the RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU but with a 17.5 Gbps memory speed and a 220 W TDP.

With a list price of US$1,449.99, the Asus ROG Strix G10 desktop PC configuration is currently down to US$849.99 on Amazon. Its main highlights are the Intel Core i7-11700 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics. Shipping with Windows 11 Home, this machine also features 16 GB DDR4 memory and a 1 TB PCIe SSD.

Best Buy currently grants a noteworthy US$350 discount on a pretty rare all-AMD configuration of this stylish 14-inch gaming laptop, which brings the well-performing Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 down to a comparatively reasonable sale price of US$1,299.

Featuring Gigabyte's WINDFORCE 3X cooling system with alternate spinning fans, the Radeon RX 6700 XT Eagle 12G graphics card has a maximum boost clock of 2581 MHz and features two HDMI 2.1 and two DP 1.4a outputs. Thanks to Amazon's 30 percent discount, the US$599.99 list price is now down to US$419.99.

MediaTek announced this week that it would be developing the silicon used to power both the PS VR2 headset and the PS Sense controllers. Sony stated that it chose to work with MediaTek because the chip manufacturer could develop an SoC that was powerful and efficient enough to meet their demands, although cost is another probable factor.

The well-equipped Gigabyte Aorus 5 comes with a quick RTX 3070 and one of Intel's latest Alder Lake CPUs, which should make this mid-range 15-inch gaming laptop capable of playing most modern games at high settings and frame rates.

Pimax has revealed the Portal, a gaming handheld based on Android. Not only can the Pimax Portal be used as a compact gaming device, but it is capable of integrating with a VR headset, an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U-powered mini-PC or a gaming PC for a wireless VR experience.

Razer has introduced the Wolverine V2 Pro, a controller that supports the PlayStation 5 and PCs. Equipped with numerous features for competitive gamers, the Wolverine V2 Pro will ship sooner than Sony's DualSense Edge wireless controller, which will not be available until late January 2023.

Remedy Entertainment has confirmed Control 2, the sequel to 2019's Control, is in the early stages of development. It will be launched on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X at an unspecified date.

The design of the Mac mini has remained largely unchanged since 2010, despite Apple moving the mini-PC from Intel to ARM-based chipsets. While others have miniaturised the Apple M1-based Mac mini, Luke Miani has modified the mini-PC to recreate a Nintendo Wii capable of gaming in 4K.

It seems that NVIDIA is on course to relaunch the RTX 4080 12 GB. Now called the RTX 4070 Ti, the graphics card retains the same product board and SKU as the RTX 4080 12 GB but with a reduced launch price. Not only has RTX 4070 Ti packaging leaked, but also several dates concerning the card’s announcement and release.

The Geekbench results are impressive, no doubt, but what is also interesting to point out is the return of the 18-inch chassis. This form-factor was essentially abandoned back in 2012, but it looks like it is now needed again in order to accommodate proper cooling solutions for the upcoming i9-13900HX beasts.

Google has started to issue refunds for purchases related to its Stadia game streaming service, which will officially halt in January 2023. While the search giant is avidly working to get refunds rolling, it stated that the process could take until January for some.

The ROG Phone 6 Pro is an Android flagship with a class-leading 165Hz display, a rear-facing RGB secondary display and an increasingly rare 3.5mm jack. However, it also has a predecessor that failed the ever-popular JerryRigEverything test of structural integrity. Can the ~US$1,300 gaming smartphone do any better in 2022?...apparently not.

Forza Horizon 5 has received a major update that enables upsampling technologies such as AMD FSR 2.2 and DLSS 2.4. While ray tracing was previously limited to the ForzaVista mode, the latest update offers Ultra and Extreme ray tracing presets that also work in photo mode, free roam, and races.

The improved compute element boards can now host desktop-grade Raptor Lake CPUs like the i5-13600K, i7-13700K or i9-13900K coupled with up to 64 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM plus up to 3x PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs. Two Thunderbolt 4 connectors are also offered, and the barebone kits cost up to US$1549, but Intel also offers RAM, storage and OS options for up to and additional US$1100.

Best Buy is selling an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop with a Ryzen 7 CPU, an Nvidia RTX 3060, and a Full HD display with a 144 Hz refresh rate for US$500 off. The Zephyrus is currently listed at $899.99.

Prolific leaker Kopite7kimi says Nvidia plans to bring the GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB back from the grave. It will supposedly be presented as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti sometime in January 2023, likely at CES 2023.

Retroid has introduced a new version of the Pocket 3. Sold as the Pocket 3+, the gaming handheld has a 4.7-inch display, a Unisoc T618 chipset and 4 GB of RAM but only features the outdated Android 11.

A new round of Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 benchmarks have shown up online. It is about 40% slower than the GeForce RTX 4090 on average. However, it managed to boost up to 2.9 GHz without any overclocking.

The well-performing gaming laptop made by the reputable Taiwanese manufacturer is currently discounted by a notable US$500, which makes the Asus TUF Dash F15 one of the most affordable gaming laptops with an RTX 3070 on the market.

Anbernic has introduced the RG353M, a gaming handheld that builds on the company's other 'RG353' devices. Built around a landscape display, the RG353M has a Rockchip RK3566 SoC, 2 GB of LPDDR4 RAM and an HDMI port, among other features.

A new set of Geekbench listings reveal the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 is about 40% faster than the GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB in pure rasterization. It sits in line with earlier performance estimates which said it would be 50% faster.

Nvidia has kicked off its next generation of GPU hardware with the launch of the RTX 4090 and the RTX 4080 boards. Following the availability of the RTX 4090 in October, the RTX 4080 16 GB will be up for sale this month. Now, the latest report from Moore’s Law Is Dead claims that, compared to the RTX 4090 supply, the initial stock of the RTX 4080 cards will be much less.

With highlights like a 360 Hz 17.3-inch IPS display, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics, 32 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD storage, the Intel Core i9-12900H-powered GIGABYTE AORUS 17 YE5 is unsurprisingly priced at US$3,699. Fortunately, the ongoing 32 percent discount pushes this list price down to US$2,499.

As expected, Sony’s God of War Ragnarök turns out to be a beautiful game on PS5 which can undoubtedly compete with the best-looking titles that this current console generation has to offer. Its 1440p performance mode with up to 90 fps appears to be particularly noteworthy since it allows for an extremely smooth gaming experience.

GPD has outlined when it will start selling the Win 4, its latest compact gaming handheld. Equipped with a 6-inch display and AMD's powerful Ryzen 7 6800U APU, the GPD Win 4 will also be available with up to 32 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 2 TB of PCIe 4.0 storage.

AMD's Frank Azor confirmed to PCWorld that the new RDNA 3-based Radeon RX 7900 XTX is an RTX 4080 competitor and does not aim to take on the RTX 4090, which is 60% more expensive. Azor also touched upon FSR 3 and said that AMD aims to make the next generation upscaling technology available to all architectures.

A Windows Central report says Diablo 4 will be playable in April 2023. Pre-orders are expected to kick off in December 2022 at The Game Awards.

Steam for ChromeOS recently moved from Alpha to Beta, making it compatible with more Chromebooks across the board. However, the required specs to run Steam on ChromeOS are somewhat high (for Chromebooks, at least); users will need at least 8 GB of RAM and an Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 CPU or higher.

You might want to have a good pair of headphones nearby if you plan on playing games on Acer's latest 14-inch Predator laptop. The model is as small as an Asus Zephyrus G14, but it's noticeably louder and even distracting at times.

AMD has confirmed the impending arrival of DisplayPort 2.1 capable monitors. Arriving early next year with 4K and 8K panels, AMD has also teased a new Samsung Odyssey Neo G9, which will be the world's first 8K ultra-wide monitor.

The performance metrics presented by AMD during the official launch appeared a bit cryptic, but Linus and twitter user Lock Gamer extrapolated the AMD estimates with actual RTX 4090 results and it looks like the RX 7900 XTX is only 10% slower than Nvidia's top dog. Not too shabby when we also factor in the 60% lower prices for the AMD card.

The new Chunxiao GPU is set to power an MTT S80 gaming card along with 16 GB of GDDR6 VRAM, as well as an MTT S3000 datacenter card with 32 GB of VRAM. Raw performance levels are estimated to match Nvidia's RTX 3060 Ti and Moore Threads promises support for at least 40 of the most popular games in China, including Crossfire, CoD MW3, Diablo 3 etc. AV1 8K coding and decoding support is also a prominent feature.

AMD has officially unveiled the Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card. Key specs include 24 GB of 20 Gbps VRAM on a 384-bit bus, 2.3 GHz game clock, DP 2.1 support and 96 CUs. It costs US$999 and will be available for purchase on December 13.

AYA NEO has brought two of its AMD Ryzen 7 6800U-based gaming handhelds. Arriving as the AYA NEO 2 and the AYA NEO GEEK, the gaming handhelds come with 800p and 1200p displays, plus a variety of colours.

SEGA has finally started selling the Mega Drive Mini 2 in Europe. Also available as the Genesis Mini 2 in North America, the newer retro gaming console is smaller than its predecessor but contains more games to boot, like Sonic the Hedgehog CD.

After a reasonable discount of 26 percent, the ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti AMP Holo 12GB video card, which features advanced cooling and RGB lighting, is down to US$1,053.98. However, this is still a lot considering that the card was released over a year ago, when NVIDIA priced the reference design at US$1,199.

Microsoft has not yet raised prices for either of its current-generation consoles. However, Phil Spencer has outlined that Microsoft's sales strategy leaves the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X consoles as loss leaders, with up to US$200 lost per console.

The chiplet area is estimated to measure around 533 mm², whereas the entire package would be 2612 mm². Each of the six MCDs come with some amount of Infinity Cache, but the exact specs will be unveiled later today.

Dell's new 16-inch machine may not be the sleekest or most portable gaming laptop on the market, but considering its already discounted sale price of US$899, it arguably offers a lot of CPU performance and a fairly decent QHD display for the money.

The Ryzen 7 6800H CPU and GeForce RTX-3070 Ti Laptop GPU ensure a smooth gaming experience for all games and display them on a 15.6-inch screen (FHD, 165 Hz). The notebook has enough space for two PCIe-4 SSDs and also features a USB 4 port. Bonus: The device stays fairly cool.