Gaming

Spiders Games has opened up pre-orders for its upcoming Soulslike title Steelrising. The game borrows heavily from Bloodborne and is set in French Revolution-era Paris. It will be available to play on September 8.

YouTuber Enfant Terrible has harnessed the power of Unreal Engine 5 to envision what Bloodborne 2 could look like. The concept trailer perfectly encapsulates the Victorian-era aesthetic of Yharnam and other locations which could be featured in the game.

Some Nvidia and AMD graphics cards can now be purchased at below MSRP on Newegg. The average prices for many used cards has gone down on eBay as well, according to research done by Tom's Hardware.

Sony is planning to launch an entirely new PS5 Pro controller for professional gamers. It will include hot-swappable thumbsticks, D-pads, trigger stops and paddles. The controller could be unveiled later this month.

Only the mobile-grade CPU and dGPU have been revealed thus far, and the pictures provided with the teaser also point to a 27-inch screen. The port selection also features a USB-C connector that could be Thunderbolt4-compatible.

Labeled 2.17 and called "Danger Zone," the latest update for War Thunder brings the legendary F-14A Tomcat jet, an Israeli helicopter tech tree, the first Chinese helo, napalm bombs, two new locations, as well as the rewind functionality for replays. The patch also comes with a long list of bug fixes and tweaks.

Nreal has announced that it will launch a Steam beta later this month for the Nreal Light and Nreal Air glasses. Not all Steam games will be supported, though DiRT Rally and the Halo series have been named as AAA titles available. The company has also revealed plans for AR Jam, a hackathon offering over US$100,000 in prizes.

Intel recently launched the ARC A380, its first discrete desktop GPU, in China. The 75W entry-level card features 1024 shader cores, 6GB of VRAM, and is capable of delivering 1080p/60 FPS in AAA games, albeit with toned-down settings.

AOC has confirmed how much the AGON PRO AG344UXM will cost and when it will be available. The AGON PRO AG344UXM features a 34-inch IPS panel with Mini LED backlights, a 1440p native resolution and a 170 Hz refresh rate. The AGON PRO AG344UXM will be orderable from next month in multiple markets.

Capcom recently outed simultaneous ray tracing updates for Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 7, adding in ray-traced shadows and reflections on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

YouTuber Modern Vintage Gamer showcased an unreleased prototype of id Software's Quake running on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. The port was built 20 years ago by developer Randy Linden, who recently rediscovered its ROM cartridge at home and then shared the data publicly.

Meizu has launched the PANDAER x AYANEO in collaboration with AYA NEO. Effectively a custom version of the AYA NEO AIR Pro, the PANDAER x AYANEO has an OLED display, a Ryzen 5 5560U APU with Zen 3 CPU cores and weighs just 410 g.

In addition to the generous battery life of up to 10 hours, the new HyperX MIX come with both 2.4 GHz wireless and Bluetooth connectivity for increased device compatibility. A USB-C adapter is also included, so gamers can enjoy these earbuds with their smartphones and tablets, but also with their laptops and desktop PCs.

A section of PlayStation fans doesn't seem to be too happy with the just announced partnership between developer Hideo Kojima and Xbox on an upcoming title that would leverage the Xbox cloud infrastructure. They have taken to online petitions to voice their concerns, but Kojima clarified that work with Sony will continue just as usual.

GPD has posted multiple images and a video showcasing its upcoming laptop-handheld gaming console hybrid. The GPD Win Max 2 features a larger screen, an Intel Core i7-1260p/AMD Ryzen 7 6800U processor and metallic covers for the D-pads/face buttons.

An MSI-branded gaming desktop PC powered by Intel's upcoming Arc A380 budget gaming GPU has surfaced on Chinese etailer JD. According to the etailer, the Arc A380 used is factory-overclocked and comes with 6 GB VRAM. The listing also provides some performance numbers that range from 85 fps to 200 fps in popular eSports titles at 1080p.

Aside from the North America exclusive ThinkBook 16p NX, Lenovo is also releasing a real successor to the ThinkBook 16p G2: The ThinkBook 16p G3. Different from the NX model, this one does not downgrade the specifications and it contains a 165 Hz screen as the biggest optional upgrade.

Quietly, Lenovo is announcing a new 16 inch ThinkBook: The ThinkBook 16p NX seems to be a North America exclusive follow up to the ThinkBook 16p G2. It replaces Ryzen 5000H with Ryzen 6000H, but downgrades the GPU to the weaker Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti instead of the RTX 3060 of the predecessor.

Developer InoriRus recently showcased the Kyty PS4 and PS5 emulator. Kyty is in the very early stages of its development and can run just a handful of commercial titles. PS5 emulation functionality is very basic at the moment - while the emulator can run test code, it can't output video or audio.

The Elden Ring Patch 1.05 is now downloadable across all platforms. It fixes several buggy interactions between items/skills and lets players carry forward certain Bell Bearings to New Game+.

Activision Blizzard has confirmed that the fifth playable character class in Diablo 4 will be the Necromancer. It will be the first Diablo game to feature an open world and offer character customization options. The game will be available to play on PC and consoles (current-gen and previous) sometime in 2023.

Bethesda has finally lifted the covers off Starfield, its most ambitious RPGs made to date. Players can explore over 1,000 planets in the vast open world and custom build everything ranging from characters to spaceships. Xbox Game Pass subscribers can play it at its unspecified 2023 launch date on Xbox Series S|X and PC.

A powerful performance, a great display with 240 Hz, and relatively slim - what more could a gamer's heart wish for? But to offer all that, Acer makes one large compromise with the Predator Triton 500 SE, sacrificing the ability to upgrade it. That should really be a no-go for a gaming laptop.

Dihara Wijetunga, a senior R&D engineer at AMD, recently announced Wolf PT, a mod that adds a full DX12 path-tracing renderer to Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Wijetunga shared screenshots that showcase dramatic improvements to lighting in the aging id Tech 3 game.

It has been reported that the launch date for GeForce RTX 40 series cards has been pushed back. There were rumors that Nvidia would announce its eagerly awaited “Lovelace” series in July with the first boards, likely the GeForce RTX 4090, being available shortly afterwards. However, it seems there are still profits to be made with the RTX 30 “Ampere” series.

While obviously not representative of the overall PC market, the Steam Survey is a great indicator of the state of mainstream PC gaming and where the industry is heading. With the market finally starting to recover from component shortages and insane pricing, let's have a look at the prognosis.

We're not sure how long the sale will last, but now is a good chance to save some pocket change if you're already in the market for one while these are still in stock.

The LG UltraGear 48GQ900 is now available to order, but it will cost just as much as an LG C2 Smart TV with an advanced OLED evo panel. The UltraGear 48GQ900 also offers a 4K resolution, a 138 Hz refresh rate and excellent colour accuracy.

2K games has officially announced that Marvel's Midnight Suns will be playable on PC, PS4, Xbox One PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on October 7. The turn-based card game can be pre-ordered now starting at US$60.

Industry insider Jeff Grubb has heard that The Last of Us could be remastered for a PC and PS5 release. The official announcement is expected to arrive on September 2. Update: A PlayStation Store listing has confirmed the launch date and the existence of the PS5 version.

Gigabyte has introduced a new version of the AORUS Model S, a compact gaming PC that was previously available with Intel Tiger Lake and AMD Ryzen 5000 processors. Now upgraded to Intel Alder Lake silicon, the AORUS Model S measures 190 x 189 x 400 mm and has a 14 litre-case.

The 2022 Blade 17 lineup just got two new family members for gamers who want something more powerful than the lowest-end GeForce RTX 3060 options but aren't willing to shell out for the highest-end GeForce RTX 3080 Ti options.

In a rare move, the latest Razer firmware update will boost GPU TGP and thus graphics performance for existing Blade 17 owners. It's essentially more performance out of thin air albeit likely at the cost of slightly warmer core temperatures.

SEGA has announced a second generation of the Mega Drive Mini, a retro console that now ships with 50 games. Previously available with 40 games, the new Mega Drive Mini also supports decorative Mega CD expansion and can be stacked with the original Mega Drive Mini.

Apple unleashed a whole load of new features to arrive with the upgrade to iOS 16 at WWDC 2022. However, it now seems the Cupertino giant must have run out of time for one of particular interest to people who own Nintendo Switch controllers as well as an iPhone. A developer has found that connections between the two types of device have improved drastically with the new software update.

The MSI Raider GE67 HX has landed, over four months before the competing Razer Blade 15 hits the shelves. The Raider GE67 HX starts at US$2,499 with a Core i7-12800HX, an RTX 3070 Ti and a 240 Hz OLED display that outputs at 1440p. The 15.6-inch gaming laptop is available with an RTX 3080 Ti too, but for US$3,399.

Industry insider Tom Henderson has viewed footage from an upcoming horror game called Overdose. It is being developed by Kojima Productions and features a character from Death Stranding. The game is likely to be unveiled at Summer Game Fest 2022.

Samsung has started selling the Odyssey Neo G7 in the US, where it retails for US$1,299.99. The curved gaming monitor offers a 4K resolution and a 165 Hz refresh rate, coupled with 1 ms GtG response times and up to 2,000 nits of brightness. The Odyssey Neo G7 will be available in other markets later this month.

Samsung has finally launched the Odyssey Neo G8, having debuted the gaming monitor in January at CES 2022. Orderable now in the US, the Odyssey Neo G8 will be available later this month in other markets and will begin shipping in the US from early July.

Developer Dario Samo recently announced RT64, a plugin for N64 emulators which enables a host of ray-tracing features. In a video on Twitter, Dario showed off RT64 in action across a range of N64 classics, including Ocarina of Time and Paper Mario.

Insomniac Studios has confirmed that PlayStation exclusive Spider-Man Remastered will be coming to the PC on August 12 followed by Spider-Man: Miles Morales in Fall this year. Insomniac Games has partnered with Nixxes Software to optimize the PC ports to make use of mouse and keyboard input, adjustable graphics settings, and ray-traced reflections along with the possibility of Nvidia DLSS and/or Reflex. Sony expects its PC gaming business to grow to US$300 million by the next fiscal.

A Core i7 12700H CPU and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti laptop GPU run all current computer games smoothly on a responsive 15.6-inch screen (QHD). The notebook also offers space for up to three storage devices and comes with a Thunderbolt 4 port.

After confirming the ROG Phone 6 for a July 5 launch, Asus has now revealed some display specs of the gaming phone that grant it membership to a rather exclusive club currently only populated by Nubia's recent gaming phones.

The popular Ryzen Edition of Dell's 15-inch gaming laptop is one of the better choices for bargain hunters who would like to spend less than US$800 on their new budget machine. For 1080p gaming in particular, the base configuration of the Dell G15 is certainly worth a look considering its currently discounted sale price.

Intel's Arc A370M dGPU appears to be overall better than similar entry-level solutions from Nvidia and AMD when it comes to content creation. On the other hand, games are not exactly its strong suit, as it trails behind Nvidia's RTX 3050, but it does manage to offer decent ray tracing performance.

The MSI Katana GF66 12UGS belongs to the most affordable gaming laptops with the powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. After the upgrade to Intel's newest processor generation, the main problem of the plastic sword still has not been remedied.