Gaming

AYA NEO has revealed new configurations for the AYA NEO AIR Plus, a 6-inch gaming handheld that will be available from US$249. Not only will the AYA NEO AIR Plus be available with AMD Mendocino APUs, but AYA NEO will also sell it with the Pentium Gold 8505 and the Core i3-1215U. For some reason, Intel Alder Lake-powered units will ship at least two months before their AMD Mendocino counterparts.

AOC has unveiled the AGON PRO AG274QS, another 27-inch gaming monitor by the company. Available later this month, the AGON PRO AG274QS has a 300 Hz refresh rate, a 2.5K resolution and 0.5 ms response times (MPRT). The new gaming monitor offers up to 600 nits of peak brightness, thanks to its DisplayHDR 600 certification, too.

AYA NEO has introduced the AYA NEO 2 GEEK, seemingly a lesser alternative to the regular AYA NEO 2. Already pre-orderable in China, the AYA NEO 2 GEEK will come with Ryzen 5 6600U and Ryzen 7 6800U chipsets, plus 16 GB of RAM and up to 1 TB of storage. The AYA NEO 2 GEEK will be available globally too, starting at US$619 with a Ryzen 5 6600U APU.

Evercade has introduced the EXP, which maintains compatibility with its existing cartridge collection. The Evercade EXP has a 4.3-inch IPS display, a 3,000 mAh battery and will be available in multiple markets, with pre-orders opening in September 2022.

MSI has officially announced the Raider GE77 and GE67 laptops powered by an Intel Core i7-12800HX Alder Lake processor. Other specs include a 240 Hz QHD OLED screen, 32 GB of 4,800 MT/s DDR5 memory, up to a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU, and a 99 Wh battery. Prices start at US$2,500 for the Raider GE67 and US$2,600 for the Raider GE77.

The MSI Vector GP76 and GP66 have been updated with Intel Alder Lake-HX CPUs. They are now configurable with an Intel Core i9-12900HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 64 GB of 4,800 MT/s memory, and a 240 Hz QHD screen. MSI will unveil their prices and availability soon.

The refreshed GT77 will support PCIe5 NVMe SSDs and be nearly twice as thin as its GT76 predecessor. MSI is also bundling neat extras for early bird buyers like a 128 GB flash drive, MSI Lucky dragon keychain, and an M99 mouse.

Asus has now officially confirmed the launch date of its next-generation gaming phone, the Asus ROG Phone 6. The ROG Phone 6 will make its debut on July 5 and will likely be powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.

Razer has launched the Barracuda Pro as its latest THX-enhanced gaming headphones. The brand also asserts that it is also ideal for use outdoors, thanks to its design and specs. It is rated for hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC) and beam-forming dual mics for call quality. The Barracuda Pro has an estimated 40 hours of battery life per charge, but lacks a wired mode.

Philips has announced the Momentum 5000 27M1F5800, a more expensive alternative to the Momentum 5000 27M1F5500P. The Momentum 5000 27M1F5800 comes with a 27-inch panel that outputs at 4K and 144 Hz, while its two HDMI 2.1 ports make it suitable for use with current-generation games consoles like the PlayStation 5.

Philips has presented the Momentum 5000 27M1F5500P, a 27-inch gaming monitor with a Nano IPS panel. Available from next month for £529.99, the Momentum 5000 27M1F5500P offers a 2.5K native resolution, a 240 Hz refresh rate and VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification, among other features.

GPD now sells the XP Plus, a more advanced version of the popular GPD XP. The GPD XP Plus has a 6.81-inch display, a modular design and a huge battery, plus a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset. The GPD XP Plus starts at US$339 and should start shipping in August.

AYN Technologies has provided more details about LOKI, billed as 'the most affordable Windows handheld ever created'. While that claim may be valid for the LOKI Mini, the LOKI Max will rival the prices of other Windows handhelds. AYN Technologies will equip all but the LOKI Mini with AMD Ryzen 6000 series APUs.

MINISFORUM has confirmed a few more details about the Neptune HX90G, its 150 W mini-PC. Not only will the company equip the Neptune HX90G with a colossal heatsink, it will also pre-apply liquid metal to the machine's CPU and its Radeon RX 6650M GPU.

Ahead of the highly anticipated launch of Sony’s brand-new PlayStation Plus subscription tiers in North America and Europe, current PS Plus customers will be able to enjoy the excellent God of War from 2018 and two additional free games that will be made available to download in June 2022.

Powkiddy has decided to copy another popular games console. Unmistakeably, the Powkiddy X51 resembles a Nintendo Switch, albeit one with a much smaller display and without detachable controllers. The Powkiddy X51 has three USB ports, an HDMI port and microSD card expansion, among other features.

AYA NEO has introduced the AIR Plus, the first AMD Mendocino-based device. While the AIR Plus will feature RDNA 2-based graphics like the Steam Deck, AMD Mendocino APUs only have one workgroup processor. Hence, the AYA NEO AIR Plus will have a quarter of the Steam Deck's Compute Units.

AYA NEO has announced that it intends to sell the AYA NEO AIR and AYA NEO AIR Pro, available with up to the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U APU. The AYA NEO AIR series will start at US$499 when it debuts on Indiegogo soon.

MSI has unveiled the MEG 342C QD-OLED, a 34-inch gaming monitor powered by a Quantum Dot OLED panel. With a 175 Hz refresh rate, 1,000 nits of brightness and factory calibrated colours, the MEG 342C QD-OLED appears to be MSI's alternative to the Alienware AW3423DW.

Released back in September 2016, the compilation known as BioShock: The Collection is now free on the Epic Games Store. The package consists of BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite. The original games come with new textures, support for higher resolutions and framerates, as well as all the DLCs launched after their release.

The sale runs until May 30 and includes the GeForce RTX 3060 for $440, GTX 1660 Super for $300, RTX 3080 for $970, and the RTX 3080 Ti for $1200 USD. The RTX 3060 Revel in particular is a small form factor GPU designed for smaller PC builds.

MSI has announced a new, Assassin's Creed-branded edition of its RTX 3080 SUPRIM X card in its native Taiwan. It has the same specs as the standard version currently sold in the same country, although it has a new, exclusive and Valhalla-themed finish for its TRI FROZR X-enhanced build. Its price has yet to be revealed, although it is of course unlikely to come cheap.

Hallock explains that the flagship Ryzen 7000 processors will have a maximum TDP of 170 W, and the 16 cores will easily hit 5.5 GHz. RAM should also see considerable overclocking headroom, while expected performance uplift over Zen 3 is expected to be around 40%. Some AVX 512 AI instruction sets are also supported and the RDNA2 iGPU is clearly not on the same level as the Radeon 680M from the Rembrandt APUs.

A Microsoft executive has told Windows Central that the company is working on a cloud gaming dongle called Project Keystone. It has been in the works for a while and is continually being improved, meaning that it is unlikely to be launched anytime soon.

No official specs for now, but we found a tweet with leaked information coming from a Chinese forum. According to the leak, there is a Loki Mini model powered by an Intel Alder Lake processor and this is most likely the affordable model touted in the teaser. AYN is also planning to add more expensive versions powered by AMD's latest Rembrandt Ryzen 6000 APUs with RDNA2 iGPUs.

Cyberpunk 2077 was due to receive new content via an expansion pack in the near future. Data miners found some of the expansion content in the game files recently. Among other things, it adds new questlines, NPCs and an entirely new ending.

FromSoftware CEO Hidetaka Miyazaki has confessed that his favourite Elden Ring bosses are Starscourge Radahn, Godrick the Grafted and Rykard the Blasphemous. The game was heavily inspired by open-world bestsellers such as Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Witcher 3.

More specifications for the upcoming Nvidia RTX 40 Lovelace GPUs have surfaced online including those of the RTX 4090, RTX 4080, RTX 4070 and, perhaps for the first time, the RTX 4060 as well. According to the leaked specs, the RTX 4090 will offer a 53% increase in CUDA core count over the RTX 3090. The RTX 4060 will have a 30 W TGP increase over its predecessor but will apparently sport only 8 GB VRAM this time.

Major TV manufacturer has highlighted alleged launch periods for the PlayStation 5 Pro and new Xbox Series S|X consoles. Apparently, 'Gen 9.5' consoles will hit the shelves in 2023 or 2024 with performance that could rival the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT.

The portable drive can offer read and write rates of up to 2000 MB/s and 1900 MB/s, respectively, when connected to a proper USB-C 3.2 Gen. 2 2x2 port. Prices start at $120 USD up to $190 USD for a whole terabyte of storage.

A Ryzen 9-6900HX APU and GeForce RTX 3080-Ti Laptop GPU bring all the current games smoothly to the contrast-rich 4k display (16:10, IPS, 100% DCI-P3, FreeSync). They are accompanied by 4 TB of storage (RAID 0), 64 GB of working memory, and a surprisingly good battery life.

MSI has lifted the lid on a new Titan GT77, which it bills as a desktop replacement. Due to be released on June 7, MSI has teased Intel Alder Lake-HX series processors for the Titan GT77, which should be met by powerful GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

LG has unveiled the UltraGear 32GQ850, which joins the UltraGear 32GQ950 and UltraGear 4GQ900. The UltraGear 32GQ850 has a 31.5-inch panel like the UltraGear 32GQ950, but one that outputs at up to 260 Hz and in 1440p. LG will begin selling the UltraGear 32GQ850 later this month.

LG has outlined more details about the UltraGear 32GQ950, one of three new large gaming monitors. The UltraGear 32GQ950 has a 31.5-inch panel that outputs at 4K and up to 160 Hz with a 1,000 nit peak brightness. LG will release the UltraGear 32GQ950 in Japan first before bringing it to other markets, including Europe and North America.

LG is expanding its OLED monitor portfolio with a 47.5-inch model specifically designed for gamers. The UltraGear 48GQ900 4K monitor offers unique features like the 138 Hz refresh rate and an anti-glare low reflection coating. The W-OLED panel is HDR10-ready and has a 98.5% DCI-P3 color gamut.

EVGA's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FTW3 Black Gaming is currently being sold under its official MSRP. Although $1900 is still a significant amount of change, this is less than what some GeForce RTX 3080 SKUs were retailing for just months earlier. Lower pricing hints that, should NVIDIA beat the GPU supply crisis, RTX 4000 series cards might end up being available for at or near MSRP.

The rather strict approach leaves existing PlayStation Plus subscribers with two unsatisfactory options, while bargain hunters are being asked to pay up for the savings they snatched by buying a discounted PS Plus subscription on Sony's official PlayStation Store.

Xiaomi has introduced the RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 Ryzen Edition, a Ryzen 6000H counterpart to the Intel Alder Lake model that the company already sells. Available with the Ryzen 5 6600H or the Ryzen 7 6800H, the RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 Ryzen Edition also comes with an optional GeForce RTX 2050 GPU from NVIDIA's Ampere family.

ZOTAC has unveiled the latest generation of its VR GO PC at Computex 2022. It consists of a purpose-built form-factor that can be mounted on a compatible backpack shell (included in the box) for unencumbered extended reality (XR) gaming. Therefore, the user can go around with the GO 4.0's updates to a Tiger Lake platform and RTX graphics literally on them, although they will have to bring their own wired headset.

Asus showed off the ROG Swift 500 Hz gaming monitor at Computex 2022. The ROG Swift 500 Hz supports Nvidia G-Sync and Reflex Analyzer and is based on an E-TN 1080p panel targeted at ultra-competitive e-sports gamers. The monitor also has an Enhanced Vibrance mode built into the firmware for vibrant colors.

The Odyssey Neo G8 has arrived, months after Samsung revealed the gaming monitor at CES 2022. The Odyssey Neo G8 is available for £1,298.99 in the UK, although it is expected to launch in the US for close to US$1,500.

Samsung has lifted the lid on the Odyssey G4 series, to be available in 25-inch and 27-inch display sizes. The Odyssey G4 series offers flat-panel gaming at up to 240 Hz with HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 connections. Samsung promises 1 ms GtG response times and 1080p native resolutions too, among other features.

Samsung has announced the Odyssey Neo G7, a gaming monitor with a 1000R curvature. The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 also outputs at 4K and 165 Hz with 1,196 mini LED local dimming zones that deliver up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness. Samsung has included all the ports necessary to connect the Odyssey Neo G7 to a high-end gaming PC or a current-generation games console too.

Those who missed last week's big news can still grab the latest freebie from Epic, namely Borderlands 3, which became available on May 20. Released back in September 2019, this title is a great action role-playing first-person shooter that shipped more than five million copies in the first five days on the market.

The best things in life aren't necessarily always free — sometimes they're heavily discounted. Epic Games is running its 2022 MEGA Sale until June 16 — let's have a look at some of the best RPG titles on offer.

The Gigabyte A5 X1, A5 K1, Aorus 15P YD, and U4 UD are all on sale with last generation Intel and AMD CPUs to make room for newer models with 12th gen Alder Lake and AMD Ryzen 3+.