Gaming

While Cyberpunk 2077's official 1.2 patch has been delayed somewhat, enterprising modders are improving aspects of the game by themselves. The Realistic Combat Overhaul by cortlong50 promises to revamp combat by making both the player - and enemy NPCs - significantly more dangerous to each other.

Sony may have only just released the PS5, but the company is already making moves for what would appear to be a new console. According to a report, Sony has signed on with TSMC for its 5 nm node for what could be the PS5 Slim.

A version of Bloodborne specifically remastered for the PlayStation 5 has long been rumored and requested, with an apparent glitch intensifying chatter that the action RPG title will soon be upgraded for the PS5. It’s also rumored Bloodborne will join PlayStation classics like God of War and Ghost of Tsushima for PC porting.

Does a large laptop plus a lot of space for cooling equal tons of performance? This concept works with the MSI GP76 Leopard 10UG and allows the use of the RTX 3070 in maximum mode.

A now-deleted Bethesda Store listing for DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 2 has given us a rough idea about the game's setting, weapons and aesthetics. It will feature a new weapon called the Sentinel Hammer, and at least five new enemy types. Additional DOOM Eternal DLC seems unlikely, as The Ancient Gods Part 2 is expected to end the game' storyline.

The AYA NEO is a 7-inch handheld games console powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U APU. The device also has 16 GB of RAM and up to a 1 TB SSD. The AYA NEO can be ordered on Indiegogo, where it has already received over US$1,300,000 from backers.

Nokia is rumored to have a new G-series of Android devices in the works, the first of which is to be the G10. That prefix has led to speculation that they will form a new "gaming" arm for the HMD Global brand, although nothing is certain yet. Then again, the G10 is also said to have been registered by Thai authorities as the TA-1334.

This Lenovo configuration has one of the best displays out of any sub $1000 gaming laptop without needing to sacrifice RAM, storage, the Core i7 H-series CPU or the GeForce RTX 2060 GPU.

The Asus system is one of the least expensive gaming laptops you can find at the moment with the same GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. If you want a high-performance gaming laptop without too many cut corners, then this may be worth a look.

Anandtech has managed to procure a Core i7-11700K retail unit via Mindfactory and found that Intel's Rocket Lake-S CPU suffers from high power draws and high temperatures indicating the pitfalls of backporting a 10 nm architecture to 14 nm. The Core i7-11700K did have a significant advantage in the esoteric AVX-512 tests but fell behind the Ryzen 7 5800X in a majority of CPU benchmarks. Despite claims of a 19% IPC uplift, gaming performance took a hit due to higher L3 cache latency.

We took a closer look at the ultra-thin gaming and all-rounder Schenker XMG Pro 15. Its thin case houses an RTX 3080 with a TGP of 105 W. While high-end gaming notebooks become increasingly portable we have to raise the question whether or not current technology is good enough or whether this will lead to noise emissions and temperatures skyrocketing.

AYA appears to have addressed its production material shortfall, as the company has announced that it will be bringing its AYA NEO Founders Edition to Indiegogo today. The crowdfunding campaign will start at US$699 for Super Early Bird backers, of which there will only be 42. Other backers must pay at least US$789, with prices rising to US$869 for the non-standard model.

The official Weibo channel for the Master Lu benchmark claims to have seen its first 18GB RAM phone. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it is the ROG Phone 5, which has also surfaced on Geekbench with this ground-breaking spec. On this occasion, it has apparently shot right to the top of the rankings in this test.

Hardcore Diablo 2 enthusiasts will be pleased to know that they can carry forward their progress to Diablo 2: Resurrected. Vicarious Vision's Matthew Cederquis confirmed that older Diablo 2 save files would work with the newer version. This also tells that Diablo 2: Resurrected will come with no new gameplay mechanics.

The entry-level RTX 3050 Ti GPUs might first launch on laptops. According to the latest listings from Asus and Acer, the RTX 3050 Ti models only come with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, so they are most likely limited to a 128-bit memory bus, and the minimum TGP is set to 60 W.

AMD has been pretty tight-lipped about RX 6000 mobile GPUs but finally hinted during the RX 6700 XT unveil that laptops powered by RDNA2 mobile are indeed coming soon. So far, we do know about Navi 22 offerings including the RX 6700M and the RX 6600M, but a Navi 21 RX 6800M along with Navi 23 and Navi 24 may also be made available some time during Q2 2021.

Hasee is a Chinese laptop maker that is probably most known for its dealings with the crypto miners who recently snagged hundreds of devices during the Bitcoin price boom. It looks like Hasee already managed to secure quite a few Intel Rocket Lake-S CPUs to be paired with RTX 3060 / 3070 GPUs in its new Ares laptops, which presold like hot cakes on JD.com.

According to new reports, NVIDIA remains committed to releasing the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, albeit with an ETH mining limiter built-in. The card is expected to have 10,240 CUDA cores, and 12 GB of GDDR6X VRAM clocked at 19 Gbps.

Razer partnered with Conservation International for the Sneki Snek plushie, the sales of which go toward protecting forestry in various locations worldwide. The mascot has now achieved its initial goal of saving 100,000 trees in this manner, which means the OEM has new merch based on the character to launch at its upcoming RazerStore Live event.

Realme has launched its first flagship device of 2021. The OEM asserts that the new GT 5G has been designed and equipped to get the most out of its Snapdragon 888 platform, from its "gaming" 120Hz E4 AMOLED display to its new stainless steel-augmented cooling system. It also does indeed come in finishes that include "racing-stripe" vegan leather, and starts at just under ~US$450 in China.

Nubia has unveiled its newest Red Magic 6 and Red Magic 6 gaming smartphones in China. Both phones come with several interesting features, such as a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen with a 165Hz refresh rate, 400Hz adaptive shoulder triggers, a 500ms touch sampling rate, and more. Nubia will launch both devices globally on March 15.

The upcoming Rocket Lake CPUs like the Core i7-11700K appear to come with a RAM overclocking feature similar to AMD's Infinity Fabric on the Ryzen 3000 and Ryzen 5000. Initial tests performed on a Z490 mobo show that the 1:1 ratio is capped at DDR4-3733, and the 1/2:1 ratio for higher RAM clocks introduces noticeable latencies.

Fantasian is a new JRPG headed for Apple Arcade. Written by Hironobu Sakaguchi and featuring a soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu, Fantasian throws players into a multi-dimensional world constructed from over 150 hand-made dioramas. Gameplay features a unique mechanic for monster management and traditional JRPG tropes.

The latest case by Sharkoon is the ELITE SHARK CA300H and comes with tempered glass side panels, a polished aluminum front panel, four preinstalled RGB LED fans, an addressable RGB controller, and plenty of space. The manufacturer's suggested price for this ATX case is 154.90 Euros (roughly US$187).

A new ray-tracing focused trailer snippet highlights Resident Evil Village's ray-tracing chops, set to arrive on console and AMD graphics cards.

Alongside the launch of its midrange RX 6700 XT, and shortly after the arrival of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, which brought resizable BAR support to a range of chipsets and CPUs, AMD announced that Smart Access Memory would be making its way to Ryzen 3000 processors.

The rumored Nintendo Switch upgrade looks like it might finally arrive later this year. According to Bloomberg, the new model will bring an upgraded 7-inch OLED display and support for 4K gaming.

AMD's Radeon RX 6700 XT is official, and will be the cheapest way to experience the RDNA 2 architecture on a PC, at least for the time being. AMD insists that the Radeon RX 6700 XT is a foil for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and the RTX 3070, although its VRAM specifications are more of a match for the RTX 3060.

Bethesda and id Software have ported Doom 3 to the PS VR. The game will feature newer textures, VR friendly combat/movement, and include The Lost Mission and Resurrection of Evil campaigns. Doom 3 VR Edition will be available for purchase starting March 29.

Nvidia has unsurprisingly completely dominated the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for February in terms of PC video card usage. Once again, 18 out of the top 20 places are taken up by Nvidia GPUs, with the GeForce GTX 1650, RTX 2060, and RTX 3080 showing the greatest positive movement for their respective series.

Steam has published its Hardware & Software Survey for February and AMD has managed to gain further processor usage share from Intel. However, while things look rosy for AMD at the moment, the supply situation could give the upcoming Intel Rocket Lake series an upper hand over the Ryzen 5000 range.

Samsung has updated its Odyssey G9 gaming monitor for 2021. The 49-inch curved monitor now uses mini LED backlights for improved brightness and heightened contrast ratios. The Odyssey G9 2021 also has a 240 Hz refresh rate and 1 ms response times.

Two new Dell G5 15 gaming laptop variants have been found online. The first one is called the Dell G5 15 5510 and it features an Intel Core i5-10200H processor and a GeForce GTX 1650, which will allegedly retail for US$899. On the other hand, the Dell G5 15 5515 will come with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU and a GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card.

The AYA NEO's crowdfunding campaign has been postponed once again, in another blow for those who hoped to secure the handheld games console. Unfortunately, the campaign has been delayed indefinitely this time.

AMD is on the cusp of unveiling the Radeon RX 6700 XT, its answer to NVIDIA's RTX 3060 or RTX 3060 Ti. Ahead of tomorrow's launch, Videocardz has revealed two ASUS custom cards, underlining that AMD plans to bring two versions of the RX 6700 XT to market.

Xiaomi has launched a new Redmi monitor to join the already existing Redmi Display 1A. The latest addition has a larger screen size at 27 inches and offers a 1920x1080 resolution, fast gray-to gray response time, and up to a 75 Hz refresh rate. The 27-inch Redmi monitor has a pre-sale price of 899 yuan (US$139) in China.

There may be an ongoing graphics card shortage, but Colorful has found enough stock to produce iCafe editions of the RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti. The two iCafe models look almost identical, even though they have different GPUs. Ultimately, these iCafe cards could still end up with crypto miners as some internet cafes have been repurposed for mining cryptocurrencies during the pandemic.

Razer DevCon is a new event set to debut in 2021 via Twitch. It is slated to present discussions on the up-to-date innovation and technology that might most benefit the future of gaming across multiple platforms. Therefore, it might interest developers involved in mobile, console or PC ecosystems.

Intel Tiger Lake-H45 processors are coming, and they are on their way to Lenovo's Legion gaming laptops. So far, retailers have revealed the Legion 5i 15ITH6, Legion 5 17ITH6H and Legion 7 16ITHG6, with Intel Core i5-11400H, Core i7-11800H and Core i9-11980HK processors, respectively.

A trailer and gameplay snippets recently leaked for From Software's upcoming Elden Ring. While the quality of the video isn't particularly great, the trailer showcases a Dark Souls-esque environment and combat, but on a far larger scale than we've seen before, with glimpses of a wide open world.

Winners will be announced on March 4 alongside new product reveals live on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. A Blade 15 with GeForce RTX 3070 graphics currently retails for well over $2000 USD.

NVIDIA has announced that all GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards, desktop and laptop, will support Resizable BAR by the end of March. In-game performance benefits will vary, but NVIDIA claims it will be up to 10% in some cases. Independent benchmarks suggest that AMD has the lead over NVIDIA currently with its Smart Access Memory, though.

Without bringing any major changes to the gameplay or interface, World of Tanks 1.12 is now live and comes with (only four, unfortunately) rebalanced tier VIII premium tanks, interface improvements inspired by popular mods, a sneak preview of the reworked Steel Hunter mode, and more.

AXLE has announced the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 Classic Editions, which are seemingly the first customised Founders Edition cards. Unfortunately for AXLE, there are several signs that neither of these cards actually exist, not least because it claims that the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 have DVI ports.

ASUS tends to go big with its ROG Phone series, and the ROG Phone 5 will be no different. According to multiple Geekbench listings, the company plans to release the ROG Phone 5 with 18 GB of RAM, giving the device bragging rights over its contemporaries.

A new leak suggests that the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT could hit shelves sometime in the third week of March 2021. It will allegedly retail at US$479 or US$499. Lastly, there are two variants of the graphics card in the works.

The Ryzen 5 5600H CPU will readily outperform the common Core i7-10750H seen on most mid-range to high-end gaming laptops. This deal carries a lot of power and features for gamers on tight budgets.