Gaming

EA will officially release the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection on June 5 via Origin and Steam. The collection features versions of the original Command & Conquer and Red Alert titles (and some expansions) upscaled to 4K. Additionally, the games' UI, multiplayer system, and soundtracks have been overhauled for a modern experience.

Instead of making the jump to 7 nm, Nvidia will apparently be using Samsung's 10 nm process for the next gen Ampere gaming GPUs. If this is indeed the case, AMD's second gen 7 nm RDNA2 architecture could allow the red team to almost match Nvidia's high-end Ampere models.

E3 2020 has been canceled over concerns of the coronavirus. This marks the first time that the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been canceled since its inception in 1995. E3 is the largest gaming event every year.

Microsoft is planning to livestream information that had previously been planned for GDC 2020, which is currently postponed until summer. The Xbox Series X console is on the agenda, so there could be some fresh details offered up about this device soon. Meanwhile, another speculated set of GPU performance data for the PlayStation 5 has been revealed, with the all-important TFLOPS figure settling at 13.06.

A number of Asus TUF Gaming laptops and Asus ROG devices powered by Renoir chips from AMD's Ryzen 4000 series have been spotted on Newegg Canada and the Canadian retailer Memory Express. Although the listings have all been removed now, it seems these Ryzen 4000 laptops will be released within a few days and are priced from CAD$899 up to CAD$2,499.

Xiaomi's Black Shark 3 series is the latest lines of gaming phones to be launched in 2020. Its base model is already on sale in China. It also has a Pro variant that was to be released to the market on March 17, 2020; however, the OEM has announced that this event has been postponed.

At least three Asus laptops have been listed on the Amazon China website revealing that AMD Ryzen 4000 laptops are finally arriving. The 17.3-inch Asus TUF FA706IU Gaming laptop features the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H APU while both the 14-inch ROG Zephyrus G14 GA401II and 14-inch ROG Zephyrus G14 GA401IU laptops come with AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800HS.

More alleged technical specifications for the PlayStation 5 have been shared online, and if they are anywhere close to factual then there will be plenty of happy PS5 fans out there. According to the supposed leaked details, the next-gen console will feature a custom RDNA 2-based GPU that will offer 13.3 teraflops of compute performance.

As GTC 2020 nears, new rumours about upcoming Ampere GPUs appeared online. Stemming from different sources, the full GA100 will apparently support up to 8,192 CUDA cores, 48 GB of VRAM and a 300 W TDP. Meanwhile, the GA102 will supposedly offer 40% better performance than the RTX 2080 Ti from 5,376 CUDA cores and 12 GB of VRAM.

The Optoma UHD50X is a new projector rated for images of a 4K UHD resolution and a refresh rate of up to 240 hertz (Hz). It also has a brightness of 3400 ANSI lumens and is HDR10- and HLG-compatible. This new projector also has a "gaming" mode with an input lag of as little as 16 milliseconds (ms).

The Nintendo PlayStation prototype has finally found a permanent home. Greg McLemore, the founder of Pets.com and Toys.com, purchased the console for $360,000 at auction. McLemore intends to add the console to his collection, which he hopes will eventually go on to start a museum dedicated to video game history.

Intel is reportedly abandoning its own 10nm process in favor of TSMC for upcoming Xe GPUs, according to Tech News Taiwan sources. The rumor underscores indications that Intel's 10nm process is doing poorly, something Team Blue's CFO recently discussed on record.

Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud-gaming service has only been officially operational to the public since February 2020 and has already fallen foul of some disgruntled game publishers. Activision Blizzard and Bethesda have had issues with GeForce Now, and now it’s 2K Games’ turn to quit the service. However, Tim Sweeney of Epic Games has publicly voiced his full support for the platform.

The full specifications for the GPD Win Max handheld computer have been published online. The gaming device features the Ice Lake Intel Core i5-1035G7 and 16 GB of LPDDR4 RAM @3733 MHz. However, it is details such as the backlit QWERTY chiclet keyboard, the presence of a Thunderbolt 3 port, and the diminutive 8-inch form that have been exciting fans.

A product designer has published his visual ideas for the PlayStation 5’s user interface, and they have been met with an overwhelmingly positive response. Although some have commented about the PS4/Xbox influences, the PS5 UI concept video clips seem to focus on fully integrating the game library and related details to each title.

A wealth of information about the supposed Xbox Series S console, also known as Lockhart, has been published by a Chinese website. According to the site’s sources, the upcoming next-gen console will be the base model as opposed to the high-end Xbox Series X and its 12 TFLOPS. However, although the rumored cost of US$300 is promising, the 4 TFLOPS of compute performance is seemingly low.

Future PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X owners can expect game characters with better hair thanks to the higher teraflop count of the next-gen consoles according to a noted game developer. Yet another PS5 concept design has surfaced, and this one might even be stranger than the recent “Death Star” effort due to its potty chair-like appearance.

Leaked by FanlessTech earlier this year, a new internal roadmap has confirmed that Phantom Canyon and Panther Canyon NUCs, also known as NUC 11 Performance and NUC 11 Extreme respectively, will arrive later this year. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 may have delayed their release. The NUC 9 Extreme appears to be sticking around until at least 2021, too.

The existence of the Ryzen 9 4900H APUs was first rumored back in late 2019, but now we have actual proof that the model is no mere typo, as Videocardz sources spotted a TUF Gaming laptop powered by the unannounced processor. The 45 W APU will be able to boost to 4.2 GHz, which is 200 MHz slower than the 35 W Ryzen 9 4900HS leaked earlier by Asus. Moreover, the TUF Gaming laptop appears to be missing a discrete GPU.

Sony is still withholding the final design of the PlayStation 5, leaving console fans little else to do than scour the Internet in the hope of finding a clue or a leaked image. A new “leaked” design looks nothing like the numerous rumor-based PS5 renders that have been shared online, and it is so ridiculous it should at least cheer up impatient next-gen console watchers.
Update: Renders have now been made of the spherical PS5 drawings (images posted at the end of the article).

Steam’s Hardware and Software Survey for February 2020 has been published, and although AMD enjoyed a tiny increase in overall PC video card usage the charts for change in share and overall share still belong to Nvidia. The GeForce GTX 16 series has been particularly successful for Team Green, with four cards from that series featuring in the top 10 movers.

Sony has yet to announce a reveal date for the PlayStation 5 and now a popular gaming YouTuber has claimed that there are supply chain issues that have forced the company to delay both the reveal date and the launch date. However, PS5 fans have been remaining optimistic about their choice of next-gen console, with many hoping for 13 teraflops of GPU performance.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, widely regarded as one of the best games of all time, is now available on iOS and Android. The port retains the same beautiful pixel art as the PSX original. While gamers can use an on-screen virtual gamepad, the title also supports Bluetooth controllers.

Xiaomi subsidiary Black Shark officially unveiled its Black Shark 3 and Black Shark 3 Pro gaming phones. The new models feature liquid cooling, a Snapdragon 865 SoC, physical triggers, and 65W fast charging.

A Geekbench 5 compute score of what is likely to be the Intel Xe DG1 dGPU has surfaced and the result isn't really convincing. The Xe DG1 seems to trail behind six-year old mobile GPUs in this particular benchmark. Even if we consider the fact that the software stack is still under development, it looks like it will be quite some time before Xe can be actually competitive against current entry-level offerings from NVIDIA and AMD.

A new concept video created by Concept Creator has offered a fresh glimpse at what the PlayStation 5 console could look like. PS5 fans are currently starved of details thanks to Sony’s reticence in revealing any substantial information about the device. The video suggests 14 teraflops of GPU performance for the PS5, which is highly unlikely in reality.

AMD's Financial Analyst Day 2020 is coming up, and rumour has it that there will be plenty for us to digest. Apparently, AMD and Microsoft will showcase Xbox Series X gameplay at the event, along with three RDNA 2-based GPUs.

A leaked presentation slide from Nvidia has revealed the relative performance provided by the upcoming GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER and GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER mobile GPUs. It appears SUPER laptops featuring these new GPUs will offer gamers impressive gains over other Nvidia products such as the RTX 2060 and GTX 1660 Ti.

Surprise! The first entry in the Halo franchise has been added to the Master Chief Collection on Steam. The PC release of the Anniversary edition features many PC centric options, including UHD resolutions and an unlocked frame rate. Owners of the full collection will receive the game for free, but the Xbox classic can also be purchased standalone for US$10.

Listings of the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME by several AMD AiB partners have started popping-up on Chinese websites. The Radeon RX 590 GME is clocked lower than the non-GME variant and is slated to launch on March 9 exclusively for the Chinese market with prices starting from around US$170.

The Dongii is a new kind of charger with USB type A and C ports - as well as an HDMI port to connect a Nintendo Switch to the nearest TV. It is described as equipped with up-to-date GaN technology and capable of up to 65 watt (W) charging. It has been launched on Kickstarter, where it is available as a reward.

The Red Magic 5G is Nubia's upcoming 2020 gaming phone. It is slated to get a 144Hz display, the Snapdragon 865 SoC and up to 16GB of RAM. The OEM has also showed off its AnTuTu benchmarking score, which knocks that of the Black Shark 3 Pro off the top spot.

Doom Eternal is clearly designed for PC systems, first and foremost. The 2016 Doom game was already well optimized, but the new idTech 7 engine takes optimization to new levels as the game now scales with existing high-end and even unreleased hardware to deliver 1,000 fps of superfluid gameplay. While current gen console will be capped at 60 fps most likely, the developers hint at some impressive features for the next gen models.

John Prendergast calculated that the CPU part of the APU integrated in the next gen consoles may not be too impressive, because the TDPs need to be kept under 200 W. Thus, we are looking at performance levels in line with an older Ryzen 5 1600 model with a 40 W TDP. The GPU parts will get TDPs in excess of 100 W, on the other hand.

AIB variants of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER and GeForce RTX 2070 top the GPU sales list for Mindfactory this week, with the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti not too far behind. There are several instances of AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT cards making reasonable sales, but the newer RX 5600 XT has not prevented AMD’s overall market share decreasing for this particular retailer.

A vetted industry insider has been dishing up some interesting information about the upcoming next-gen consoles. It appears there will be Pro versions of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X after all. Apparently, the base PS5 can boast of 9 teraflops of GPU power, while the Pro model will be closer to the 12 TFLOPS of the Pro variant of the XSX.

The Black Shark 3 series is thought to be the next upcoming generation of Xiaomi's gaming phones. New tips spilled onto Weibo indicate how the rumored Pro variant may differ from the base model. Apparently, these variations will mainly concern screen size and resolution.

The Pimoroni Picade Console turns the Raspberry Pi into a particularly convincing retro console. The assembly should be particularly easy and is pretty inexpensive, too.

Size matters when it comes to processor performance. The thicker, heavier, and louder Alienware chassis doesn't go to waste as it is able to squeeze out more from the Core i9-9980HK than the smaller and lighter XPS 15 or MacBook Pro 15.

If you are looking for a highly customizable 17-inch high-end laptop, the Schenker XMG Pro 17 is a good choice. However, be prepared for noise during 3D usage.

AMD has announced the latest version of its Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition. This update (v20.2.2) is described as "optional", yet also purports to bring a long list of bug and issue fixes. They include problems such as hanging, crashes or black screens in apps and games that include Chrome, The Witcher 3 and GTA V.

Released yesterday, the latest Game Ready driver package from NVIDIA comes with optimizations for Apex Legends Season 4, Tom Clancy's The Division 2: Warlords of New York, ARK: Genesis, as well as support for two G-SYNC-compatible monitors by AOC (AG271FZ2 and AG271F1G2) and one by Asus (PG43U).

Qualcomm has launched the Snapdragon XR2 Reference Design headset, the first such XR (as in, virtual, mixed or augmented reality) device that supports 5G. It does so via its in-built X55 modem, which is part of its latest hardware platform for this category of media. Therefore, OEMs may now start building their own headsets based on this new "boundless" artificial-reality tech.

NVIDIA has issued its TV devices with a new update. This version of SHIELD Experience (8.1.1) includes a host of new features and bug-fixes. The most prominent of these may be the limited-time opportunity to upgrade the free GeForce Now subscription to a Founder's membership instead. The upgrade also adds XBOX Elite 2 controller support, as well as improved multiple Bluetooth device connections.

Is Microsoft trying to prove that sounds exhibit the same wave-particle duality as light rays? Probably not. This is most likely a clever marketing gimmick that feeds off of the growing popularity of ray traced graphics and mainstream gamers are not even supposed to benefit from it.

Kazuhisa Hashimoto, the creator of the famous Konami Code, has passed away at the age of 61. Today, the world mourns his death and honors his life with memories of the most famous code in gaming culture.

The games distribution platform GOG updated its refund policy today, expanding it to a flat 30-day refund period. This even applies to games that have been played, though GOG has stated it retains the right to review individual refund requests and deny them should it find a reason to.

MediaTek has made the Helio P95's page on its website live. By its name, this chipset sound like an iterative upgrade over its current 4G/LTE flagship. However, it boasts the AI Processing Unit (APU) 2.0, which, as the OEM claims, will improve its benchmarking in this area compared to its predecessor. Otherwise, the CPU has 8 cores with a max clock of 2.2GHz.