Gaming

The modders are back at it again! After the Nintendo switch was modded to run Linux, 2 developers released a twitter video presenting their modified Nintendo console that manages to run Android 10 Q. It never ceases to amaze us what some modders can do.

A report quoting “industry sources” has offered the prices and launch dates for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics cards. The GTX 1660 will apparently be released on March 15 with a minimum price tag of US$229. The even cheaper GTX 1650 will purportedly be launched on April 30 at a price starting at US$179.

Now that the RT-free and AI-free GTX 1660 Ti GPU is out for desktops, it's only a matter of time before a similar option becomes available for laptops. An unannounced Nvidia "N18E-G0" GPU is looking more like the inevitable GTX 1050 Ti successor based on the Turing architecture.

The LG V series has a history of including secondary displays, which are often built into their large phablet-scale screens. If a new leak is to be believed, this feature has returned to the V50 ThinQ - sort of. It consists of images showing a case that gives the upcoming LG flagship an entire extra screen.

XPS and Alienware chief Frank Azor has announced on Twitter that Alienware Area-51m RTX 2080 laptops will soon be receiving a 200 W BIOS update. The Dell executive also stated that the company is aiming for an April release for this power-boosting upgrade. The previous power limit stood at 180 W for the overclockable graphics card.

In the wake of NVIDIA announcing the 'Turing' GTX 1660 Ti GPU, AMD announced a limited period offer for the Vega 56 by bringing down the price of the card to the same US$279 price point. Unfortunately, though, the card appears to have been sold out and it is not known if and when AMD will reinstate the offer again.

Nvidia has announced that its GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card is now on sale. The new graphics solution can be purchased at prices starting at US$279.99. The latest addition to the GTX line-up offers 6 GB GDDR6 memory utilizing a 192-bit interface width and has 1536 CUDA cores. Its base clock is listed as 1500 MHz with a boost clock rate of 1770 MHz.

The discrete GPU market is about to get busy in 2020, as Intel is planning a triumphant return. To ensure its success, the company is now launching "The Odyssey" initiative which aims at involving gamers in the GPU development process. Intel is willing to listen to what end users have to say in order to create the best possible gaming GPUs.

One month after showing up at CES and snagging quite a few "Best of" awards, the ZTE Nubia Red Magic Mars is now launching worldwide. This gaming smartphone is available in two variants — Essential (6/64 GB) and Superior (8/128 GB) — and a third one that features 10 GB of memory and 256 GB of internal storage space is also coming soon.

With almost a dozen Core i9-8950HK laptops under our belt, we have a pretty good idea about how these unlocked CPUs can perform. Average CPU performance is just 8 to 9 percent faster than the average Core i7-8750H laptop for a disappointing first year debut.

UPDATE: Newegg has the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and 1660 Ti AMP listed for US $279.99 and $289.99, respectively. The listings have detailed information on the cards' specifications. ZOTAC announced its take on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti today in the form of two new graphics cards. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a relatively compact card (145 mm or 5.71 inches) that ZOTAC claims can fit into 99% of systems available today. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce GTX 1660 Ti AMP is a fair bit larger (209.6 mm or 8.3 inches) but has larger fans and will be factory overclocked. ZOTAC has yet to announce pricing and availability.

A YouTuber has asserted that Microsoft will port some games and features to the Nintendo Switch later this year. The indie title Ori has been specifically named in relation to this new purported deal to link the two platforms. This development will also apparently bring Xbox Game Passes to the Switch.

Microsoft's next probable major software release is 19H2, the April 2019 update. However, a build associated with a release in 2020 is the one that has most recently popped up for users in the Skip Ahead program. Despite this, the company insists 19H2 will be ready on time.

The upcoming 'Navi' GPUs from AMD could offer much better power-efficiency according to notes from AMD's recent Linux driver patches. The patches detail that 'future ASICS' could use a new sw SMU framework superceding the current PowerPlay driver. In all likelihood, the new sw SMU might enable dynamic per-core voltage and frequency adjustment found in Ryzen APUs potentially resulting in less power-hungry GPUs and more performance per Watt.

Anthem, the action RPG developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, has been officially launched. Players get to try on exosuits known as Javelins and explore a massive open world while fighting off hordes of monstrous adversaries. Early reviews of the game have ranged from lukewarm to mixed, but it will be paying gamers who eventually decide the title’s success or failure.

Reggie Fils-Aime, President and COO of Nintendo of America, announced that he will retire from the company on April 15. Doug Bowser, currently the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, will step up as the new President upon Fils-Aime's retirement. Fils-Aime oversaw one of the most successful periods of Nintendo's life and managed the launches of the Nintendo DS, 3DS, Wii, and Switch.

Lioncast is a comparatively new manufacturer, but that has not stopped it from expanding its range of mice. The company has now released the LM60, a wired mouse with RGB lighting and a high-resolution optical sensor. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lioncast has designed the LM60 with gamers in mind.

As a GTX 1050 successor, the GTX 1650 GPU is rumored to integrate a TU-117 core clocked at 1.48 GHz, faster Turing shaders, and 4 GB of GDDR6 VRAM. The number of CUDA cores and the TDP are not yet known. Launch date should be close the end of March and MSRP is believed to be around US$179.

"The Challenge on Wheels" special event that has begun today will last until March 7 and comes with the chance to obtain the Panhard EBR 75 FL 10 for free — or at least a good discount when purchasing it. This is the first premium wheeled vehicle in World of Tanks and can be obtained after completing ten challenging stages.

It has been reported that owners of unlocked Razer Phone 2 handsets can expect to start receiving updates to Android 9 Pie from February 27. Those with carrier devices will have to wait a bit longer. This will be a relief to some as it seems the American-Singaporean company could be having some internal issues.

Some images of the upcoming Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti have been leaked on Reddit. The pictures show the graphics card’s box, the GPU fitted inside a computer, and a screenshot of the device’s description. Apparently, the owner of the GTX 1660 Ti paid AU$475 for the graphics card, which is roughly US$340/€300/£260.

Logitech announced today that it will reboot the classic Logitech G MX518 gaming mouse. Hailed in its day as one of the best gaming mice available, the MX518 is fondly remembered by many for its comfortable shape, fast reporting rates, and good button layout. The 2019 MX518 will use the same shell as its older brother, but Logitech will include a new 16,000 DPI sensor and a 32-bit ARM processor in the new mouse. Users will also be able to rebind all buttons on the mouse and save profiles to the mouse itself.

3DMark's latest DLSS test show outstanding performance gains with the right implementation. Meanwhile, real world games like Battlefield V and METRO Exodus suffer from DLSS artifacts, especially in resolutions under 4K. Nvidia is aware of these problems and already working on fixes that should be released with an upcoming driver update.

Google announced today that it would be holding a special event at the Game Developer Conference (GDC) next month on March 19th. The announcement offers few details, but many are guessing that Google will announce something related to Project Stream, the search giant's in-browser game streaming service. Google has been working on Project Stream for months and might be developing the service to compete with the likes of Nvidia, Sony, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Polish e-retailer X-Kom ran a promotion this past weekend that offered a free copy of Fallout 76 with four sets of PlayStation 4 thumbstick covers, all for POL 19 zl (~US $5). This discount is not out of the norm for retailers selling Fallout 76, a title that has had trouble selling copies and satisfying gamers.

Zotac has unveiled a new modified graphics card to its line-up: The Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm. The Nvidia GeForce 2080 Ti-based GPU comes with a preinstalled ArcticStorm waterblock as part of a liquid cooling solution. The new card also comes with configurable lighting zones and can be fine-tuned with Zotac’s FireStorm utility software.

The MSI GL73 with RTX 2060 graphics begins to shine when gaming at higher resolutions beyond 1080p and with DirectX 12 active. Otherwise, users can get the same performance or better out of an older GTX 1070 laptop for lower prices.

Razer is shutting down the Razer Game Store, its own online retail space for PC games. The store will close in the early morning of February 28th. Any games purchased through the Razer Game Store will continue to work, though keys purchased via the store will need to be redeemed before the end of February. Additionally, Razer will honor any pre-orders made through the Game Store and will continue its Razer Gold and Razer Silver rewards programs.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti featuring the non-RT 'Turing' TU116 core has made an appearance on the Final Fantasy XV benchmark scoring just short of a 'Maxwell' Titan X and not too far above the GTX 1070, which it is expected to replace. The GTX 1660 Ti is expected to launch on February 22 at an MSRP of US$279.

Acer has released a report in which it puts its January 2019 revenues at about US$540 million. These figures have decreased by 23.7% compared to December 2018 and by 1.3% compared to January 2018. The company has cited the ongoing effects of the SoC shortage in explaining these changes.

Be an "ROG Elite Ambassador" and get a free ROG phone just for attending and helping out at Pax East next month in Boston. Asus is looking for an ROG fan comfortable with talking about the brand in public and managing gaming tournaments.

Apex Legends has now been played by over 25 million people in the first week of its release. There is a rumor that Tencent Holdings is interested in becoming the official distributor of the battle royale game in China. Tencent is already involved in similar genre titles such as Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Nvidia's investors can now breathe easy, as the latest fiscal year report shows decent gains throughout 2018. Things are not looking good for gaming GPUs, though, since the report shows sales in this sector were almost halved compared to 2017. Nevertheless, Nvidia keeps an optimistic outlook for 2019, with RTX 2000-series GPUs expected to see increased adoption.

NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, referenced both Unreal and Unity Engines in relation to ray-tracing during a company conference call about its fourth-quarter earnings conducted this week. That is odd, however, as only Unreal has ray-tracing support at present. Therefore, Huang may just have leaked Unity's imminent roll-out of similar capabilities.

Dell has responded to a suggestion on Twitter and has announced a new top-tier version of the Alienware m15. The Core i9-8950HK, RTX 2080 Max-Q and 144 Hz model costs US$3,279, but you must do some digging to find it on the Dell US website.

GV, GF, GL, GP, GE, GS, GT... what do they all mean? If you're in the market for an MSI laptop, here's a 101 on the entire G Series from budget all the way up to enthusiast.

One variant of the new Ryzen 3000 mobile CPU series, the 3550H, has been launched in the form of the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 and FX507 notebooks. They are 15- and 17-inch laptops, respectively, both of which feature 4GB of inbuilt RX 560X graphics memory. They also have 16:9 FHD displays with minimal bezels and options on Radeon FreeSync.

The existence of the TU116 GPU, which exists to deliver Turing-level performance without ray-tracing, has been established at this stage. Today (February 14, 2019), VideoCardz has posted what it describes as exclusive images of this chipset. It also has pictures of what may be the MSI Ventus XS 1660 Ti, a card purportedly based on the TU 116.

Gamers that were rather reticent regarding the adoption of Nvidia's real-time ray tracing technology implemented in the latest RTX 2000-series GPUs may be interested to know that Epic Games is planning to make it easier for game developers to add ray tracing effects to existing and upcoming games with the release of Unreal Engine 4.22.

Steam has released the details of its hardware and software survey for January 2019. In terms of PC video card usage, Nvidia absolutely dominates the chart with 74% of users having a GPU from the green team. The GeForce GTX 1060 is the most popular graphics card, while the highest-ranked non-Nvidia product is AMD’s Radeon R7 Graphics in 14th place.

The latest Nintendo Direct broadcast has revealed a treasure trove of games and plans that will keep even the fussiest Nintendo fan content. Among the games featured were Super Mario Maker 2, a battle royale version of Tetris called Tetris 99, and Dragon Quest XI. However, the presentation’s main event was clearly the introduction of the gorgeous-looking The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

Get a 17-inch gaming laptop with GTX 1060 graphics for $920 USD and more from now until the end of next week. The sale spans multiple retail outlets including Newegg, Office Depot, Staples, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target.

SilentiumPC has announced its latest Midi Tower, the Armis AR7X TG RGB. The case costs around £125 (~ US$161) and includes tempered glass panels along with four Sigma HP Corona RGB 120 mm fans and enough space for up to 420 mm long GPUs.