According to the discovery made by @ghost_motley on X/Twitter, we have information that MSI is starting to roll out BIOS updates to accommodate Intel's Application Optimization called APO shortly. This update, however, comes with significant restrictions. Intel APO, designed to enhance performance, is exclusively compatible with 14th Gen Intel CPUs, leaving owners of previous-generation Intel processors, mainly the closely comparable 13th Gen, without this benefit. Intel's APO is an extension of its Dynamic Tuning Technology (DTT) specifically for gaming. It is available on select 14th Gen Core processors like the i9-14900K/KF, enhancing workload distribution across hardware resources like P-cores and optimizing them for peak frequencies.

As noted, the current rollout of Intel APO support is limited, namely to the Intel Core i7-14700K, i7-14700KF, i9-14900K, and i9-14900KF, excluding the Core i5 series. This omission is significant given APO's focus on boosting gaming performance, a feature that would be highly beneficial to Core i5 users. However, the feature is currently supported by only two games: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege and Metro Exodus. The frame rate improvements in Rainbow can be as high as 13% while also boosting Metro Exodus FPS by 16%. Whether we will see more APO-optimized games or not, owners of MSI motherboards have received their updates and are ready to enjoy the FPS increase.

Get into your favorite games faster by linking GeForce NOW to Steam, Epic Games Store and Ubisoft accounts. And get a peek at more games coming to GeForce NOW later this year by tuning in to Ubisoft Forward on Monday, June 12, when the game publisher will reveal its latest news and announcements. Plus, two new games are available to stream from the cloud this week, as well as the newest season for Tom Clancy's The Division 2 from Ubisoft. GeForce NOW makes gaming convenient and easy for members by enabling them to link their accounts from Steam, Epic and, most recently, Ubisoft, directly to the service. Instead of signing into their accounts for each play session, members can be automatically signed in across their devices after linking them up just once.

Starting today, launching Ubisoft Connect games requires members to link their Ubisoft accounts in the app. Once that's completed, members can effortlessly play hit Ubisoft games, including Rainbow Six Siege, Far Cry 6 and The Division 2. Members also have the benefit of library account syncing, which automatically syncs supported GeForce NOW games from Ubisoft Connect and Steam libraries - helping members find their Ubisoft games instantly. For an even more streamlined experience, upgrade to an Ultimate or Priority membership to skip the waiting lines over free members and get into gaming faster.

The Call of Duty RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team announced earlier this month that their newly updated system was capable of detecting "third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience" - this makes reference to a plethora of gaming input modification devices including the Cronus Zen/Max, XIM Apex and FPS Boost Strike Pack. All readily available from direct stores, Amazon and various e-tailers. These hardware modules are hooked up to a gamepad or mouse plus keyboard combination, and allow the user to bypass the legitimate control input detection on the host hardware, be it a games console or PC. Stock scripts and macros can be utilized - for example - to boost in-game aim assist to unprecedented levels, mitigate weapon recoil, and add support for mouse and keyboard in otherwise non-compatible games. Anti-cheat software suites have been unable to detect the extra layer of code, since it runs on an external device - until now.

CoD's security team elaborates on their cheat spotter: "Since our previous progress report, TeamRICOCHET has developed and tested a detection for third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience. These devices act as a passthrough for controllers on PC and console and, when used improperly or maliciously, can provide a player with the ability to gain an unfair gameplay advantage, such as reducing or eliminating recoil. Testing is complete: This detection is deployed globally on all platforms. Users across PC or console who are detected to be using third-party hardware devices to impact the Modern Warfare II or Warzone 2.0 gameplay experience will first see a warning about the improper use of these devices..."

It's a thrilling GFN Thursday with GRID Legends racing to the cloud this week. It leads a total of eight new games expanding the GeForce NOW library. New content for Rainbow Six Siege is also now streaming. Plus, two new cities are now online with GeForce RTX 4080 performance for cloud gaming. Chicago and Montreal have completed upgrades to RTX 4080 SuperPODs, delivering next-generation cloud streaming to GeForce NOW Ultimate members.

Today, we're excited to announce that Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support will start rolling out globally to PS5 players this week. On HDMI 2.1 VRR-compatible TVs and PC monitors, VRR dynamically syncs the refresh rate of the display to the PS5 console's graphical output. This enhances visual performance for PS5 games by minimizing or eliminating visual artifacts, such as frame pacing issues and screen tearing. Gameplay in many PS5 titles feels smoother as scenes render seamlessly, graphics look crisper, and input lag is reduced. Previously released PS5 games can be fully optimized for VRR through a game patch and future games may include VRR support at launch.

VRR will arrive globally through a PS5 console update over the next few days (make sure you are connected to the internet to receive the update). Once you've received the update, VRR will automatically be enabled for supported games if your PS5 console is connected to an HDMI 2.1 VRR-compatible TV or PC monitor. You can also turn it off under "Screen and Video" in system settings.

NVIDIA is reportedly about to make some big announcements related to its DLSS 2.0 performance enhancement feature. Excepts from the announcement we leaked to the web by VideoCardz. To begin with, the company is about to announce that both the upcoming Unreal Engine 5, and the current UE 4, support DLSS 2.0, besides the latest version 2021.2 of the Unity Engine. A large number of first-party game engines now support DLSS 2.0, including notably, the Rockstar Games RAGE engine powering RDR2, CryEngine, Decima, AnvilNext, REDEngine, and more.

NVIDIA is also preparing to announce that a vast new selection of games support DLSS 2.0, including Red Dead Redemption 2 (support coming soon), Rainbow Six Siege, DOOM Eternal (patch scheduled for June 29), Rust, and more. Lastly, NVIDIA is about to announce that it is working with Valve to bring DLSS support to Linux, via Proton compatibility layer. This will enable playing AAA Windows games on Linux with DLSS enabled.

Razer, in collaboration with Ubisoft, today announced the BlackShark V2 Pro - Six Siege Special Edition, the official esports headset for the multi-million player base game, Six Siege. Reskinned with a striking Six Siege design and highlighted with eye-catching orange stitching and accents, it lets players make their mark both in-game and in real life.

The BlackShark V2 Pro - Six Siege Special Edition retains all the features of the award-winning BlackShark V2 Pro esports headset, with Razer TriForce Titanium 50 mm drivers to deliver bright sound, rich trebles, and powerful bass, THX Spatial Audio for pinpoint positional accuracy, and a Discord-certified, removable Razer HyperClear Supercardioid Microphone for crystal clear voice comms. The Blackshark V2 Pro - Six Siege Special Edition is powered with Razer HyperSpeed Wireless technology for the fastest, most reliable connection, and delivers up to 24 hours of battery life for even the longest of play sessions.

The launch of GeForce RTX GPUs two years ago brought an array of NVIDIA-designed technologies that dramatically transformed PC gaming and content creation. Now, there are over 130 games and applications supporting RTX-accelerated innovations, including GPU-accelerated raytracing, NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), and AI-powered innovations like NVIDIA Broadcast. And our newest technology, NVIDIA Reflex is now supported in 12 of the top 15 competitive shooters, making gameplay more responsive.

NVIDIA has worked closely with the game development ecosystem, creative app developers, and industry standards bodies to leverage the company's technological innovations in the creation of this new standard for PC gaming and content creation. The list of game franchises, engines, and game and app developers now using NVIDIA-pioneered technologies is a veritable who's who. And today, more games and studios jump on board, as we announce the addition of RTX technologies to a further 8 titles, including DOOM Eternal, Red Dead Redemption 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Icarus, LEGO Builder's Journey, DYING: 1983, The Ascent, and The Persistence.

AMD has today updated its Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition version 21.5.1 drivers, bringing many features on board as well as fixing a lot of issues that have appeared in the past. Starting with support for the Resident Evil Village PC game, AMD promises to deliver up to 13% better frame rate at 4K maximum settings, while using the Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card. The comparison was conducted with a reference to the previous driver, 21.4.1, which didn't allow the card to reach as high FPS as it is now possible with the proper support for the game. Another game that is added to the support list is Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition. Some fixes have been implemented, as the incorrect performance metrics that may have incorrectly reported temperatures on Ryzen 5 1600 series processors. For a detailed list of bug fixes, please take a look at the list below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 21.5.1

Amazon Games today announced it has opened a new game development studio in Montreal, Canada. The Montreal studio, which joins Amazon Games development studios in Seattle, Orange County, and San Diego, will focus on creating original AAA games. Amazon Games is actively hiring to build out the talented team, with a variety of roles opening.

The studio's founding members include industry veterans Luc Bouchard (head of production), Xavier Marquis (creative director), Alexandre Remy (head of product), and Romain Rimokh (content director), who most recently worked as the core team behind the tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege, which now has more than 70 million players since its launch. The studio's first project will be an online multiplayer title based on new IP.

Steam has recently published their Best of 2020 awards which highlight the best selling, and most played games of 2020. The awards include six categories including Top Sellers, Top New Releases, Top Selling VR Games, Top Early Access Graduates, Most Played Games, and Top Controller Games. The 100 games in each list are ranked as Platinum (1st - 12th), Gold (13th - 24th), Silver (25th - 40th), and Bronze (41st - 100th) with each rank of games being randomly sorted.

Starting with the Top Sellers we have Grand Theft Auto V, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, DOOM Eternal, Monster Hunter: World, Dota 2, Among Us, Destiny 2, PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive all taking the top platinum rating.

Buy an EVGA GeForce RTX, GET Rainbow SIX ️ SIEGE GOLD EDITION. Squad up with your crew and take on new challenges with NVIDIA ️ GeForce RTX ️. Powered by an award-winning GPU, maximize your performance to get the edge over the opposing team. For a limited time, get Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Gold Edition on PC, including early access to six new Operators and Year 5 BattlePass privileges, with a purchase of a qualifying GeForce RTX 20 Series graphics card.

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• Gold Edition of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
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Today NZXT, a leading developer of software-powered hardware solutions for PC gaming, and Ubisoft, a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services, announce CRFT 06 H510 Siege, the perfect tactical deployment for fortifying your position in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege.

The sixth entrant in NZXT's limited-edition series of licensed gaming products, CRFT 06 H510 Siege brings the iconic in-game barricade to your gaming station. Featuring an illuminated 6 Logo on the front panel, this new limited-edition NZXT H510 case allows you to display both your PC components and your operational readiness. Weapons free.

We went to Ubisoft's floor space at Gamescom 2018, and it was easily one of the biggest ones (only really comparable to Blizzard's, in both size and apparatus). Naturally, the focus was on the heavy hitting franchises, like Assassin's Creed, where Ubisoft had at least three people dressed up in a thematically resonant way with the title's Greek setting, alongside a Spartan statue. Everywhere you looked there were people holding paper Spartan shields or pretending to be fighting with the Ubisoft employees; it was like a budget version of 300 was assaulting you from all sides. Like with almost all games, there was hands-on time for those willing to wait in-line.