XBAB Tech, a small mouse brand that started as an enthusiast project, has officially announced the pre-order availability date and pricing for the XA25, which it claims will be the lightest full-size gaming mouse on the market. The mouse shape closely mimics Logitech's G100s and the G305, both of which have a loyal following in the gaming community, and it will be a wired mouse, ditching the heavy battery in favor of an ultra-flex cable for lighter weight.

The basic specifications include an 8 kHz polling rate, a PixArt PAW 3950 sensor paired with a Nuvoton M483 MCU, Kailh Sword GM X switches, a TTC Dustproof Gold scroll wheel encoder, and Omron D2LS-21 side buttons. XBAB has reverse engineered and disabled features like DPI downshift and smoothing to reduce MCU processing and get the latency down as low as possible. The end result of the in-house testing is a claimed 3 µs firmware overhead.

We recently postulated that the early launch of the Xbox disc-to-digital entitlement system meant that the upcoming Xbox Helix console would not launch with a physical disc drive. Although there has been no confirmation that this is the case, it's clear that Microsoft is moving away from physical media, just as Sony is doing the same for its console. In a recent interview with the BBC, Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma, lends credence to this theory with vague comments that dodge the question entirely.

Much of the interview revolved around the current hardware and memory crisis affecting both console and PC hardware, but when it came to the topic of the disc drive in the next-gen Xbox Helix, Sharma's go-to response was to deflect, saying that "This next generation, we have to be thinking about efficiency and affordability alongside performance," adding that "All of the industry needs to start to innovate on affordability and efficiency," although she acknowledged that affordability "is absolutely something all of us need to be thinking about and innovating on and giving people more choice in terms of how they play their console and how they purchase their console."

Earlier today, we reported that a DLSS 5 DLL has been leaked by an early access build of 2K's NBA2K27 early access. NVIDIA announced DLSS 5 earlier this year, and showed more details at SIGGRAPH this year, saying it would ship "this fall." However, we were surprised that it is shipping already, and with a title like NBA 2K27, without any major announcement or review coverage, pushing us to dig what is happening beneath the surface. Maybe the developers just put the wrong file into the release before pushing it out.

Copies of the DLL were mirrored by people and uploaded to Reddit, where we obtained ours. Just to be clear up front: NVIDIA didn't provide any information for this article, there was no briefing, no press build or anything. All findings reported here come from taking a publicly circulating file apart and trying to figure out what is inside it. Also, before you get too excited, the file cannot actually be used in the game—NBA 2K27 exposes no setting to turn it on, and nothing in the shipping build appears able to drive it. You also can't just drop it into any other game's folder—the game has to be coded specifically to load that DLL and feed it the right information, more on that later.

Samsung Electronics today announced its 2027 Odyssey gaming monitor lineup at Gamescom 2026, the world's largest gaming event, being held in Cologne, Germany from Aug. 26-30. The new lineup introduces multiple Odyssey models that feature world-first innovations, empowering players with greater versatility across speed, screen size, picture quality, and flexible display modes.

"Players come to Gamescom to discover what is next, try new games, and experience the technology they need to stay focused and compete at their best," said Hun Lee, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display (VD) Business at Samsung Electronics. "With new form factors, higher refresh rates, and advanced display technologies, the 2027 Odyssey lineup gives players more choice across competitive play, cinematic games, and multi-purpose setups."

Following a series of flagship gaming launches, CHERRY XTRFY is expanding its range to bring high-performance gaming gear to a wider audience. Announced today at Gamescon, the M42V2 is an ultralight gaming mouse designed for players of all levels and the first product in a new series of mice from the brand. Weighing just 45 grams and featuring a modular design with two interchangeable back shells, the M42V2 combines competitive-grade performance with an accessible price point.

"I've tried a lot of gaming mice over the years, and the M42V2 surprised me. At this price point, it's the best-feeling mouse I've ever tried. The shape, the weight and the clicks just feel right. It shows that you don't have to spend a lot to get a great gaming mouse", says Emil "HeatoN" Christensen, eight-time Counter-Strike world champion and Esports Hall of Fame inductee.

Gamescom 2026 has been a smorgasbord of new games, DLC's, and other updates for gamers, and now Pearl Abyss's Crimson Desert joins Worms: Galactic Tactics, The Witcher 3, and Afterworld with a new Enhanced Update that dropped at Gamescom, with reworks coming to address much of the game's weaknesses—the story. Crimson Desert Enhanced launched at Gamescom as a free update to the base game, and those who do not yet own the game, with the Mac App Store being the only platform where the updated version is not available at the time of writing.

Crimson Desert Enhanced, which is officially titled patch 2.00.00, introduces new cut-scenes to the game, expanding on the narrative, which Pearl Abyss says "improved the main story and quests," and the narrative flow of the main story, and "added knowledge, items, memory fragments, dialog lines, and conversations to strengthen the narrative of bosses." Additionally, the update improves the skill leaning system by adding Abyss Link as a new resource shared among all playable characters, meaning when one playable character learns a new skill, it allows other playable characters to benefit from that progress.

A new disc-to-digital attestation program has long been rumored to be launching around the time of the next-gen Xbox Helix game console, but, confirming the most recent leaks, Xbox's Jason Ronald, VP of Next Generation, has announced the launch of the disc-to-digital program in a new post on Xbox Wire.

The digital license attestation program will be available for "most Xbox One and Xbox Series X disc-based games," and it will allow players to claim a digital entitlement by inserting a supported disc into the Xbox One or Series X and launching the game. After that, the game will be playable on the console as well as via Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Xbox claims that this new program is part of its "broader commitment to game preservation," and the program basically serves as a test run for the Helix console, which is expected to launch with full backwards compatibility, despite not having a physical disc drive.

It's no secret that 1047 Games has had a rough time of it lately, with the launch of both Splitgate: Arena Reloaded and its most recent movement shooter, Empulse, marred by low player turn-out. Apparently, things haven't improved, according to a new post on social media from 1047 Games itself revealing that the studio will soon end development on both Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded.

The studio explains that "neither game is generating enough revenue to support the ongoing cost of dedicated servers," and says that it has "continued covering those costs because we wanted to give both games every opportunity to grow, but we have reached the point where that is no longer sustainable." This news comes after the studio laid off a number of staff following the launch of Empulse. On the bright side, this doesn't necessarily mean players of Empulse or Splitgate: Arena Reloaded will be locked out of their games.

Paradox Interactive has been busy at Gamescom, announcing both Worms: Galactic Tactics and Afterworld, a new post-apocalyptic grand strategy game that appears to take inspiration from the Mad Max franchise. Players will be dropped into a world ravaged by nuclear warfare and have to work together within their tribe and with the world at large—or conquer their neighbors for their own benefit—in order to rebuild society and rediscover what was lost.

Lead a tribe of survivors, rediscover ancient technology, manage wasteland settlements and wage wars of conquest and political struggle in Afterworld, an original post-apocalyptic survival grand strategy game from Paradox Development Studio, the creators of Crusader Kings III and Hearts of Iron IV.

There has been a trend of game studios involving prospective audiences more actively during the development process in the last few years, with Early Access games, like Subnautica 2, being a prime example of this. Now, it seems as though Ubisoft has finally caught on and is soft launching its own version of an early player feedback system in The Player Council. The Player Council is a new initiative by Ubisoft to solicit player feedback during various stages of game development and to give players insight into the development process.

Players who wish to sign up to The Player Council can do so on playercouncil.gg. Initially, the program is soft launching with four games: Codename Split Point, an online 1v1 PvP turn-based tactical game that is currently in the early concept phase; Codename Rook, a single-player strategy game based on tactical decision-making, planning, and calculation; Riders Republic, the already released MMO extreme sports game; and Atomega, a 2017 first-person arena shooter. For the latter two games, Ubisoft is requesting player feedback for upcoming content. Two more games, Codename Decagon and Codename Harlequin, are planned to be added to the program sometime between the launch and December.

LEGO Skylines has been officially revealed at Gamescom as a LEGO version of the genre-defining city simulation game, Cities: Skylines. LEGO Skylines is being developed by Iceflake and published by Paradox Interactive, the same pair responsible for Cities: Skylines II. The announcement trailer released at Gamescom revealed classic LEGO graphics blended with high-fidelity city-building mechanics.

In LEGO: Skylines, players will have control over all of the typical city-builder stuff, like layout, public services, housing, food, and healthcare, but it seems like the LEGO version of the game will take a more whimsical approach to the genre, rather than sticking to hardcore city simulation mechanics. On the game's Steam page, the developer encourages "enjoy a little just-for-fun fun," and to "make it weird." LEGO: Skylines is slated to launch on PC via Steam and on the Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series consoles, and the PlayStation 5, although no release date has yet been announced.

The Sennheiser brand and Mercedes-Benz today announced a new partnership; an alignment of precision engineering for automotive and audio enthusiasts alike. Debuting at gamescom - the world's largest gaming fair - the collaboration fuses Sennheiser's high-fidelity expertise with Mercedes-Benz's passion for precision, sensory-rich performance. The effort underscores a demand for top-tier acoustics that excite, meeting the moment with a Mercedes-AMG gaming edition of the lauded HD 620S, and a promise of more to come

"For gamers, sound is not a passive experience - it's essential for shaping an immersive world, and the raw emotion that comes from serious gameplay," said Johann Evanno, Category Director for Sennheiser Consumer Hearing. "From redlined engine notes to distant footsteps, the HD 620 Mercedes-AMG Edition can elevate in-game audio cues into a competitive advantage."

Mere days after Worms: Galactic Tactics leaked, hinting at the upcoming game's strategy-based gameplay, Team17 and Absolutely Games have revealed Galactic Tactics at Gamescom 2026. No official launch date has been provided, but Absolutely Games, the developer behind Galactic Tactics, has given us a look at what the gameplay will be like when the game eventually launches. Team17 also snuck in an announcement at the end of the Galactic Tactics trailer that hints at a 2.5D remake of the classic original Worms game.

Worms: Galactic Tactics is a new isometric, 3D spin on the Worms franchise, with XCOM-like turn-based tactical gameplay. Galactic Tactics will still inherit the goofy voice lines, whimsical character design, over-the-top weapons, and destructible environments from its predecessor, but it will no longer be confined to a 2D side view. The game's premise is that the characters have all been kidnapped from their home world and are being made to compete in a gladiator arena in multi-stage death matches of increasing difficulty. The game will feature both single- and multi-player game modes, and presumably, there will be local multiplayer.

ASUS launched the ROG Spatha X wireless gaming mouse in 2021 as an upgrade to the 2016 MMO gaming mouse, and at Gamescom 2026, the company has once again updated the MMO mouse with new capabilities and a spec bump. The new Spatha X 65K, as the name suggests, features an upgrade to the same Aimpoint Pro 65K sensor that's being used in the new ASUS ROG Gladius IV Ace wireless mouse also introduced at Gamescom.

The sensor update allows the Spatha X 65K a sensitivity of up to 65,000 DPI and adjustable lift-off distance (LOD). The Spatha X 65K also has ASUS's updated ROG Push-Fit Switch Socket III hot-swap design for the main clicks. By default, the Spatha X 65K is available with the ROG Micro Switch II, which has a crisp click and 100 million-click durability rating, or the ROG Silent Micro Switch, which is a silent switch with a rated lifespan of 50 million clicks.

Rainbow Six: Tactics leaked way back in January 2026 as an upcoming tactics game in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six universe, and Ubisoft officially announced Tactics at Gamescom opening night, revealing details about the game and the game's trailer. Rainbow Six: Tactics will be a single-player, story-based title featuring operators from Rainbow Six Siege, and it is slated to launch in 2027.

Rainbow Six: Tactics will feature turn-based tactics gameplay akin to that of XCOM, which will demand that players use their surroundings and destructible environments to gain the upper hand and outsmart enemies in order to gather clues and take down a global conspiracy. Combat encounters will take place in a number of global locations, and players will have access to the same weapons, gear, tactical tools, recon gadgets, and breaching tools as are available to them in Rainbow Six: Siege. Ubisoft says that the game will have around 25 hours of total play time to complete the campaign.

ASUS held an extensive press event today at Gamescom, where, among many new products, the fourth generation of the ROG Gladius gaming mouse was introduced, following the ROG Gladius III that was launched in 2021. The ROG Gladius IV Ace uses an ergonomic design and weighs just 56 g. The weight balance can be adjusted using the three included weights (3 g, 5 g, and 7 g) giving users a total of eight configurations. The mouse itself measures 127.5 x 67.7 x 44.15 mm and uses the ROG AimPoint Pro 65K sensor with up to 65,000 DPI and 11 selectable lift-off distances (LODs). It also features ROG 100M optical micro switches and large 100% PTFE feet. The ROG SpeedNova 8K Gen II receiver provides 8,000 Hz polling and, according to ASUS, improved power efficiency over the previous generation. Connectivity also includes 2.4 GHz RF, Bluetooth 6.0, and USB Type-C wired with the 2-meter ROG Paracord cable included.

The Gladius IV Ace adds a Zone Mode with competition-oriented profiles that adjust polling, sensor responsiveness, frame-rate tuning, and transmit power. Configuration is available through the browser-based ROG Gear Link software. The mouse will be available in Q3 2026 in Black, Moonlight White, Lava Red, and Aqua Blue variants, with a dedicated carrying case. ASUS has not announced pricing yet.More pictures follow.

Following its earlier Computex debut in Taiwan this year, the leading manufacturer of premium PC components HYTE is excited to share that its Y50 RGB Essential Aesthetic Case is now available for purchase for $99.99. The Y50 RGB retains HYTE's signature aesthetic with its three-piece panoramic glass, dual-chamber layout, and impeccable build quality while introducing stair-stepped flooring for extra personalization, horizontal GPU mounting for multi-GPU setups, and native support for rear-connect ecosystems like ASUS BTF, Gigabyte STEALTH, and MSI Project ZERO ATX form factor motherboards. The case also supports up to nine fans and dual 360 mm radiators on the case's top and side panels, with symmetrical front I/O cleanly tucked into the case's corner. The case launches today in five colorways - Snow White, Pitch Black, Black Cherry, Strawberry Milk, and Taro Milk - and comes with four ARGB fans pre-installed.

"More than just being our first mainstream-accessible case, the Y50 RGB is the opener for HYTE's next chapter, as we've poured all of our time and energy in streamlining parts of the case that are not as useful or interesting to certain consumers while maintaining the quality standards fans expect from our previous Y-Series and X-Series case launches," said Jeffrey Cheng, Senior Director of Sales and Marketing. "We're also excited to dual-launch these cases with our parent company iBUYPOWER as the first official prebuilt systems using these cases.

Today, Lenovo announced new Lenovo LOQ laptops, a LOQ Tower, and two Legion Monitors for gamers beginning their gaming journeys. Lenovo's gaming portfolio is designed to empower gamers of all levels to chase - and eventually reach - their "Impossible," whether in esports, education, game design or wherever their ambitions take them. LOQ provides an accessible entry point into PC gaming, with LOQ Essential configurations representing the most accessible offerings in the LOQ lineup. Legion delivers advanced gaming laptops, desktops, displays and peripherals for enthusiasts, creators and competitive players as their ambitions and performance needs grow.

Lenovo's Legion Gaming Monitors reflect the same commitment, offering a range of display technologies, sizes, and resolutions designed to help players get the most from their games and gaming setups. Lenovo's commitment to gaming also extends to its partnerships. As an official Founding Partner of the Esports World Cup, Lenovo is supporting leading esports athletes with top-tier Legion gaming hardware as they pursue their own Impossible during the championship rounds of the world's largest esports competition.

LG Electronics (LG) today announced U.S. availability for its latest UltraGear gaming monitor (model 25G590B), priced at $999.99. As the world's first Full HD (FHD / 1,920 x 1,080) gaming monitor with a native 1000 Hz refresh rate, the new UltraGear model delivers the speed, clarity and consistency needed for competitive gaming. To celebrate its launch, customers who pre-order by August 31, 2026, can receive two years of LG Premium Care for $1 and earn 5% back in MyLG Rewards.

Built with fast-paced first-person shooter (FPS) titles in mind, the 25G590B features a 25-inch display size widely favored in esports, allowing players to track opponents and scan the in-game environment efficiently to support faster reaction times and sharper tactical decision-making. An integrated FPS Counter adds another layer of performance visibility, giving players real-time data on how smoothly every frame is loading, whether they're deep in competitive play, editing content or watching a movie.

The latest mVolt+ v0.36 update added a number of video card power and voltage management features that appear to make it possible to bypass the stock power limits of some NVIDIA RTX 50-series GPUs without the typical shunt mod or flashing a new vBIOS. Using the new capabilities, one user on r/Overclocking on Reddit claims to have reached 700 W total power draw on their NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, scoring 16,523 points in 3DMark Steel Nomad in the process. That's a 125 W up from a stock 5090 TDP of 575 W.

Based on the screenshots of the aforementioned 3DMark benchmark, the GPU topped out at 3,127 MHz, which is a substantial 720 MHz higher than the reference design's 2,407 MHz clock speed. Another user, reporting their results to VideoCardz, managed to overclock an ASUS ROG Astral NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 OC to draw a total of 680 W, up from a stock TDP of 400 W—although this can be increased to 450 W with an official tool. In this case, the user notes that there is no shunt mod in use.

Welcome to what is technically the last week of August and we have a week packed with new releases, several coming from known franchises. We kick off the week in a galaxy far, far away with some turned-based tactics, as this week's major release. The week's regular lineup starts with a survival-adventure onboard a very famous ship and we quickly go from there back into space, but this time with some xenomorphs involved. Next up we have some anime-inspired turn-based strategy, followed by a prequel to a 2019 hit game and finally we round off the week with an old school metroidvania type hack and slash game. Check out this week's other releases for some more franchise action and more.

Star Wars Zero Company / This week's major release / Thursday 27 August
Command an elite squad through a gritty and authentic story in Star Wars Zero Company, a single-player turn-based tactics game set in the twilight of the Clone Wars. You will step into the shoes of Hawks, a former Republic officer who leads Zero Company as they are recruited for an operation that pits them against an emerging threat that will consume the galaxy if left unchecked. Steam link

RAWM, the Chinese peripherals manufacturer, has officially revealed the Leviathan V4 GT, a new lightweight wireless gaming mouse that is slated to feature hybrid optical-magnetic mouse switches, much like Keychron's recent G6 HE. The Leviathan V4 GT is based on the same Logitech G Pro X shape that the brand has featured in its other gaming mouse launches, and the V4 GT even has a similar black-and-white color scheme to the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike (read TechPowerUp's full in-depth G Pro X2 Superstrike review here) that it is aiming to compete with using the adjustable actuation switches.

The mouse maker has yet to publish a price for the Leviathan V4 GT, but it shared a spec highlight in a post on X. In the post, RAWM revealed that the Leviathan V4 GT would weigh in at around 54 g, feature a custom MCU based on the Nordic nRF54, 8 kHz polling rate in both wired and wireless modes, and an optical encoder. Logitech is also planning an imminent replacement for the X2 Superstrike, which will supposedly come in around 4-5 g heavier than RAWM's offering.

One of the outcomes of the recent Xbox Reset that also resulted in 3,200 job cuts is that Xbox Game Studios cut ties with a handful of its recently acquired game studios. Compulsion Games, the studio behind We Happy Few and South of Midnight, is one of the game studios that became independent again after what has been revealed to be a management buyout.

Following the buyout, Compulsion Games CEO, Guillaume Provost, commented in an interview with GamesBeat that the studio is currently working through the legal work to get publishing rights back for all of its IPs. Provost confirmed that the studio is aiming to be self-sufficient by being selective with which projects the team will tackle.

Marvel Fighting: Tōkon Souls has seemingly had a bit of a rough start to life, with the game's launch kicking off with optimization complaints on top of PSN issues. Now, just over two weeks after the game's August 6 launch, numbers have come out that indicate its commercial performance may also be a bit of a disappointment.

According to @GameDataLibrary on X, an account that tracks Japanese game sales, Marvel Fighting: Tōkon Souls underperformed in Japan, raking in a mere 2,814 retail sales during its launch week. Retail sales only account for physical sales, and Japanese physical sales are disproportionately high compared to other markets, with some PS5 games seeing up to 51% of sales coming from physical copies.

Acer has officially launched the Nitro 30 PC in Japan, a 28 L gaming PC powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 8700F and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, as the latest in its line-up of Nitro pre-built gaming desktops. The chassis features a semi-closed front panel with an edgy Nitro logo emblazoned on the front, and it has a tempered glass side panel to show off the internals. For now, it seems as though the Nitro 30 is exclusive to Japan, but a global launch may be planned for a later date, given the presence of the Nitro 85 and Nitro 60 in international markets.

The internals feature the aforementioned AMD Ryzen CPU, 32 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM in dual channel, a 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD, and a built-in wireless card with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity. The compact desktop chassis comes with an 850 W 80 Plus Gold PSU and two pre-installed 120 mm RGB case fans and another 120 mm RGB fan on the top-flow CPU cooler. The front intake has space for another 120 mm fan, but it does not look like there is additional space for more intake or exhaust fans.