Some of you may have noticed I recently covered a Kickstarter keyboard, the Marsback M1, and there's another one just round the corner too. While looking at the Kickstarter link for more details, I went down a rabbit hole and found some fantastically bizarre items that maybe are worth a short series on. First up, and from MSI themselves, is the Liberator! What it liberates you from, or at least aims to do so, is the use of a keyboard+mouse combination for directional movement by instead offering foot controls in the form of a pedal. The tech in itself is not new, with several ergonomic designs come out over the years for those physically challenged or even just wanting to make better use of legs and improving circulation while sitting down for hours. This take, however, is my first introduction to a gaming foot pedal, because why not slap gaming on everything in addition to the mandatory RGB lighting?

MSI has been quiet about the Liberator, despite a supposed debut of March 16 (today!). There is a dedicated Facebook page for the product which is chock-full of hilarious marketing that you need to use, albeit in Mandarin, and Google Translate does not do it much justice either. This in turn leads to the Typeform page which, again in Mandarin, walks you through some of the salient features including three large pads with Omron-branded switches, game/macro compatibility with some AAA games including the Far Cry series in addition to some racing games, and localized pricing information that leads us to believe this will be a relatively expensive product (~$100 discounted on the crowdfunding platform, ~$140 otherwise) with the usual caveat of how directly converting foreign currency prices is best for an estimate only. What do you think about the MSI Liberator? Share your thoughts in the comments section and let us know if this is something you want to see announced globally.

As security and innovation collide, Denuvo by Irdeto today announces it has joined the exclusive PlayStation 5 Tools and Middleware program. Denuvo, the leader in video games protection, offers its Anti-Cheat solution through this program to publishers and developers whose games are available on PlayStation 5.

Denuvo is at the forefront of games security with over 2 billion unique game installs protected across all platforms, and over 1,000 games secured. Joining the PlayStation 5 Tools and Middleware program therefore fosters Denuvo's continued commitment to excellence and innovation in game security. It also supports Denuvo's goal of protecting the developers' investment, where approximately 70% of their revenue is earned in the first two weeks after the launch of a game.

Cloud gaming companies have had limited success with Google recently shutting down Stadia game studios and NVIDIA having trouble getting games for their platform. Shadow, the cloud gaming service operated by Blade looked promising with high-end hardware and a large wait-list of customers however it all appears to have come to an end after the company filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. The Paris Commercial Court ruled that the server provider 2CRSi used by Shadow retains the right to take 30.2 million EURO worth of hardware to pay debts owed. The US branch of the company also filed for bankruptcy in the California Northern Bankruptcy Court with similar debts owed to 2CRSi. Blade issued a statement claiming that their Shadow game streaming service had been a victim of its own success and that they hope to find a new investor for the company so that they can keep it's hardware.

As a leading brand in True Gaming hardware, MSI is proud to announce a new graphics card line-up based on the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT GPU, uniting the latest in graphics technology, high-performance circuit board design and advanced cooling.

GAMING series
MSI brings the GAMING series with the iconic TWIN FROZR 8 thermal design to the MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card. Compared to the previous generation, the dual fan design has been improved with TORX FAN 4.0, binding fan blade pairs together with an outer link to focus airflow into the TWIN FROZR 8 cooling system. The heatsink features advanced aerodynamic and thermodynamic technologies for efficient heat dissipation, reducing temperatures while maintaining high performance. A new design emphasizes the dazzling Mystic Light RGB infused into the card. Gamers can easily control and synchronize LED-lit components with the upgraded MSI Dragon Center software.

When we were designing Xbox Series X|S, we wanted to ensure that games feel true-to-life, load incredibly fast, and sound as if you were dropped in the middle of the action. We embraced spatial sound processing by including custom audio hardware to offload audio processing from the CPU, dramatically improving the accessibility, quality, and performance of these experiences. Having a high-quality set of headphones at an affordable price for your new console or existing Xbox One will help you feel immersed, react faster to the action, and connect further with your gaming worlds.

With each new generation of our Xbox accessories, we've raised the bar for innovation by focusing on performance, stand-out features, quality, and accessibility to deliver immersive experiences across console, PC, and mobile devices. We are excited to build on this legacy with the latest accessory to join the family: the new Xbox Wireless Headset.

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gear for gamers and creators, is pleased to announce it has acquired Visuals by Impulse, the world's premium design platform for creators, which will join CORSAIR under its existing Elgato brand.

Founded in 2015, Visuals by Impulse (VBI) provides professional design for creators on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming. Streamers around the world use VBI overlays, alerts, and widgets to customize their broadcasts and grow their fanbases. Thanks to VBI technology and design, anyone can create stylish, personalized live-streaming content — from first-time creators to streaming superstars.

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear, and Enthusiast Memory solutions, is excited to announce that the Pacific V-RTX 3070 GPU Water Block and Pacific V-RTX 3080/3090 GPU Water Block are both ready to sell.

The Pacific V-RTX 3070 GPU Water Block and Pacific V-RTX 3080/3090 GPU Water Block are both RGB designed waterblocks for ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 3070 and 3080/3090 graphic cards; these transparent water blocks are part of the TT RGB ecosystem and support the TT RGB Plus software, displaying 16.8M RGB lighting effects to create the best visual effects for the users' builds. They also support various motherboards with a 5 V addressable RGB header allowing users to control the lighting effects through the synchronized software, such as ASUS Aura Sync and MSI Mystic Light Sync. Their high-water flow design, mirror-finished CU base, and micro-channel structure guarantee these water blocks' performance and visual aesthetics. Therefore, if you happen to get an ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 3070 or a 3080/3090 graphics card, come try out our latest Pacific V-RTX 3070 GPU Water Block or the Pacific V-RTX 3080/3090 GPU Water Block.

At the beginning of 2021, MSI, a would-leading motherboards brand, had announed the latest Intel 500 series platforms will launch soon. Through few weeks of waiting, on January 27th, MSI Intel 500 series motherboards are officially launched.

As MSI official announcement mentioned, all of MSI 500 series motherboards with 11th Gen Intel Core processors support PCIe 4.0, and all of Z590 Wi-Fi motherboards have at least one 2.5G LAN and the latest Wi-Fi 6E solution which extends to 6 GHz spectrum providing remarkble user experience when streaming, gaming and even working from home.

ASUS has been super hyped-up about the popular Japanese military science fiction media franchise/media mix called GUNDAM, where the company has developed multiple products based on the series. Starting with the all-white GUNDAM GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards to the latest edition of ASUS TUF Gaming X3 GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER ZAKU II EDITION graphics card, ASUS seems to be loving the fiction universe of GUNDAM. The latest GTX 1660 SUPER graphics card is a factory overclocked design with a slight improvement to the boost speed. The GPU will boost up to 1830 MHz, representing a mere 2.5% improvement. The rest of the specifications match the reference GTX 1660 SUPER design with 1408 CUDA cores and 6 GB of GDDR6 14 Gbps memory.

However, the main appealing and marketing thing about this card is not its overclocking speeds, but rather its aesthetics. It features Char's MS-06S ZAKU II Mobile Suit color scheme, which is a red colorway. It comes in a 2.7 slot body with a triple-fan cooling system, and a special red backplate with some stylish character animation.

During the 19th Annual J.P. Morgan Tech/Auto Forum Conference, NVIDIA has talked about the possibility of special graphics cards dedicated to mining purposes. The special edition crypto mining GPU is a form of graphics card that has no display outputs, and possibly a few defective texture units. Usually, GPUs that end up with defective texture units end up as waste, however, as crypto mining requires only the compute element from the GPU, these products could be rebranded as mining GPUs. But, it seems like NVIDIA is currently somewhere in the middle ground and weighing in whatever the company sees something like that as a feasible option.

During the conference, NVIDIA's Colette Kress, a chief financial officer, had said a few things about the possible production of GPUs dedicated to crypto mining. "If crypto demand begins or if we see a meaningful amount, we can also use that opportunity to restart the CMP [mining-specific GPUs] product line to address ongoing mining demand," said Ms. Kress. She added that "We [NVIDIA] don't have visibility on how much of the GeForce RTX 30-series end demand comes from mining. So, we don't believe it's a big part of our business today. Gaming demand is very strong, and we think that's larger than our current supply." And that is an understandable thing. Right now crypto mining is hot because of Bitcoin's price, however, NVIDIA can't predict if it will crash a lot or not, so the company doesn't want to risk starting a big production for something that can burst like a bubble.

LG Electronics (LG) announces a planned partnership with Google to bring Stadia to its latest webOS smart TVs in the second half of this year. After Stadia comes to Google TV, LG will be the first TV manufacturer to natively support Stadia gameplay via webOS.

LG is demonstrating its commitment to supporting premium gaming on its state-of-the-art displays, made even more compelling with support for 4k and 5.1 surround sound for Stadia Pro users. Stadia on LG TVs will allow customers to instantly play hit Stadia games such as Cyberpunk 2077, NBA 2K21, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion with just a Stadia controller and no additional hardware or game downloads required.

ASUS has today surprised everyone and decided to launch the first custom design of AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card. Previously, the word was that AMD was debating with AIBs whatever to open the GPU to custom designs or keep it AMD PCB exclusive. However, thanks to today's launch, we now know that AMD will allow its partners to design their PCBs and push the Big Navi silicon to its maximum. So when it comes to pushing to maximum, enter the world of ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards, designed to fit in the line of ASUSes TUF principals.

Featuring a triple fan, triple-slot (2.9 slots more precisely )body, the graphics card is built around Navi 21 XTX GPU. This means that only the best needs to be brought to the card as it is a premium product. That is why the company says that "The TUF GAMING Radeon RX 6900 XT is a tenacious beast with a tough metal exterior, super-efficient cooling, and components that offer enhanced endurance." The built-in cooler offers 0dB cooler technology, meaning that fans will not spin unless the GPU reaches 55 degrees C temperature. The card is powered by two eight-pin connectors, so it seems that power supply requirements are not changed compared to the reference card. While the exact specifications are not known, you can expect the card to boost over the standard 2250 MHz frequency, as it is factory overclocked. Pricing is also not yet confirmed but a slight premium is expected as well.

During CES 2020, way back in January of this year, Razer had shown off a quite interesting concept. Called a modular gaming desktop, the concept has a goal to allow users to just swap-out parts on the fly and have no trouble doing so. Today, the company has officially decided to launch the Tomahawk gaming desktop. Designed for small-form-factor computing, the case of the Tomahawk PC is coming in at just 10L volume, with measurements of 210 mm x 365 mm x 150 mm. The case is an all-black aluminium silhouette with the signature Razer logo and Chroma lighting around the base. That gives it a simple look that can blend in with any environment.

When it comes to the insides, the PC features a power supply of 750 Watts that powers one of Intel's NUC Element boards that is a house for a 45 W Core i9-9980HK Coffee Lake processor with eight cores and 16 threads. When it comes to memory, it has 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD storage, paired with a 2 TB hard drive. Razer offers users to upgrade memory and storage, while the CPU is soldered to the board. You can pre-order the Razer Tomahawk PC at a price starting at $2,399.99, while if you want to equip it with something like NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, you will be paying $3,199.99. If you already have a GPU to install, then you should just order the base.

During the first day of the Snapdragon Tech Summit Digital, Qualcomm Incorporated President, Cristiano Amon took the virtual stage with global industry leaders to highlight the critical role Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-Series mobile platforms have played to drive experiences forward for the next generation of devices. Qualcomm Technologies' innovation in the premium tier, coupled with the evolution of 5G, is accelerating and continuing to redefine immersive consumer experiences. The proliferation of these premium tier experiences has and will continue to enrich the lives of billions of smartphone users around the world.

"Creating premium experiences takes a relentless focus on innovation. It takes long term commitment, even in the face of immense uncertainty," said Cristiano Amon, president, Qualcomm Incorporated. "It takes an organization that's focused on tomorrow, to continue to deliver the technologies that redefine premium experiences."

Facebook has recently announced that their gaming platform has launched several cloud-streamed games playable in the Android Facebook app and through the web browser on PC. The service has been in a limited beta for some time with over 200,000 people trying it in limited regions. Facebook makes it clear that the new offering is not intended to compete with more enthusiast options and will instead focus on low-power games on mobile and web. Facebook intends to target the 380 million people who play games through Facebook every month with native integration of cloud games alongside HTML5 games.

The service is launching with several latency-tolerant games including Asphalt 9: Legends, Mobile Legends: Adventure, PGA TOUR Golf Shootout, Solitaire: Arthur's Tale, and WWE SuperCard. Facebook won't be launching cloud games on iOS due to the uncertainty around the feature with Apple's current policies and the issues Microsoft has encountered trying to bring xCloud to Apple devices. Facebook Gaming cloud games are now available to try for customers across select US regions on the Facebook app for Android and on the web.

Porsche Design and AOC have entered a partnership that combines Porsche Design's sophisticated and functional design philosophy with AOC's state-of-the-art display technology. Together they will bring exceptional gaming monitors to the market, developed for gamers looking for the highest performance while infusing their gaming stations dramatic style. The first ever Porsche Design AOC AGON gaming monitor will be launched in autumn 2020.

The Porsche Design brand is synonymous with exclusive lifestyle products, which stands for precision and perfection. The company's pure design philosophy is to optimize form and function by discovering new and innovative solutions. AOC is a subsidiary of TPV Technology, the largest LCD monitor manufacturer in the world. Thanks to its excellent, high performance and unique gaming displays from the AOC Gaming and the premium AGON lines, AOC holds the number one position in the global gaming monitor market.

SPC Gear, the gaming label of the European manufacturer SilentiumPC, presents the new Onyx White version of its ultra-light gaming mice LIX Plus and LIX. The name LIX has its origins in Roman and stands for the number 59, which in turn stands for the total weight of mere 59 grams of the featherlight gaming mice. SPC Gear has developed both the LIX Plus Onyx White and the LIX Onyx White for games that require quick response times, high speeds and precise directional changes. This is realized by utilizing the Pixart PMW3360 on the LIX Plus Onyx White and the Pixart PMW3325 sensor on the LIX Onyx White. Both are also equipped with TPFE mouse skates to enable lightning-fast movements and Omron switches to ensure that players' actions are executed with the appropriate speed. The lightweight is due to the special honeycomb design of the mouse shell, which also cools the hand.

The Onyx White version of the LIX Plus and LIX gaming mice uses the proven honeycomb design of the series and blends the mouse as well as the sleeved Paracord cables in elegant white color. The fully addressable RGB lighting is implemented in the LIX Onyx White models and offers a vast variety of color choices and effects. Gamers are able to customize the lighting for the scroll wheel, the chassis and the SPC Gear logo inside the structure separated according to their liking. It is also possible to assign separate colors and effects to the individual profiles, allowing the users to immediately see which profile is currently active.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the new BlackWidow V3 and BlackWidow V3 Tenkeyless, continuing the legacy of the world's first mechanical gaming keyboard, now updated with a plethora of new features and improvements to once again dominate the game.

Since its launch in 2010, the BlackWidow range of keyboards is the benchmark by which all other mechanical gaming keyboards are measured, and has been continuously upgraded and updated with new technologies to maintain its market leading position. With improved key switches, Doubleshot ABS keycaps, brighter Razer Chroma RGB lighting, dedicated media keys with digital roller, and an ergonomic wrist rest, the BlackWidow V3 represents the pinnacle of gaming keyboards.

[Editor's note: Our review of the CORSAIR K100 keyboard can be found here.]

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the launch of its new flagship gaming keyboard, the incomparable CORSAIR K100 RGB. Every detail is built for speed, starting with new CORSAIR AXON Hyper-Processing Technology, delivering your inputs up to four times faster than conventional gaming keyboards. The CORSAIR K100 RGB is equipped with a wide array of premium features that enhance both form and function, such as a refined aluminum frame, a multi-function iCUE control wheel, a 44-zone RGB LightEdge, and PBT double-shot keycaps with a standard bottom row. Available in a mechanical version featuring CHERRY MX SPEED Silver keyswitches, or an optical-mechanical version with exclusive new CORSAIR OPX keyswitches, the CORSAIR K100 RGB is the new pinnacle of gaming keyboards.

Debuting in the CORSAIR K100 RGB, onboard CORSAIR AXON Hyper-Processing Technology delivers peak performance unmatched by any other gaming keyboard on the market today. AXON enables native 4,000Hz hyper-polling and 4,000Hz key scanning, registering your keypresses up to four times faster than a standard gaming keyboard. Whether you choose the mechanical precision of CHERRY MX SPEED Silver keyswitches or the hyper-fast 1.0 mm actuation of CORSAIR OPX optical-mechanical keyswitches, AXON ensures that every input is read and delivered to your PC faster than ever before.

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear, and Enthusiast Memory solutions is thrilled to introduce four budget-friendly chassis, the Versa T25 TG/ T35 TG RGB & H330 TG/ H350 TG RGB Mid-Tower Chassis. The overall designs allow users to display their interior designs clearly, the new Versa T25 TG and Versa T35 TG RGB Chassis comes with two tempered glass panels at the front and on the left site. While Versa T25 TG has a plain full-size tempered glass front panel, and the Versa T35 TG RGB has an RGB belt across the front panel that can be controlled by the RGB button on the IO-port; exhibiting two RGB stripes and some angles that bring some twist to the Versa series.

Being one of the two RGB enclosures the H350 TG RGB Mid-Tower Chassis inherits the consistent RGB lighting design while bringing in some new elements into the H series. The H350 TG RGB also has an RGB button along with a controllable RGB stripe which slashes through the matte front panel, distinguishing it from the previous version. The H330 TG, however, has a trapezoid-shaped solid panel while leaving the rest of the front panel with a meshed filtered design. Both H330 TG and H350 TG RGB enclosures have a tempered glass side panel for users to show off their design as well. These entry-level chassis all have inlets on the front panel to maximize air intake, and each comes with a preinstalled 120 mm fan at the rear. These four enclosures not only do they bring a new appearance to the Thermaltake chassis family, but ensure excellent ventilation.

Palit Microsystems Ltd, the leading graphics card manufacturer, today launched the GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080, RTX 3070 GameRock and GamingPro Series powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture.

The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs, the 2nd generation of RTX, features new RT Cores, Tensor Cores and streaming multiprocessors, bringing stunning visuals, amazingly fast frame rates, and AI acceleration to games and creative applications. Powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, which delivers increases of up to 1.9X performance-per-watt over the previous generation, the RTX 30 Series effortlessly powers graphics experiences at all resolutions, even up to 8K at the top end. The GeForce RTX 3090, 3080, and 3070 represent the greatest GPU generational leap in the history of NVIDIA.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G Mobile Platform, a follow-on to the Snapdragon 730G. Snapdragon 732G is designed to deliver immersive gameplay backed by smarter, faster artificial intelligence (AI) and accelerated performance, including an upgraded GPU and CPU compared to the previous generation.

"Snapdragon 732G will deliver a powerful gaming experience, sophisticated on-device AI, and superior performance," said Kedar Kondap, vice president of product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "We're excited to work with POCO on the new POCO smartphone powered by the enhanced Snapdragon 732G globally."

NVIDIA on Wednesday posted its Q2 Fiscal Year 2021 financial results, and the most startling result has been a breakdown of the company's $3.86 billion quarterly revenue among its various businesses. Turns out, that Data Center, and not Gaming, is NVIDIA's largest revenue generator for the quarter. Growing 54 percent over the previous quarter, this division contributed $1.74 billion, as opposed to $1.65 billion from Gaming (up 24 percent QoQ). The Gaming business includes NVIDIA's GeForce line of discrete graphics solutions and the GeForce NOW cloud gaming service.

Much of the growth in revenues for the Data Center business is attributable to the addition of revenues by Mellanox - a network infrastructure company NVIDIA acquired, and adoption of NVIDIA's new A100 Tensor Core GPUs by several new supercomputer projects focused on AI. NVIDIA's scalar processors now power 2/3rds of the supercomputers on the TOP500 list.

MSI, leader in true gaming hardware, is proud to announce the VIGOR GK50 ELITE series Gaming Keyboard, CLUTCH GM08 Gaming Mouse and VIGOR WR01 Wrist Rest to provide more choices for mainstream gamers with a determination to win and a refined gaming design. Strikingly Sleek for Gaming - GK50 ELITE releases with two types of mechanical switches, Kailh Box white and Kailh blue. Both switches are clicky, meaning they have both a tactile and audible click when pressing. The box white switch offers better stability, a crisper typing experience, better durability at 80 million actuations and IP56 water- and dust resistance.

AOC, a worldwide leader in monitor display technology, today releases a striking new 34-inch QHD curved frameless gaming monitor, the AOC CU34G2X. The AOC CU34G2X is part of AOC's new G2 series and is available on Amazon for $449.99 starting August 11, 2020.

Closer to the Action
Gamers will relish a pro-grade experience through this 1500R curved design allowing users to take full advantage of peripheral vision, and offering deeper immersion without distortion. Its VA panel along with 3440x1440 resolution puts users in the middle of the action.