Daedalic Entertainment has published the official PC system requirements for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and these are quite high, especially considering that the game has been delayed several times and that it will be available for Nintendo Switch. Even though game has opened up pre-orders on Steam earlier today, many users are wary that the game might be another unoptimized PC port, specifically due to its high RAM and graphics card requirements.

Developed by Daedalic Entertainment and co-published by Daedalic Entertainment and NACON, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will be available on May 25, 2023 on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and at a later date on Nintendo Switch. As far as PC system requirements are concerned, you'll need at least an Intel Core i7-4770 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and either an GTX 1080 or RTX 2060 graphics card, and this will get you 1080p resolution at medium preset and no ray tracing. For recommended requirements that will run the game at 1440p with ray tracing and DLSS Quality, you'll need an Intel Core i3-6100 or AMD Ryzen 2600 CPU, a hefty 32 GB of RAM, and an RTX 3080 graphics card. The game will have both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 support, and need 45 GB of storage space.

SUPER BOMBERMAN R 2 release date confirmed! SBR2 physical launch on SEPT. 12, digital launch on SEPT. 13, 2023! SBR2 is the perfect way to mark the Bomberman series' 40th anniversary this year. Pre-orders are open NOW! The latest title of the party battle games series SUPER BOMBERMAN R! With new adventures and game modes, it has the largest content volume in the series' history! The game features not only offline battles that can be played with family and friends, but also online battles that connect players from all over the world, as well as a single player mode.

In addition to the well-known "Standard", "Grand Prix" and "Battle 64" a new battle mode called "Castle" in which players are divided into Attack side and Castle side to battle for the treasure! A "Stage Editor" function has also been added, allowing players to create their own stages for "Castle" and share them online with players around the globe.

In February, we brought a preview of PC Game Pass to 40 new countries for the first time ever. The response was incredible. Thank you to all the players who jumped in to test the experience and help us shape the preview. New members looking to join PC Game Pass can head to PC Game Pass website to learn more about local pricing as well as how to sign up.

To celebrate the launch, new members will receive a special welcome offer for their first three months for a limited time. Those who were a part of our Insider Program will receive two free months of PC Game Pass membership, with no further action needed, as a thank you for helping us shape the experience and being one of the first PC Game Pass members in your country. This will be available directly in member's accounts in the coming days.

Naughty Dog has released yet another patch for the PC version of The Last of Us Part 1, fixing the so-called mouse camera stuttering. Unfortunately, it does not fix anything else as just four days ago, Naughty Dog released a big patch fixing over 40 bugs.

Naughty Dog is still looking into some other issues like shader loading, various performance and stability issues, potential memory leak issues, and issues with corrupted textures, so this will not be the last patch for the game.

Personal computers (PCs) based on Arm architecture will grow in popularity and their market share will almost double from 14% now to 25% by 2027, according to Counterpoint Research's latest projections. The ability of Arm-based hardware to run Mac OS has allowed Apple to capture 90% of the Arm-based notebook computer market. However, the full support of Windows and Office365 and the speed of native Arm-based app adoption are also critical factors in determining the Arm SoC penetration rate in PCs. Once these factors are addressed, Arm-based PCs will become a viable option for both daily users and businesses.

As more existing PC OEMs/ODMs and smartphone manufacturers enter the market, they will bring their expertise in Arm-based hardware and software, which will further boost the popularity of Arm-based PCs. The availability of more native Arm-based apps will also increase user comfort and familiarity with the platform. Overall, the trend towards Arm-based PCs is expected to continue and their market share will likely increase significantly in the coming years.

The PC Gaming Show 2023 will return on June 11th, despite the fact that E3 2023 show has been cancelled. The show will broadcast on Twitch, Youtube, and other platforms and follow the Xbox Games Showcase, as announced by PC Gamer. PC Gamer has also confirmed that Sean "Day[9]" Plott will be returning as the host of the show.

The PC Gaming Show was started back in 2015 as a response to how the platform was underrepresented at the E3 show, showing reveals, announcements, trailers, and more for the PC platform. The precise broadcast time for the PC Gaming Show will be shared at a later date.

or the fifth consecutive month, International Data Corporation (IDC) has lowered its 2023 forecast for worldwide IT spending as technology investments continue to show the impact of a weakening economy. In its new monthly forecast for worldwide IT spending growth, IDC projects overall growth this year in constant currency of 4.4% to $3.25 trillion. This is slightly down from 4.5% in the previous month's forecast and represents a swing from a 6.0% growth forecast in October 2022.

"Since the fourth quarter of last year, we have seen clear and measurable signs of a moderate pullback in some areas of IT spending," said Stephen Minton, vice president in IDC's Data & Analytics research group. "Tech spending remains resilient compared to historical economic downturns and other types of business spending, but rising interest rates are now impacting capital spending."

INTERCEPTOR: INTRODUCING UPDATE 4.2 - Venture to forsaken Sentinel worlds in update 4.2, INTERCEPTOR! Explore corrupted planets, fight a legion of challenging new robotic guardians, hijack their technology, steal their ships, harvest their resources, destroy their freighters, and much, much more! It's been lovely to watch our players enjoying what Fractal (our first No Man's Sky update of 2023) had to offer and it's been thrilling to watch you all cruising around in your shiny new Utopia Speeders and filling up your Wonders Catalogues with your latest discoveries.

Barely six weeks later and we are delighted to launch another major update for No Man's Sky, and it's one of our largest in recent memory. We're calling Interceptor, with a brand new class of incredibly varied Starship, a bunch of new gameplay features, new world variants and a ton of new content! The ever-present tyrants of universe enforcement, the Sentinels, have become prey to a corruption that is spreading through their factions. Only the bravest Travellers will dare venture to forsaken Sentinel worlds to investigate. Those that do, however, will find abandoned encampments to explore, intriguing crystals to harvest and, for the most persistent, the blueprints for a hitherto undiscovered Sentinel Interceptor starship which come in a huge variety of models.

CD PROJEKT RED's Cyberpunk 2077 is already one of the most technologically advanced games available, using several ray tracing techniques to render its neon-illuminated environments and vast Night City visuals at incredible levels of detail. On April 11th, a new Cyberpunk 2077 update will hit the streets, featuring the technology preview of the Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode, which enhances the game's already-amazing visuals with full ray tracing, otherwise known as path tracing.

Full ray tracing accurately simulates light throughout an entire scene. It is used by visual effects artists to create film and TV graphics that are indistinguishable from reality, but until the arrival of GeForce RTX GPUs with RT Cores, and the AI-powered acceleration of NVIDIA DLSS, real-time video game full ray tracing was impossible because it's extremely GPU intensive.

Naughty Dog shared a bit more details about fixes and patches coming for Last of Us Part I on PC, as well as the game verification for Steam Deck. As you already know, the PC version of the game had numerous issues and while some were fixed with two previous updates, it appears that two more are coming this week. According to Naughty Dog's official Twitter account, a new hotfix will be coming tomorrow, and a big patch is expected on Friday. The release notes will be available as soon as the hotfix is live, and more information about the big Friday patch is expected soon as well.

Naughty Dog also answered some questions about the Last of Us Part I verification for Steam Deck, and it appears it won't be coming soon as they are prioritizing fixes and patches for PC before submitting it for that same verification. Hopefully, these two new patches will fix the rest of the big issues and Steam Deck verification will come soon, as it was promised by Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann.

Naughty Dog has released its first v1.0.1.5 patch for the PC version of The Last of Us Part I, which fixes several performance issues that plagued PC users since the launch. The PC port of game leaves much to be desired, with a lot of reported crashes, optimization issues, and general gameplay issues, which led to a rather low rating on Steam.

Naughty Dog has already released an official statement over at Twitter, acknowledging issues and scrambling to fix them. "The Last of Us Part I PC players: we've heard your concerns, and our team is actively investigating multiple issues you've reported. We will continue to update you, but our team is prioritizing updates and will address issues in upcoming patches."

Update: The Last of Us Part I v1.0.1.6 Patch has been released on Steam, fixing several other issues. You can check out the full release notes below.

Although NAND suppliers have continued to roll back production, there is still an oversupply of NAND Flash as demand for products such as servers, smartphones, and notebooks is still too weak. Therefore, TrendForce predicts that the ASP of NAND Flash will continue to fall in 2Q23, though that decline may shrink to 5~10%. The key to supply and demand returning to a market equilibrium lies in whether NAND suppliers can cut back on production even more. TrendForce believes if demand remains stable, then the ASP of NAND Flash will have an opportunity to rebound in 4Q23; if demand is weaker than expected, then ASP will take longer to recover.

Client SSD: Currently, PC OEM's have managed to liquidate most of their component inventory, and are now gearing up in preparation for mid-year sales events. Suppliers are cutting prices to clear out their inventories of PCIe Gen 3 SSDs, which are gradually being phased out. Meanwhile, prices of PCIe Gen 4 SSDs continue to face downward pressure due to a slow intake of new customer orders. The continuous decline of QLC products in 1Q23 has also dragged down the prices of TLC products, and there is relatively little room for prices to keep falling in 2Q23. While it still remains unclear whether or not demand will recover, TrendForce projects that the prices of PC client SSDs will drop 5~10% in 2Q23.

Introducing the CHIONE P3 high-performance liquid cooler - the next-generation cooling solution designed to offer top-notch performance on any setup. The CHIONE P3 AIO features a highly customizable IPS LCD display to show off your own style, a high-performance motor pump to offer extreme cooling, and fine-tuned AEOLUS M3 PWM fans to provide superior airflow. Available with 360 mm and 240 mm radiator sizes, the CHIONE P3 is the ultimate cooling solution for gamers and enthusiasts.

PERSONALIZED LCD DISPLAY
Equipped with a customizable IPS LCD display, the CHIONE P3 allows you to monitor your system performance statistics in real-time, while also personalizing the screen with any images or animated GIFs as the background. The pump head features a stunning ARGB lighting ring with pre-installed lighting modes for a dazzling display of lighting effects.

TrendForce reports that several suppliers, such as Micron and SK hynix, have started scaling back DRAM production. The ASP of DRAM plunged 20% in 1Q23, and this price decline is predicted to slow down to 10~15% next quarter. It's uncertain whether or not demand will recover in 2H23. Therefore, the ASP of DRAM has continued to fall as inventory levels are high from the suppliers' side, and prices will only rebound if there is a significant decrease in production.

PC DRAM: Purchase quantity from buyers has fallen drastically over the past three quarters; buyers have around 9~13 weeks of PC DRAM stock remaining. Despite suppliers having already cut production in the PC DRAM segment, DDR4 8 GB module is still likely to fall by more than 10% in 2Q23. There is a possibility that PC OEMs may purchase more DRAM because prices have been down to a relatively low level, but it is still under observation whether or not this can mitigate the inventory overstock situation from the suppliers' side. TrendForce predicts the ASP of PC DRAM will fall between 10~15%.

HyperX, the gaming peripherals team at HP Inc. and brand leader in gaming and esports, today announced it is now shipping the HyperX Clutch Gladiate Wired Controller for Xbox. Designed for serious Xbox gamers, the new Clutch Gladiate delivers comfort and control for extended console gaming sessions.

"HyperX's range of Xbox accessories are designed to enhance the gaming experience for console players," said Aurelius Martinez, global category manager - cloud and console gaming, HyperX. "The new HyperX Clutch Gladiate brings players into the action and enables extended customization and control."

In an interview with The Guardian, NVIDIA's Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Michael Kagan added his remarks on the company and its cryptocurrency position. Being the maker of the world's most powerful graphics cards and compute accelerators, NVIDIA is the most prominent player in the industry regarding any computing application from cryptocurrencies to AI and HPC. In the interview, Mr. Kegan expressed his opinions and argued that newly found applications such as ChatGTP bring much higher value to society compared to cryptocurrencies. "All this crypto stuff, it needed parallel processing, and [Nvidia] is the best, so people just programmed it to use for this purpose. They bought a lot of stuff, and then eventually it collapsed, because it doesn't bring anything useful for society. AI does," said Kegan, adding that "I never believed that [crypto] is something that will do something good for humanity. You know, people do crazy things, but they buy your stuff, you sell them stuff. But you don't redirect the company to support whatever it is."

When it comes to AI and other applications, the company has a very different position. "With ChatGPT, everybody can now create his own machine, his own programme: you just tell it what to do, and it will. And if it doesn't work the way you want it to, you tell it 'I want something different," he added, arguing that the new AI applications have usability level beyond that of crypto. Interestingly, trading applications are also familiar to NVIDIA, as they had clients (banks) using their hardware for faster trading execution. Mr. Kegan noted: "We were heavily involved in also trading: people on Wall Street were buying our stuff to save a few nanoseconds on the wire, the banks were doing crazy things like pulling the fibers under the Hudson taut to make them a little bit shorter, to save a few nanoseconds between their datacentre and the stock exchange."

FromSoftware and Bandai Namco have released a new major patch for Elden Ring, implementing ray tracing on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X, as well as adding some gameplay improvements and fixing some bugs. Unfortunately, the game still does not support any upscaling technologies, so there is no support for DLSS or FSR, meaning that those ray tracing effects will have a rather high impact on frame rates.

The ray tracing patch for Elden Ring was announced back in November last year, and it certainly took a while before it was implemented. As detailed earlier, the ray tracing update for Elden Ring adds ambient occlusion and ray traced shadows, but does not include ray traced reflections.

Today Daedalic Entertainment and NACON announced that their highly anticipated adventure game, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, will release to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox on May 25th. A version for Nintendo Switch is planned for later this year.

Based on the beloved The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, the fantasy game takes players on an epic journey across Middle-earth, starring one of the lore's most compelling characters: Sméagol - *Gollum, Gollum*.

Today, 2K and the LEGO Group announced LEGO 2K Drive, the ultimate AAA driving adventure game, available worldwide on May 19, 2023. Developed by Visual Concepts, LEGO 2K Drive evolves the iconic LEGO play experience with a vast, open world where players can build any vehicle, drive anywhere and become a LEGO racing legend.

LEGO 2K Drive will be the first release in a multi-title partnership between 2K and the LEGO Group to develop AAA LEGO games. With 2K's proven expertise in creating high quality and engaging interactive entertainment properties and the LEGO Group's unprecedented cultural impact, the partnership will evolve the iconic LEGO games experience fans know and love in exciting new ways.

Ninja Theory has released a new trailer for its upcoming Senua's Saga: Hellblade II game, which was a part of Epic's State of Unreal showcase from GDC 2023. The new trailer focuses on Senua and character rendering rather than the game itself but at least we get an idea what to expect from the game when it comes out.

As you would have guessed, the game is developed on the Unreal Engine, and facial animation is definitely looking impressive. Previously, Ninja Theory revealed a bit of the gameplay at The Game Awards last year, and we certainly expect more from Microsoft at this year's Xbox Games Showcase on June 11th.

Electronic Arts has released the official story trailer for its upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor game, that is scheduled to launch on April 28th. The new trailer not only shows the story behind the new Star Wars game but also has some in-game parts.

Developed by Respawn Entertainment in cooperation with Lucasfilm Games, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a third-person, action-adventure game, set five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and puts the player again in the role of Cal Kestis, who has now grown into a powerful Jedi Knight.

2bytes Corp. released their first gameplay footage of Space Gears, being developed by their game studio, Pentapeak Studios, on their Steam page. Space Gears is a sci-fi, strategy game that has players terraform Mars with an army of mechs. Players must cooperate or compete with each other to gain control over scarce resources on the Red Planet.

The video showcases the game's systems, including land terraforming, base-building, and mech-assembly, as well as its combat system, featuring intense mech-on-mech, squad-based battles. To overcome the limitations of classic RTS games, which have been characterized by difficult and complex micromanaging and a high barrier to entry for new players, the focus was taken off of complex multi-tasking, involving build orders, resource allocation, and base expansions, and instead focused on delivering intuitive combat. Players can enjoy combat and strategy through multiple, fluid and fast-paced PvE and PvP modes that are immersive and easy to play.

Cooler Master, the high-performance component and peripherals brand, today announced it worked with D-BOX to produce its latest entry into the gaming chair market, The Motion 1 Haptic Gaming Chair. Cooler Master and D-BOX are currently present at the 2023 Game Developers Conference—GDC, taking place in San Francisco, from March 20 to 24, 2023. We invite all gaming studios to experience the Motion 1 haptic gaming chair at booth P1679 (Games from Quebec)

Motion 1 is the world's first haptic engine gaming chair developed in collaboration with D-BOX, a worldwide leader in haptic technology. Motion 1 is engineered to provide haptic feedback to your games and entertainment. Feel the bullets strafing your canopy in your favorite air battle movie, ocean waves crashing into your boat during a raid in Assassin's Creed Valhalla or the gentle tug as you accelerate in your favorite racing game. It's an entirely new dimension of realistic feedback that enhances your gaming and entertainment in a premium package replete with ergonomic comfort.

Acer will be participating in the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2023 held from March 20-24 in San Francisco to share the latest innovations of its industry-leading SpatialLabs experience. It combines advanced eye-tracking cameras, a stereoscopic 3D display and stereo rendering capabilities to deliver immersive 3D experiences without the need for specialized glasses. With a click of a button, 2D visuals seem to pop out of their screens, giving designers, marketers, and other professionals a unique way of interacting with their creations in 3D views.

SpatialLabs TrueGame
Following its launch in 2021, Acer took it up a notch by bringing its glasses-free stereoscopic 3D technology to the world of gaming through the SpatialLabs TrueGame application. With a Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition laptop, or a SpatialLabs View display paired with a PC, users can enjoy the supported titles in their true 3D form, delivering immersive gaming experiences as envisioned by their developers. This is possible because games are mostly created with a three-dimensional world in mind as developers include information about depth in each scene and object they build. SpatialLabs leverages this already-existing information in order to present the games in stereoscopic 3D. A dedicated pre-configured profile is now available for each game title, among the 70+ modern and classic titles on launch, to offer players a seamless experience with their favorite games. More profiles for additional titles will be added on a continuous basis moving forward.

NCSOFT, a global premier game developer and publisher, today debuted the first trailer for the company's new mobile and PC title, 'Project G,' on its official YouTube channel. Project G is the company's first real-time strategy (RTS) game, coming to global players. This brand-new IP is currently under development as a strategy game set in a massive-scale war. Each player will expand by accumulating limited resources and will also make use of different tactics in territory conquests between guilds.

The trailer features 100% real gameplay scenes with high-quality graphics currently under development, built on Unreal Engine. It showcases various game system details, including unique characters of different races, strategic combats executed with melee and ranged units, and tactical maneuvers of 'Dragons' and 'Strategic Arms' in objective and territory conquest wars. It also reveals in-game footage where battles between individual forces expand into massive warfare.