As the subject title says, Old Skies has officially launched on Steam and GOG! Join ChronoZen agent Fia Quinn on a time-travel adventure spanning 200 years. Old Skies is a story of love, loss and legacy. Plus it's 10% off during the first week! Dive into the past with time agent Fia Quinn as she embarks on seven trips through time. History is up for grabs—from the speakeasies of Prohibition, to the vicious gangs of the Gilded Age, to the World Trade Center on September 10, 2001.

Your job is to keep close watch on seven travelers who have the desire (and the bank accounts) to sightsee in the past. Some are simply curious. Others have unfinished business to resolve. And they've all put down a lot of money for the trip, so it's vital that you keep them happy while ensuring they follow the rules. But what could go wrong? It's only time travel, after all.

An alleged partial close-up capture of the Nintendo Switch 2's chipset has leaked out; courtesy of Kurnal (@Kurnalsalts). This fresh leak is being hyped up as putting an end to all online debate regarding the upcoming hybrid console's technological underpinnings. Despite late 2024/early 2025 reports pointing to a custom NVIDIA "T239" SoC design, certain voices continued to produce conjecture about a more "cutting edge" solution. Surprisingly, Team Green's PR department did issue a statement about the Switch 2 being powered by: "a custom processor featuring an NVIDIA GPU with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores for stunning visuals and AI-driven enhancements."

As expected, Nintendo staffers remained guarded during recent press junkets—in-depth tech talk was deferred in NVIDIA's general direction. Kurnal's sharing of a speculative "T239" partial die shot does not provide any major new revelations or insights—as discussed on the Nintendo Switch 2 Subreddit, tech enthusiasts continue to rely on specification details from the big hack of NVIDIA repositories (three years ago). Newer speculation has focused on Nintendo's choice of foundry—Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter continues to express his personal belief that Nintendo has selected a Samsung 8 nm DUV foundry node. In opposition, certain critics have persisted with a 5 nm EUV node process theory.

It's been thrilling for all of us here at Bethesda to revisit a game so close to our hearts with Oblivion Remastered. When we started this project in 2021, we aimed to breathe new life into a chapter of The Elder Scrolls that set the path for so many of our games after it. We never wanted to remake it—but remaster it—where the original game was there as you remember playing it, but seen through today's technology.

We were so fortunate to work with an unbelievable team and partners at Virtuos. Even though we had worked together before, we had never attempted something on this scale. Every piece of art, animation, special effects, and part of the world would be remastered. Some new voices would be recorded, while keeping the originals there as well. Game systems were updated to feel better in your hands. Leveling systems modified for smoother progression and balance. We looked at every part and carefully upgraded it. But most of all, we never wanted to change the core. It's still a game from a previous era and should feel like one.

Mid-way through April, we heard about sanctions affecting shipments of NVIDIA's H20 AI chips into China. Despite (rumored) best efforts made by Jensen Huang and colleagues, the US government has banned the export of Team Green's formerly sanction-conformant design. Similarly, NVIDIA prepared a slightly less potent GPU for gaming applications—exclusively for the Chinese market. Despite sporting a restricted GB202 "Blackwell" GPU die, the GeForce RTX 5090D 32 GB is still a monstrous prospect. According to Chinese PC hardware news sources, Team Green representatives have sent alerts to "all" of its Chinese add-in-card partners (AICs)—early warning signs have indicated a possible cut-off of GB202 GPUs in the near future. A member of the Chiphell forum disclosed some insider knowledge and dismissed unfounded speculation about RTX 5090D cards being replaced by "full fat" RTX 5090 options.

sthuasheng commented on Team Green's alleged bulletin—distributed at some point last week: "the notice only said that the supply of RTX 5090D was suspended, ...this did not mean any sales or transportation ban; it urged everyone not to make any speculations or judgments unless there was an official notice issued at a later date. After this notice was issued, each AIC began to notify agents to suspend sales, because the inventory of 5090D has always been very small, so it is necessary to keep these stocks to observe the subsequent situation and deal with the subsequent after-sales. At the same time, we might as well speculate that each AIC and dealer may also have the intention to stockpile 5090D units and then sell them at an elevated price." BenchLife.info decided to reach out to industry moles, following an absorption of various Chiphell whispers.

Intel is at a crossroads as the company prepares to report earnings on April 24, 2025. Investors are hoping that Lip-Bu Tan, Intel's new CEO, can turn the company's fortunes around and stem its revenue losses. Currently, Intel is projected to report its fourth straight quarter of revenue decline with a 3.4% revenue loss, according to Reuters, and expects a significant widening of its losses to approximately $945 million compared with a loss of $381 million a year ago. Intel continues to lose market share to AMD in both personal computing and data center markets, while NVIDIA dominates the highly lucrative AI chip market. In addition, Intel's PC division is likely to report an 11% revenue decrease to $6.73 billion, and its data center business is probably facing its twelfth consecutive quarter of declines. "The most important thing for Intel now is Lip-Bu Tan's playbook... How he can give investors confidence that he is the person who can turn Intel around and whether a turnaround is possible in the first place," said Hendi Susanto, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, which holds Intel shares.

Tan has been implementing sweeping changes as part of his turnaround plan, cutting more than 20% of the employees at Intel and a change in the leadership model to provide quicker decisions. The company is seeing significant geopolitical threats as U.S.-China trade tensions are rolling back. China is threatening to impose retaliatory tariffs of up to 85% on all chips produced in the U.S. and along these lines has also imposed a requirement for licenses to sell some high-end AI products to the Chinese customers. Likely, as part of this, the company is presumed to be moving the production of its 3 nm chips from Arizona to Ireland in late 2025. Under all of these factors, Intel could eventually receive a temporary boost if PC shipments are pulled forward ahead of these tariffs that may ultimately positively impact a significant portion of Intel's sales (nearly one-third of total revenues).

The "walkout" moment is a staple of Bethesda Game Studios' titles, and there are few that have stuck with me as much as emerging from the sewer-set tutorial of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. That makes it all the more incredible, 19 years later, to see it in thoroughly modern form in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered—which arrives today. I watch as a newly-built character loads into the wide open world of Cyrodiil (R.I.P. Emperor Septim)—they turn to see the landscape I know so well in new and improved form. Mist wreathes around the top of nearby mountains, seen again in distorted reflections on the wholly reworked water below. A sunrise cuts across the world, casting long shadows across gorgeous new foliage. Behind me, an even more imposing Imperial City stands proudly, blotting out the horizon behind it. And then, we're interrupted by an unscripted attack from a Mud Crab. It might look all-new, but this is Oblivion alright.

Oblivion Remastered—All the Updates
Oblivion Remastered comes to Xbox Series X|S, PC (via Steam and the Xbox App for Windows PC) and PlayStation 5. It's also available day one with Game Pass and, with Xbox Play Anywhere, one purchase on an Xbox platform means you can play on Xbox consoles, Windows PC, and cloud with full cross-entitlements and cross-saves. Designed in co-operation with the remaster specialists at Virtuos, Oblivion Remastered keeps the core of the original game intact (and includes the Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles expansions), but drapes it in an incredible new visual style, powered by Unreal Engine 5. Alongside 4K resolution, 60 frames per second performance, all-new textures, lighting effects, and landscape improvements, the game also updates everything from character, spell, and weapon animations, to dynamic time of day and weather effects.

To celebrate the release of Lunar Remastered Collection—out now for PC (Steam), Xbox One (compatible with Xbox Series X|S), PlayStation 4 (compatible with PS5), and Nintendo Switch—I sat down with our Senior Graphic Designer, Amy Nguyen, and talked to her about how this remaster's logo came to be. I asked her about her inspirations, her design process, and more!

Dive into the enchanting worlds of LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete and LUNAR 2: Eternal Blue Complete! Tag along on Alex and Hiro's quests and challenge enemies like the Magic Emperor and God of Destruction to save the world from dire peril in two adventures set 1000 years apart from each other! LUNAR Remastered Collection brings together LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete and LUNAR 2: Eternal Blue Complete with enhanced graphics, audio, and quality-of-life improvements. Available for the first time on modern consoles, this remastered edition honors the beloved series that has remained in the heart of gamers since its initial release in 1992.

With the launch of Days Gone Remastered—for PlayStation 5 and PC—just around the corner, we're excited to spotlight our expanded suite of accessibility features. Taking the foundation of our baseline list from Days Gone in 2019, we made it a priority to evolve and improve accessibility to make the player's experience more accessible and customizable when hitting the Broken Road on April 25. Let's dive right in!

Visual features
Subtitle customization is now vaster than ever before in Days Gone. We added a total of 11 subtitle colors for you to choose based on your preference, which can also be used for the speaker's name. Want to mix and match? No problem! Choose the subtitle text to be one color and the speaker's name to be another color. On top of color customization, we also expanded the options for subtitle background. Originally, this could only be toggled on or off. Now, you can select between default (transparent), darkened, light, and black.

At the tail end of March, an interaction between Tomasz Gawroński (aka GawroskiT) and Jaykihn (jaykihn0) indicated that Intel had abandoned the development of higher-end Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" graphics cards—possibly back in late 2024. Months of silence—since the launch of pleasingly wallet-friendly B580 and B570 models—instilled a sense of unease within segments of the PC gaming hardware community. Many watchdogs assumed that company engineers had simply moved onto devising futuristic Arc Xe3 "Celestial" equivalents. As discovered last week, hopes have been elevated for a potential expansion of Team Blue's "Battlemage" dGPU lineup. Haze2K1 highlighted an intriguing entry within an NBD shipping manifest; a "BMG-G31"-type GPU was transferred "for R&D purposes." Currently, the lower end of Intel's B-card series is populated by discrete solutions based on their smaller "BMG-G21" GPU design.

Tomasz Gawroński spent part of his Easter weekend poring over shipping documents; soon stumbling on an entry that mentioned a mysterious "IBC C32 SKT"—again, listed under "research and development" purposes. In a reply to Gawroński's social media bulletin, miktdt weighed in with a logical theory: "because of the BMG in the text the best I could believe is a reworked/restarted BMG G31. C32 could simply mean cores 32 which is a fully-enabled G31. This makes more sense to me." VideoCardz posits that these leaks do not necessarily signal the revival of fortunes for more potent Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" SKUs; Intel could be shipping "canceled project" prototypes to different locations. Going back to late summer 2023, a "BMG G10" GPU die was spotted by members of the press during a tour of Team Blue's Malaysian test lab. Back then, certain industry insiders believed that the whole "Battlemage" endeavor was going through "development hell." Fast-forward to the present day; OneRaichu reckons that there is still a likelihood of Team Blue's "B770" model turning up at some point in the future.

Digital Foundry's Oliver Mackenzie and a member of the Resetera video game discussion forum have alerted the wider community to a small change within the text on several of Nintendo's Switch 2 product web presences. Mackenzie's social media post included a comparative screenshot; showing before and after conditions; Digital Foundry's Canadian correspondent provided comment: "some weird stuff going on at Nintendo. Looks like they've changed their US website to no longer mention VRR support for TV play? Only HDR and 120 Hz support get a call-out." Additional press coverage has put spotlights on Nintendo's Japan and Canada websites; both regional offices have scrubbed "VRR" (variable refresh rate) from Switch 2 promotional material. At the time of writing, Nintendo of Europe and UK's hardware feature sections still showcase an unadulterated description: "bring games to life with a larger 1080p screen—or connect to a TV and play in up to 4K resolution. Support for HDR, VRR, and frame rates up to 120 FPS let you enjoy brilliant colour, clarity, and smooth gameplay."

Video Games Chronicle and a few other news sites have reached out to Nintendo for comment regarding this confusing situation. The Switch 2 maker is notorious for its guarded stance when discussing technical details—as evidenced recently, by a top employee deflecting responsibility in NVIDIA's general direction. Mackenzie reckons that VRR support—when paired with compatible televisions and monitors—could be added post-launch (June 5). It is possible that Nintendo's engineering department has removed this feature from its day one bag of tricks. Meanwhile, the Switch 2's surprisingly capable integrated display is expected to arrive without any technological compromises.

Welcome—or welcome back—to Days Gone, Bend Studio's sprawling open-world adventure-survival epic. In this PlayStation 5/PC remaster launching April 25, you'll once again be able to enjoy Deacon St. John's journey across the gorgeous natural beauty of the Oregon wilderness-provided you can deal with the mind-boggling amount of mutant Freaker monstrosities that want to shred you into tiny little chunks. We reached out to Kevin McAllister, Creative and Product Lead at Bend Studio, for some additional details about the anticipated remaster, including its notable new additions. So grab your survival gear, gas up your bike, and read on to hear about how Days Gone is better than ever on the PlayStation 5 (and PC).

Back in the days
We first asked how Bend Studio feels about revisiting their flagship game: "Days Gone is a special game for us," says McAllister. "It's a special game to our players, too. We got the opportunity to remaster a game that we released originally on the PS4 in 2019 and ported to the PC in 2021. Six years after the original, technology has improved-we have the power of the PS5 now. There was a lot more we could do to showcase the game's potential." We then asked about how the PlayStation 5's capabilities are enhancing the Days Gone experience. "The graphical improvements we've made-you'll see the difference," McAllister explains. "There's increased lighting, increased shadow quality, increased fog depth. For example, nighttime is now darker; the moon is more natural-looking. The blue sky is more natural, too-Days Gone is a very realistic-looking game. And we've taken that to a new level with the PS5." Sounds like a great fit for the remaster's new-and-improved Photo Mode, with more lighting options and instant day-and-night switches for beautiful environmental photography.

The DOOM Slayer is back, and as we count down the days until you can explore the medieval world of DOOM: The Dark Ages, you'll need the right tools to get the job done. Introducing the Xbox Wireless Controller - DOOM: The Dark Ages Limited Edition, Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 - DOOM: The Dark Ages Limited Edition, and the Xbox Series X Wrap - DOOM: The Dark Ages Limited Edition. This collection celebrates DOOM and the latest chapter in the franchise's storied history. From the runes adorning each piece, to specific homages like the matte green armor and the Mark of the Slayer, every detail in this collection has been thoughtfully selected to capture the essence of the DOOM universe.

If you're going to be the Slayer, you better look the part—gear up with the Limited Edition Xbox Wireless Controller in battle-worn green and silver. Crowned with 3D silver helmet spikes at the top and silver-plated sheathing on the two sides, this controller was forged for a demon-slaying super weapon. With additional touches like a rubberized, leather-like grip, a red thumbstick to match the chest port, and blood splatter resulting from your Shield Saw, every detail is crafted with the DOOM fan in mind.

Rumors of a forthcoming "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remake" launch popped up online last month; as predicted by NatetheHate. The veteran leaker—of video games industry inside info—proposed a public unveiling; scheduled in at some point within a March to April window. Since then, data miners have combed through various web presences—including Virtuos' online site. Going back to 2021, leaks suggested that this Chinese contract development house was deeply involved in the reimagining/modernizing of Bethesda's 2006 smash-hit.

Yesterday, Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb posited that a formal introduction of the alleged "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remake" will happen "next week." Insiders reckon that the Unreal Engine 5-powered game will launch on "Xbox, PS5, PC, and Game Pass." Virtuos seems to be preparing itself for an imminent announcement; as evidenced by Elder Scrolls fans compiling leaked screenshots and promotional imagery within an Imgur album. Familiar locations and character designs are visible in gameplay captures. One visual "portfolio" grab compares the speculated new version to Bethesda's original build (2006 vs. 2025).

Hey everyone, Patch 1.1 is out now for The Last of Us Part II Remastered! This update fixes various crashes, and we've addressed long stalls that could occur in some locations. We've also fixed several bugs related to the user interface and ultrawide cinematics. Check out the patch notes below for more details. We are aware of player reports of autosave issues and are actively working on a fix.

Our investigation shows that issues can occur when OneDrive or similar cloud services block the save file from being written. As a workaround, we suggest that you pause OneDrive while playing the game: Right-click the OneDrive icon in the Windows taskbar, click the gear icon and Pause sync. The teams at Nixxes and Naughty Dog are keeping a close eye on player feedback and crash reports and are working on additional updates with more bug fixes and improvements. Thank you all for playing The Last of Us Part II on PC and sharing your feedback with us!

CD Projekt acquired The Molasses Flood—a Boston, Massachusetts-based video game developer—back in 2021. The New England studio was best known for making two indie titles: Drake Hollow (2020) and Flame in the Flood (2016). Under Polish ownership, the team embarked on a new "Project Sirius" adventure—several veteran members had spent time pumping out Bioshock, Halo, Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise entries at previous workplaces. Earlier in the week, an official statement popped up on the company's official site: "dear all, we want to let you know that on April 1, 2025, The Molasses Flood LLC ("TMF") merged with CD PROJEKT RED Inc. ("CDPR Inc."), a company being a part of the CD PROJEKT Group. As a result of the merger TMF, in its former legal state (of a separate legal entity) ceased its operations, while CDPR Inc. assumed the rights and obligations of TMF. The merger will not affect the availability or distribution of 'The Flame in The Flood' and 'Drake Hollow' video games, which will continue to be published by CD PROJEKT Group."

In a LinkedIn post, Damian Isla provided an extra couple of tidbits and confirmed his exit from operations. The Molasses Flood (TMF) co-founder commented on recent reshuffles: "the studio I co-founded with some of my ex-Irrational friends, was to be absorbed into CDPR proper. To be ultra clear: this is a GOOD AND HEALTHY thing for the studio, and it was long-expected. It breaks down some organizational barriers, and better integrates the TMF team with the rest of the amazing CDPR org. Overall, it shows a very bright future for Project Sirius (aka "the multiplayer Witcher game," of which I was the Design Director for three years). It's going to be an amazing game, one for the books, and I cannot wait until the rest of the world learns about what we've been working on...On the sadder side—not to bury the lede—I've decided not to follow TMF on this transition. So last Monday—the last day of TMF's legal existence!—was also my last day at the studio."

Not too long ago, Storm City Retro's Ebay store listed an unusual Steam Deck model—the original asking price was $2999.99, although potential buyers were allowed to bid with "best offers." The sales page was titled: "Early Valve Engineering 34 Prototype Steam Deck 256 GB, Tested, Please Read!" Gary_the_mememachine—a member of the Steam Deck subreddit—reported an eventual successful transaction, on April 8. The seller—a "primarily online" Kirkland, Washington-based retro video specialist—managed to attract a buyer; who apparently bagged "Engineering Sample No. 34" for a cool two thousand bucks. Given the presence of a sticker that states "not for resale," Valve is likely not enthused by the appearance of pre-commercial phase hardware via second hand channels. The company's Bellevue HQ is located not too far away from Storm City Retro's placement; both being in the Greater Seattle (Pacific NW) area. Kotaku reached out to its contacts at Valve, but a spokesperson has not provided a comment regarding the alleged leak of an AMD "Picasso" APU-powered engineering sample.

Handheld gaming device experts have analyzed saved screenshots and photos; prototype number 34 seems to of February 2020 vintage. It was compared to various "officially revealed" prototype units—as seen in an informative infographic. An exact match was not found in this compilation, but it is obvious that No. 34 differs greatly—externally and internally—when lined up against final retail models. In 2022, Pierre-Loup Griffais—one of the architects of SteamOS—provided some insight about a similar looking proto device: "the best part is that they (mostly) all still boot, serving as an exciting reminder of how far things have come since. This one has a Picasso APU, at about half of the GPU power of the final Deck. The flatter ergo was an interesting experiment and taught us a ton about comfort." The Steam Deck LCD model launched back in early 2022, with a custom 7 nm AMD Ryzen "Aerith" APU onboard—utilizing Zen 2 + processor cores and RDNA 2 graphics architecture. An OLED refresh arrived over a year later with a die shrink; now 6 nm. Team Red had kindly prepared a more efficient Ryzen "Sephiroth" mobile processor design.

Not too long after delivering its in-depth Switch 2 showcase, Nintendo of America and retail partners postponed pre-launch reservations for the forthcoming hybrid gaming console. An official announcement stated: "pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged." The vast majority of industry watchdogs reckon that company will be assessing an adjustment of launch day product MSRPs. Last week's North American presentation outlined price points of $449.99 and $499.99; for a standard package and a Mario Kart World Pack (respectively). Theorized adjustments could extend to physical copies of games, as well as accessories; e.g. the Switch 2 Pro Controller.

Gamers further north—in the neighboring nation of Canada—were relieved about last week's alert being non-applicable to their market region. Up until yesterday, pre-orders were on track at CA$629.99 (base console) and CA$699.99 (with Mario Kart World). Unfortunately, the House of Mario's Canuck branch has confirmed that recent events have had a knock-on effect for local customers. As disclosed in a statement to MobileSyrup, Nintendo of Canada explained: "pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in Canada will not start on April 9, 2025 in order to align with the timing of pre-orders to be determined in the U.S....Nintendo will provide updated information at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged." MobileSyrup's report was updated yesterday evening; with links to social media bulletins posted by the regional arms of Walmart and GameStop. Both retail outlets repeated Nintendo of Canada's disappointing message.

Days Gone Remastered comes to PlayStation 5 on April 25. Experience the definitive version of Days Gone with new modes, features, and technical enhancements to leverage the PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles. The new game modes including Horde Assault, Permadeath, and Speedrun—also arriving on PC; via the Broken Road DLC. Whether you're visiting Days Gone for the first time or jumping back on the Drifter bike, there's plenty of content to explore and new things to discover. If you haven't already, be sure to read our Days Gone Remastered announcement post for more details on all the new content and features. Introducing one of our most expansive new additions to Days Gone Remastered, Horde Assault—a survival arcade mode. Before we dive in, watch the gameplay trailer for the new mode below.

What is Horde Assault mode?
Horde Assault offers fresh and unexpected gameplay designed to challenge your skills as you try to achieve a high score, while surviving as long as possible against increased horde sizes and various other enemies, like Breakers, Reachers, and Rager bears, oh my! Fight your way through a brutal, ever-changing landscape where enemies escalate in difficulty the longer you survive. Horde Assault was built from the promise of "This World Comes For You," showcasing the core gameplay of the Days Gone open world in a unique way. Horde Assault is your playground for a truly endless game mode, go show them Freakers who's boss.

GIGABYTE has registered an (overall) impressive number of unannounced AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti custom models in South Korea. The early April filings were spotted by harukaze5719—evidence of this "official" leak was posted to social media this afternoon. The South Korean Radio Agency (RRA) registrations indicate an imminent arrival of cheaper offerings from the opposing teams—possibly within proximity of each other, time-wise. GIGABYTE's collection of forthcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB SKUs includes AERO, AORUS ELITE, EAGLE, GAMING, and WINDFORCE options.

By comparison, their Radeon RX 9060 XT portfolio is looking thoroughly threadbare—with the registration of two RDNA 4 GAMING OC cards; sporting 16 GB and 8 GB VRAM configurations. As reported late last month, ASUS seems to have three budget-friendly Radeon product lines—DUAL, PRIME and TUF—in the pipeline. It is possible that another set of cards are in line for processing at the RRA. So far, GIGABYTE's custom GeForce RTX 5060 Ti SKU filings are all 16 GB variants. 8 GB cards could be stuck in a queue. NVIDIA's board partners are expected to launch the first wave of GB206 "Blackwell" GPU-based desktop gaming solutions next week; "adjusted" speculative price points were leaked a day or two ago.

Since its summer 2023 launch, Apple's pricey Vision Pro mixed reality headset has not exactly attracted a mainstream audience. Roughly a year later, rumors of a (then) recently canceled successor appeared online—insiders posited that company engineers had pivoted onto the development of a cheaper alternative model. Vision Pro "Version 1.0" arrived with an intimidating $3499 price tag; thus eliminating interest from a wide swath of potential AR/VR headset enthusiast customers. Industry insiders reckon that Apple had "abruptly reduced production" of the current-gen model last October, with further whispers suggesting a complete cessation of manufacturing activities by the end of 2024. Yesterday, an ITHome article cited compelling claims made by supply chain insiders—the initiation of mass production for a speculated second generation "Apple XR/Vision Pro" device.

The online report stated that: "multiple independent sources (have) confirmed that the panels, shells and other key components of the second-generation Apple XR headset are already in production." Very specific leaked information indicates Lens Technology being the exclusive supplier of glass panel pieces, and Changying Precision tasked with the making of the next-gen model's casing. Additionally, several contract circuit manufacturers are supposedly "rushing to complete orders." Secretive figures posit that Apple will release its sequel mixed reality headset later on in 2025. Differing "expert opinions" have not determined whether this incoming set of fancy goggles will be the predicted "cheaper" model, or a proper "M5 SoC-powered" successor.

NVIDIA is collaborating with Google Cloud to bring agentic AI to enterprises seeking to locally harness the Google Gemini family of AI models using the NVIDIA Blackwell HGX and DGX platforms and NVIDIA Confidential Computing for data safety. With the NVIDIA Blackwell platform on Google Distributed Cloud, on-premises data centers can stay aligned with regulatory requirements and data sovereignty laws by locking down access to sensitive information, such as patient records, financial transactions and classified government information. NVIDIA Confidential Computing also secures sensitive code in the Gemini models from unauthorized access and data leaks.

"By bringing our Gemini models on premises with NVIDIA Blackwell's breakthrough performance and confidential computing capabilities, we're enabling enterprises to unlock the full potential of agentic AI," said Sachin Gupta, vice president and general manager of infrastructure and solutions at Google Cloud. "This collaboration helps ensure customers can innovate securely without compromising on performance or operational ease." Confidential computing with NVIDIA Blackwell provides enterprises with the technical assurance that their user prompts to the Gemini models' application programming interface—as well as the data they used for fine-tuning—remain secure and cannot be viewed or modified. At the same time, model owners can protect against unauthorized access or tampering, providing dual-layer protection that enables enterprises to innovate with Gemini models while maintaining data privacy.

Make some space on your calendar—the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 will be livestreamed on Sunday, June 8, starting at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK time. Following in the footsteps of the 2023 Starfield Direct and 2024 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct, this year we will again have a double feature, with the Xbox Games Showcase immediately followed by The Outer Worlds 2 Direct. It all begins with our annual Xbox Games Showcase, bringing you a look at upcoming titles from across our first-party studios, in addition to incredible new titles from our third-party partners across the globe.

This year, the show will be digital-only—our livestream will bring you everything you'll need to know about what's next for Xbox, no matter where in the world you're watching. Immediately following Showcase, The Outer Worlds 2 Direct will bring you inside the walls of Obsidian Entertainment, revealing new gameplay, details, and developer insights, straight from the people making the sequel to the award-winning, first-person sci-fi RPG.

South of Midnight is available now globally on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox App for Windows PC, Steam, Cloud, & Game Pass! As Hazel, you will explore the mythos and encounter creatures of Southern folklore in a macabre and fantastical world. When disaster strikes her hometown, Hazel is called to become a Weaver: a magical mender of broken bonds and spirits. Imbued with these new abilities, Hazel will confront and subdue dangerous creatures, untangle the webs of her own family's shared past and—if she's lucky—find her way to a place that feels like home. From the entire Compulsion Games Team: Thank you for your support, and happy playing!

Deep in the heart of the bayou, something stirs. Bigger than any gator you've ever seen, Two-Toed Tom is a legend of scales, survival, and insatiable hunger. More than double the size of the world's biggest recorded alligator, Tom is an unstoppable force of nature. To celebrate the launch of South of Midnight, in which Tom makes a very big appearance, Xbox has brought this monstrous gator to life in the gator-infested waters of Marrero, Louisiana, a location chosen for its haunting resemblance to the game's Southern-inspired setting. Murky swamps, ancient cypress trees, and the distant splash of unseen creatures make it the perfect place to step into Hazel's world and experience the bayou's dark magic first-hand.

Following last week's jam-packed Switch 2 presentation, Nintendo staffers engaged in conversation with media outlets. To the surprise of many, a high level member of the incoming console's design team was quite comfortable with his name-dropping of NVIDIA graphics technologies. Meanwhile, Team Green was tasked with the disclosing of Switch 2's "internal" workings. Attention has turned to the much anticipated-hybrid console's bundled-in detachable Joy-Cons—in the lead up to official unveilings, online debates swirled around potential next-gen controllers being upgraded with Hall Effect joystick modules. Many owners of first-gen Switch systems have expressed frustration regarding faulty Joy-Cons—eventually, Nintendo was coerced into offering free repairs for customers affected by dreaded "stick drift" issues. Unfortunately, it seems that the House of Mario has not opted to outfit its Gen 2.0 Joy-Cons with popular "anti-drift" tech.

As reported by Nintendo Life, Nate Bihldorff—senior vice president of product development and publishing at Nintendo of America—"outright confirmed the exclusion" of Hall Effect. Up until the publication of Nintendo Life's sit down interview, other company representatives have opined that Switch 2's default control system features very "durable feeling" sticks. When asked about the reason behind "new-gen modules (feeling) so different to the original Switch's analog stick," Bihldorff responded with: "well, the Joy-Con 2's controllers have been designed from the ground up. They're not Hall Effect sticks, but they feel really good. Did you experience both the Joy-Con and the Pro Controller?" The interviewer confirmed that they had prior experience with both new models. In response, Bihldorff continued: "so, I like both, but that Pro Controller, for some reason the first time I grabbed it, I was like, 'this feels like a GameCube controller.' I was a GameCube guy. Something about it felt so familiar, but the stick on that especially. I tried to spend a lot of time making sure that it was quiet. I don't know if you tried really whacking the stick around, but it really is (quiet)...(The Switch 2 Pro Controller) is one of the quietest controllers I've ever played." Nintendo will likely not discuss the "ins and outs" of its proprietary stick design, but inevitable independent teardowns of commercial hardware could verify the provenance of underlying mechanisms. Nowadays, hardcore game controller snobs prefer third-party solutions that sport Tunneling Magnetoresistance (TMR) joysticks.

Late last month, speculative Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 (aka SM8850) technical details emerged online. Up until then, Digital Chat Station's Weibo channel has delivered all sorts of pre-release information—mostly concentrating on Qualcomm's alleged redeployment of a familiar "2 + 6" core configuration, and selection of TSMC's 3 nm "N3P" node process. Earlier today, the veteran leaker predicted a couple of new-gen improvements—first concentrating on the alleged mobile chipset's "Adreno 840" integrated graphics solution. Digital Chat Station (DCS) believes that the company's engineering team has increased their iGPU design's independent cache size "from 12 MB to 16 MB," leading to: "early setting performance increased by 30%±." It is not clear whether this rumored upgrade has affected the SoC's L2 or L3 cache provisions, but the current-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile processor makes do with 12 MB of L2 cache per cluster. Additionally, DCS reckons that an enlargement of caches has resulted in performance of Qualcomm's "second-generation self-developed CPU architecture" increasing "by 25%±."

As interpreted by Wccftech: "the upcoming SoC will now feature 32 MB of L2 cache, with the L3 count currently unknown at this time. The initial test results revealed that the 'Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2' delivered a 30 percent performance increase, but it is unconfirmed if this delta exists between the Snapdragon 8 Elite or some other silicon." DCS has heard whispers about the upcoming chip supporting "new generations of high-speed LPDDR5X/LPDDR6" memory. The mentioning of LPDDR5X is not surprising; given that the current Snapdragon 8 Elite model is already up to snuff with this spec. Just over a year ago, JEDEC was reportedly working on the finalization of LPDDR6 standards for mobile platforms. Shortly thereafter, smartphone industry watchdogs started to theorize about the arrival of a so-called "Snapdragon 8 Gen 4" chip with LPDDR6 RAM in 2025. Fast-forward to the present day; fresh reports suggest that manufacturers will have the option to outfit next-gen flagship devices with "bog-standard" LPDDR5X or faster/more efficient LPDDR6 memory.