Audio-Technica announces the introduction of its ATH-AWX7000 Closed Back Dynamic Wooden Headphones, combining ultimate audio performance with exquisite Japanese wood craftsmanship to create the company's finest headphones ever. The new ATH-AWX7000 features newly developed HMD (Hybrid Matrix Diaphragm) technology along with additional advancements and sets an extraordinary new sonic standard in audiophile dynamic headphones.

The housings of the ATH-AWX7000 are crafted from Kiso cypress, a prized wood used to construct Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. The wood is hand-finished in traditional Echizen lacquer to bring out the natural color of the wood's grain. Over time, the color will darken, to add to the wood's beauty and distinctive character. The headphones' frame and other components are finished in the traditional Japanese deep navy hue of kachi-iro (the traditional lucky color of the samurai).

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the Razer Kraken Kitty V3, a wired RGB headset designed for streamers looking to showcase their style and engage with their community. Building on the legacy of the iconic Kraken Kitty line, it puts its signature stream-reactive kitty ears and earcups powered by Razer Chroma RGB front and center, complemented with the Razer HyperClear Cardioid Mic and immersive audio.

With plug-and-play USB Type-C connectivity for compatible PC and mobile devices, creators can get connected and go live in seconds. Hybrid fabric and leatherette ear cushions deliver lasting comfort and passive noise isolation, helping streamers stay focused through extended gaming sessions, livestreams, and community interactions.

Apple today announced HomePod mini 2, featuring Siri AI, gorgeous new colors, and enhanced audio experiences. Siri AI, coming to HomePod mini 2 in a future software update, is a profoundly more capable and conversational assistant with personal context understanding, broad world knowledge that powers tasks like richer music discovery, and the ability to tap into even more apps—bringing a whole new level of capability to HomePod mini.

Users can enjoy room-filling audio with a single speaker, in a stereo pair, or using multiroom audio. When paired with the new Apple TV 4K, HomePod mini 2 supports four-speaker surround sound—Apple's most immersive home theater setup yet. And HomePod mini makes it easy for different users to manage the connected home with just a voice command, securely controlling accessories and running automations.

Boulies, the ergonomic seating brand redefining workplace comfort, has launched the EP600 its most comprehensively adjustable chair to date. With hybrid workforces spending more hours than ever seated at a desk—at home and in the office—the EP600 arrives as a timely response to a growing demand for seating that actively supports the human body rather than simply accommodating it.

Engineered around a single guiding principle - "Ultimate Ergonomics, Tailored to Every Move" - the EP600 has been designed to adapt naturally to a user's body, posture, and daily workflow, accommodating users from 5'5" to 6'3".

A few weeks ago, we reported on an intriguing project called AnyPS5, which aims to bypass emulation entirely and run PlayStation 5 games natively on Windows and Linux. Today, the project reached a significant milestone by successfully translating 100% of the PlayStation 5 GPU shader instructions. This achievement means that the "Oberon" graphics processing engine within the PS5 has been fully decoded. All 1166 GPU shader instructions, based on the RDNA 2 GPU IP, are now covered under the AnyPS5 project. The project relinks PS5 executables into the host system's native format and reimplements the console's system libraries for dynamic linking, similar to Wine or Proton. Since the PS5 already runs on x86-64 Zen 2 hardware, which is similar to a modern PC, AnyPS5 skips CPU emulation and recompiles shaders into SPIR-V for Vulkan instead.

What is particularly interesting is that once GPU shader instructions are translated, all the system needs are PS5 libraries so they can be dynamically linked from a native PC port. This means the PS5 game will see the exact same system calls on a PC as it does on the console. However, the system libraries have not yet been fully translated, with current statistics showing 84.81% of system libraries translated. There are exactly 3034 system libraries native to the PS5, and currently, 2573 have been translated. Once the remaining 461 libraries are translated, we can expect PS5 games to run natively on PCs, bypassing emulation layers entirely.

It has previously been rumored that Apple is planning to launch a new MacBook Pro with a touchscreen OLED panel, ostensibly as a range-topping model that would slot in above the current-gen MacBook Pros. Now, a report by Bloomberg claims that the touchscreen MacBook Pro will launch alongside a new OLED iPad Mini on October 27 or close to that date.

A beta version of macOS 27.2 previously showed up substantiating the rumors that Apple is launching a touchscreen MacBook Pro, with new long-press animations being implemented in the Dock UI for tooltips. It's said that the two new devices will launch alongside a 14-inch M6 MacBook Pro and M6 iMac.

Almost a year ago, to the day, Valve revealed a new Steam Store UI, which cleaned up much of the storefront's UI and presented an overall more cohesive design that is better suited to the variety of PCs, handhelds, and consoles that Valve now caters to. It appears as though Valve's next upcoming update to the Steam Store UI is more subtle, but may have a more meaningful impact on game discovery, for both developers and gamers, alike. This update also comes shortly after Valve overhauled the Steam handheld and Big Picture mode with the optional Big Art mode.

According to a new post in Steamworks news—Valve's developer news feed—Steam will soon lose the curated Discounts & Events section that appears at the top of users' Steam Store Home pages, which currently shows deal and event placements scheduled by developers or directly by Steam. In its place, Valve will introduce "something more dynamic and personalized for each customer," which Valve says will give more sale and game events a chance at being featured on the Store homepage and throughout Steam. Valve says that, in previous tests of this new methodology, it has been able to show games to 10 times more Steam users than using the old model.

Modder gebdag has released GTA2 RTX Remix, a mod that brings full path tracing and dynamic time-of-day lighting to Grand Theft Auto 2, the 1999 top-down classic. NVIDIA's Jacob Freeman shared a clip of the mod on X, showing a day-night cycle that looks quite well-done. Apparently, the biggest hurdle in the process was technical, as GTA 2 ran on DirectDraw and an early version of Direct3D, neither of which RTX Remix supports natively. To get around this, the modder built a custom Direct3D 9 wrapper using two DLLs that translate the game's legacy rendering calls into something RTX Remix can actually read. The result reportedly adds real-time path-traced lighting, so explosions, car fires, and neon signs now cast their own glow, and the day-night cycle shifts lighting as it passes.

The mod also unlocks widescreen 16:9 support (the original was locked to 4:3) and adds frame generation for up to 60 FPS, well above what the original release could hit. GTA2 RTX Remix is open source on GitHub and was reportedly tested on version 9.6 of the game, the free release Rockstar distributed in 2004. It needs 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 alongside the RTX Remix runtime. It's certainly a niche release given how old the base game is, but it's another one in the chain of RTX Remix mods breathing new life into titles most people wrote off years ago. Similar projects already exist for Max Payne, Morrowind, and Need for Speed Carbon, and modders keep finding new ways to push the tool's limits.

Microsoft has filed a patent application for a system that would show ads in PC and console games during natural breaks, such as after a boss fight, at the end of a cutscene, or on a loading screen. Titled "Contextually Aware Management of Interactive Software Application Access" (US 2026/0260258 A1), the filing describes an initial ad-free window, either time-based (30 minutes, say) or tied to progress, like finishing a level. As that window runs out, the game would signal a content management system once it reaches a suitable pause, and the ad would play. Watching it earns a "credit" that delays the next interruption. Some have pointed out that this patent describes something very similar to what free mobile games are doing.

Of course, this is only a patent application. Companies file these all the time, and many never become products. The filing does not name a specific Xbox game, service, or rollout. Microsoft recently began testing free, ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming for Insiders, but those ads play before a session starts, and Microsoft says they will not interrupt gameplay. Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball has also said he personally believes interrupting gameplay "would be bad." However, what the patent describes would be a step in the opposite direction.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the Razer Kraken V4 X Sensa HD Haptics Edition, a wired gaming headset designed to add physical sensation to every session.

Powered by Razer Sensa HD Haptics and integrated across more than 100 supported PC games, the headset expands the gaming experience beyond sight and sound by turning supported gameplay events and in-game audio into rich, layered tactile feedback. From the thunder of an explosion to the subtle cue of approaching footsteps, every sensation is designed to pull players deeper into the action.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is apparently getting a personalized price test, at least for some subscribers. A Reddit post from user synthlov3r on r/XboxGamePass shows an offer of $16.09 per month for Game Pass Ultimate, locked in for 12 months before reverting to the standard $22.99 rate. That works out to $193.08 for the year, roughly $82.80 less than paying the regular monthly price the whole way through. Other users replying to the same thread reported different numbers, with some seeing offers closer to $18 or $20 a month. One commenter mentioned that their secondary account received the discount while their main account didn't, which suggests account-level targeting.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate dropped from $29.99 to $22.99 back in April, after subscriber numbers reportedly took a hit following the earlier price hike. Under CEO Asha Sharma, Xbox has already signaled interest in making Game Pass pricing more flexible, so personalized discounts aimed at lapsed or price-sensitive subscribers would fit that direction. Microsoft hasn't confirmed any of this as an official pricing program yet, so treat these figures as anecdotal for now, even if the pattern checks out across multiple reports.