Hyper Dash, the VR PvP boomer shooter that launched in 2021, is officially going offline on 1 November 2026. Triangle Factory, the studio behind the game, announced that it has made the decision to shut down the game and turn off the servers, stating that "Hyper Dash is no longer generating enough revenue to cover its ongoing server and maintenance costs."

The X post announcing the game's end of support also explains that Hyper Dash uses third-party software that makes it impossible to simply open-source the software or allow for community hosting. The final update, which shipped on July 27, officially makes the game completely playable without a server connection. At the time of writing, it seems as though offline play will be limited to single-player gameplay, since community-hosted servers are off the cards.

Purism, an independent U.S. technology company dedicated to protecting users' privacy, security, and online freedom, today announced the launch of its flagship laptop, the Librem 16. The Librem 16 is a consumer privacy-focused laptop, uniquely positioned to give users complete digital freedom while protecting all personally identifiable information (PII) by default.

"Purism is a social purpose corporation," said Todd Weaver, Purism Founder & CEO. "With tech advancements abusing people more and more we have forgotten the parallel that democracies were founded to protect individuals from oppressive governments. We are creating a digital utopia with technology that protects citizens, not that surveils them, and the Librem 16 is integral to that vision."

In response to a question about Intel's foundry strategy from Timothy Curry—a UBS analyst—Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan mentioned that although the company has a team that is laser focused on developing its 14A node, the node hinges on customer commitment at the moment. This obviously includes Intel itself, but also its potential third party customers and if there will be enough business for Intel to make money on the upcoming node. Lip-Bu Tan said that it "has to meet my requirement in terms of performance and yield. It's a lot of responsibility to be serving our customers, make sure that we can deliver the result—consistent, reliable result—to them, so that their revenue can depend on us."

It's clear that Intel's new CEO is very focused on revenue for the company and its customers, which makes sense considering the current situation at Intel. However, the question is if TSMC will be able to handle potential future business from Intel, as they will most likely be the only viable option for Intel, if the company decides that the investment into its 14A node doesn't make financial sense. The company has already announced that it will "further slow the pace of construction in Ohio to ensure spending is aligned with market demand" while cancelling its announced fab in Germany altogether. Admittedly the German fab was never intended to be a leading edge fab, but with so many cancelled projects, one has to wonder where Lip-Bu Tan will take the company and without third party customers, it sounds like Intel's foundry business might soon give up on trying to be a cutting edge foundry. For now, a lot hinges on its current 18A node and if it can attract enough third party interest for it.

Recent trends in the NAS market and general tech market has shown a propensity to lock down their devices to prevent you from using the device you paid for as you see fit. We at ASUSTOR do not believe in locking down your NAS device. As such, all ASUSTOR NAS devices come in an unlocked state. Today, ASUSTOR is announcing its intention to continue to maintain its devices in an unlocked state for maximum freedom.

Owning Your Products!
In recent years, companies across the tech industry have announced tighter and tighter vendor lock-in requirements that are largely arbitrary in nature. This has been in the form of putting software locks that disallow the use of unauthorized software or peripherals on devices you purchase with your hard earned money. Examples of this include companies forcing use of in-house branded hardware like hard drives in a NAS, locking out third party operating systems and apps not approved by the vendor This is part of a general trend towards disposable technology, vendor lock-in, planned obsolescence, and anti-consumer practices all at an unnecessary expense to you, the consumer. At ASUSTOR, we believe that you own the hardware you purchase, and as such, ASUSTOR NAS devices come in an unlocked state. ASUSTOR NAS devices do not place arbitrary restrictions on your use of the device, while using a non-approved drive on NAS devices with vendor lock-in policies can cause error messages or loss of features like building a RAID pool or knowledge of drive health and more.

GuliKit showcased "Elves 2" prototype controllers at Gamescom 2024; last summer's product booth—in Cologne, Germany—also displayed an intriguing "Libra MAX" model. Enthusiasts have demanded more third-party options that sport "symmetrical" control layouts with non-PlayStation-esque ergonomic designs. GuliKit's "Elves" product series has borrowed some design inspiration from Sega's various Saturn controller models. The appearance of fairly final-looking units—last August—prompted much online interest, but the brand's fanbase has grown increasingly impatient over the past six+ months. Many expected an Elves 2 SKU—with an off-white finish—to reach retail not long after last year's official unveiling. Many months later, Amazon product listings were discovered, complete with a (now missed) January release date.

Thankfully, GuliKit's social media account has started to promote an upcoming—May—arrival of their Elves 2 Pro white and black controller models—advertised as featuring "retro looks" combined with "pro performance." At the time of writing, the manufacturer has not published a dedicated product page on its official website. Teaser material lists the usual mod cons: Hall Effect sticks (anti-drift tech): maglev vibration, wired + Bluetooth connectivity, and a compact internal battery with (up to) twenty hours of operation. The GuliKit Elves 2 Pro will be a multi-platform controller—compatible with Nintendo Switch, PCs, iOS & Android mobile devices. The Elves 2 Pro's D-pad design could make it an attractive option to a growing audience of Fightpad fanatics. 8Bitdo's M30 model—borrowing DNA from Sega's Genesis/Mega Drive controller—is another popular accessory, albeit minus "modern" analogue sticks.

The 8BitDo 64 Bluetooth Controller revives the iconic N64 layout, but wrapped in an ergonomic, updated body. A precision hall-effect joystick with the original gate and signature concave rubber joystick cap. Say goodbye to the infamous loose joysticks. We're bringing back the signature C-buttons, A/B and Start—with the button sizes, positioning and feel just like the original.

Multiplayer on the N64 defined an era, and now with Analogue 3D and the 8BitDo 64 Controllers, that era is redefined. The 8BitDo 64 Controller, designed hand-in-hand with Analogue, creates an experience like no other when paired with Analogue 3D. It's a celebration of the N64, the greatest multiplayer system ever. It's Bluetooth-ready, with vibration support and platform compatibility with the new Analogue 3D, Switch, (including N64 Online) and more. Play N64 games like never before—with the best of both worlds in your hands. Available to pre-order at Amazon—MSRP $39.99.

MODDIY has swiftly updated its Help Center site with new guidelines, following recent reports of one of its older 12VHPWR cable designs having a high temperature disagreement with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition card and ASUS ROG Loki SFX-L power supply unit. The company's newest batch of (2025) 12V-2X6 and 12VHPWR are manufactured with the latest specifications and standards in mind, thus given the all-clear for utilization with NVIDIA's recently introduced GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 graphics cards. Any products from the 2024 production cycle (and before) are deemed safe to use with the GeForce RTX 40-series, but not "officially" valid for anything newer.

The company's renewed guidelines state: "as of 2025, the industry standard has transitioned to 12V-2X6, replacing the previous 12VHPWR standard. Our new cables incorporate significant advancements, including enhanced terminal and connector housing materials, along with thicker wires, to provide an additional safety buffer for the latest GPUs. At MODDIY, all 12VHPWR / 12V-2X6 cables purchased from 2025 onward are manufactured in accordance with the new 12V-2X6 specifications and standards, ensuring compatibility and optimal performance with the RTX50 series GPUs. Prior to 2024, the RTX50 series GPUs had not yet been introduced, and the prevailing standard was 12VHPWR. All cables produced before this period were designed and tested for use with the RTX40 series GPUs. We recommend that all users upgrade to the new 12V-2X6 cables to take full advantage of the enhanced safety and performance features offered by this new standard." They believe that their messily-named "ATX 3.1 PCIe 5.1 H++ 12V-2X6 675 W 12VHPWR 16 Pin Power Cable" premium custom tailor-made model is the best candidate for Team Green's modern generation of gaming cards.

Game streaming and content creation is continuously expanding with new tools. Gamers desire products that push the boundaries of play and allow for more customization options than ever. Customizable lighting has been one of the most effective ways to add a unique personality to devices and experiences. It's also a powerful force for immersion, creativity and learning, and sets your game stream apart from the others. LIGHTSYNC RGB empowers users with endless lighting customization. Now, with the addition of Dynamic Windows, LIGHTSYNC just got bigger, better, and brighter. Shine on!"

Dynamic Lighting empowers users to get the most out of their RGB devices with one consistent experience across all compatible devices. This new standard provides a new way for Logitech G users to configure their LIGHTSYNC capable devices by leveraging Windows 11 to directly send lighting to their devices. Dynamic Lighting allows for third party applications on Windows to directly address RGB-enabled LEDs on connected devices. Any compatible device can receive lighting events, and any developer can build applications using this standard to control their lighting environment.

A BioWare Austin developer is openly discussing the transfer of their long-running "Star Wars: The Old Republic" MMORPG to an external studio—games news sites picked up on insider information earlier this month alleging that the studio and its parent company (EA) were holding meetings with Broadsword Online Games. An EA spokesperson responded to the leak (at the time) and explained: "We're evaluating how we give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve, which includes conversations with Broadsword, a boutique studio that specializes in delivering online, community-driven experiences. Our goal is to do what is best for the game and its players." It seems that the involved parties have agreed upon terms for "handing off" responsibilities, according to a developer's recent declarations.

Keith Kanneg - the Executive producer for Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) - has this week provided a comprehensive update about future plans on the game's discussion board: "Appreciate your patience with us as we continue to navigate the future shift of SWTOR's development team to a third party studio. We're working through the changes right now so I'll share with you the details I have. With 7.3 now live, our priority is continuing to prepare for Game Updates 7.3.1 and 7.4 along with planning for 2024 and 2025 with a focus on content and continued modernization initiatives." It is interesting that Broadsword is not named or directly referred to.

Thousands of dicussion communities on Reddit have now shut doors to public access—warning signs started to appear online over past weeks, with community leaders drumming up support for a protest against the social news site's policy changes, including a strategy to monetize access to a vast pool of user data. For example the highly popular r/hardware subreddit is now "a private community"—unregistered users are greeted with a succinct message on the front page: "This subreddit is temporarily closed in protest of Reddit killing third party apps, see /r/ModCoord and /r/Save3rdPartyApps for more information." News sites are reporting that close to a total of 3500 subreddits have joined the "blackout" effort. According to the BBC this includes "five of the 10 most popular communities on the site - r/gaming, r/aww, r/Music, r/todayilearned and r/pics - which each have memberships of more than 30 million people."

A group message was shared by a moderation collective last week: "On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love." A moderator (speaking to the BBC anonymously) said that the protest will be effective due to "strength in numbers," which will presumably grab the attention of Reddit's executive team.