I love a good video game redemption story, as I have emphatically expressed in the past when discussing the journey which Hello Games and No Man’s Sky went on. While of course it would be preferable that a game is released in a perfect state – representing the exact vision that the development team had for it – one of the next best things is for a title to scrounge its way out of a pit of unfulfilled promises and redeem itself through dedicated care and support.

Given enough time and effort, a team with a cohesive vision, will and the creative freedom to do so can turn even the most disappointing game into the masterpiece which it had intended to be. Here’s the thing though, in order for such rare occurrences to take place, the team in question above all else must have a concrete vision for the identity of their game – even if the launch result was not able to represent it.

This is the problem with Ubisoft. Known for their middle-of-the-road output, the publisher has in the past and present shown a commitment to making sweeping changes to its games post-launch in order to craft an overall improved experience in the long-term. Unfortunately, Ubisoft appears to have neither the vision – nor its games the sense of identity – in order to elevate them beyond just being “another Ubisoft game.”

Before going ahead, I want to briefly give Ubisoft some credit. While not applicable to every release, the publisher has in recent years shown a greater dedication to the long-term support for its games. Though this comes in various shapes, sizes and timelines, the ever-increasing fiscal danger which the publisher has found itself in has seemingly forced them to commit to a more rapid and reactive response to player feedback with its games.

The poster child for this is none other than 2024’s Star Wars Outlaws. Marketed as being the first open-world Star Wars game, Ubisoft had a lot riding on the success of this licensed title – not only due to the likely-exorbitant fees required from such a partnership with Disney – but also thanks to a number of previous high-profile disappointments. And so, when Star Wars Outlaws released and its lukewarm sales figures were only matched by its critical reception, Ubisoft had to act.

Thus would come what is perhaps one of the most clear examples of a game creator seemingly going directly against their own vision. While ultimately for the betterment of the title itself, even just a couple notable alterations to a game’s design can fundamentally change it – and Ubisoft introduced star destroying levels of changes; so much so that it is quite clear that whatever vision the team had for the game was fleeting.

As mentioned, Star Wars Outlaws launched to a rather lukewarm reception, with criticism surrounding the game involving discussions of insta-fail stealth sections; limited gunplay and stretched out checkpoints. All this, and much more, created a particular sense of identity and vision which the team at Massive Entertainment were clearly going for. Even prior to release, they said it themselves: you are not a superhuman jedi nor a Sith lord. Instead, you are Kay – an outlaw whose relative lack of firepower requires them to sneak around; hoping that they don’t encounter any enemies.

In many ways, it was clear that this sense of atmosphere and style of gameplay was an intentional part of the game’s design. Unfortunately, fans didn’t like the vision which Ubisoft presented. So what did they do? They changed it completely.

Starting with the very first title update, Star Wars Outlaws was already backtracking on its design philosophies introducing “tweaks and improvement on some challenging stealth moments”. Considering the fact that stealth was advertised as a core part of the game’s experience, already changing how it functions does not give the greatest sense of confidence in the world.

This was just the beginning however. When it came to stealth, each update introduced further sweeping changes, including but not limited to:

• Reducing your detection while rolling
• Tweaked the overall stealth experience by adjusting AI detection, the number of NPCs and their positioning, patrol pathing, camera detection and highlighting environmental opportunities to reduce player friction
• Reduced detection chances when using cover
• Implemented stealth changes to ‘False Flag' and other missions to give players more flexibility in how they approach situations without the risk of failing
• Improved enemy detection
• Improved detection signs and feedback of cameras
• Added visual indication of when an NPC starts detecting the player
• Made it clearer whether a takedown could trigger combat

While in and of themselves enough changes to drastically impact Outlaws’ stealth experience, compounding with other gameplay; economy; traversal and combat changes and Star Wars Outlaws today is a wholly unrecognisable and different beast – with just some of the combat changes being as followed:

• Added a quick throw button for using grenades
• Improved NPC combat behaviour
• Scaled ‘Wanted' difficulty based on player progression
• Removed autosave restrictions for combat/detection
• Improved enemy AI and combat behaviour
• Improved enemy tactical decision-making in combat to encourage more active management of their positioning
• Decreased enemy damage per shot while increasing the damage cadence increase over time
• Enabled the use of combat in parts of syndicate districts
• Added weak points to various enemies
• Adjusted weapon aiming (spread, recoil, etc.) to allow for more precision and management
• Updated weapon damage values for Kay for all weapons
• Increased headshot damage when hitting enemies
• Added enemy stagger to explosions
• Improved NPC cover usage during combat
• Improved camera when shooting, aiming down sights, and moving aim
• Improved enemy AI when detecting grenades and when Kay is hidden in smoke
• Improved detection when ‘in-combat' state
• Improved shooting when behind cover to prevent hitting the environment
• Improved enemy AI when moving to cover/being suppressed

Pretty much all of these changes sound positive, with Ubisoft seemingly addressing many of the biggest complaints which players had with the game. Here’s the thing though, each of these singular patch notes could alone be enough to alter the game’s original experience. When a game creator has vision, every decision, design choice and compromise is made in alignment with said vision.

For a game which is stealth focused, wanting you to feel somewhat underpowered in order to force you sneak around, even just one of the changes listed above could wholly impact the overall experience, pacing, and identity. For example, a seemingly mild change such as “Adjusted weapon aiming (spread, recoil, etc.) to allow for more precision and management” is enough to displace the game’s original intent. Making players a more accurate marksman immediately affects the sense of tension, danger and risk during any stealth sections as one missed shot could alert everyone around you. Now, with the ability to pop a clean headshot from far away, that sense of danger, risk and fear is gone.

That is just looking at a single patch note and its impact on the experience. But game design decisions are not made in isolation. Every single one of the changes above make an increasing and exponential impact on Outlaws’ identity – from the increased headshot damage to the amount of camera sway, and even the choice to switch from Performance to Quality Mode as the default on console shows a wavering sense of vision.

While of course the choice in graphical fidelity is welcome, most casual players are unlikely to even open the options menu, meaning the default experience needs to be well thought out, balanced and designed with intent. Opting for the 30fps mode as default makes sense for a game like Star Wars Outlaws, with its emphasis on using high-end rendering techniques, cinematic flair and even lens distortion which replicates that of the original trilogy of films. For some reason however, the team decided to ship the game out with performance mode as the default – only to quickly change it around post-launch. Similarly, while the game was also almost entirely advertised in an ultra-wide cinematic aspect ratio, Outlaws didn’t even fully support the format at launch.

All the above is still far from the complete list of alterations made in the months following Outlaws’ launch. Other miscellaneous – yet equally as impactful – changes, this time for general gameplay and traversal, include:

• Improved the speeder's response and reaction when called
• Improved speeder collision with the environment to reduce being knocked off the speeder
• Improved speeder travel by reducing collisions with objects in the environment
• Kay now holsters a two-handed weapon in more situations such as when climbing, grappling or using the speeder
• Added the ability to free fire Kay's blaster while riding the speeder
• Kay is now thrown off the speeder when hit by a melee attack
• Added the ability to press jump twice when near a grapple point to activate it
• Improved attaching and releasing input when using the grappling hook
• Increased spawn rates for speeder races
• Miyuki Traders have been upgraded to full vendors and now sell passive system upgrades in addition to previous resource items
• Added new space contracts for all players that include multiple challenge types

Once again, these seemingly small tweaks have an overall major impact on Outlaws’ ‘intended’ experience. Once a somewhat clunky and risky mode of traversal for escape, requiring a meter build up in order to fire at the enemies, Kay can now easily blast any adversaries around her at any time, all the while maintaining a greater sense of control of the speeder. This fundamentally changes the way that a player will interact with the world around them.

Similarly, though admittedly done in a rather poor manner, Outlaws’ limiting of your weaponry – in having you constantly drop the guns which you’ve picked up off of enemies – served a function. Seemingly inspired by the likes of Uncharted, Outlaws’ gunplay was intended as a sort of continuously moving and somewhat hectic affair in which you would be constantly and consistently picking up other guns, expending their ammo and then picking up another.

The limited ammo and inability to hold onto these guns purposefully pushed players to use the tools given to them, instead of hoarding them for later “just in case”. This system has of course been turned on its head as a result of these tweaks. Even the changes made to trading can have a notable impact on the game’s economy – affecting all elements from progression to the vibes.

These are all design decisions which Ubisoft would have considered during the earliest days of Star Wars Outlaws’ development – or at the very least they should have considered. Am I being a bit harsh? Absolutely. With the typical developer/publisher relationship in mind, what likely took place was that the creatives at Ubisoft had a vision for Star Wars Outlaws – that being a somewhat challenging, stealth focused game with a mix of pre-planning, and flexible emergent gameplay when all hell inevitably breaks loose.

Be it due to a lack of time, budget, mismanagement or simply a failure to execute on the vision, reception towards Outlaws was mid, and so too were its sales. The higher-ups at Ubisoft likely saw this and panicked, with even the power of the Star Wars IP failing to keep the game floating above water. With neither care nor concern for the original game’s vision, those at the top then took their golden executive lift down to the offices of the ‘workers’ with one simple command: “fix the game.”

What does this mean? Who knows exactly, and so the dev team opted to address the game’s various complaints one at a time. The insta-fail sections are annoying? Get rid of them. The game doesn’t look as good as the pre-release material? Change the default graphics mode. The weapons feel discouraging to use? Turn them into laser beams. Bit by bit, with each change and alteration made, the original identity of Star Wars Outlaws was stripped away from it. Now, what you're left with is a game which while admittedly objectively better, feels more generic, sanitised and somewhat vision-less.

The buck doesn’t stop with Star Wars Outlaws however. While one of the more clear examples in years, the early changes made to the more recently-released Assassin’s Creed Shadows seems to indicate them once again heading in a similar familiar direction. While the launch reception towards Assassin’s Creed Shadows was certainly more positive than Outlaws’, its overall experience still remained far from perfect. 

The 4th entry in the series’ RPG-styled AC offerings, Assassin’s Creed Shadows managed to improve greatly over 2020’s Valhalla. Even so, in the immediacy following its release, Ubisoft committed to making a ton of changes (mostly for the better). Though far less extensive when compared to Outlaws (due to being a more recent release), some of the biggest changes coming to Shadows over the course of the next year include:

• New Ally, abilities, activities, and additional backstory that will permanently impact the game
• Multiple parkour updates, stating with:
  • Height-gaining back-ejects
  • Height-gaining side-ejects
  • Vertical Ledge Jump allowing both characters to jump and grab onto awnings and lower overhangs
• Horse-auto follow and faster speeds
• Speed improvements
• Mastery nodes reset
• Can turn off weapon glints
• expanding the Alarm System and are bringing it to the Open-World to give you even more challenge! 
• Investigation board shortcut

As mentioned, Shadows only released relatively recently, and so Ubisoft has not yet had the chance to wholly alter its identity. Still, as was the case with Star Wars Outlaws, each of the above patches could fundamentally change the way you play and experience the game.

Horse auto-follow makes traversal trivial and mindless – making the strongest aspect of Shadows, its environmental visuals more easily ignorable. Similarly, while the mastery node reset is a welcome addition as it allows for more experimentation, this now removes the careful considerations which players needed to make and plan for previously in order to more directly role play in this RPG.

Parkour in Shadows was designed in a way to discourage the practice when playing as Yasuke due to his relative lack of skills and heavier build in this regard compared to Naoe. Assuming the aforementioned parkour improvements come to both Naoe and Yasuke, then Ubisoft will have once again sanitised one of the game’s biggest design decisions.

As a champion of accessibility, I welcome changes which can make any game more approachable and available to as many people as possible – so long as it does not clash with the creator’s original intent. Pretty much all of these changes made are seen as being positive, ultimately making for a more agreeable experience. The issue isn’t in that these features exist at all, but that they have come (or are arriving) long after launch and in direct contrast with the game’s original experience.

Am I more likely to play Assassin’s Creed Shadows once all the updates have been released as compared to its launch state? Of course, and in this regard, Ubisoft has done the correct thing in wanting to improve the game post-launch. The thing is, with so many drastic changes released in a sporadic and seemingly disconnected manner to the rest of the game, it feels less like Ubisoft are shooting for the stars, missing and then trying to correct for the missed trajectory.

Instead, the company appears to have just needed to get the game off the ground first – and would then worry about any issues as and when they encountered it. Or in the worst case, Ubisoft were shooting for the stars, they missed, and so the executives told them to aim at the sun instead; changing the mission statement all the while.

Ubisoft is a weird company. Anytime a new game is announced from the publisher, it is presented with a strong sense of direction, vision and identity. Unfortunately, this vision is rarely met come the game’s official launch day – leading to a response from the team which ultimately undoes many of the design decisions that made the game what it was. This is why Ubisoft has no vision – and its games lack identity.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Ubisoft’s output in recent years? Would you rather they stick to their guns when it comes to game design principles, or do you appreciate how reactive they are to critical reception? Let us know down below.

Lian Li has launched the new Uni Fan SL-Infinity Wireless, a fan series designed for extensive customisation. It features three independently controllable lighting zones and distinct dual-layered infinity mirror patterns on both sides, offering two different visual styles.

The fans feature L-Wireless Sync 2.4 GHz technology, enabling wireless control of ARGB lighting (58 LEDs per fan) and fan speeds. This technology reduces cable clutter by eliminating the need for a central hub, giving your system's internals a cleaner aesthetic. The receiver can connect to either side of the fan for easy installation. An updated 4-pin cable ensures the fans are recognised as PWM devices in the BIOS, and a built-in tail PWM cable provides additional power. Lighting effects can be fully customised with the upgraded L-Connect 3 software.

All fan models use an embedded fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) for additional durability and low-noise operation. However, there are differences in their specs, with the standard model rotating between 200 and 2300 RPM and pushing up to 67 CFM of air with a static pressure of 3.4 mmH₂O at a noise level of 29.2 dB(A). The reverse models also rotate between 200 and 2300 RPM and can push up to 69.7 CFM of air with a static pressure of 2.2 mmH₂O at a noise level of 32.2 dB(A).

The Uni Fan SL-Infinity Wireless fan series is available in black and white, with conventional or reverse airflow options. It costs $104.99 for a 3-pack and $31.99 for a single unit. Pre-orders are now available.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Lian Li's decision to have various side designs for its new fans? Do you think other brands should follow the example, or is a single-sided design the way to go?

Kojima Productions is set to host a “game premiere” presentation for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach with Geoff Keighley on the Summer Game Fest main stage. This event will occur on Sunday, June 8/9th, at 7 p.m. PT / 3 a.m. BST, concluding this year's Summer Game Fest schedule.

The presentation is described as an “exclusive look” at the game and will feature special guests alongside Kojima and Keighley, likely including core cast members.

This presentation marks the beginning of a “world tour” for Death Stranding 2 that will continue until November. The tour itinerary is as follows:

• June 8th: Los Angeles (Summer Game Fest)
• June 14th: Sydney
• June 26th: Tokyo
• June 28th: Paris
• June 30th: London
• July 4th: Seoul
• July 6th: Taipei
• July 9th: Hong Kong
• July 12th: Shanghai
• August: Riyadh
• October: São Paulo
• November: Lucca

Additional details regarding each stop on the tour have yet to be announced. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be released for PlayStation 5 on June 26th, 2025.

KitGuru says: Are you interested in Death Stranding 2? Are you planning on going to any of the world tour events?

FromSoftware and Bandai Namco's Elden Ring Nightreign has rapidly surpassed 2 million players within a day of its release and amassed over 300,000 concurrent players on Steam. 

Notably, Elden Ring Nightreign is unavailable on subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, suggesting that the 2 million player count closely reflects copies sold. The game also reached over 310,000 concurrent users on Steam (according to SteamDB), though player feedback has been mixed (66% on Steam user reviews). Still, the number of concurrent users will likely be beaten during its first weekend.

Common criticisms to the game include a perceived lack of options for solo players and the absence of crossplay, which is often expected in modern multiplayer titles. Despite these complaints, reviewers have praised it as being quite fun, featuring many of what made the original Elden Ring a great game. The game currently has an OpenCritic score of 80, with 79% of critics recommending it.

KitGuru says: Have you already bought Elden Ring Nightreign? What do you think of From Software's new take on the soulslike genre?

We take a look at Thermalright’s crazy amount of air coolers, closed-loop liquid coolers, fans, and examine the company’s first case

The Highlights

• Thermalright continues to overwhelm the CPU cooler market with a crazy amount of coolers at cheap prices
• Thermalright showed off its first case, the TR M10 MATX
• Thermalright is experimenting with fans of all kinds, ranging from high-end all-LCP and metal fans to more modest PPT ones
• The company also unveiled a number of new closed-loop liquid coolers

Table of Contents

• AutoTOC

Intro

We visited Thermalright’s booth at Computex 2025 and the company handed us a big booklet showing everything the company was showing at the show. It’s impossible for us to remember the names of everything the company was showing at the event as there just too much of it, but we'll try to highlight the most interesting products.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 20, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Camera, Video Editing

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

Thermalright Air Coolers

The biggest thing that Thermalright is doing when it comes to coolers is mostly in digital displays and screens. The company showed off many CPU air coolers at Computex and only a few don’t have them. 

Frost Tower

The company’s Frost Tower comes with a 140mm fan in the middle coupled with a 120mm front fan. The middle fan is 27mm thick and the front fan is a standard 25mm. Thermalright is targeting about $50 for the Frost Tower. The company is using LCP blades, which is very expensive, and a 30% fiberglass reinforced PBT for the frame, which is a balancing mechanism for cost. 

It uses a 6-pull fan and its fin-stack is soldered, which is higher quality than press-fit.

Royal Lord

The company’s Royal Lord cooler is supposed to be a $43 cooler and it uses 2 fans. Thermalright says it’s an extra $10 if you want to add an extra LCD to it. Like the Frost Tower, its fin stack is also soldered. It uses 7 heat pipes with a 30% fiberglass reinforced PBT for its fans, which are both 2x25mm. 

Thermalright Fans

R-Series Fans 

The company will release its R5 and R9 fans. The number denotes how many blades the fans will have. Thermalright says the R5 fans are designed to push air through radiators. 

The R9 fan has 9 blades and is a 28mm thick fan. 

The company is moving towards LCP on a lot of its fans. 

X12 Fan

Thermalright showed off a fan with 17 blades that’s completely made out of metal. It’s got a zinc alloy frame and aluminum blade set. It’s just a prototype for now and costs the company $100 to make, which tells you a little about how much it might cost for the company to mass-produce it. The unit we saw was fully CNCed. 

17 blade fans are very abnormal. The company says it would mostly be useful in mini PCs. The fan uses an all-metal design to get the blade-tip clearance to functionally be 0. The fan also has an inner ring to it. 

Thermalright Stream Vision Liquid Cooler

Thermalright showed off numerous liquid coolers, but we’re only going to focus on one. 

Thermalright’s Stream Vision is supposed to be $100. The liquid cooler comes with a screen on it and there’s also a fan that cools the memory and VRM. One of our suggestions to Thermalright is to angle the grill on the sides of this fan away from the mounting brackets. The company is trying to compete in the liquid market more. 

Rainbow Vision and Wonder Vision

The company is also competing with Tryx’s panoramic cooler. Thermalright has an interchangeable screen with one of the 2 options providing a full separate cold plate. They are 2400x1800 resolution from what the company told us and leverage a 60Hz panel. One of the options is a 6.67-inch OLED display. Thermalright says that both options should be about $200. 

TRM10 Cases

Thermalright also showed off a case that it’s been working on, the TRM10. The company hasn’t made computer cases before. It’s one of the few products that it’s not making in its factory. 

Thermalright’s plan for cases is to do what they’re doing in the cooler industry, which is to be extremely competitive when it comes to pricing. 

The cheapest version of the TRM10 will be $45 and the more expensive one will be $65. The more expensive model will come with an LCD display on the side and a digital display on the front to display numbers like the time. The cheaper one, on the other hand, will most likely just come with a steel plate instead.  

The mATX case is mostly steel with a bunch of perforations on the top and glass for its sides. The top of the case also has plastic that is made to look like brushed aluminum. Inside the chassis, there’s a good amount of depth for the cable management and it has passthrough for the cables at a side angle with the exception of the EPS12V, which is on the top. Everything else about the case is pretty standard. 

Looking inside the case, there’s a lot of perforation, like at the top and bottom of the hard drive cages, which is a good thing to see. The top of the power supply shroud is also heavily perforated along with the bottom of the case. There’s about as many holes as you can get in the case.  

The case is going for airflow with its panel design, with the exception of the front, but the side makes up for some airflow. The steel in the middle of this panel adds some rigidity and is also probably a play on Thermalright’s logo.   

Thermalright Mini PCs

With its mini PCs, Thermalright is trying to compete with Minisforum and the company tells us that the mini PCs we saw will be liquid cooled. This theoretically means it should have better thermals and be a little quieter compared to competing systems if it’s done well. Pricing is still TBD but Thermalright says they will be cheaper or equal to competing mini PCs, which we take as Minisforum. 

The company started running a benchmark on one of its mini PCs with a 100% load and we saw the CPU, which is an AMD 395 SOC, temps being 61 degrees C, though that may ramp up as it hits steady state. 

Thermalright showed off 3 models.

One of the mini PCs at Computex was just there for show. The unit in the image above is fully CNCed. It looks super nice with its red accents, but it’s not something the company is planning to sell unless there’s a lot of demand for it.  

Thermalright Tank PC

Leveraging its factory, Thermalright wanted to build something cool and took 3 months to make a computer that looked like a tank. The company told us it’s composed of around 450 pieces.

Thermalright CEO Interview

We also conducted a brief interview with Thermalright’s CEO. To check that out, make sure to watch that portion in our Computex video.

Intel's next-generation desktop CPU socket, LGA-1954, is rumoured to retain the same physical dimensions as its predecessors, LGA-1851 and LGA-1700. This news, surfacing from recent shipping manifests and various industry reports, suggests a potential silver lining for enthusiasts looking to upgrade their systems in the future, as they can retain their cooling solutions. The LGA-1954 is expected to be the platform for Nova Lake-S processors, which are slated for a 2026 launch following the reported Arrow Lake Refresh later this year.

Based on the manifest shared by Ruby_Rapids (via VideoCardz), the LGA-1954 socket measures 45mm x 37.5mm, identical to both LGA-1851 and LGA-1700. The LGA-1954 socket's footprint strongly indicates that many existing CPU coolers designed for these older platforms will remain mechanically compatible, potentially saving costs for builders. Despite the identical dimensions, the LGA-1954 significantly increases the pin count to 1,954, most likely to accommodate enhanced power delivery for Intel's increasingly complex CPU designs.

Note, however, that mechanical compatibility doesn't guarantee optimal thermal performance. Modern Intel desktop CPUs, being non-monolithic designs, often feature shifted heat hotspots. For instance, the LGA-1851 has a hotspot positioned slightly towards the northeast of the TIM. Nova Lake-S will likely present similar challenges, meaning existing coolers might not perfectly align with these new hotspots. While a complete cooler replacement might not be necessary, specialised mounting hardware, such as offset bars, could still be required to ensure proper cooler alignment. Future Nova Lake-S CPUs may also feature higher TDPs, meaning current solutions might not offer enough cooling power to handle the upcoming CPUs.

Despite the potential for cooler reuse, transitioning to LGA-1954 will still require a new motherboard, as the current LGA-1851 motherboards will remain exclusive to Arrow Lake and its refresh. Hopefully, the LGA-1954 will have a longer lifespan than the LGA-1851.

KitGuru says: Changing the socket yet again won't do Intel any favours, as consumers will likely not be too happy about buying a new motherboard. However, if the performance of the upcoming CPUs is good, consumers may give the company a pass.

Earlier this week, EA revealed that it has closed down one of its single-player studios, Cliffhanger Games, and cancelled its Black Panther title. This game was one of three planned Marvel game projects and despite its cancellation, EA says there will still be three games on the way.

EA and Marvel Games had a deal in place for three major video game releases. The first was Iron Man, by EA Motive and the second was the Black Panther game. Black Panther has been cancelled, but Iron Man is still in the works at EA Motive. It would seem that while Black Panther was cancelled, EA still plans to deliver three Marvel games in the years ahead.

In a statement sent to IGN, EA said that the relationship between itself and Marvel was still “strong” and that the previous deal between the two companies is still ongoing: “The multi-title, long-term relationship between Marvel Games and EA, a creative collaboration focused on original storytelling with various, beloved Marvel characters, remains strong. Development of our console and PC titles, beginning with Marvel's Iron Man, is led by Motive Studios”.

The last part of that statement makes it sound like EA Motive will now be responsible for all three Marvel games. Whether EA has pivoted to an Iron Man trilogy, or plans to develop three separate, unconnected games with different characters in each, still remains to be seen.

KitGuru Says: I'm looking forward to the Iron Man game, but with EA shutting down two single-player game studios in back-to-back years, I wouldn't take this as confirmation that we will definitely see all three of these games come to fruition.

When shopping around for DDR5 you have a daunting amount of choice of frequencies.  As we have seen in many reviews, the highest frequency DIMMs mostly offer bragging rights and impressive synthetic…

You may be old enough to recall A&M Records versus Napster or when the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was handing out fines of up to $150,000 per song to kids…

Ahead of The Witcher 3's launch in 2015, CD Projekt Red promised mod tools as a free DLC post-launch. The mod kit for the game ended up being fairly minimal, offering users ways to edit textures but not much else. Fortunately, CD Projekt Red released a far more comprehensive set of modding tools in 2023, allowing users to create genuinely new content for the game, like custom quests. Now, mod support is heading to consoles.

As part of CD Projekt Red's Witcher 3 10-year anniversary celebration, the company has now announced cross-platform mod support for the game. Not only will this bring mod support to The Witcher 3 on Xbox Series X/S and PS5, but it will also enable an in-game mod browser for the PC version too.

Like the cross-platform mod support in Baldur's Gate 3, The Witcher 3 will use the mod.io platform, which in itself is quite similar to Bethesda's Creations store. Users can browse, download and enable mods all from an in-game menu, removing the need to use external websites and download/install mods manually.

This all follows the release of a new mod editor for The Witcher 3, which released last year. The new tools allow users to make entire new questlines, introduce custom scripts, or edit existing content in the game.

KitGuru Says: Despite new mod tools being available, we've yet to hear about any fan-made expansions for The Witcher 3 like we see in Skyrim. However, a few creators have added some small new questlines, including ports of quests from The Witcher 1. 

For years, Games for Windows Live (GFWL) was seen as a blight on PC gaming. Fortunately, Microsoft ditched it, but in the process, some games were left inaccessible. A number of major games have been updated since to remove all traces of GFWL, but it was only in 2024 when Capcom decided to finally start the process. Now over half a year later, Lost Planet 2 has been revived.

When Games for Windows Live shut down, Capcom had to delist a number of titles from PC storefronts like Steam. This week, Capcom revealed that its work has finished for Lost Planet 2, the second game in an excellent trilogy of survival shooters.

If you own Lost Planet 2 on Steam already, you can now download the latest version of the game, which removes all traces of the defunct (and awful) Games for Windows Live system. It isn't all sunshine and rainbows though, as the update did also break online multiplayer and well, if you had a Lost Planet 2 save, it might now be busted.

Fortunately, Lost Planet 1 and Lost Planet 3 both escaped the curse of Games for Windows Live, so those games did not require a new update.

KitGuru Says: I was a big fan of the Lost Planet trilogy back in the 360-era, but I've never tried the PC versions. Do you own these games on PC? Are you glad to see GFWL removed from Lost Planet 2?

Mundfish, the developer behind the 2023 hit Atomic Heart, is leveraging its debut title's success to expand into a new strategic venture within the gaming industry. As the title just reached 10 million players, the studio has officially launched Mundfish Powerhouse, a new publishing initiative to support developers and investors.

Atomic Heart has surpassed 10 million users across all platforms since its launch in February 2023. Building on this achievement, Mundfish (via Push Square) describes Powerhouse as more than a traditional publishing arm; it aims to be a full-scale creative and operational partner. The new label promises to provide its partners with production expertise, high-end tools, a proven and scalable development pipeline, and hands-on support from concept through to launch.

Mundfish CEO Robert Bagratuni articulated the selective criteria for Powerhouse's collaborations, stating, “Powerhouse will only partner with projects where we see great potential to make noise. Not just a handful of indie hits, but big, bold games that can set a new standard for quality and creative risk”. Mundfish confirmed that Powerhouse is already working behind the scenes with new partners, with more details to be revealed.

While Atomic Heart proved highly popular with players, its critical reception was somewhat mixed, with a Metacritic score of 70. Nonetheless, the game resonated with a large player base, demonstrating its appeal despite its flaws.

KitGuru says: Did you play Atomic Heart? How was your experience with it?

Recent reports indicate a possible shift in Microsoft's strategy for the portable gaming market. Microsoft's long-rumoured first-party Xbox handheld is now said to be facing delays, as Microsoft has realised that Windows still needs a lot of work on the power management front to catch up to alternatives like SteamOS. 

According to Windows Central, Microsoft has prioritised improving Windows 11 gaming performance, specifically for third-party devices like Asus's “Project Kennan”, an Xbox-themed handheld. This decision is reportedly influenced by the threat posed by SteamOS, which often delivers superior gaming performance compared to Windows 11 on handhelds. Just this week, tests of the Lenovo Legion Go S running Windows 11 and SteamOS proved that.

While Microsoft continues to affirm its desire to build its own Xbox handheld in the future, it seems the company is now focusing on optimising the underlying OS and fostering a stronger ecosystem for partner devices. As recently as last November, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer hinted that the company was working on something portable, possibly still in the prototype stage. Jason Ronald, Microsoft's VP of Next Generation, further suggested the device would blend the “best of Xbox and Windows” and be more PC-oriented, functioning as a stand-alone device capable of running Xbox games natively, unlike the streaming-only PlayStation Portal.

We may hear more official news on Xbox's strategy for third-party handhelds and the supposed Xbox portable console at the upcoming Xbox Showcase, which is slated for June 8th.

KitGuru says: Hopefully, the optimisations targeting Windows 11 handhelds will also benefit the gaming experience on laptops and desktops.

If you’re looking for an upcoming kart racer that isn’t Mario Kart World, SEGA has you covered, with Sonic Racing CrossWorlds set to launch some time this year. Taking inspiration from the much-loved Sonic and SEGA All-Star Racing Transformed, the upcoming racer looks set to include much more than just Sonic characters – with a new leak claiming that both SpongeBob and the TMNT could make an appearance in-game.

As reported by the same leaker who detailed CrossWorlds ahead of its official announcement, the upcoming Sonic Kart racer will seemingly feature characters outside of SEGAs own repertoire – with both the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as SpongeBob Square Pants said to be included in the roster.

Further details surrounding their inclusion has not been shared, meaning it is unknown whether they will be featured in the base game, or as part of a paid DLC pack.

Regardless, thanks to the success of the Sonic films, SEGA and Paramount do have a rather strong business relationship and so such an inclusion does make sense – especially as SpongBob himself has featured in multiple Nickelodeon racing titles in the past.

Currently, Sonic Racing CrossWorlds has yet to receive an official release date, with the game still slated for some time in 2025. That said, with SEGA confirmed to be present during the upcoming Summer Game Fest Showcase, it’s possible we might get new details on the upcoming title sooner rather than later.

KitGuru says: Are you excited for Sonic Racing CrossWorlds? Does it have the potential to be as good as Transformed? What other external characters would you like to see added to the roster? Let us know down below.

As a publisher, SEGA has been pretty good when it comes to supporting mobile platforms, with the company releasing both original titles to both Android/iOS as well as bringing ports of their classics to smartphones. Unfortunately, many classic SEGA titles have now been updated with a message announcing their end-of-service.

As reported by Wario64 via BlueSky, a number of SEGA published games have been updated on the Google Play Store with a message which states: “Support for this game will be discontinued, but you can continue playing offline!”

So far, the list of games which have been updated with such a message include Sonic CD Classic; Sonic 4 Episode 2; Super Monkey Ball; Virtua Tennis and Crazy Taxi – among many others.

These titles join the list of other SEGA classics which were discontinued back in 2023 (including the likes of Ristar; Vectorman; Comix Zone and a dozen more). As of now, it appears as though pretty much all ‘SEGA Forever’ mobile ports are being delisted – with the only games yet to receive the update being Sonic 1 and 2.

Though it is possible that the delisting is due to updated APIs (which has in the past caused many games to no longer work on newer versions of Android / iOS), what is equally as likely is that SEGA is preparing for some sort of mobile-based game subscription service. We will have to wait and see, but hopefully these titles do find their way back onto mobile storefronts sooner rather than later.

KitGuru says: What do you think is going on here? Will SEGA bring these games back to mobile? If so, what do you think their plans are? Let us know down below.

The UK retailer GAME is in many ways a shell of its former self, with the past 5 or so years seeing the brand shutter stores, end many of its services, and more. In an unfortunate and unexplained move, GAME has cancelled a number of pre-orders for the upcoming Switch 2 – just one week out from its launch.

Releasing the surprise statement to Twitter, the official ‘GAMEdigital’ page announced the following:

“We sincerely apologise for the recent cancellation of some Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders. We understand how disappointing this is, especially for those who have been eagerly awaiting their order. We're currently working hard to reinstate as many affected pre-orders as possible. If your order was impacted, please know that we are doing everything we can and will be in touch with further updates and next steps.”

The statement concludes with “Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work to resolve this. We truly appreciate your support.”

While already a major blow to those who pre-ordered the system, what is perhaps more confusing is the lack of any explanation as to why these cancellations took place. Without any official reason being offered, fans are left to speculate. Was it a case of GAME offering more units than they were allotted? Was there a glitch in the system? Unfortunately we don't know.

All that said, and as unlikely as it seems, hopefully GAME are able to honour all of their pre-orders – and get them in the hands of players on day-one. We will have to wait and see.

KitGuru says: What do you think of GAME in 2025? Would you trust them with any future pre-orders? What do you think the reason for the cancellations was? Let us know down below.

Each week, the Epic Games Store gives away a game or two for free to all those with an EGS account. Available right now to claim, this week’s free offerings include Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and the excellent indie puzzle-platformer LIMBO from Playdead.

Available to claim for free from now until the 5th of June at 4PM UK time, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a spin-off of the popular looter-shooter series Borderlands, trading the Mad Max-like world for a Dungeons and Dragons inspired experience. Though ostensibly still a Borderlands game, the switch-up in weaponry does enough to make the experience worth a try.

LIMBO meanwhile is a highly evocative and unique horror-puzzle-platformer from Playdead – the team behind the equally as excellent ‘Inside’. Released back in 2010, LIMBO represented one of the first big indie games to arrive as a digital-only experience on the 7th-gen consoles; receiving near-universal acclaim. If you have not played LIMBO before, you’ll want to carve out a few hours to give it a go.

Both LIMBO and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands are available to claim for free until the 5th of July – at which point they will be replaced by two as-of-yet-unknown offerings.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this week’s offerings? Have you played LIMBO before? Do you prefer it or Inside more? Let us know down below.

Corsair’s Virtuoso Max Wireless is the latest flagship in their high-end headset lineup, aiming to deliver a luxurious blend of design, audio prowess, and cutting-edge features. Building on the legacy of the Virtuoso series, this headset combines premium materials with a robust feature set tailored for gamers, streamers, and multimedia enthusiasts. After extensive testing, I’m impressed by its build quality, sound, and intuitive controls, but the comfort issues from previous models persist, and its hefty price tag demands scrutiny. Let’s break it down. Design and Build Quality The Virtuoso Max is a looker from the moment you unbox it. Its […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/review/corsair-virtuoso-max-wireless-headset/

During Computex 2025, Lian Li showed off several new cases that include the Lancool 4, Lancool 217 Infinity, Lian Li O11 Mini V2, and more

The Highlights

• Lian Li's Lancool 4 case has gigantic holes cut into the glass for intake fans, coupling airflow with glass
• The company’s Shifting Block PSU has a rotating plug that is geared for back-connect motherboards
• The company’s Vector 100 cases are very cheap, starting at $45 without fans

Table of Contents

• AutoTOC

Intro

We visited Lian Li during Computex, where the company showed off several of its upcoming products. We think the most interesting one is the Lancool 4, which has fans built into its glass front panel. It’s supposed to be a $130 case that will come with 6 fans.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 19, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

Credits

Host

Steve Burke

Camera, Video Editing

Mike Gaglione
Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

Lancool 4

The big thing about the Lancool 4 is that it embeds its fans into the front glass panel. This kind of takes us back to about 20 years ago, but instead of glass, the fans were integrated into acrylic and people would take a hole saw and would mount their own fans into it. 

One of the challenges with this design pertains to potentially reducing the yields with glass breaking being a concern. This wasn’t something that case companies did before, but Lian Li CEO Jameson Chen tells us the glass manufacturing process has improved dramatically lately. The CEO says that the failure rate used to be abysmal but has gotten down to about 5% to accommodate for the curve of the glass. Drilling holes into the glass brings the failure rate down at least another 5%. To mitigate failure rates, Lian Li found that there needs to be at least a 3cm gap between the holes. 

Chen revealed that the glass is 4mm thick, which is to bolster its quality.  

In between the fans are plastic pieces which are used to hide the cables. The fans also use Pogo pins, which are integrated into the bottom of the front panel. 

When we asked Chen what happens if one of the fans dies, the CEO stated that Lian Li would provide a 5-year warranty. He elaborated that the fans are a new design and that they are 10% fiberglass PBT. Chen also revealed that the fans use fluid dynamic bearings (FDB). Considering Lian Li is still prototyping the case, the company is still thinking about whether to put RGB LEDs on the fan blades or to put the RGB LEDs around the fan’s frames. 

The Lancool 4 has an aluminum top and the rest of the chassis is made of steel, which is 1mm thick.

The back glass panel releases via a button. Chen says this was done so that people could open up the glass panel without opening up the bottom side panel. 

Looking at the design of the rest of the case, it has a lot of similar panels as seen in the Lancool series. It’s got 4 doors and the 2 on the bottom sides are ventilated mesh and there are fan-mount options on the side. 

While we were there, Chen told us that Lian Li is considering shortening the case from the front to the back a little bit. This would bring the fans in closer to the components. This will benefit an air cooler and GPU. In our experience, performance in shorter cases, in a like-for-like scenario, is better. Chen also thinks the aesthetics of the case would improve as well with a tighter design. The downside is that the case would no longer support 420mm radiators and would support 360mm radiators max. 

The back panel of the Lancool 4 uses glass, which would normally expose the cable management but the case will come with a cable cover. There would be 2 screws to remove it. A downside here is that there’s less cable-management space to work with.

The Lancool 4’s PSU mount is towards the back and bottom of the case. The bottom front has a cut out, which provides some space to route cables. 

Shifting Block PSU

The company also showed off a new interesting power supply, which has a rotating plug. This creates a shifting layout for the cable connections and allows users to re-orient the PSU. 

Chen tells us it's designed for top and bottom chamber cases and it’s also geared for back-connect motherboards.  

Looking at the PSU, it has its 24-pin connectors off on one side. It also has an optional fan and USB 2.0 hub.

Lian Li O11 Mini V2

Moving on to the Lian Li O11 Mini V2, it has mesh on one of the side panels that’s popped-out about 3mm, which is to accommodate for ATX PSUs that protrude past the frame of the case. The company designed it this way because it had a very specific width it wanted to tackle to avoid the case looking too chunky. Currently, the volume of the case is 45 liters, which includes the feet, but does not include the protruding mesh side panel. 

The case we saw used bottom intake fans, which are slanted at 25 degrees and the only place for air access is underneath the back panel side. This is coupled with a tiny dust filter on the bottom, which slides out through the back. 

In terms of other fan mounts, the case has 2 on the side, 1 on the back, and 3 fans can fit in the top. The Lian Li O11 Mini V2 is targeting $89 without fans and $99 with five 120mm fans (2 on the side and 3 on the bottom). 

Dan Case B4

Moving on to Lian Li’s Dan Case B4, we’ve reviewed Dan cases before. The unit we saw at Computex isn’t done yet. We’re told it’s about 60% completed. The case can rotate and has feet and an extension that allows the case to support up to a 360mm radiator. The downside is that about 30% of one of the radiator’s fans would be obstructed by a metal wall. It’s possible that they may perforate this wall to help with cooling. 

Lian Li is planning to put some mesh or covering on the front panel of the case. The unit we saw was fully exposed and open. What’s interesting about this layout is that the GPU fans are right up against the case’s front intake fans, which is going to be about as cool as you can get for the video card. Most GPUs these days have vertically-oriented fins where the air is going to come out the sides. In this case, air should come out through the punctured side panel but may re-circulate into the back radiator, especially if its fans are intake. If the fans are oriented to be exhaust, that might work better in this case. Lian Li is planning to provide 2x120mm fans along with the case. 

The case can also be rotated to look like the image above. 

217 Infinity Case

Lian Li also showed off its 217 Infinity case, which is the 217 case with an updated front and leans on some of the changes that the Lancool 4 has made to get its fans into its front glass panel. 

The tooling is mostly the same. The things in the back of the case are all basically identical. The changes pertain to the front panel, which have some giant holes in them to accommodate 170mm fans that are 30mm deep. The glass panel has the infinity mirror styling. 

The only other major change pertains to the IO. Some people complained that the original 217 had its IO on the bottom side, so now the company has moved it to the top with an option to have it on the bottom side. The case comes with 2x170mm front fans and a rear fan. 

The black version of the case is targeting $120 with a white version targeting $125. 

Lian Li Vector Series

Another Lian Li case we looked at had some “functional gimmicks.” On the back side, it has a cut-out area that looks like a handle, but definitely isn’t. Instead, there’s a very fine mesh filter that’s an area that’s meant to help with intake. This should also help with GPU cooling. The case is targeted at the system integrator market, but will still be sold at retail. Lian Li is targeting $110 for it without any fans, but includes an 8.8-inch IPS screen that carries a 1720x4080 resolution. Pricing may change in the US based on tariffs. 

Vector 100 and Vector 100 Mini

The main reason we’re bringing these 2 cases up is price. The Vector 100 is targeting $60 (without fans) and the Vector 100 Mini, which is geared for MicroATX, is targeting $45 (without fans). 

Lian Li Wireless Fans

Lian Li also showed off its new wireless fans, which comes with a battery pack. There’s currently no price on it, but it’s designed to allow its users to “flex,” as Chen put it. It comes with a built-in receiver. The fans and RGB LEDs use up to 12 volts. In terms of battery life, the CEO says that 3 fans with their LEDs on will last for about 20 minutes. 

Hydroshift 2 Liquid Cooler

The Hydroshift 2 Liquid Cooler has a click actuation ring around the cooler, which can be used as a software-less switch for the display and all of that is pre-written to the device. This means that toggling it doesn’t require software, though you could use software. 

Compared to Lian Li’s previous Hydroshift 1, the radiator size has been reduced to offer more compatibility but Lian Li says it’s tried to improve flow within the cooler. The company also pushed the micro fins closer to the heat source.

Just ahead of its launch, AMD's mid-range Radeon RX 9060 XT graphics card, specifically the 16GB variant, has appeared in Geekbench benchmarks. While Geekbench is a synthetic benchmark and not a direct indicator of real-world gaming performance, it can offer an early glimpse into compute capabilities.

Based on the Geekbench entry shared by Benchleaks, the RX 9060 XT 16GB scored 109,315 points in the OpenCL test and 124,251 points in the Vulkan API test. These results were obtained on a test bench featuring an Aorus X870E Master motherboard and an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU.

Comparing these figures with those of its predecessor, the RX 9060 XT appears to be a significant upgrade, showing a performance increase of over 25%. However, it doesn't seem to have what it takes to surpass the RX 7700 XT in these benchmarks, with the previous-generation model remaining faster in both tests. Compared to Nvidia's counterparts, the RX 9060 XT slightly edges out the RTX 5060 in Vulkan but trails in OpenCL. Compared to the RTX 5060 Ti, it falls behind Nvidia's mid-range GPU in both benchmarks.

The Radeon RX 9060 XT is confirmed to feature a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, 32 CUs (2,048 Stream Processors) and a 128-bit memory bus. It has a boost clock of up to 3.13GHz and 20 Gbps GDDR6 VRAM.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: How do you think the Radeon RX 9060 XT will fare in gaming scenarios compared to its predecessors and Nvidia's counterparts?

This week, EA made the surprise announcement that it was shutting down one of its newest studios, Cliffhanger, and cancelling their in-development Black Panther game. Moving forward, EA says it will be slimming down its portfolio to focus on a few select franchises. 

Naturally, these franchises are all the big money makers – Battlefield, The Sims and Apex Legends. EA Entertainment president, Laura Miele, also added Skate to that list, so expect the revival of the skateboarding sports game to be full of cosmetic microtransactions. I have no doubt in my mind EA will be charging us for sneakers, board patterns, probably even wheels too.

While EA is looking to focus the bulk of its efforts on these franchises, IGN revealed that the company does still plan to support EA Motive's upcoming Iron Man game, as well as BioWare's new Mass Effect title and Respawn's next Star Wars: Jedi game.

If Mass Effect doesn't take off, BioWare could well be on the chopping block, as clearly, EA is reconsidering its single-player efforts. Last year EA also shut down Ridgeline Games, a new studio under EA founded to work on single-player Battlefield campaigns.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: EA finally seemed to be turning a corner on single-player games but that appears to have come to an abrupt end now, with two single-player focused studios closing down in back-to-back years. 

Over the past couple of years, CD Projekt Red has been building a new US-based development studio and quietly laying the groundwork for Project Orion, the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077. Now, CD Projekt Red has dropped the codename, referring to the project openly as Cyberpunk 2, as the project has entered pre-production. 

In an update this week, CD Projekt Red announced that Cyberpunk 2 has reached a new milestone. The game is now in pre-production, the earliest phase of game development where prototyping begins. Once the team has a foundation in place, the team will scale up over time and the game will enter full production.

The time a AAA project spends in pre-production varies quite dramatically, but for a game the size of Cyberpunk, it is likely to be a multi-year effort. For The Witcher 4, CD Projekt Red began pre-production in 2022 and entered full production in late 2024.

With all of that in mind, it is going to be a long time before Cyberpunk 2 is ready for any kind of public reveal. The game will be releasing after The Witcher 4, which is already confirmed to not be launching until at least 2027, and that is at the earliest, making it an unlikely release window.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: We're still a long ways off from Cyberpunk 2, which is why it is a huge shame we don't have a more comprehensive set of modding tools for the game. In the interim, modders could have been adding new gigs and mini storylines to Night City to tide fans over and keep them engaged with the IP.