Thermaltake has introduced the WAir CPU cooler, an air-cooling solution designed for workstation applications involving demanding tasks like 3D rendering and AI processing.

Brought to our attention by ITHome (via TechPowerUp), Thermaltake's new cooler measures 143.2 x 115 x 165mm and features a single-tower heatsink with aluminium fins. It is compatible with Intel LGA4677 and AMD sTR5/SP6 sockets and is rated to provide a cooling capacity of up to 500W TDP. The heatsink has six 6mm diameter copper heat pipes connected to a nickel-plated copper base. High-quality solder paste is used at the interfaces between the heat pipes and the heatsink fins and between the heat pipes and the copper base to optimise thermal conductivity.

The WAir cooler is equipped with two Thermaltake ToughFan14 Pro fans. Each of these 140mm fans operates at speeds ranging from 500 to 1500RPM, controlled via PWM. The fans utilise liquid crystal polymer (LCP) blades, designed to reduce vibration at higher speeds. Each fan provides an airflow of up to 83.4 CFM, a static pressure of 1.86 mm-H₂O, and a noise level of 24.4 dBA. They connect via 4-pin PWM connectors and have a rated operational life of 50,000 hours. The fan positions on the cooler can be adjusted to accommodate various memory module heights.

Thermaltake has not yet provided specific pricing or details on availability for the WAir CPU cooler series.

KitGuru says: Seeing its specs, the Thermaltake WAir seems quite capable for a compact workstation CPU cooler. However, those planning on getting one of these to cool a high-core-count CPU might be better off waiting for reviews or using another cooling solution that has been proven to be more robust.

This month, Capcom finally revealed Resident Evil 9. The latest mainline game, officially titled ‘Resident Evil Requiem', isn't due out until next year but fans have been quick to express their interest, with the game being wishlisted over 1 million times. 

Capcom revealed on its social channels this week that Resident Evil Requiem has surpassed one million wishlists. That figure accounts for wishlists across several stores, including PSN, the Xbox Store, and PC platforms like Steam.

Requiem for the dead. Nightmare for the over one million of you who wishlisted #ResidentEvilRequiem! Thank you! pic.twitter.com/frEzJWKVzA

— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) June 23, 2025

Resident Evil Requiem is not yet available to pre-order, but those who wishlist the game will be notified when pre-orders go live, and they'll be notified again when the game releases.

Resident Evil Requiem is releasing on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on February 27th 2026, The game caps off what fans refer to as the ‘reboot' trilogy, which began with the release of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, saving the franchise from a string of poorly received titles.

KitGuru Says: Resident Evil Village ended up selling three million copies during its launch week. So far, signs are pointing to a similarly positive launch for the sequel. 

Since completing the $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in late 2023, Microsoft has been looking to pump up Xbox's profit margins. That effort has already led to several rounds of job cuts, with another now set to take place starting this week. 

Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has learned that Microsoft is about to announce another round of job cuts, and sources anticipate that Xbox will be hit pretty hard. According to The Verge, managers at Microsoft have already been briefed on plans, but they have yet to be revealed to lower-level employees.

This will be described as a ‘restructuring' of Xbox and will also see Xbox teams in certain regions being culled. Specifically, it is claimed that some smaller Xbox teams in central Europe will be impacted.

Microsoft had already announced plans to cut 6000 jobs across its various divisions back in May. This next round of layoffs will be in addition to that. In 2024, Microsoft also cut thousands of roles across its gaming divisions.

KitGuru Says: The full scope of this has yet to be revealed but with the news hitting the press, Microsoft should publicly confirm its plans this week. 

Ahead of the Switch 2 launch, Nintendo did hold a Nintendo Direct stream to showcase a number of launch-day and launch-period titles for the new console. However, outside of this summer, we know very little about the Switch 2 release schedule for the rest of 2025. That should change quite soon, as a Nintendo Direct is now expected in July.

Nintendo skipped this month's Summer Game Fest for new game announcements but news is just around the corner. According to popular Nintendo-focused YouTuber, BeatEmUps, a Nintendo Direct is going to happen in July.

Aside from discussing the rumoured Direct, he also delved into a few of the games expected to be shown, including the likes of The Witcher 3, Death Stranding, Metroid Prime 4, Animal Crossing and new GameCube titles for the Switch 2's emulator.

Most of these are safe bets for third-party titles, as Death Stranding is now available on everything, from PS5, to the iPhone and even Xbox. CD Projekt Red and Atlus are both well-known for their strong support of Nintendo platforms. On the first-party front, Metroid Prime 4 fans are already on red alert after recent public advertisements for the game proclaimed that it was ‘available now', leading to rumours that the release date could be much closer than previously thought.

KitGuru Says: Nintendo did just announce plans for Gamescom 2025, so if there is a Direct in July, some of what is shown could be playable at demo booths for attendees.

Following on from leaks last week, Meta and Microsoft have officially announced the Quest 3S Xbox Edition VR headset. It is a weird collaboration, as Xbox has had very little to do with VR gaming over the past decade. 

The Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition comes with an Xbox controller, alongside the usual motion controllers. The headset itself swaps from its typical white design to a black design, and the Xbox logo can be seen on the front faceplate.

The Xbox Edition headset also comes with three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, so you can use the Game Pass VR app to stream Xbox console games to a virtual cinema screen in the VR headset. The bundle also includes three month's of Meta's subscription service, Horizon+, which grants access to free VR games every month.

This is part of Microsoft's ‘This is an Xbox' campaign, aiming to shift the public perception of Xbox from a console hardware brand to a platform-agnostic gaming service.

KitGuru Says: I do wonder how many people are going to see this and be confused when they can't hook it up to an Xbox console. 

Peak, a new physics-based climbing simulator born from the collaborative minds of Aggro Crab (known for Another Crab's Treasure) and Landfall (the creators behind Totally Accurate Battle Simulator), has achieved a significant sales milestone less than a week after its release. The game has officially sold a million copies in its first six days, a remarkable feat given that it is currently available exclusively on Steam.

The impressive sales figures immediately sparked questions from fans regarding a potential console release. In a response on the official Landfall X account, the company stated it's “too early to say” but expressed hope for a console launch. Given Peak's success on PC, such sales numbers will undoubtedly strengthen the case for wider platform availability.

Peak's surge in popularity appears to follow a similar trajectory to other streaming-friendly indie hits like Lethal Company and Chained Together. The game's premise, where players must work together to scale a treacherous mountain, translates perfectly into engaging stream content. Watching streamers navigate treacherous climbs and inevitably tumble offers a unique brand of entertainment that resonates with the audience. Adding to its replayability, Peak features a dynamic map that changes daily. Even if players conquer today's challenging mountain, a new one awaits them and their friends tomorrow, ensuring a fresh experience with each session.

It remains to be seen if Peak can maintain its lofty position at the summit of the sales charts or if it will be displaced by the next “flavour of the month”. For those eager to test their climbing prowess, Peak is currently available on PC via Steam.

KitGuru says: Have you tried Peak? What do you think of it?

Hytale is a game that many Minecraft fans will be aware of. The game began life as a modified multiplayer server for Minecraft before spinning out into a standalone game. It has been in development for over a decade and when Riot acquired the studio behind the game in 2020, many thought that the long road to release would soon be over. Unfortunately, that was not the case and now, Hytale has officially been cancelled.

Hypixel Studios is ‘winding down' over the next few months and Hytale has officially been cancelled, founder and CEO, Noxy, confirmed this week. It appears that Riot was unhappy with the ever-increasing scope of the game and slow progress towards an actual release of the game.

Noxy essentially confirms this in his statement on the cancellation, saying: “Our technical ambitions grew more complex, and even after a major reboot of the game engine, the team found that Hytale still wasn’t as far along as it needed to be. It became clear we’d need a lot more time to get it to a place where it could support the ambitious vision for the game.”

Riot has funded Hytale's development for ten years at this stage. The company first invested in the project back in 2015 and then spent more money acquiring the studio in 2020. Now, five years after that, there was still no release date in sight.

KitGuru Says: Part of game development is setting up creative boundaries, otherwise you end up in a cycle of constantly trying to crack ‘the next big thing', leading to feature creep and constant delays. This seems to be exactly what Hypixel struggled with while making Hytale.

Arc System Works, the developer behind beloved fighting games like Guilty Gear and Dragon Ball FighterZ, is gearing up for a dedicated “Arc System Works Showcase” on June 27th, 2025. While the stream itself is scheduled to start at 1:50 AM BST, the thumbnail reads the actual event will kick off at 2:00 AM BST.

Fans tuning into the livestream can anticipate a look at the studio's ongoing efforts, including updates on existing titles and the unveiling of entirely new projects developed and published by Arc System Works. A highlight confirmed for the showcase is the reveal of a new project spearheaded by Daisuke Ishiwatari, the creator of the Guilty Gear series, known for his integral role in character design, story, and even the soundtrack.

The showcase arrives on the heels of the recent revelation of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a new 4v4 tag team fighting game developed by Arc System Works in collaboration with PlayStation Studios and Marvel Games. Announced in June, this title is slated for release in 2026 on PlayStation 5, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. This title reimagines legendary Marvel characters with a distinct visual style influenced by Japanese animation. Confirmed characters include Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Storm, Doctor Doom, Ms. Marvel, Star-Lord, and Ghost Rider. While not explicitly stated as a focal point for the showcase, its recent announcement makes it a strong candidate for further details during the event.

KitGuru says: What other games are you expecting to see during the Arc System Works showcase?

As with many live-service titles, Call of Duty has been going all-in on its crossovers for quite some time now. Following the likes of Squid Game; Jay and Silent Bob; the TMNT and Seth Rogen, Beavis and Butt-Head are set to soon answer the Call of Duty.

Ahead of the launch of Season 4 Reloaded for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the team at Treyarch have teased the game’s next big crossover, taking to Twitter to say: “Mike Judge’s Beavis & Butt-Head are coming to Call of Duty Season 04 Reloaded” – sharing alongside it a first-look at the upcoming operators.

As has been the case with a couple different skins over the Seasons, these upcoming operators feature a cell-shaded aesthetic.

Little else is known about this crossover at the moment. Based on previous collabs however, these skins could either be purchased through the game’s shop as a bundle (costing between £15-£25), or if Microsoft/Activision are feeling ‘generous’ might be obtained through a premium event pass – costing around £10.

Regardless, we should hear more on what to expect from Season 4 Reloaded over the coming days; ahead of its launch likely sometime before the end of the month.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this upcoming crossover? Do you bother spending any money on bundles? Has Call of Duty lost its identity over the years? Let us know your thoughts down below.

As they have done for a few years now, publisher THQ Nordic is hosting its own online video game showcase. Set to go live on the 1st of August, 2025’s THQ Nordic Digital Showcase will feature “a feast of world premiere announcements” and much more.

Releasing a teaser trailer to YouTube, THQ Nordic announced the 2025 edition of their annual Digital games showcase, writing: “Saddle your horses, rev your engines, and hold your breath – our Digital Showcase 2025 is charging back onto your screens August 1st, 2025!”

According to the publisher, “This year’s showcase promises a feast of world premiere announcements, fresh updates on previously announced titles, and a few surprises we didn’t hint at already… or did we?”

Set to go live at 8pm BST, we already know some of the games which will be featured, including the likes of Wreckfest 2; the Gothic 1 Remake; Titan Quest II; REANIMAL and The Eternal Life of Goldman. Of course, as stated by THQ above, expect some surprises in store as well.

Over the years, THQ Nordic has published a ton of games from a plethora of franchises, and so these ‘surprises’ could range from a new Darksiders to SpongeBob or even Destroy All Humans. You have a little over a month to speculate on what’s coming.

KitGuru says: Do you enjoy THQ Nordic’s games? What dormant franchises would you like to see revived? Let us know down below.

After a great deal of waiting, excitement and intrigue, Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is nearly upon us, with the game set to officially launch on the 26th of June. Ahead of its arrival on PS5, critic reviews for the sequel have gone live – with DS2 seeing ‘Universal Acclaim’.

With a Metacritic score of 90 (based on roughly 100 reviews), Death Stranding 2: On The Beach has not only managed to far exceed its predecessor rating-wise, but also just about squeezed itself into the prestigious ‘Universal Acclaim’ club.

Death Stranding was a rather controversial game when it released back in 2019, with some loving the unique vibes and gameplay – while others viewed it as little more than a ‘walking simulator.’

Kojima seemed to take this to heart, with Death Stranding 2 said to have had its action and combat “significantly improved without taking over the experience.”

That said, DS2 is still clearly a sequel to the original Death Stranding, with Kojima going even more ‘Kojima’ with its concepts and execution.

As such, it will be interesting to see what players think of the sequel – especially as the first game proved to be even more divisive in their eyes.

KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to DS2? What would you want from a sequel? Does more action sound like a positive to you? Let us know down below.

As part of the recent announcement of the ROG Xbox Ally, one of the biggest unique-selling-points for the upcoming handheld from Microsoft is its supposed tight integration between hardware and software – with Microsoft promising that players won’t be tied down to a single digital storefront. In aid of this effort, the company has now begun to detail its upcoming ‘Aggregated Gaming Library’ feature.

Taking to the Xbox Wire Blog, Manisha Oza – Product Manager for the Xbox Platform – wrote: “Hey Xbox Insiders, starting this week users enrolled in the PC Gaming Preview can get a first look at the new aggregated gaming library in the Xbox PC app for Windows 11 PCs and handheld devices.”

As stated, the feature is set to fully roll out later this year alongside the ROG Xbox Ally’s official launch. That said, an early form of this new library is being made available, with the team explaining:

“With the aggregated gaming library, players can conveniently launch games from Xbox, Game Pass, Battle.net and other leading PC storefronts from a single library within the Xbox PC app. Whether you’re on a Windows PC or a handheld device, your Xbox library, hundreds of Game Pass titles, and all your installed games from leading PC storefronts will now be at your fingertips.”

Offering slightly more information, Microsoft claims that any newly installed games should “automatically appear in ‘My library’ within the Xbox PC app, as well as the ‘Most recent’ list of titles in the sidebar.”

Of course, this will be far from the first attempt at collating PC users’ libraries, with the likes of GOG having such a feature for many years.

That said, in looking at how the Steam Deck handles storefronts other than Steam (aka not the best), Microsoft could have something quite neat on their hands – assuming it is as seamless as they claim.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Microsoft’s handheld plans? Will the streamlined version of Windows be enough of a USP? Let us know down below.

If you could grab XFX's QuickSilver RX 9070 OC Gaming Edition for somewhere between $589.99 and $649.99 you would get a very decent GPU that can generally beat an RTX 5070 GAMING…

Windows Snipping Tool is one of the many old apps that Microsoft is updating, much like what they have done to other classics like Notepad.  They are testing out a new feature,…

When I first saw that Sifu developer Sloclap would be shifting gears to make a football game with Rematch, I would be lying if I didn't say I was a little disappointed. I like football and sports games well enough. I don't necessarily play EA Sports FC every year, but I've always liked hitting the pitch with my friends, and getting between the posts to make some killer saves, since my preferred position is playing goalie. I loved Sifu when it released in 2022. It was one of my favorite games that year because of how mechanically tight the gameplay […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/review/rematch-review-an-excellent-football-game-thats-been-tackled-at-the-knees/

We take a look at ID-Cooling’s new air and liquid coolers, which aim to balance quality and value with their designs

The Highlights

• ID-Cooling’s A720 AD and A720 TD represent the company’s attempt to fix its acoustic problems while being affordable
• ID Cooling has a range of liquid coolers from low-end to high-end starting around $80 to $100 for 360mm coolers
• The company’s SL360 V2 Plus cooler interestingly uses a larger radiator than it does fans

Table of Contents

• AutoTOC

Intro

We visited ID-Cooling’s booth at Computex 2025 and the company showed off scented paste…and a bunch of coolers.

Looking at the company’s product at the trade show, we found ID-Cooling’s products to be more expensive than Thermalright's, but they’re cheaper than others in the market. This places them somewhere in the middle but the company is trying to keep quality levels in focus for some of their designs.

Editor's note: This was originally published on May 24, 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

A720 AD 

ID-Cooling has updated its A720. It’s calling it the A720 AD and it’s targeting the higher-end market but still trying to be affordable at around $70. It represents a serious overhaul from the A720 that we’ve tested before, which was one of the top performers for its price. It was competitive with Noctua and was cheaper. The updated A720 now has pogo pins to deliver power to the fan. This means the fan doesn’t have a cable. 

ID-Cooling has also soldered the finstack to the heatpipes. This is something a couple companies are doing now. Some of them claim that this offers no performance improvement whereas others do claim a performance uplift. ID-Cooling says that, in a like-for-like scenario comparing the old A720 with the new one, the company is seeing about a 2 degree improvement at 280 watts. 

The A720 AD uses PBT fans. The most expensive fans typically use LCP, which uses a liquid crystal material in the middle for the blades. Sometimes they’ll do LCP for the inner and the outer part of the fan. This is what Noctua has done for its super expensive fans where the company is trying to get the tip-to-frame clearance as small as possible, hitting clearance numbers like .6mm or .8mm. This low of a clearance requires LCP or metal. ID-Cooling is using PBT, which helps with the price. The company tells us it’s supposed to be 30% fiberglass reinforced, which helps maintain the rigidity as the fan blades stretch towards the inner walls of the frame over time. 

620 AD

We tested ID-Cooling’s 620 in the past as well. It competed pretty closely with ID-Cooling’s older AK620, but the company showed off its new 620 AD. Like the A720 AD, the company is soldering the fin stack to the heatpipes so there’s some improvement from that and it also moves to a newer fan design. 

We asked ID-Cooling what is the biggest thing it’s trying to change with its revised coolers, and the company told us acoustics is the number 1 complaint it got. So the company has reshaped its blades to feature a more gradual curve to mitigate this issue. ID-Cooling has also changed the blade angle at the hub. We aim to test all of this as soon as it becomes available. It will be $55 and the company hasn’t announced a release date yet. We imagine it might come out around Q4. 

The 620AD offers 3 different levels for the RAM clearance on the front, which can be adjusted and clipped in. 

The outside fan is 28mm and the inside fan is 30mm. This allows the cooler to maintain a higher static pressure through the fin stack, especially with the dual-tower fin stacks. 

410 TD 

ID-Cooling already has its 410 series of coolers, but the company showed off its 410 TD at Computex. The TD stands for temperature display. This does increase the price a little and will supposedly make the 410 TD a $35 cooler.  It has a temperature digital display that shows the CPU temp. The finstack thickness has also changed with the TD model moving to 50mm. The heatpipes are all using a composite powder and groove style. 

It’s also made changes to the cold plate where ID-Cooling is trying to push the 4 heatpipes as close together as possible. It’s not as impressive as we saw at Scythe’s Computex booth, where Scythe basically conjoined them all into one direct touch pad, but they’re getting closer.  

ID-Cooling Liquid Coolers

ID-Cooling showed off a bunch of liquid coolers at Computex 2025, though not as much as at Thermalright’s booth.

SL 360 V2+

One of the liquid coolers, the SL 360 V2+,  immediately jumped out at us because its fans are a different width than the radiator. That’s abnormal. The fans are 120mm but the radiator measures 140mm wide and it was done to incorporate LED lights on the sides of the fans. 

To compensate for the smaller fans, ID-Cooling has added 2 water channels. ID-Cooling also added more liquid. Between the tank and the extra channels, it ends up with 36g more liquid. The propylene glycol percentage is around 15%. The reason that’s important is that the more distilled water there is in the loops, the better the cooling performance is. Propylene glycol helps with things like cold storage, transit, freight, and cold temperatures, but going too high with that compromises performance. 15% is a little on the lower end, which is a good thing for performance. The fans are AP120s and are 28mm thick. ID-Cooling tells us the cooler will have a 6-year warranty and that the surface area has been increased by about 15% compared to traditional 360 setups due to the size change. The cooler is supposed to be $190 when it comes out. 

Unfortunately, the cooler doesn’t come with an offset bracket, and we’ve requested that ID-Cooling include one. 

ID-Cooling informed us that there’s a .5mm gap between the bottom of the microfins and the bottom of the cold plate. Lian Li is experimenting with .3. The downside to that, or  something smaller, is there could be more flex/more weakness. The upside is the performance will be better because you’re getting the liquid and the microfins closer to the heat source, which is the CPU IHS.  

FX 360 TD Black  

At $80, the FX 360 TD Black is the cheapest liquid cooler ID-Cooling showed off. It offers a 360mm cooling setup that’s 27mm thick, which is standard. 

With an LCD screen, it’s $90. And it’s a 240x240 screen. 

DX 360

The company’s DX 360 liquid cooler offers a thicker 38mm radiator. It’s supposed to be $120 with its 2.8-inch LCD screen. Launch is TBD. 

DX 360 GDL 

We saw a prototype of the DX 360 GDL at the show. The key thing about this liquid cooler is that it has very short 100mm-length tubes. They go out from the block and go right into the radiator. The downside to this design is that it forces you to put your radiator at the top, which can be problematic in a super-tall case. The benefit to this design is that it looks clean.

ID-Cooling has also added 82 grams of additional liquid by changing the radiator size, which is 130mm wide and has 120mm fans that are 27mm thick. 

Its cap is also magnetic and pulls right off, which exposes the top of the tubes and the rest of the cooler’s block.

A couple of weeks back, CD Projekt Red teased a new update for Cyberpunk 2077. The new 2.3 update was initially supposed to be out for players this week, but unfortunately, it has hit a last-minute delay, but CD Projekt Red has given us a few more details on what to expect. 

Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.3 will be similar in scope to previous content patches, like the previous 2.2 update. Unfortunately, CDPR doesn't want to reveal more than that until the patch is ready to hit all platforms. It is unclear why the update needed to be delayed, but CD Projekt Red did just add another console to support, increasing the workload a little bit for these updates. Update 2.3 for Cyberpunk 2077 should release on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 at the same time.

It sounds like there is not a concrete release date for the patch yet, but hopefully this is something simple, like a late console certification approval or something. Each console platform has a different process for approving patches, so sometimes we do see studios struggle to line things up for all platforms simultaneously. The most recent example of this was MindsEye, which had its day-one patch delayed on Xbox.

Recently, there have been rumours about a new Cyberpunk 2077 DLC in development in collaboration with Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remastered developer, Virtuos. However, this rumour has nothing to do with Update 2.3 and there has been no new information since the initial rumour began doing the rounds online a few weeks ago.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: What are you hoping to see from Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.3? 

Dune: Awakening has seen huge success since its launch a couple of weeks ago. The game continues to hold an extremely high concurrent player count on Steam, and now the game has hit a new milestone, surpassing one million copies sold. 

Dune: Awakening has now sold more than one million copies, making it Funcom's fastest selling game to date. The game has seen a much higher level of success than Funcom's previous survival hit, Conan Exiles, which was also popular, but took a year to reach one million copies sold.

As part of the milestone celebration, Funcom revealed a few fun stats from the game's first two weeks on the market. Since launch, players have been eaten by worms over 800,000 times, and more than 600,000 players have lost the battle in PvP, although PvP is in kind of a weird spot at the moment thanks to the helicopter meta. Over 120 million building pieces have been used to craft bases, just shy of 70K players have lost their lives to sandstorms and many, many grams of Spice have been consumed.

Dune: Awakening has maintained a high concurrent player count since launch as well. SteamDB shows that close to 190,000 players were all logged in at once in the weekend after launch. Depending on the time of day, the game tends to hover with over 100K active players at all times, with a few drops into the 50K region in quieter hours.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Have you been playing Dune: Awakening since launch? 

The whispers surrounding AMD's next-generation graphics architecture are picking up. While definitive branding remains unknown, with names like UDNA and RDNA 5 still circulating, it's becoming increasingly evident that this architecture represents a significant leap for discrete graphics cards and the semi-custom chips targeting the next-generation game consoles.

Kepler_L2 (via Wccftech) has offered a fresh update on the “UDNA” architecture. The leaker asserts that Sony's PlayStation 6 and Microsoft's next-generation Xbox will use this new architecture. This aligns with previous confirmations from Microsoft regarding their intent to utilise the Navi 4 successor in the upcoming Xbox and underscores the recently announced multi-year agreement between AMD and Microsoft for future gaming hardware.

Kepler's projections for UDNA's performance are particularly interesting. He anticipates a 20% increase in traditional rasterisation performance but predicts more substantial gains for ray tracing and AI workloads, expecting about twice the performance. Since RDNA 4 already marked a significant improvement over RDNA 3 in these specific areas, RDNA 5/UDNA appears poised to push these capabilities further.

Finally, the leaker addressed a long-standing point of speculation, confirming that these new GPUs will not integrate a 3D V-Cache on the graphics side. While there haven't been strong rumours to suggest otherwise, this clarifies that the large stacked cache, as seen in Ryzen CPUs, will not be a feature of AMD's next-gen graphics processors.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: Seeing that both consoles are supposed to feature similar hardware, it seems the difference between these two will once again lie in the software and games. If that's the case, Xbox might have to reinvent itself again, as its current strategy for consoles isn't working as expected.

A couple of years back, Blizzard announced a bold change to its World of Warcraft development plans. For the first time, WoW is getting a trilogy of inter-connected expansions. The first released to plenty of praise from fans, now, Blizzard is gearing up to reveal expansion 2, titled Midnight.

World of Warcraft: Midnight, the next expansion in the Worldsoul Saga and follow-up to The War Within, will be revealed in August as part of Blizzard's Gamescom attendance.

Here is Blizzard's full announcement:

“World of Warcraft will be at gamescom 2025! Join us for five days of non-stop community celebration. Get ready for a Mythic Dungeon and Arena Showcase, Cosplay Showcase, Developer and Creator Meet and Greets, and much more. During the show you’ll get exclusive news and updates on the next chapter of the World of Warcraft®: Worldsoul Saga—Midnight —directly from the development team, along with a few additional surprises we have in store.”

It is unclear when Midnight but hopefully Blizzard will shed some light on that at Gamescom next month. Gamescom is the world's largest gaming expo and has only grown in the years since E3 ceased operation. This year's event begins on the 20th of August, ending on the 24th of August. As always, the expo takes place in Cologne, Germany.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Did you jump back into WoW for the last expansion? Are you looking forward to Midnight?  

FBC: Firebreak launched last week but interest in the title quickly fell flat. The game has struggled to garner any significant player base on Steam, and feedback for the game has been quite negative for a variety of reasons. Now, Remedy says it is going over the feedback and preparing changes.

FBC: Firebreak is supposed to be a Control spin-off, taking place in The Oldest House. Unfortunately, the return to this grand playground does not make a very good first impression, with the first hours of the game being bogged down by grindy missions and a lack of interesting starting gear for each class.

Remedy says a large part of this bad first impression is due to a lack of onboarding:

“The game's first hours do not provide a great experience due to a combination of things. Some of this is down to a lack of onboarding (more about that in a bit), explaining the game’s systems, how to take advantage of the tools at your disposal, and a lack of clarity as to what to do in the Jobs and how to do the work effectively”.

This is something I can attest to. As I have PS+ Premium, I gave the game an install on my PS5 at launch and loaded into a few jobs with random groups. The end result was a messy experience as we all fumbled around trying to figure things out on the fly. The game doesn't immediately play to its strengths either, as the starting gear is all very generic and quite boring. Apparently, gameplay does improve once you start to access higher tier weapons.

“The power fantasy isn’t great in the first hours of the game as starting (tier 1) weapons feel weak, and unlocking higher-tier weapons requires a bit too much grinding”, Remedy said. In future updates, Remedy will work on getting players to the ‘fun' quicker.

Hopefully some of these updates don't take too long, as the game could have potential with less grind and quicker and easier access to better gear.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: This game made a bad first impression for me, but I'd be willing to give it another chance after updates.

MSI has announced a unique line of Toy Story-themed PC components (only available through a pre-built system), bringing Pixar's iconic characters to the gaming arena. Unfortunately, this limited edition collection, emblazoned with Toy Story branding from the graphics card down to the motherboard's CMOS battery, will be sold exclusively in Taiwan for a limited time.

Spotted by Tom's Hardware, the MAG Pano Toy Story Edition PC includes specially themed versions of MSI's Pano 110R case, an RTX 5070 Gaming Trio GPU, a Z890 Gaming Plus motherboard, an 850W MAG A850GL power supply, and a MAG Coreliquid AIO cooler. The system also has an Intel Core Ultra 5 245K CPU, 32 GB of Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 RAM, and an MSI Spatium M450 1 TB SSD (these without the Toy Story branding).

Each of the five custom-branded components draws inspiration from characters or objects from the first two Toy Story films. The Woody-themed Z890 Gaming Plus motherboard sports heatsinks in Woody's signature yellow and cow-print patterns, with Lenny the binoculars subtly integrated onto the CMOS battery. The AIO cooler is adorned with small green aliens from Pizza Planet, complete with green, blue, and purple RGB lighting effects. The Buzz Lightyear RTX 5070 Gaming Trio, previously showcased at MSI's Computex 2025 booth, has Buzz's colour palette, with a white and green shroud and purple lighting. Fittingly, this Buzz-themed GPU is powered by a PSU featuring the design of Emperor Zurg, Buzz's arch-nemesis. Lastly, the MAG Pano 110R case is designed to resemble the claw machine from the original Toy Story movie.

This limited production run of 500 units comes with additional collector's items. The box set includes building blocks spelling out “Toy Story”, a collection of eight Toy Story figurines based on characters from all four films, an official Disney plaque with a unique collector's number (from 1 to 500), and a set of themed magnets. The complete system is priced at NT$79,900 (approximately £2000) and is currently available for pre-order directly from MSI in Taiwan. However, MSI's website indicates that the system and components are “currently” exclusive to Taiwan, which may imply an eventual international availability.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: If this system were available in your region, would you try to get one yourself?

Battlefield 6 is well into development at this stage. EA is gearing up to reveal the game properly later this summer, but leaks have already spoiled a few surprises, including the first gameplay footage from the single-player campaign. 

Battlefield 6 will include a single-player campaign and better yet, it appears to be a throwback to the campaigns of the Battlefield 3 and 4 days. The gameplay scene, shared by Battlefield Labs dataminer, Temporyal, gives us a look at a scripted sequence that involves blowing up a dam. As this gameplay clip originated from datamining efforts, it is not intended for public viewing but EA and DICE have been rolling with the punches so far in regards to Battlefield Labs-related leaks.

Here's a short clip from the Battlefield 6 singleplayer campaign in the latest BF Labs update.

This work-in-progress footage shows the explosive finale of a mission to destroy a dam in Tajikistan. pic.twitter.com/n9ikBpUrmQ

— temporyal (@temporyal) June 19, 2025

As you can see in the clip, the scene is missing textures and other key details, so it is clear WIP footage and not anything final. It is also entirely possible that this scene isn't intended for the final game.

We'll get our first official look at Battlefield 6 gameplay later this summer. The game is expected to release by March 31st 2026.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Are you looking forward to the next Battlefield game? What would DICE need to fix to bring the franchise back to its glory days? 

As impossible to to describe as the first, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a culmination of some of Kojima's best (and worst) ideas all in one package that's more cohesive and less coherent than anything his team has done so far.

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/review/death-stranding-2-on-the-beach-review-in-progress-one-more-for-the-road/

Lies of P represents one of the best non-FromSoftware games to tackle the Souls-like genre. Released back in late 2023, the game has gone on to be enjoyed by over 7 million players – while selling over 3 million copies. In celebration of the game’s continued success, studio NEOWIZ has given all of its employees massive bonuses and other goodies.

Making the announcement via a press release (and translated by ResetEra user Neha), NEOWIZ revealed that Lies of P and its recently-released Overture expansion have sold a total of 3 million copies.

In celebration of this milestone, the studio has announced that it will be gifting all of its developers with a 10 million KRW (~$7,200) bonus. Beyond this, all team members have also received two additional weeks of paid holiday and a free Switch 2 console.

Considering the fact that most video game studios / publishers respond to record profits with lay-offs, closures and bonuses purely to its executives, the industry could learn a thing or two from NEOWIZ’s ethics.

KitGuru says: Are you one of the 3 million who purchased Lies of P? How does it compare to FromSoftware’s games? Should more studios treat their developers in this way? Let us know down below.

Following its announcement late last year, recent rumours popped up claiming that SEGA’s upcoming kart racer ‘Sonic Racing: Crossworlds’ would include a bunch of non-SEGA characters. In the wake of the announced inclusion of Minecraft Steve and Hatsune Miku, 3 more crossovers have now been confirmed.

During the recent Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, SEGA officially announced 3 new IPs which are set to be featured in Sonic Racing Crossworlds:

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
• Avatar: Legends

So far, in terms of confirmed characters, only SpongeBob himself (and Patrick Star) have been shown off – alongside a Bikini Bottom track.

Of course, with both the TMNT and Avatar franchises now announced to be joining the line-up, expect the list of crossover characters to balloon quite a bit.

With SpongeBob, the TMNT, Avatar, Minecraft, Hatsune Miku, Persona; Like a Dragon and more being represented, Sonic Racing: Crosswords will easily be the most expansive entry in the kart racing series yet.

KitGuru says: What do you think of the announced crossovers so far? Which TMNT / Avatar characters do you expect to be added? Could Sonic Racing: Crossworlds compete with Mario Kart World? Let us know down below.

The Topaz Supreme R from PCSpecialist comes in at under £1000, making it one of the most affordable prebuilt gaming desktops we've look at in a while – but it still packs in a modern Ryzen CPU and AMD’s latest GPU, alongside 16GB of memory and a 1TB SSD. Can it punch above its weight? That’s what we'll find out today.

Timestamps:

00:00 Start
01:06 Pricing / Warranty
02:03 What do you get for the money?
06:06 Prism 2 RGB Case
07:19 Testing procedures
07:41 Cyberpunk 2077
08:14 F1 2025
08:37 Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance
09:04 Counter Strike 2
09:40 Oblivion Remastered
10:20 Fortnite
10:54 Marvel Rivals
11:26 Forza Horizon 5
12:00 Mats thoughts on gaming
12:52 Clock speeds / Thermals / Noise / Power
14:50 Closing thoughts

Specifications:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7500F
• GPU: Gigabyte Gaming OC Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB
• Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 5200MT/s
• Storage: 1TB PCS PCIe Gen 3 NVMe SSD
• Motherboard: Asus Prime B650-Plus
• Power Supply: Corsair CX650W
• Cooling: PCS FrostFlow 100 V3
• Case: PCS Prism II ARGB
• WiFi: PCIe WiFi card

The core specs are confirmed in the following CPU-Z and GPU-Z screenshots:

The Topaz Supreme R delivers impressive gaming results for a sub-£1,000 system. At 1080p, it consistently pushes high frame rates across modern titles like F1 25, Fortnite, and Cyberpunk 2077. 1440p gaming is also well within reach, especially when using FSR and frame generation in supported games. Competitive esports titles run smoothly, and even more demanding AAA games maintain over 60 FPS with sensible settings. For the price, it’s a capable performer that doesn’t feel held back by too many corners being cut in the parts list.

A selection of screenshots highlighting gaming performance are below, but for full details of all games tested, check out our full video review on YouTube.

F1 25 (1080p)

Fortnite (1080p)

Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p)

Counter-Strike 2 (1440p)

Forza Horizon 5 (1440p)

Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p – FSR 3 Quality and Frame Generation ON)

Closing Thoughts

The Topaz Supreme R proves that you can still get a capable gaming PC for under £1,000 in 2025, but it also shows where the cost savings have been made. While gaming performance is strong, especially at 1080p and even 1440p with a bit of help from FSR and Frame Gen, there are some clear compromises.

The RAM is very much on the budget end – slow, entry-level DDR5 that just about ticks the box. The SSD is just about fast enough, but crucially it is limited to 1TB and that feels tight in a world where game installs regularly top 100GB. Having to uninstall one title just to test another isn’t ideal on a brand new machine.

The case and cooling setup are functional rather than premium, and the overall design won’t win any awards. But the cable management is tidy, thermals are kept in check, and the system runs fairly quiet even under load.

Pricing is very competitive – a similar system came out at just over £1000 if you were to choose to go down the route of building your own machine. Plus the prebuilt option on offer from PCSpecialist comes backed by their quite generous 3 year standard warranty, which will offer peace of mind to anyone who isn't comfortable when troubleshooting any potential issues that may arise.

Overall the Topaz Supreme R is a well built system. Cable management is excellent and thermals and power efficiency both impress.

You can buy the Topaz Supreme R desktop directly from PCSpecialist for £999 HERE.

Pros:

• Excellent 1080p and playable 1440p performance.
• Radeon RX 9060 XT with 16GB of VRAM gives some future headroom.
• Strong airflow and thermals, especially on the GPU.
• Quiet operation even under load.
• Great cable management and clean internal layout.
• Solid warranty and aftercare from PCSpecialist.
• Great pricing when compared to building you own system with the same specification.

Cons:

• The case feels cheap in places and the tempered glass panel is tricky to remove cleanly.
• No Gen 4 SSD despite motherboard support.
• Only 16GB of fairly slow DDR5 memory.
• A couple of early software hiccups during setup.

KitGuru says: The Topaz Supreme R is a compelling, sub-£1000 option for anyone looking for great 1080p gaming performance.

Back in March, it was officially announced that the beloved choice-based RPG Disco Elysium would be receiving a pseudo-reimagining for Android, with a switch-up in mechanics, game art and more. Now, the team at ZA/UM have detailed exactly when fans can get their hands on the title – with it set to arrive on the 5th of August.

Releasing a new trailer, the team at ZA/UM officially announced that Disco Elysium is coming to Android devices on the 5th of August – just 5 months on from its initial announcement.

As mentioned, this Android version of Disco Elysium is quite different from its console counterpart, with the mobile release featuring:

• New “handpainted” art
• 360 degree scenes
• Vertical orientation
• New audio and voice over
• Overhauled investigation mechanics

As revealed back when it was first announced, this upcoming Android release will be available to ‘purchase’ for free – giving you access to the titles first two chapters; at which point you can then pay a single fee to unlock the remainder of the game.

While this adaptation for mobile does seem like an interesting concept, the legal and ethical controversies surrounding ZA/UM does put a bit of a damper on this upcoming release. Regardless, hopefully they managed to translate the experience to mobile well.

KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to this mobile port? Would you want more console games to be heavily adapted to work on mobile? What do you think of the whole ZA/UM situation? Let us know down below.

Epic Games has delivered a significant performance uplift with the recent release of Unreal Engine 5.6. Comparing an open-world tech demo side-by-side on an RTX 5080 in Unreal Engine 5.6 and version 5.4, we can see the framerate improving by up 35% in some scenes, and that's with Hardware Lumen enabled. 

MxBenchmarkPC's video shows that improvements are immediately apparent, particularly in scenarios where the GPU is the limiting factor. Framerates witnessed increases of up to 25%, a direct result of better utilisation of graphics resources, even if this translates to a slightly higher power draw from the card. When the CPU becomes the bottleneck, Unreal Engine 5.6 truly shines, smoothing out frame-time spikes and delivering up to a 35% higher throughput than the older build.

Beyond the raw numbers, the new engine version also brings visual refinements to Lumen, Epic's real-time global illumination and reflection system. Lighting appears more accurate, and reflections are notably sharper, improving the scene's overall visual fidelity.

Unreal Engine 5.6 was officially released earlier this month, shortly after Epic Games concluded its Unreal Fest presentation, where many of these improvements were first teased. The update includes hardware-accelerated ray tracing enhancements that offload a greater portion of the Lumen global illumination workload onto modern GPUs. Furthermore, a new Fast Geometry Streaming plugin aims to make loading vast, static environments feel seamless and stutter-free, tackling a common performance pain point in large open worlds. Additionally, new device profiles have been implemented to automatically adjust settings and help achieve desired frame rates on consoles and high-end PCs.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: It's nice to see Epic Games improving resource usage on the Unreal Engine 5. However, users will only benefit from these improvements in newer games, as most released games rarely do major engine updates post-release. The Witcher 4 is one such new game confirmed to be using Unreal Engine 5.6 thanks to its improved performance. 

FBC: Firebreak is the latest project from Remedy Entertainment – the team behind beloved titles including but not limited to Alan Wake, Max Payne and Control. Unlike all their other releases, FBC is a multiplayer-focused experience with an emphasis on co-operative gameplay. Unfortunately, it seems as though interest in this title has been middling – with the game failing to even hit 2,000 concurrent players on Steam.

According to SteamDB, since the launch of FBC: Firebreak on the 17th of June, the co-op multiplayer title has failed to garner any significant audience on the platform – with the game peaking at just 1,992 concurrent players (and a 24 hour peak of 608 CCU).

Of course, it is worth noting that FBC: Firebreak launched as a day-one release onto both PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass, meaning a majority of players likely hail from either platform/service.

Furthermore, the team at Remedy have promised to improve the game over time with additional content; including two major updates scheduled for later this year: adding new locations; new gameplay systems; new enemy types; new unique armour sets and earnable rewards.

Regardless of Steam’s troubling player numbers, FBC: Firebreak still has an opportunity to succeed, especially as the title supports crossplay with Xbox and PlayStation.

As long as the game has enough players to sustain itself, hopefully Remedy will continue to add to and improve upon FBC: Firebreak.

KitGuru says: Have you checked out FBC: Firebreak? What platform are you playing on? Have you struggled with matchmaking at all? Let us know down below.

Gen5 SSDs have been out for a good while now, and they still haven't managed to capture the attention of mainstream audiences. The standard, despite seeing significant drops in prices & supply getting much better, these products are still positioned in the enthusiast category, and manufacturers are trying to promote their storage solutions with some innovative ideas, which mostly involve cooling solutions. Although companies like Phison, Silicon Motion, InnoGrit, and the rest and trying their best to offer the best possible speeds at the best possible thermals and power envelopes, Gen5 SSDs are still a hot solution. Temperatures have been […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/review/teamgroup-t-force-dark-airflow-1-ssd-cooler-review-handling-gen5-like-a-boss/

It's been two years since NVIDIA introduced its Ada Lovelace GPUs, kicking things off with the RTX 4090 and finishing up the initial lineup with the SUPER family At CES, the company unveiled its new RTX 50 "Blackwell" family which features a brand new architecture and several changes such as new cores, AI accelerators, new memory standards, and the latest video/display capabilities. Today, NVIDIA releases its 6th entry within its "RTX 50" portfolio, the GeForce RTX 5060. The RTX 5060 is positioned in the entry-level segment, with an MSRP of $299 US and a factory-equipped 8 GB of VRAM, which […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/review/colorful-geforce-rtx-5060-nb-ex-8-gb-graphics-card-review-triple-fan-cooling-for-an-entry-level-design/

Earlier this month during the Xbox Games Showcase, Persona 4 Revival was officially announced. Despite plenty of leaks surrounding the project, we did not get much official information during this announcement. Currently, the remake lacks a release date, but recent documents point to a longer wait than fans may have expected. 

Following Sega's annual management meeting this week, a number of documents have been released online. In one such document, it was discovered that Persona 4 Revival is scheduled to release in the next fiscal year, putting its release date anywhere between April 1st 2026 and March 31st 2027.

Given how short the teaser trailer reveal was, there is a good chance that the game is planned for a later release, perhaps around the Fall season. This later-than-expected date also calls into question recent Persona 6 rumours. A few different sources have claimed that Persona 6 is in development for a 2026 release, but if Persona 4 Revival is coming next year, then there is little chance that we see Persona 6 within the same calendar year.

Persona 4 Revival was first announced at the Xbox Games Showcase, just like Persona 3 Reloaded. However, the game is not a console exclusive, so it will be coming to Xbox, PC, PS5 and potentially the Switch 2 as well.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Games take time to develop and unfortunately, the timelines are often longer than fans would like to see. 

Adi Shankar has become a fan favourite TV producer amongst the gaming crowd. So far, Shankar has successfully put out fan-pleasing animated shows for Castlevania and Devil May Cry. Next, Shankar will turn his attention to Duke Nukem. 

Adi Shankar recently confirmed in an interview with Esquire that he will be continuing his streak of video game adaptations. He recently acquired the rights to make a Duke Nukem series from Gearbox. Better yet, he's already winning fans over with his comments on how he'll handle the IP.

“Duke Nukem can’t be made by a corporation, because the moment a corporation makes Duke Nukem, it’s no longer Duke Nukem. I don’t intend on having anyone tell me what to do on this one”, Shankar said.

There is no release date yet for Duke Nukem and work on it has barely begun, so it will be a couple of years before we get the first batch of episodes. In the meantime, the new Devil May Cry series will continue, with a second season planned to begin airing later this year.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Duke Nukem has struggled as a franchise over the years. For a long time, it has seemed that even Gearbox itself doesn't quite know what to do with it, so the studio has doubled down on its other shooter, Borderlands, instead. Given his previous successes with Castlevania and Devil May Cry, I'd put money on Shankar being the right guy for the task of adapting Duke Nukem. 

Despite its mandate to safeguard intellectual property, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has inadvertently given us our clearest look yet at Logitech's upcoming MX Master 4 mouse. High-resolution photographs, presumably from a design filing, have leaked, revealing some notable departures from the familiar MX Master 3S while retaining the series' core identity.

Initial whispers surfaced weeks ago, and an official launch for the MX Master 4 is expected any moment now. The most obvious visual change seen in the images on the EUIPO entry (via Notebookcheck) comes at the front of the mouse. The two primary click buttons now span the entire width, creating a much cleaner aesthetic than the MX Master 3S, which featured a small plastic separation on the right side. These new buttons even appear translucent in the leaked renderings, though this might be a trick of the light or rendering style.

Another key highlight is the redesigned thumb rest area. The textured ridges from its predecessor have been removed, creating a smoother surface. The thumb rest “button” now seemingly encompasses the entire side surface, moving beyond just the bottom portion of the rest, suggesting expanded functionality or a larger actuation area. A circular pattern of dots on this thumb rest further suggests new capabilities, though their exact purpose remains unclear.

Adding to the array of controls, a third thumb button has been incorporated and positioned forward of the existing two. The thumb scroll wheel also appears to have undergone a subtle but significant change, now protruding slightly rather than being recessed as it was on the MX Master 3S. Finally, a small LED directly beneath the scroll-wheel lock button is visible, most likely serving as a battery or charging indicator.

These leaks suggest that Logitech is not just iterating on a successful design but actively refining it for improved ergonomics, aesthetics, and potentially, new levels of functionality for power users.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: Have you tried the current Logitech MX Master 3S? Are you interested in the upcoming MX Master 4?

Sega recently held its annual management meeting. Typically, when the presentations from these meetings are made public, specific sales data is redacted. However, someone at Sega forgot to do this, revealing the lifetime sales for key games like Persona 5, Sonic Frontiers, Yakuza: Like a Dragon and more. 

The document, spotted by IG, shows previously unseen sales data for 11 Sega titles over the past six fiscal years. The data confirms something we already knew – Persona 5 continues to be a massive hit for Sega, outselling franchises like Sonic, Yakuza and even its sibling franchise, Shin Megami Tensei.  Since 2020, Persona 5 Royal has sold 7.25 million copies and continues to be a top-selling game each year.

For comparison, Persona 3 Reload, which launched in early 2024, has amassed 2.07 million sales. Soon, Sega will also launch Persona 4 Revive, which is regarded as a fan favourite for Persona enthusiasts. Persona 6 has not yet been announced.

Shin Megami Tensei, the original franchise that birthed Persona, has also maintained relevance in recent years, with Shin Megami Tensei V shifting over 2.11 million copies since launch.

Sonic Frontiers is the next major game on the list, having sold 4.57 million copies since its launch in late 2022. Team Sonic Racing isn't too far behind, with the kart racer achieving over 3.5 million copies sold.

Creative Assembly appears to be in a good position with its Total War franchise.  Total War: Three Kingdoms is listed as having sold 3.21 million copies to date, and the studio has plans to unveil the next wave of Total War strategy games in a showcase later this year. Total War Warhammer 3 is a little further behind Three Kingdoms, having sold 2.34 million copies.

Yakuza 7, otherwise known as Like a Dragon, was a turning point for the franchise. With Yakuza 7, the series shifted from action combat to a turn-based system, reminiscent of classic JRPGs. The game has sold 2.86 million copies since 2020, and its sequel, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is closing the gap, reaching 1.66 million copies sold since its release in early 2024.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: I anticipated Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Yakuza: Like a Dragon to be a bit further along in sales, but it seems to be doing similar numbers to the more recent Total War games. 

Asus Republic of Gamers has unveiled the ROG NUC (2025). This machine, touted as the world's first sub-three-liter gaming PC, is a compact powerhouse driven by Intel's Core Ultra 9 (Series 2) CPUs and features Nvidia's latest GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, complemented by up to 96GB of memory. Designed with both gamers and creators in mind, this compact system aims to redefine expectations for small form factor PCs, promising up to four times faster rendering performance than previous iterations. 

At the heart of the new ROG NUC (2025) lies an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor. Featuring a 24-core hybrid architecture and an integrated NPU, it can boost speeds up to 5.4GHz and supports up to 96GB of DDR5-6400 memory. For graphics, the ROG NUC (2025) is equipped with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, with options also available for the RTX 5070 Ti, 5070, or 5060 Laptop GPUs.

Upgradability in this system is made simple, with tool-less access to both memory and storage components. Asus has also incorporated its signature ROG cooling technology to ensure optimal performance while maintaining minimal noise levels. Even under heavy loads, the ROG NUC (2025) is engineered to remain quiet, courtesy of its triple-fan system and dual-vapor chamber architecture. Connectivity is also a strong suit, featuring Intel Wi-Fi 7 for wireless speeds up to 46Gbps and speedy Bluetooth 5.4 support.

Physically, the ROG NUC (2025) measures a compact 282 x 187.7 x 56.5mm, resulting in a total volume just under 3 litres, and includes an integrated vertical stand for flexible placement. Its thoughtful modular architecture supports seamless updates, and a comprehensive array of I/O connections includes Thunderbolt 4 USB-C with fast charging capability and 4x USB-A 3.2 Gen2 Gbps ports in the rear and two USB-A 3.2 Gen2 ports and a single USB-C port at the front. To top it off, customisable Asus Aura Sync ARGB lighting lets users personalise the system to match any gaming setup. The Asus ROG NUC (2025) with the Core Ultra 9 275HX and RTX 5080 Laptop GPU is now available for pre-order in the US for $2849, with initial shipments expected to begin on July 2nd.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: You can pack some pretty powerful hardware into a very small chassis nowadays. Do you think SFF systems and mini-PCs will become more common for gaming? 

It looks like Microsoft has more licensed Xbox hardware products on the way. During the Xbox Games Showcase earlier this month, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally handheld was announced and now, Meta is preparing an Xbox-branded version of the Quest 3S VR headset. 

The Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition has surfaced online through retail leaks, as confirmed by Insider Gaming. The Xbox edition VR headset sports a black design, as opposed to the Meta Quest's traditional white colour scheme. The headset also has the Xbox logo placed front and centre, but aside from that, there does not appear to be any additional changes.

Microsoft had a relationship with VR headset maker, Oculus, prior to the company being acquired by Facebook (now Meta). Each original Oculus Rift headset shipped with an Xbox controller instead of the motion controllers VR platforms eventually moved to. In the years since then, Microsoft has continued to support Quest VR headsets with apps that enable Xbox game streaming to a home cinema screen inside the headset.

Microsoft has not developed any VR-specific games, nor has it implemented VR support on consoles, unlike its rival Sony, who has shipped two generations of PSVR headsets in the past eight years.

Chances are, the Quest 3S Xbox Edition bundle will include a few months of Game Pass, so headset users can access a library of Xbox titles streamed over the cloud.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: This partnership sounds weird on the surface, as Microsoft has had little involvement in the VR space compared to its competitors. However, given Microsoft's long-standing support of the Rift and Quest, it does make at least some sense. 

AMD appears to be putting the finishing touches on a compelling new mid-range CPU, the Ryzen 5 9600X3D. This CPU recently appeared accidentally in AMD's CPU support list for the newly released Radeon AI Pro R9700 graphics card. This quiet confirmation suggests AMD is gearing up to offer a potent option for gamers in the mid-range CPU market, potentially challenging Intel's Core i5-14600K and the newer Core Ultra 5 245K.

MelodicWarrior (via TechPowerUp) was the one who brought the Ryzen 5 9600X3D to our attention. It is expected to be a 6-core, 12-thread processor leveraging the latest Zen 5 microarchitecture and built on Granite Ridge silicon. As its “X3D” moniker suggests, the key differentiator is the inclusion of AMD's 3D V-Cache technology. This means an additional 64MB of stacked cache will sit atop the existing 32MB of on-die L3 cache, culminating in a formidable 96MB of L3 cache.

Early indications suggest that the 9600X3D's clock speeds might be similar to those of the standard Ryzen 5 9600X. This is attributed to an architectural change in how AMD stacks its 3D V-Cache die with the CCD. Unlike previous iterations where the 3D V-Cache sat on top, potentially impacting thermal dissipation and limiting clock speeds, the new method makes the die a base tile for the CCD.

The addition of 3D V-Cache has historically provided significant uplifts in gaming performance for AMD processors. Should this trend continue with the 9600X3D, it could emerge as a highly competitive option for gamers seeking maximum frame rates without investing in higher-core-count CPUs. This strategically positioned chip would offer a compelling alternative to Intel's offerings in the mid-range segment, where gaming performance per dollar is often a key factor for consumers.

AMD has not yet officially announced a release date for the Ryzen 5 9600X3D, but its appearance in official driver updates suggests a launch could be imminent.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: Do you think the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X3D will become the go-to processor for mid-range builds?

The headline is scarier that the reality, but since Microsoft made this announcement very quietly it's worth paying attention.  In a recent, relatively obscure blog post, Microsoft informed those who found it…

Apple's 1TB MacBook Pro 14-inch is down to $1,599 today.

Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums