Micron has announced it will discontinue its consumer-facing Crucial brand, marking the end of a 29-year run for one of the most known names in PC memory and storage. The company confirmed it will cease selling Crucial-branded consumer products through global retailers and distributors by February 2026.

Micron's decision represents a strategic pivot for the US memory giant, which is reallocating its manufacturing capacity away from the low-margin consumer market to satisfy the insatiable demand for enterprise-grade memory in AI data centres. Sumit Sadana, Micron's Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer, stated that the AI-driven growth in the data centre has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage, necessitating the move to improve supply for larger, strategic customers in these faster-growing segments.

For PC enthusiasts and system builders, this marks a significant loss. Crucial has long been a go-to choice for reliable, affordable DDR4 and DDR5 memory kits and SSDs. While shipments will end in early 2026, Micron has assured existing customers that it will continue to honour warranties and provide service support for Crucial products already in the wild.

The move is not a total withdrawal from the memory market, but rather a realignment. Micron will continue to sell its Micron-branded enterprise products to commercial channel clients globally. To mitigate the impact on its workforce, the company plans to offer redeployment opportunities to affected employees, moving them into other open positions within the organisation.

KitGuru says: Micron is one of the biggest memory suppliers in the world by volume, so this is a pretty major blow to the consumer market. We can only hope that the likes of Samsung and SK Hynix don't go in the same direction, as consumers would be left with very few options if that were to happen. 

The post Micron kills Crucial brand to focus on AI data centre segment first appeared on KitGuru.

In recent years we’ve seen a surge in the number of successful indie rogue-likes, with titles including Hades, Balatro, Vampire Survivors and more all selling millions of copies while inspiring others to tackle the genre with their own unique twist. One such title is the brickbreaker-themed Ball x Pit, which has now sold over 1 million copies.

Releasing a trailer to YouTube, Ball x Pit publisher Devolver Digital confirmed that the game has officially sold over 1 million copies since its release on the 15th of October.

In celebration of this milestone, the team announced that Ball x Pit will be receiving 3 free major updates throughout 2026, writing: “With over 1 MILLION units sold, it totally makes sense to keep this ball rolling, right? Three major content updates are coming to BALL x PIT for free, bringing new characters, balls, passives, evolutions, and more!”

While hopefully the first round of many, Ball x Pit’s initial major update arrives in January of next year and is titled the ‘Regal Update’. This will be followed up by the ‘Shadow Update’ in April of 2026; concluding with the ‘Naturalist Update’ in July.

Despite there being so many different rogue-likes, Ball x Pit manages to put its own unique spin on the formula. Considering the fact that the title is also available on Xbox Game Pass, its swift success is notable. It will be interesting to see how future updates switch up the potential combos.

KitGuru says: Are you one of the 1 million? What do you think of the game? What’s been your favourite unique rogue-like of 2025? Let us know down below.

The post Ball x Pit sells 1 million copies as future updates officially confirmed first appeared on KitGuru.

The new Fractal Design Epoch XL is a decent case that delivers everything most people need, however it doesn't live up to its name. An Epoch is a new beginning, while this Epoch is a clear evolution of previous Fractal Design cases. Added to that, the XL tag doesn't really apply as a 360mm cooler will squeeze in the roof with a tiny amount of clearance, which makes this case ‘mid size' in our view. But enough quibbling, the Epoch XL has a questionable name, however the case is a decent piece of hardware.

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:53 Versions and Pricing
01:28 Removing panels / filters
02:57 A look inside / Cable Management / Drive mounts
04:49 Front I/O / Straps
05:36 Installing Hardware
10:12 Noise / Performance Testing
12:05 Worth Buying – Leo’s Thoughts

Main features

• Clean, contemporary design with refined details such as a laser etched aluminium badge and textile pull tab
• Includes three Momentum 14 fans with LCP blades and FDB bearings for powerful, quiet cooling
• Supports GPUs up to 425 mm with front fans, or up to 395mm with a front radiator
• Cooler-compatible with space for up to 360 mm front or top radiators
• Ventilated mesh front and top panels designed for natural airflow
• Tool-free access with a slide-to-remove top panel and pull-to-remove front panel
• Tidy interior with cable grommets, fixed routing straps, and ample routing space for a clean build
• Supports ATX, mATX, and ITX motherboards with front-facing connectors, as well as ATX and mATX reverse-connector motherboards
• Accessible I/O with a 20 Gbps USB Type-C port, dual USB Type-A ports, and a combo audio jack

Specification:

• Motherboard support: E-ATX up to 275mm or ATX with Reverse Connectors.
• Power supply support: ATX.
• Expansion slots: 7.
• Included fans: 3x Momentum 140mm front intake.
• Fan mounts: 3x 120mm/140mm front, 3x 120/2x 140mm or 2x 180mm roof, 1x 120mm rear.
• Radiator mounts: 360mm/280mm front, 360mm/280mm roof, 120mm rear.
• 5.25-inch optical drive bays: None.
• Internal drive bays: 2x 3.5-inch/2.5-inch, 2x 2.5-inch.
• Front I/O ports: 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C 20Gbps, 2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A, audio.
• Dimensions: 509mm H x 503mm D x 240mm W.

Testing

To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using a test system consisting of an AMD Threadripper 9970X, Palit RTX 5080 Gamerock OC 16GB and an SSD. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the Fractal Design Epoch XL‘s cooling capabilities.

Test System:

• Processor: AMD Threadripper 9970X
• CPU Cooler: Phanteks Glacier One 360D30
• Motherboard: Gigabyte TRX50 Aero D
• Memory: 64GB Kingston Fury DDR5-6000 RDIMM
• Graphics card: Palit RTX 5080 Gamerock OC 16GB
• Power supply: Montech Titan PLA 1000W
• SSD: Crucial T705 PCIe 5.0 M.2 NVMe
• OS: Windows 11

Cooling Performance

Cooling Performance Overview

We hammered the Fractal Design Epoch XL with 800W of power and while it struggled with the fans turned down low, it performed well once we cranked them up a bit. We found the compromise setting of 1,400rpm worked well and was fairly quiet, and this in extreme circumstances. When you consider our combination of AMD Threadripper and Palit RTX 5080, it seems clear a regular gaming PC will work very nicely inside the Epoch XL.

Closing Thoughts

As we started our review of the Fractal Design Epoch XL, we were struck by the thoughts that made it into the introduction of our video. This case doesn't look very Epoch-y and neither is it especially XL.

Indeed, it lacks any obvious innovation so you can forget about rotating GPUs mounts or RGB lighting for the power supply housing. Having said that, the hardware is bang up to date and supports motherboards with hidden connectors, such as BTF and Project Zero.

As we worked through the review and built a PC it became clear the Epoch XL doesn't have any fundamental problems. Sure, it is built down to a price and it lacks noise deadening tricks and tweaks, but everything is in the right place and works very nicely. This case makes sense if you are using a 360mm AIO cooler along with a large graphics card, which is fairly elite in the scheme of things but slap bang plumb in the middle of the KitGuru audience.

You can buy the Fractal Design Epoch XL for £109.99 inc VAT.

Pros:

• Good value for money.
• Supports 360mm coolers in the front and roof.
• Supports hidden connector motherboards.
• Decent cable management.

Cons:

• Minimal noise-deadening features.
• It’s a mainstream case without any innovation.
• No support for a vertical GPU.

KitGuru says: The new Epoch XL from Fractal Design is a decent case at a fair price that has no obvious weak points.

 

The post Fractal Design Epoch XL Review first appeared on KitGuru.

One of Nintendo’s weakest first-party exclusives of the year is Drag x Drive. Released shortly following the launch of the Switch 2, this mouse-mode focused Basketball title failed to impress with relatively tiring controls and a strong lack of content. As they have been doing with many of their early Switch 2 releases however, Drag x Drive has now gotten a somewhat notable content update alongside a free demo.

Releasing the surprise update, Nintendo shared the full list of patch notes for Drag x Drive version 1.2.0. Available now, the most notable additions include the following:

• Added the chasing game ‘Survival Tag’ to friend parks, local wireless parks, and LAN parks.
  • Collision changes made to account for potential latency
• Made some adjustments to bots in friend parks, local wireless parks, and LAN parks.
• Changed the target of the Focus Cam when near the sumo ring to the sumo ring itself
• Added a feature to enable players to delete their own records
• Previous Drag x Drive: Global Jam renamed to ‘demo’ and is now available whenever
• Various bug fixes

While far from the most exciting update, it is somewhat encouraging at the very least to see that Nintendo haven't already abandoned the game.

Whether Drag x Drive will see any significant updates or additions to its content, we will have to wait and see, but this is still better than nothing.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this update? How have Nintendo’s post-launch updates been so far? Will Drag x Drive ever get any new substantial content? Let us know down below.

The post Surprise Drag x Drive update expands Survival Tag mod, offers free demo and more first appeared on KitGuru.

Black Friday has come and gone but there are still some good tech deals floating around for DIY PC builders. This week, MSI launched a new bundle, offering up a free 360mm AIO liquid cooler to those buying an eligible Intel Core Ultra CPU.

Over at Scan, if you buy an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K or Ultra Core 7 265K processor, you will also get a free MSI MAG CoreLiquid I360 AIO liquid cooler to go with it. That means you'll instantly have high-performance cooling to go with your new CPU upgrade.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K desktop processor is Intel's current consumer flagship model, offering up 24 cores and 24 threads, along with a 5.7GHz turbo boost speed. You'll have a much better chance of maintaining those higher clock speeds when pairing the CPU with a 360mm AIO liquid cooler. The Core Ultra 7 265K is one step down, offering 20 cores and 20 threads and a 5.5GHz max boost speed.

You can take advantage of the offer via SCAN for the Core Ultra 9 HERE and for the Core Ultra 7 HERE.

KitGuru Says: Both of these CPUs fall into the high-performance category so pairing them with a 360mm AIO makes perfect sense. Getting to do that for free is a very good bargain. 

The post MSI offers free 360mm AIO cooler with select Intel Core Ultra CPUs first appeared on KitGuru.

Each month, all those with a Humble Choice membership are able to get their hands on 8 or so titles as part of the company’s Choice subscription service. For the final month of 2025, Humble is offering a decent selection of games, including Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name; Streets of Rage 4 and more.

Available to add to your library from now until the end of the month, December’s Humble Choice line-up features the following:

• Nine Sols
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
• Streets of Rage 4
• Lost Skies
• Intravenous II
• Dungeon Tycoon
• Beholder Conductor
• Godlike Burger

Though far from the most exciting month, there is still plenty to enjoy, with the likes of The Man Who Erased His Name being an interesting spin-off of the Yakuza (Like a Dragon) series in which you once again “Jump into the shoes of Kazuma Kiryu, a former yakuza member who faked his death to escape a life of crime but has been dragged back into the game to protect his family.”

Streets of Rage 4 meanwhile is a worthy follow-up to the classic beat ‘em up series. Released over 25 years after its 3rd entry, SoR4 is just as good if not greater than the iconic trilogy which it is following up from.

As always, a portion of your subscription’s proceedings will go towards charity, with this month’s being Save the Children: Working “in more than 100 countries, including the U.S., to ensure kids have the education, protection, and support they need to thrive.”

KitGuru says: What do you think of December’s offerings? Have Humble justified their subscription price increase? Let us know down below.

The post December’s Humble Choice line-up available now first appeared on KitGuru.

With its massive, well-engineered vapor chamber cooling, the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G835 (2025) pushes the performance of the Core Ultra 9 275HX and RTX 5090 to new heights with reasonable noise levels and low external temperatures. The super bright Mini LED display, great input devices, superb I/O, and tool-less upgradability cement this machine as the zenith of mobile gaming.

Oh My Galaxy! is a new mixed reality arcade puzzler that's out today on Samsung Galaxy XR.

Marking its first launch on Samsung's headset, Oh My Galaxy! is the latest game from FRENZIES developer nDreams Near Light. The premise involves transforming your room into an interplanetary playground, tasking you with saving planets from alien attackers using hand tracking controls to fling asteroids at them.

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Near Light states there are over 100 increasingly difficult stages split across three main chapters, promising physics-based gameplay with various objectives. Defeating these aliens requires using different asteroids with unique abilities, ranging from the “high-explosive Boom Boulder to the six-part Splitter Stone.”

nDreams calls this one of the first “original titles” for Samsung's headset, joining launch titles Enigmo and Inside [JOB] as one of three currently exclusive Android XR games. However, while Enigmo is a timed exclusive that's coming to Quest, no further platforms were mentioned in today's announcement, so it's unknown if Oh My Galaxy! will eventually arrive elsewhere.

Oh My Galaxy! is available now on Samsung Galaxy XR for $9.99.

Slated for an early 2026 release, the low-cost iPhone 17e is rumored to get a couple of significant design overhauls, nudging the e-series' aesthetics closer in line with the company's flagships.   As we know, the facade of Apple's iPhone 16e is characterized by relatively thick display bezels and a screen notch. South Korean news outlet

If you've never considered an Alienware product because you thought the pricing premium would be too high, do yourself a favor and have a look at the current crop of deals. We already highlighted some fantastic savings on Alienware desktop PCs and laptops for Cyber Monday (which are still on sale, by the way), and now a handful of Alienware

Micron announced it is winding down the sale of its Crucial-branded memory and storage products to consumers after nearly three decades, marking the end of a remarkable era that has seen numerous other OGs fall by the wayside, including BFG, EVGA, OCZ, Hypersonic (at one time the parent company of OCZ), and others. And folks, on a personal

Exploration sim Cave Crave added an arcade mode and new horror map in its recent update, and a PC VR release will follow next week.

Developed by 3R Games, Cave Crave sees you exploring tight tunnels and caves as you try to find an escape, marking walls with chalk and using various tools. While this update will arrive “soon” on PS VR2, Quest players can now jump into a new Arcade Mode that turns this into a competitive race against time, where you aim for the quickest run on the online leaderboards.

As for Cave Crave's optional Horror Mode, that's been updated with a brand new map called 'Abyss,' where your goal is to simply make it back alive. 3R Games says that it's been “inspired by cosmic dread and subterranean monstrosities straight out of a Lovecraftian nightmare,” warning of something “ancient and malevolent” hiding in the dark.

This follows the addition of Utah's Nutty Putty Cave as a free update on both platforms, a real-life cave closed in 2009 after the death of John Edward Jones. 3R Games says this was recreated using the official cave map and additional data without gamifying it, stating its aim to offer a “respectful, authentic way” to explore this permanently closed site.

For the PC VR release, 3R Games confirmed it's now arriving on December 12 with almost all the Quest version's previously released updates - Arcade Mode is coming "shortly after launch." The developer also promised improved visuals like advanced lighting and shadows, dynamic water reflections, and sharper textures.

Cave Crave is out now on PlayStation VR2 and Quest, while the Steam version arrives on December 12.

Cave Crave Review: All The Thrills Of Cave Exploration, Minus The Danger

Cave Crave delivers all the thrills of cave exploration that comes recommended on Quest, and it’s out next week on PS VR2.

UploadVRJames Galizio

Quest headsets now have a second exclusive 3D clip from Avatar: Fire and Ash.

It comes just under three months after the first exclusive 3D clip from the movie arrived on Quest headsets just after Meta Connect.

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The short 3D clips are the first results, albeit small, of Meta's exclusive multi-year partnership with James Cameron's new company Lightstorm Vision, which has the goal of "making stereoscopic technology ubiquitous for all visual media by enabling stereoscopic 3D content creation in as seamless a manner as traditional 2D".

The partnership, announced almost exactly one year ago, should help bring significantly more 3D video content to Quest headsets. At the time, Meta said it will bring "world-class 3D entertainment experiences spanning live sports and concerts, feature films, and TV series featuring big-name IP" to Horizon OS.

James Cameron appeared on-stage during the Meta Connect 2025 keynote for around twelve minutes, where he reiterated his views on how VR headsets are the ideal viewing platform for 3D content.

Apple's competing visionOS offers hundreds of 3D movies through Apple TV and Disney+, but Meta's platform currently lacks an equivalent offering.

James Cameron: VR Headsets Solve The Problems Of 3D Cinema

James Cameron, who recently announced a partnership with Meta, waxed lyrical about how XR headsets solve the problems of traditional 3D glasses.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

You can find the Avatar: Fire and Ash 3D clip in the TV app on Quest, where you can also find the two official trailers for the movie in 3D.

For Day 4 of the KitGuru Advent Calendar we have teamed up with PowerColor to offer up THREE bundles. Each winner today will get a brand-new PowerColor Alphyn AH10 gaming headset and AM10 gaming mouse. 

The PowerColor Alphyn gaming peripherals became available in the UK earlier this year. The Alphyn AH10 headset is a great option, offering DTS-tuned audio profiles, low-latency wireless and up to 30 hours of continuous battery life with quick-charge capability so you can avoid downtime. The Alphyn AM10 mouse perfectly complements the headset with wired and wireless modes, a precise PAW3395 sensor and RGB lighting.

How to Enter:

To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is head over to our competition announcement post on Facebook, HERE. In the comments, leave an answer to the following question – What was your first gaming mouse?

This competition is open Worldwide.

The winners will be picked randomly shortly after 11AM GMT December 5th, and a new competition will be announced for Day 5. The chosen winners have 48 hours to respond, if we do not hear from them, a new winner will be picked.

Terms and Conditions: This competition is open worldwide, starting at 11AM GMT on December 4th and ending at 10:59AM GMT on December 5th. Due to the busy Christmas season, prize deliveries could take longer than usual, and some prizes may not ship until January. In compliance with GDPR, we will not collect or store any personal information as part of this competition. Once the winner has been contacted and their prize received, personal details will be deleted from our email servers. Your details will not be shared, we respect your privacy.

KitGuru Says: Good luck to all who enter, we'll be back tomorrow morning to announce a winner and turn the calendar over to Day 5!

The post KitGuru Advent Calendary Day 4 – Win one of THREE PowerColor Alphyn peripheral bundles! first appeared on KitGuru.

Mario Kart World has had an interesting life so far. Released alongside the Switch 2, the latest and greatest Mario kart racer saw plenty of praise but an equal amount of criticism due in part to Nintendo’s rigid approach to player options across the board. Though it should have been available from the off, Nintendo has now released a massive update for Mario Kart World, bringing with it a ton of requested features.

Sharing the full patch notes to their support page, the team at Nintendo detailed Mario Kart World’s update 1.4.0. Available now, the patch brings with it a ton of welcome changes and additions, including but not limited to:

• Added Custom Items to the item rules
• Music track name and source title of the track that is playing will be displayed on the Pause Menu
• Added ‘Music Volume’ to Settings/Controller
• Added ‘Restart’ and ‘Next Race’ in the Pause Menu for ‘VS Race’ in ‘Single Player’
• Changed the course layout of multiple intermission tracks
• Made it so you can join in with friends who are playing Knockout Tour from ‘Friends’ in ‘2p’ and ‘Online Play’
• Made it so players who gathered in a Room of Online Play can participate in Race, Knockout Tour, and Battle.
• A ton of bug fixes

While there is no denying that these fixes, changes and additions are all welcome to see, pretty much everything added arguably should have been available from day-one, with the omission of a restart option, a music volume slider and more being rather unacceptable.

Hopefully once they have added all the necessary quality-of-life improvements, we might start to get actual new content.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this update? Has it been a long time coming? Are all these changes too little too late? Let us know down below.

The post Mario Kart World update finally adds much-needed quality-of-life options and more first appeared on KitGuru.

Skyblivion is an ambitious game-sized mod which brings Bethesda Game Studios’ classic RPG Oblivion into Skyrim’s Creation Engine. After almost a decade of dedicated development from fans, the mod was finally confirmed to be releasing this year. As we near the end of 2025 however, the team has offered a notable update on the project – including the fact that it has now been pushed back to 2026.

Releasing a video to their YouTube channel discussing the latest updates to the project, the Skyblivion team confirmed that they are going to need a bit more time to bring the ambitious mod to fruition, writing:

“As a project by fans, for fans, we need a little more time to ensure Skyblivion lives up to the standards you all deserve. Our anticipated release window is moving into 2026.”

In an exciting bit of news however, the team have now published their interactive Skyblivion map online for all to enjoy, adding “you can now explore the full, finished world of Cyrodiil from the snowy Jerall Mountains to the sand-swept beaches of the Gold Coast.”

The map is exhaustive and includes all of the many different points of interest, from caves to cities; camps to Shrines; Oblivion Gates and everything in between.

While the surprise launch of Oblivion Remastered earlier this year could have put a damper on this long-running project, Skyblivion appears to be different enough to warrant its own unique playthrough or two when the mod hopefully launches next year.

KitGuru says: Are you excited for Skyblivion? How do you think it will compare to the recently-released remaster? Let us know down below.

The post Ambitious Oblivion Remake mod ‘Skyblivion’ pushed back to 2026 first appeared on KitGuru.

A Chinese startup with former Apple and Meta engineers built a coprocessor that enables ultralight headsets, and its reference design is the lightest ever shown.

The startup is called GravityXR, and includes engineers who worked on the R1 chip at Apple, the coprocessor present in both Vision Pro headsets to date, as well as others who worked on hardware at Meta, Huawei, and Amazon.

GravityXR's investors include Goertek, the Chinese company that manufactures Meta headsets, as well as ByteDance, the owner of Pico, and VC firms like Sequoia China and Lenovo Capital.

The chip that GravityXR built is called G-X100. It's a 3 watt TDP chip built on a 5nm process node, has a 10-core DSP, and achieves 200 TOPS for ML inference. Crucially, it has a memory bandwidth of 70 GB/s, letting it handle an array of cameras and sensors – up to 15 simultaneously. And it can output to dual 4K displays at 120Hz.

G-X100 is designed to be onboard ultralight mixed reality headsets, handling the latency-sensitive image processing and computer vision tasks like camera passthrough, positional tracking, hand tracking, and reprojection, with just 9 milliseconds of photon-to-photon latency.

This allows the general purpose chipset, such as a Qualcomm Snapdragon, to be moved to a tethered external puck.

And with its TDP of just 3 watts, G-X100 can be passively cooled, eliminating the need for the heavy heatsinks and fans that make up a significant chunk of the weight of standalone headsets today, which aim to cool 10-20 watt chips.

To prove out this approach of using G-X100 to offload the primary chipset, GravityXR built a reference design headset called GravityXR M1. It's a passthrough headset, using pancake lenses, 2.5K micro-OLED displays, four tracking cameras and two passthrough cameras, yet weighs less than 100 grams.

That makes GravityXR M1 the lightest headset ever – lighter than even Bigscreen Beyond 2. Its form factor arguably reaches the point that it might be better described as "mixed reality glasses".

And unlike with see-through birdbath devices like Xreal and Viture, GravityXR M1 has a field of view of 90 degrees, close to current VR headsets, and as a passthrough system it can render fully opaque virtual objects without dimming your view.

The G-X100 chip also supports reverse passthrough, as in Apple Vision Pro's EyeSight feature, but the reference design headset doesn't include this.

Meta Prioritizing Ultra-Light Headset With Puck Over Traditional Quest 4

Meta is prioritizing shipping an ultralight Horizon OS headset with a tethered compute puck in 2026, and might not ship a new traditional form factor Quest until 2027.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

To be clear, GravityXR M1 is just a reference design, and no company has yet publicly committed to using G-X100 in a product.

But rumors suggest that both Meta and Pico intend to launch ultralight headsets next year, and both companies are likely to take a similar engineering path to what GravityXR is showing. Just last week, a Pico executive said that the company had developed its own R1-style chip internally, for example, and Meta has a multi-year partnership with Qualcomm to work together closely on XR-specific chip solutions, alongside its own custom chip teams.

It seems that, across the industry, mixed reality headsets are set to significantly shrink from half-kilogram facebricks into sleek glasses-like visors relatively soon. And a split-chip architecture, alongside an open periphery design that sacrifices some field of view, is how that remarkable jump will be possible.

In West Hollywood, Meta recently launched a permanent store to showcase, demo, and sell smart glasses and Quest headsets. So how exactly is the company choosing to showcase its hardware to prospective buyers on the fence?

Walking up to the new Los Angeles Meta Lab location, it's difficult to avoid the obvious comparisons to Apple stores. The moment you step inside, however, the difference in design sensibilities could not be any more obvious. Instead of a clean and simple aesthetic, Meta's approach aims for something considerably more busy.

In an attempt to tie into the culture of Southern California, Meta Lab Los Angeles channels skateboarding as the primary theme - with numerous demos making use of the iconography.

Near the entrance, prospective customers can grab Meta-branded fingerboards à la Tech Deck - and are invited to record their "sick tricks" using a pair of glasses by running their board through a miniature fingerboard skate park.

On either side are arrays of smart glasses. Right near the entrance is a showcase of the transparent limited edition Ray-Ban Meta glasses, sold in limited quantities at the store. Flanking the display of glasses on either side is a set of cases showing a variety of skating and SoCal-themed memorabilia.

To the far right of the entrance, you're able to share your glasses prescription - if you have one - to fit your desired pair with the correct lenses for a test drive.

While you wait for your glasses to be prepared, a nearby cafe offers a number of appropriately expensive drinks, as well as free donuts, assuming you arrive early enough in the day that any are left. It's unclear whether that's a permanent fixture of the cafe, or if these pastries will eventually cost money after the store's opening celebrations.

Once you've been fitted with your glasses, to the far left from the entrance an "Experience Room" is fitted to take advantage of some of the AI glasses' features.

You might be wondering where the Quest headsets, and their associated demos, are found. Straight back from the entrance is a set of stairs to a second floor. Here is where you'll find the Quest 3 demos, including yet another miniature skate park, this time making use of the mixed reality functions of the nearby Quest 3 to overlay a virtual fingerboard rolling through the park.

Nearby you can find a selection of Quest 3 headsets and accessories for sale; Meta employees also are at the ready to help prospective buyers test out VR or mixed reality for themselves.

According to the handlers for the demo station, there's nothing specifically exclusive to this location; they choose a variety of apps and games to showcase depending on factors such as prospective use cases, and age. As far as games are concerned, Beat Saber is a popular showcase - and for anyone 16 and older, a demo for Batman: Arkham Shadow is also available, though the team usually stresses that walk-ups should not play Batman without prior VR experience.

Also available for demo on the second floor is the new Meta Ray-Ban Display, which I opted to test out - though my specific circumstances did showcase a potential issue for other walk-ups looking to test or grab a pair for themselves.

The supported prescriptions for Meta Ray-Ban Display is considerably less than the rest of Meta's lineup, and it just so happens that my own prescription - which is supported for Quest 3 inserts - is not currently supported for the HUD glasses, so I can't speak to the full visual experience.

What I can say, however, is that Meta Lab Los Angeles gives off a strong impression. Even if the Quest is clearly only a small part of the store's lineup, Meta seems quite confident in what they have to show for the general public.

For those of you within the Los Angeles area that have been looking to check out a demo for Meta's current hardware, I can easily recommend stopping by to give things a look. If nothing else, it should be a memorable time.

If you're chomping at the bit for Panther Lake performance leaks, well, put that filthy thing away for a moment and come take a look. A result for a Core Ultra 7 366H has popped up in the Geekbench database, and we've taken the time to compare it against contemporary and past integrated GPUs to see how it rates. The test run for the Panther

The latest update coming to Android 16 marks a shift in how Google plans to roll out releases. Moving forward, users will receive smaller updates more frequently instead of waiting for a large yearly update. The new features in this upcoming update include easier management of notifications, further customization options to change the look

The data center boom driven by the demand for AI is leading to price hikes for consumers. It has been felt in rising electric bills and is also affecting the price of hardware, like storage and memory. This economic environment is forcing Raspberry Pi to increase the prices on its product line-up, but it’s hoping to soften the blow by also

Since the inception of the internet, website and app developers have relied heavily on passwords as a means of protecting user accounts. As hackers continue to develop more sophisticated techniques to circumvent security guardrails, however, it has become easier for passwords to be cracked, especially with the help of powerful GPUs and AI

Yet another cut-price Z890 motherboard, this time it's MSI's high-end MEG ACE that's far more wallet-friendly. All while offering 10 Gbps Ethernet, dual PCIe Gen 5 M.2 SSD support, dual 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 4, 60 W power over your case's Type-C port and a huge number of fast USB ports.

Cooler Master is preparing to launch the latest addition to its Cosmos series. Dubbed the Cosmos Alpha, this full-tower chassis appears to be the production version of the “Cosmos 2025” prototype that was showcased earlier this year at Computex. While an official release date has not yet been confirmed, the sudden appearance of retail listings suggests a launch soon.

According to Vortez, the Cosmos Alpha is designed to modernise the iconic line while retaining the massive scale that defined its predecessors. Externally, the chassis features the brand's signature curved aluminium handles and frame, as well as a “metal sponge” front panel. First teased on the prototype, this material reportedly outperforms standard mesh in both airflow permeability and ease of cleaning, offering a unique aesthetic for high-end builds.

The chassis is built around the new FreeForm 2.0 design philosophy, which emphasises modularity. The layout supports highly customised configurations, including adjustable channels so you can target your cooling towards hot zones. The case is confirmed to support back-connect motherboards (such as ASUS BTF or MSI Project Zero), allowing for a cable-free visual presentation in the main chamber.

Early store listings have provided a first look at potential pricing. An Indian PC hardware retailer listed the case at ₹32,699 (about £310).

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KitGuru says: Have you ever owned a Cosmos case? If you didn't, does the Cosmos Alpha have a chance to be your first?

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