Today there are more ARM processors than people, they have shipped somewhere in the neighbourhood of 300 billion chips over the past four decades, but the architecture comes from very humble roots. …
The HS02 is Montech's latest flagship case, offering plenty of glass, features, USPs and functionality while still sporting a surprisingly affordable price tag. This makes it an excellent choice for budget minded as well as high-end builds alike. Those who are really wanting to minimize cost also have the non-Pro or HS01 variants to pick from.
Sonnet has maintained its excellent reputation for quality accessories for Mac users, with the new Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock offering tons of ports and even fast storage expansion too.
Sonnet's Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock
A staple of Mac desktops is the Thunderbolt dock, a device that can take advantage of the massive bandwidth of Thunderbolt connections and share it out to a ton of peripherals. With the advent of Thunderbolt 5, a new wave of docks are emerging, taking advantage of the extra available bandwidth.
Sonnets attempt at the product category, the Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock, is one that aims to provide a lot of utility to consumers using that bandwidth. Both in terms of what they could connect up to their Mac and in terms of storage capabilities.
Even if you're still relying on noisy gas generators, it isn't too late to start switching to solar and battery solutions from Bluetti, and save big thanks to federal tax credits and trade-in subsidy.
Go green with Bluetti's solar and portable power solutions
Switching to solar and battery-based energy in the U.S. can actually save you some money on taxes. And no, this isn't something for the distant future — it's happening right now.
Thanks to the U.S. Residential Clean Energy Credit, you can score a 30% federal tax credit on eligible solar systems and home batteries through 2032. So, with the right setup like the AC500 Home Battery Backup, you're not just saving on your electricity bill — you could also get a portion of your purchase back when tax season rolls around.
Razer's recent release of its own PC Remote Play app pits it against the incumbent PC game streaming king, Steam Link. Here's what to know about the two gaming heavyweights' remote gaming apps running on iPhone, iPad, and sometimes Mac.
Razer PC Remote Play [left], Steam Link [right]
Game peripherals maker Razer released its PC Remote Play app to the App Store in April. The app, an extension of its existing software work in gaming, provides a way for gamers to play Windows games on an iOS or iPadOS device.
Aside from being useful, it's also a helpful promotional tool for its accessory lineup, which includes the Razer Kishi game controller for iPhone.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed in court testimony that the company hopes to strike a deal with Apple by mid-2025 to bring its Gemini AI technology to Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence
During a federal antitrust trial on April 29, Pichai said Google is in discussions with Apple to integrate Gemini into Apple Intelligence, the AI system expected to power upcoming versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The testimony was first reported byReuters.
Gemini is Google's family of AI models, developed by Alphabet's DeepMind unit. It includes Gemini Nano, optimized for mobile devices, and Gemini Ultra for high-performance computing. The system is capable of summarizing content, generating code, and performing complex language tasks.
Fearing regulation and the need for costly new systems verifying the age of users, Meta and Spotify are among a group lobbying Washington to have Apple and Google deal with it for them.
App Store icon
In March 2025, Utah became the first state to require Apple and others to add age verification. That legal requirement is explicitly directed at Google and Apple, rather than any third-party app developers.
Plus Apple has already announced and begun implementing a series of age verification-related steps for iOS. This again sees the burden falling on Apple.
We've got our hands on iPhone 17 mockups. Here's what the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Air will look like, and feel like once they ship in September 2025.
All four of the rumored iPhone 17 models
Most case manufacturers don't get any support from Apple. All of the companies involved have to get a let-up on competition to get an early piece of the iPhone case market, and launching cases that work with new iPhones every year is a billion-dollar industry.
To further that end, dummy units are produced in spring by case and accessory manufacturers. All of the firms source design files from sometimes sketchy sources for the new phones to get as early a start as possible on designing and manufacturing products.
Amazon-owned Woot has launched a flash deal valid today only on a closeout 16-inch MacBook Pro that's equipped with an impressive 8TB of storage and 32GB of RAM.
Save $3,400 on an 8TB MacBook Pro.
If you're looking for a significant amount of storage, Woot's MacBook Pro flash sale has dropped the 16-inch M1 Max model to $1,899.99 on April 30 only.
The average price of iPhone models sold in the U.S. continues to rise as Apple adjusts its lineup, despite more buyers skipping the Pro models.
iPhone 16 lineup
In the first quarter of 2025, the U.S. Weighted Average Retail Price (US-WARP) for iPhones rose to $971, up from $953 in the fourth quarter of 2024. That $18 increase reflects shifting dynamics in Apple's lineup, according to new data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).
Apple stopped reporting iPhone Average Selling Price in late 2018, after its fourth-quarter earnings call. Since then, analysts have relied on third-party metrics like US-WARP to track how much customers are actually paying.
Today we look at a new power supply from Endorfy, the Supremo FM6. Endorfy are releasing two capacities in this range a 850 watt unit, and a 1000 watt unit which they sent us for review. These power supplies have an 80 Plus Gold certification on the box, are fully modular and ship with a 10 year warranty. Sadly we didn't see Cybenetics certifications on the box, but Endorfy told us they have gotten those certifications recently, and we will talk more about that later in the review.
Endorfy have set the pricing to be very competitive in the UK for this unit, around £120 inc vat – which (special etailer offers aside) puts it in the lower end of the pricing spectrum currently on the UK Market. Endorfy told me that they are planning to release 750 watt version of the PSU later, but no date on this is confirmed just yet. An 850 Watt and 1000 Watt unit ticks most of the boxes in the enthusiast sector anyway, so focusing on these two capacities makes a lot of sense to me.
Endorfy have been promoting these units and focusing on aspects such as the Fluctus fan, Japanese Capacitors, ATX 3.1 support and 80 Plus Gold certification.
EA has announced yet another round of mass layoffs. Hundreds of employees are set to be let go in the coming months at studios across EA. Respawn has been hit particularly hard, losing 100 employees, resulting in two cancelled projects.
According to a Bloomberg report, around 300 to 400 employees will be cut, including 100 employees from Respawn. In the case of Respawn, the studio is restructuring to further focus on its Star Wars projects and Apex Legends.
One of the projects cancelled at Respawn was a new Titanfall game, but the title was still in early development and was not close to release. In recent months, rumours have claimed that Titanfall 3 was in development but it appears that was not the case. The cancelled Titanfall project was supposedly set to be an extraction shooter.
This new round of job cuts follows on from a rough 2024, during which EA ended up letting go of around 700 staff members across its teams. The poor performance of Dragon Age The Veilguard and lower than expected sales for EA FC 25 have led to a substantial dip in EA's market value in Q1 2025.
KitGuru Says: I am interested more in hearing about EA FC 25 failing to hit expectations. If the EA Sports empire begins to wane, then there won't be much left to prop up development for the few single-player games remaining in EA's arsenal.
GameMax is making a statement in compact PC design with their new T20 chassis. This Micro-ATX case features eye-catching three-sided tempered glass panels, offering a continuous and panoramic view perfect for showcasing your build's components.
The T20 features a distinctive internal layout with a 90° motherboard arrangement, a design approach that GameMax claims creates a “stack cooling” effect intended to enhance natural heat dissipation. The chassis comes equipped with two pre-installed 120mm Tornado T12-R ARGB PWM fans, but it supports up to a total of 5x 120mm fans, including accommodation for radiators up to 360mm for serious liquid cooling.
Despite its small size, the T20 has quite good compatibility with modern hardware. It supports motherboards with rear connections, often referred to as BTF (Back to Front) designs, offering cleaner cable management by hiding connectors on the reverse side. Power supply support is limited to SFX and SFX-L units, which are common in smaller form factor builds. Another feature is the ability to install the GPU vertically, eliminating the need for a separate PCIe riser cable.
The GameMax T20 will be available in both black and white finishes. The black version is priced at $79.99, while the white variant comes in slightly higher at $83.99.
KitGuru says: GameMax is relatively new to the pc case market but it is already making a strong name for itself with these unique designs.
XPG, Adata's gaming brand, is unleashing their latest high-performance SSD series onto the market. Meet the XPG Mars 980 PCIe Gen 5 SSDs, Adata's new gaming drives boasting speeds of up to 14,000 MB/s for reads and 13,000 MB/s for writes, powered by an efficient 6nm process controller and available in capacities up to 4 TB.
The Mars 980 series comprises three distinct models: the Mars 980 Storm, Mars 980 Blade, and Mars 980 Pro, each equipped with different cooling solutions tailored to specific user needs and scenarios. Leading the lineup in terms of cooling performance is the Storm, featuring what XPG claims is the industry's first hybrid liquid-and-air SSD cooling solution. Using a patented design with copper heat pipes and a vertical, symmetrical dual-fan configuration, this active cooling system is powered directly via the M.2 slot. It is said to reduce operating temperatures by approximately 20% compared to typical fanless heatsinks, making it ideal for handling heavy workloads.
The Mars 980 Blade is the series solution for when space is limited. This model is designed specifically for laptops, micro PCs, and even consoles like the PlayStation 5, allowing them to leverage PCIe Gen 5 speeds. Despite reaching the same top sequential speeds, its efficient 6nm controller and slim design enable it to sustain high performance without requiring additional cooling, even in confined spaces.
Lastly, the Mars 980 Pro is positioned as a balance of performance and value for enthusiasts. This model features a more standard active cooling solution consisting of an aluminium alloy heatsink paired with an integrated fan, while still fitting inside a PlayStation 5. This setup effectively dissipates heat generated during high-speed operations, reportedly lowering temperatures by 15% compared to ordinary fanless alternatives. Like the Storm, it's powered directly from the M.2 slot.
Thermaltake is going big with their new AX case lineup. The new series, designed specifically for high-performance builds that demand serious space and versatility, includes the AX500, AX700, and AX700 TG models, available in both black and white finishes, as well as the AX100 expansion module.
Kicking off the series is the AX500, a case featuring a roomy, modular design that prioritises cooling with extensive radiator support, including capacity for dual 420mm radiators and up to 14x 120mm fans. Compatibility extends to E-ATX and SSI-EEB motherboards, including support for hidden-connector designs, as well as multiple options for HDD and SSD storage. Built-in features, such as a GPU holder and revised cable management channels, aim to streamline the build process.
Stepping up to the AX700 and AX700 TG models, these cases were built to house extreme configurations for high-end video creation, intensive gaming, and AI tasks. These towers boast impressive compatibility, including support for XL-ATX motherboards and ample clearance for up to five dual-slot GPUs with lengths up to 630mm. Cooling options are also vast, supporting up to 18 fans (120/140mm) and radiators up to 560mm (DIY) or 420mm (AIO), alongside storage slots for up to 18 drives. The AX700 TG features tempered glass alongside perforated panels, while the standard AX700 comes with dual perforated, tool-free hinged panels for easy access.
To further enhance the capabilities of the AX700 series, there's the AX100 extension module. This modular add-on is designed to stack onto the AX700 (either top, bottom, or both) to enhance storage and/or cooling, or even allow for a dual-system configuration. It provides space for a standard PS2 PSU, up to eight additional drives, up to eight fans, and even up to two massive 560mm radiators.
KitGuru says: This type of case featuring an industrial design was quite common about 15/20 years ago, but lately, there has been a gap in the offering for those looking for such enclosures. Fortunately, Thermaltake decided to launch some for those users.
Earlier today, Gearbox confirmed that Borderlands 4 will be releasing sooner than originally announced. The release date has been brought forward to the 12th of September, but Gearbox head, Randy Pitchford, has been quick to stamp out speculation that the release date change has anything to do with Grand Theft Auto 6.
If you've been keeping up with industry news in recent months, you'll know that Gearbox was acquired by Take-Two Interactive last year. When Borderlands 4 was first announced for September, people began speculating about what this might mean for GTA 6. Many publishers across the industry are trying as best as they can to ‘plan around' GTA 6, as the game is expected to be so popular that it will cannibalise sales from other titles releasing within the same week or two.
As the Borderlands 4 date just changed, fans immediately began speculating that we'll be getting GTA 6 news soon, potentially with a September/October release date. According to Gearbox head, Randy Pitchford, the decision is “100 percent” down to the studio's own confidence in Borderlands 4 and has nothing to do with trying to avoid “any other product's actual or theoretical launch date”.
With that said, it seems unlikely that Gearbox would release Borderlands 4 in close proximity to GTA 6. It may be a reach but the message i'm getting here is that GTA 6 won't be a September release.
KitGuru Says: At this point, I am fully expecting GTA 6 in the mid October to late November timeframe.
Nvidia has announced its latest GPU game bundle. From now until May 21st, anyone buying an RTX 50 series graphics card, or a laptop with an RTX 50 GPU inside, will get a free code for DOOM: The Dark Ages.
The bundle includes RTX 5070 desktop graphics cards and up, and laptops equipped with an RTX 5070 or higher. The bundle includes the Premium Edition of DOOM: The Dark Ages, which includes early access starting on May 13th, two days before the game's true release date.
Aside from the new RTX game bundle, Nvidia has revealed the next batch of titles to get DLSS support. The list includes ARC Raiders, Oblivion Remastered, Deadzone: Rogue, Where Winds Meet, Diablo 4 Season 8 and Mistfall Hunter.
KitGuru Says: Have you picked up any of this week's new releases?
Montech has launched two new cases that share a good amount of their DNA. Today we are reviewing the HS01 Pro which has a mesh front panel and five ARGB fans, and will soon review the HS02 Pro which has glass at the front. You get a load of hardware at a modest price and a bunch of interesting features that allow you to build your new PC in a number of different ways. Let's take a closer look…
Time stamps
00:00 Start / Pricing
00:44 A Closer Look / Fans
02:04 User Guide / Reverse / Features
04:42 PSU and Drives Install
08:09 Motherboard Install
09:27 GPU Install
11:34 Some more work
12:03 CPU Cooler Install
12:30 PWM Fan Hub
13:40 Front IO Panel
14:21 Panels back on / Start up
15:14 Test Results / Noise
16:58 Closing thoughts
Main features
HS01 – Performance Customization
Optimize airflow with a flexible front fan bracket (supports 120mm/140mm fans) to direct cooling to your GPU or balance it across components.
Build Your Way
Reversible case orientation + rotatable PCIe slots let you display components horizontally or vertically—no extra mounts needed.
Enhanced Cooling
A vertical airflow design (bottom intake, top exhaust) maximizes heat dissipation for high-performance setups.
Sleek & Thoughtful Design
Hidden-connector motherboards, concealed cable management, and an integrated structure keep your build clean and elegant.
Specification:
Motherboard support: ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX.
Power supply support: ATX, SFX-L, SFX.
Expansion slots: 5.
Included fans: 3x GF Pro 120 ARGB PWM bottom intake, 2x GF Pro 120 ARGB PWM rear exhaust. (Fans are 800rpm-1,600rpm with HDB bearings.)
Front I/O ports: 2x USB 3.0 type-A, 1x USB 3.1 Type-C 20Gbps, audio.
Dimensions: 368mm H x 480mm D x 235mm W.
Performance and Testing
To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using a test system consisting of an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, an MSI GeForce RTX 4090 and a Gen 5 SSD. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the Montech HS01 Pro ‘s cooling capabilities.
Test System:
Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
CPU Cooler: Montech Metal DT24 Premium
Motherboard: MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi
Memory: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-8000
Graphics card: MSI RTX 4090 Ventus 3X 24G
Power supply: Montech Century II Gold 1050W
SSD: Crucial T700 M.2 NVMe
OS: Windows 11
Cooling Performance
During our thermal testing the HS01 Pro performed tolerably well but yielded no surprises. It is a large case with plenty of airflow and is supplied with five 120mm fans. The result is a case that cools well enough and which can also get rather noisy.
Closing Thoughts
Montech has added a number of interesting features to the HS01 Pro that give you plenty of options in the way you build your PC. In particular you can choose to flip the case so the motherboard is on the left hand side, rather than the right, and you can also choose to position your graphics card vertically (which requires a PCI Express riser cable).
The neat thing is these features add very little cost to the case, however they bring a degree of complication, which we show in our video. Balanced against that the five 120mm ARGB fans included in the Pro version of the case deliver a decent amount of value.
While Nintendo has typically updated and refreshed its console’s software and UI each generation, the jump from the OG Switch to Switch 2 offers a much more subtle change in this regard. Thanks to this however, the console maker is able to bring the software experience of the upcoming Switch 2 to the previous-gen system – with the OG console having now gotten a massive update.
Releasing the update with little fanfare ahead of time, the Nintendo Switch has now gotten firmware update 20.0.0. Unlike pretty much all previous updates however, this latest one brings with it a surprising number of changes.
Beyond this, the system has also gotten new user-verification settings; improvements to the console’s data transfer; online licence settings; profile changes and more.
It will be interesting to see exactly how similar the two systems will feel in the wake of this update – and whether performance will be impacted.
KitGuru says: What do you think of the update? Does the Switch look more colourful now? Which Nintendo console had the best system UI in your opinion? Let us know down below.
The Call of Duty series has had an association with weed for quite a few years now, with the annual franchise celebrating 4/20 each year. With Black Ops 6 season 3 launching a bit later than expected, the game’s plans seem to have been pushed back a bit – with a belated 4/20 event now set to go live from tomorrow (featuring Seth Rogen.)
As part of a blog post for Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Season 3 Reloaded, the team at Treyarch detailed all of the new content coming with tomorrow’s seasonal refresh. Alongside the likes of two new multiplayer maps; a new perk; multiple limited-time modes; a new weapon and more, Black Ops 6 is also getting a dedicated 4/20 event.
Set to go live almost two weeks after 4/20, the ‘High Art’ event begins on the 1st of May and will offer an event pass (essentially a half-price bundle which requires gameplay to unlock). While the free track will include some cosmetics alongside gameplay-altering additions, the premium track is where players can get their hands on the Seth Rogen operator.
Beyond the two operator skins, the premium track also includes a gun screen; weapon decal; two gun blueprints; an emote; finishing move and more.
Call of Duty has been far from the most realistic military shooter for many years now. Still, it will be interesting to see how the wider player base reacts to this latest upcoming addition.
KitGuru says: What do you think of Black Ops 6’s post-launch support so far? Is the 4/20 event too little too late? Throughout COD’s history, which celebrity operator has been your favourite? Let us know down below.
Starting development all the way back in 2014 as a one-man project, Lost Soul Aside has been eagerly anticipated by many thanks to its Final Fantasy Versus XIII (later FFXV) inspired visual design and flashy action combat. Over the years, the game’s ambitions grew, necessitating further additional development time. Though finally announced to be launching this May, the game has gotten a bit of a last-minute delay – now arriving in August instead.
“Dear Fans, We are truly grateful for the positive response we've received from players all over the world since we announced Lost Soul Aside. We remain committed to delivering a high-quality game experience.
To match the standards Ultizero Games have set for ourselves, we are going to take some additional time to polish the game. Lost Soul Aside will now release on August 29, 2025. We want to express our heartfelt thanks to our fans waiting for the launch.”
As mentioned, Lost Souls Aside has been in development for a decade now, with the game having had multiple different target release windows over the years – going as far back as 2018.
As such, waiting a couple more months shouldn’t be too much of an ask for fans of the upcoming game. Hopefully Lost Soul Aside proves to have been worth the long wait when it finally arrives in August.
KitGuru says: What do you think of this last-minute delay? Is it cause for concern? Let us know your thoughts down below.
Following CHIPS act funding, Apple's iPhone processor manufacturer TSMC has continued its Arizona investment with the company breaking ground on a third chip fabrication facility.
TSMC has broken ground on a third processor facility in Arizona
Five years after it first announced plans to build one processor plant in Arizona, TSMC has now begun work on its third, benefiting from funding it got from the CHIPS Act signed in 2022.
President Trump now vocally opposes the CHIPS Act, despite setting up a new monitoring framework for it. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick was nonetheless on hand to credit Trump with the new factory.
Apple's performing another executive reshuffle, with the managerial teams of the Apple Music and Global Affairs divisions being moved around as the company continues to optimize its operations.
Apple Music
Apple regularly reshuffles its leadership to improve its development of future services, and the operation of existing ones too. Following after a reshuffle of robotics away from AI teams, Apple has turned its attention to Music and Global Affairs.
According to Bloombergciting people familiar with the changes on Wednesday, Apple has moved around the management of both arms in a continuation of the process.
Tata has opened a new iPhone factory in India, while a new Foxconn operation is now just days away from being operational, but it's continuing Apple's years of moving away from China, rather than being a response to the "reciprocal" tariffs.
Apple's iPhone 16e is among the models to be built by a new Foxconn plant in India
Tata's new iPhone plant has been planned since 2024, when it bought Pegatron's facility in Hosur in Tamil Nadu. That sale happened after a fire closed the factory, but Tata already owned an ex-Wistron iPhone plant and announced it would next build one itself.
Now according to Reuters, the new Tata facility in Hosur is operational. It has reportedly begun manufacturing within the last few days, and is producing older iPhone models.
Released on Wednesday, The GameSir X5 Lite is a low-priced iPhone game controller that can stretch to fit an iPad mini while still costing less than $40.
GameSir X5 Lite review: a low-priced USB-C grip controller
Wraparound controllers have been a thing for ages, but they were held back by Apple's reliance on the Lightning port and the costly MFi program. Since Apple's switch to USB-C in iPhone and iPad, there has been a slow trickle of new controllers from many manufacturers.
The latest entry is the GameSir X5 Lite, which brings all the functionality someone will need to play any controller-compatible game on iPhone or iPad. It strips out all the unnecessary cruft to offer bare minimum specs at a very low price.
The Team Group GC Pro 2 TB is a competitively priced 2 TB solid-state-drive that sells for $200. In our testing it delivered decent performance, but power consumption was very high. This results in a lot of heat output that is very hard to cool, even with a dedicated heatsink.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched last week to a flurry of strong praise, with the hybrid turn-based RPG becoming the highest-rated game of the year so far and going on to sell over 1 million copies in its first 72 hours. Given its success, fans have been hoping that the game would get DLC at some point in the future. Though not confirmed, according to the game’s lead writer “chances are good.”
As shared by NeoGAF user Draugoth, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen has been highly responsive on social media following the game’s launch, thanking fans for their support and more.
In an interesting reply to one question which asked whether the game would get DLC at some point in the future, Svedberg-Yen had this to say:
“Nothing concrete that I can say at the moment, we’re honestly still just trying to process everything that’s happening. It’s been a lot to take in! We’ve always said if there is strong desire from the players that we would love to do something more, and based on the responses so far, I’d say chances are good. =)”
As mentioned, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 seemed to come out of nowhere swinging, becoming the highest rated game of the year so far (with a Metacritic rating of 92 and a user score of 9.7) and selling over 1 million copies in its first 3 days. Not bad for being the debut title from a brand new studio.
It will be interesting to see exactly what plans Sandfall Interactive has for the future of Clair Obscur.
KitGuru says: What do you think of Clair Obscur? Is it your personal GOTY so far? What would you want from DLC for the game? Let us know down below.
Announced last year, Borderlands 4 was set to officially launch on the 23rd of September 2025. Ahead of the game’s upcoming State of Play showcase, the team at Gearbox revealed that Borderlands 4 has had its launch brought forwards a bit – now arriving on the 12th of September instead.
As mentioned, perhaps the biggest news however is the fact that Borderlands 4 is now releasing earlier than expected, with the creative director at Gearbox ‘Graeme Timmins’ writing:
“Back at February’s State of Play, we unveiled the game’s Launch Date Trailer, which showcased a taste of the explosive action, fearsome enemies, and powerful loot. Since then, we’ve announced that Borderlands 4’s launch has moved up to September 12, 2025, meaning you’ll get to enjoy the looter shooter action even earlier!”
No reason was given for the change in release date, though given the fact that pretty much every publisher is trying to get out of the way of Grand Theft Auto VI it’s possible that Gearbox are trying to give Borderlands 4 as much leeway as possible for players to check the game out. We will have to wait and see.
KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to Borderlands 4? What do you think of the change in release date? What do you hope to see shown off during the State of Play? Let us know down below.
Physical media is the future of video game preservation…or is it? Since the birth of the industry, video games were a physical medium, be it through bespoke circuit boards in arcade machines, cartridges or discs, for decades the only way to play a video game on console was to purchase a physical copy of whatever game you wanted and slot it into your system.
Decades removed from the first generation of consoles and the industry is wholly unrecognisable. One of the core advancements in the time since has been the rise of the internet and digital media. For a while, it seemed as though both digital and physical mediums could co-exist in the games industry. Unfortunately, through the evolution of technology, the de-evolution of the industry and what seems to be a concerted effort to make the overall experience worse, physical media is now in many ways objectively inferior to digital.
As mentioned, discs and cartridges have been core to video games ever since the beginning, but it wasn’t until decades later during the 7th console generation that we started to see the birth of digital gaming media – in the console space at least.
Sure, PCs have been much more flexible in this respect since forever, but to compare PC to console is in many ways apples to oranges (due to the former being an open platform), and so we’ll be focusing on the latter. With that said, it’s time to go back to the mid-2000s.
Despite the aforementioned rise in digital media in the PC space, it took until the PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 generation for us to begin seeing these benefits brought to consoles.
While the likes of the PS2 could technically connect to the internet through the use of an adapter, it wasn’t until the launch of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network’s services when the notion of digital gaming storefronts began to bear fruit.
Of course, even so, the industry was technologically nowhere near where it is today and as such physical media reigned supreme. While game file sizes were smaller than they are in today’s age, internet speeds were in many ways even slower / more limited.
In addition, downloading a game on the PlayStation 3 was a sluggish and rather painful affair – requiring multiple steps, many of which would make your system unusable during these periods.
By the end of the 7th generation we did see a majority of titles released both physically and digitally, however the digital realm was dominated during this time with the recent rise of indie games alongside demos for bigger AAA titles; both of which required sparing amounts of internet data – making for an appropriate use of these newly acquired resources.
It wasn’t until the 8th generation when we really began to see digital storefronts take centre stage. During late 2013 the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One released, introducing what would become each respective manufacturer’s ecosystem from here on.
For the first time, new consoles were being released with a robust online digital storefront filled with years of back catalogues. Add to this the continued rise in indie games, a furthering of online sales and the likes of PS Plus / Xbox Live giving away games for ‘free’ and it begins to make sense as to why the 8th generation saw such a huge rise in digital adoption.
This is but one half of the story for this generation however – the latter of which begins to depict the downfall of physical gaming media.
As digital gaming became increasingly accessible, the physical space unfortunately went the other direction. One of the core proponents of this shift was the new ubiquity of having all physical disc games required to be installed to the system’s hard drive before becoming playable.
Be it due to the read speeds of these discs, the fact that most games now receive post-launch patches, or simply as a way to save money on disc sizes, playing a game using a physical disc became infinitely more cumbersome than any previous generation.
Not only would you have to purchase the game from a shop and stick it into your console, but before playing you would then have to wait an indeterminate amount of time for the disc data to be transferred to the hard drive. Following this, you’ll likely have to download a separate update file which then needs to be integrated with the rest of the game’s data – leading to even more waiting.
Once all of that is done and you’re finally able to start the game, players could look forward to the loud and whiny noise of the disc drive being spun as you play; something which only got worse as the generation continued and these ageing systems were pushed harder.
By the end of the 8th generation, we had games easily exceeding 100GB, some of which came on two install discs, requiring even more waiting before being able to play the game itself. Of course, digitally downloading a 100GB game is no small task either, being almost entirely dependent on your internet speed.
That said, assuming you’ve got a solid broadband plan, installing The Last of Us Part II or Final Fantasy VII Remake ultimately proved to be a much more seamless experience when compared to doing the same with a physical disc.
Even Nintendo began to depress the value of its physical game cartridges during this time, with a select number of titles needing a separate download to function due to the cart sizes being too small for the game itself. Fortunately, this was more the exception than the rule…unfortunately with the 9th-generation, the exception has now become the rule.
The current console generation took one major step forwards in making physical discs more functional once again – but multiple steps backwards at the exact same time. The uniform use of SSD drives on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S meant that installing titles from a disc (while still suffering from many of last-gen’s downsides) did benefit from faster and more consistent installation times, despite the continued rise in game file sizes.
This is where the step forwards ends however, with all other shifts in industry trends and practices pushing physical media away. Though not exclusive to the current generation, this marked the first time that both Sony and Microsoft offered digital-only consoles – albeit in different ways. Regardless, the result was the same, with the likes of the original PS5 Digital Edition and Series S having no way to play any disc media.
The one slight silver lining in this was Sony’s refreshed PS5 Slim which offered a rather smart engineering solution, allowing you to purchase a disc drive separately and slot it into the digital PS5 Slim, essentially turning it into a full-blown disc-based system (with one small exception).
Of course, Sony is responsible for much more than just PlayStation, with their Blu Ray business being a notable part of the company’s operations. As such, it behoves them to keep the medium alive as they in many ways directly benefit from its success.
Nintendo and Microsoft on the other hand have no such responsibilities, and so we’ve seen these two in particular take a rather aggressive position on the matter during this current generation in particular.
As mentioned, Microsoft was one of the first to push for its all-digital future, with the creation of Xbox Live back in the day; followed by the digital-only Xbox One S; and now the Xbox Series X|S taking things a step further. In alignment with this reduction in the number of consoles being manufactured with disc drives, Microsoft also began to depreciate the value of discs for those who chose to continue with this traditional route.
Over time, we began to see an increasing number of first-party Xbox console exclusives have their disc editions come with no disc – instead simply being a code in a box. As mentioned, this did first begin during the 8th-generation with certain 3rd-party Nintendo Switch games, but Microsoft has now made it the standard for Xbox players.
For them, this makes perfect sense: they’d much rather you download the title through Game Pass, or perhaps even stream the game instead. It saves them money on printing and logistics, and makes it more difficult for you to leave their ecosystem in the long-term as you build larger digital libraries.
With Microsoft now bringing its previous first-party console exclusives to more systems, we are starting to see the game publisher take a different half-measure for these ports. What do I mean by this? Well, while Xbox owners who purchased Indiana Jones and the Great Circle physically were met with a basic code in a box (even for the Collector’s Edition), PS5 players are being treated to something quite different.
PlayStation owners who do buy a boxed copy of The Great Circle will fortunately be blessed with an actual disc to put into their console…However, despite the title being a solid 130ish Gigabytes in size, the included disc features just 20GB worth of data – meaning you’ll need to download a further 100GB upon popping the game into your console.
While in some ways better than a code in a box (due to you being able to re-sell the disc at a later date), it highlights the purposeful steps being made in order to reduce the benefits of owning physical media. After all, it’s not as though 100GB+ Blu Ray discs don’t exist and aren’t readily available.
If they really wanted to save money, Microsoft could have gone the route of the latter stages of the 8th-gen – where some games came with two install discs. Instead, they’ve done the bare minimum to placate fans who still believe in physical gaming as yes, the game does technically come with a disc. The fact that said disc is basically just a DRM checker however is information which Microsoft would rather be kept as quiet as possible.
Finally, we’ve reached the next stage in this de-evolution. Minor Switch oddities aside, Nintendo has always been one of the biggest supporters of physical media, with every single system offering a disc to spin or a cartridge to insert. This remains the case with the Switch 2.
That being said, in a very un-Nintendo move, the company is putting emphasis on its new Game Key Card cartridges for Switch 2 – serving as nothing more than a physical DRM checker, with nary a single bit of game data on the cart itself.
In some ways this is slightly less egregious than Microsoft’s approach, as unlike Blu Rays, the Switch’s cartridges are a more bespoke solution and as such are costlier to produce while offering less storage. This is why we’ve seen so many 3rd-party publishers in particular confirm that their upcoming physical Switch 2 games are merely Game Key Cards – alongside the fact of course that most companies will do whatever they can to increase profits.
Even so, this shift for Nintendo seemingly marks the end of physical media as the priority, especially given how physical Switch 2 games will cost more than their digital counterparts. Ultimately what this means is that you are now paying more for an inferior product – albeit one which you can hopefully recoup some costs on if you were to sell the game later down the line (assuming Nintendo’s eShop does not go the way of the dodo in a couple generations’ time).
In looking back, what is made quite clear is that while there were pivotal moments which saw digital media be pushed forwards into the limelight (PSN/Xbox Live, COVID etc…), the death of physical media has not been a sudden collapse, but instead a slow and painful one.
In today’s day and age, physical media is no longer the method in which we are able to preserve the history of this industry for generations to come. Even so, it is sad to see such a core part of gaming slowly but surely become a relic of the past.
KitGuru says: What’s your opinion on physical media in 2025? Do you enjoy the aspect of game collecting? If you were to purchase a game physically, would you do it for the disc, or the box? Let us know down below.
In the years since the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S we’ve seen a ton of games receive free current-gen patches. One publisher which has shown a great deal of support in this regard is Ubisoft. Following the likes of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and Far Cry 5, 2014’s classic Far Cry 4 has now gotten a 60fps patch on consoles.
In a surprise update, the decade-old Far Cry 4 has received a patch (ver.1.08) on PlayStation 5 which unlocks the game’s framerate cap to allow for 60fps gameplay, with the team writing: “30 FPS? Fucking cute. Now, lean in…Far Cry 4 just whispered its way to a smooth 60 FPS upgrade on current gen consoles. Let the chaos seduce you.”
While certainly a welcome addition, it does not seem as though the patch introduced any further enhancements. For context, the aforementioned Assassin’s Creed Syndicate received a current-gen patch which not only ran the game at 60fps, but also in 4K.
That being said, unlike Far Cry 4, Syndicate was one of the titles which supported the PS4 Pro at the time – meaning it already had a slightly higher resolution option available to work off of.
Regardless of whether it still runs at just 1080p, it is welcome to see Ubisoft continue to support their games over a decade on from release, especially for free.
KitGuru Says: Are you surprised by this update? Would you have liked to see a resolution boost too? Would you pay for a more comprehensive remaster of Far Cry 4 for modern systems? Let us know down below.
Keeping your kids safe online might seem scary, but it's simple with Mac. Learn how to set up parental controls for your child's Mac in macOS Sequoia.
How to enable parental controls on macOS Sequoia
Raising kids today can be tough, especially when you realize you need to protect them just as much online as you do in the real world. After all, you want to ensure your child is familiar with technology that they'll be expected to use for school, for future jobs, and to participate in society.
However, it's hardly a secret that the internet is often unkind and unsafe, especially for children.
The Icemag 2 Power Bank is a bold and innovative battery perfect for mobile gamers.
Icemag 2 Power Bank review
A good magnetic charger can save your phone from certain death, but sometimes leaving it attached in your pocket results in a heat warning. The Icemag offers a solution by attaching a heatsink and fan to the bottom, complete with RGB lighting.
Sharge was founded in 2020, specializing in consumer electronics like batteries, wires, and SSD enclosures.
The iPhone 17 range is only a few months away, and now, yet another video showcases the planned design changes through dummy units.
Dummy units indicate that the iPhone 17 range will introduce major design changes. Image Credit: AppleTrack on YouTube
Over the past several weeks, we've seen plenty of iPhone 17 dummy units, and they all suggest that Apple's 2025 iPhone range will be noticeably different from the current iPhone 16. The iPhone 17 Pro is expected to feature a new rear "camera bar" design. An all-new ultra-thin model, known as the iPhone 17 Slim or iPhone 17 Air, is expected to get the same visual treatment.
Videos of dummy units keep popping up, and while they all feature variations of the same design, sometimes they offer unique or interesting details about Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 line. On Tuesday, AppleTrack published a video that compares the rumored iPhone 17 designs to the iPhone 16 range, and it gives a sense of how the new devices will feel in the hand.
The third-generation Apple Watch SE might be just a hair larger than the current model, as a new leak details two possible display sizes for the device.
The next-generation Apple Watch SE might feature larger displays.
Introduced in 2020, the Apple Watch SE is the budget-friendly member of Apple's smartwatch lineup, primarily geared toward first-time buyers. With the SE, Apple delivers older technology in a relatively modern form factor, which allows for a lower price point.
In 2022, the Apple Watch SE gained the S8 chip and received a 30% larger display compared to its predecessor. Rumors suggest a new version of the SE will debut in 2025, and it looks like we'll see larger screens on the SE once again.
ServeTheHome is visiting Intel's Foundry Direct Connect 2025 event, and have some details to share. The discussions focus on their current and upcoming fabrication processes, with Panther Lake and their 18A node…
Apple will eventually make the iPhone in the United States, as soon as it has the "robotic arms" to do so, CEO Tim Cook allegedly told U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
A robot arm used to recycle iPhones, not manufacture them - Image Credit: Apple
The Trump Administration has long held the narrative that Apple will be bringing production of the iPhone to the United States. While the prospect of that happening is still far off, it apparently seems like there's one little obstacle in the way, if U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is to be believed.
In a new Thunderbolt 5 world, the Minisforum TB4-1 12-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Dock is a reasonably inexpensive way to add legacy ports plus 2.5 gigabit Ethernet to any Mac made since 2016.
Minisforum TB4-1 12-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Dock review: The front port panel.
It's seemingly not hard for a company to create a dock for a Mac or PC user to add to their setup. But, with the market getting saturated with very similar hardware and a few top-tier options, you have to offer something a bit different to catch a potential buyer's attention.
Sometimes, that can be by creating an interesting exterior design. Others tweak the specifications to offer a bit more benefit than the generic models.
Apple has released a new website called Snapshot, which looks like it's a guide to find out more about the stars of Apple Music, Apple TV+, and sports, although it's initially rather limited.
A selection of the 36 artists, athletes, and actors profiled on the new Snapshot
Apple has occasionally tried spotlighting particular celebrities, whether that's musicians through its failed Ping service, or the more successful Apple Music list of the Best 100 Albums. Now it has launched a more broad but a little shallow celebration of "the artists, actors, and athletes you love across Apple."
The new Snapshot website at snapshot.apple.com presents 36 celebrities who feature in Apple Music, Apple TV+, or Apple sports coverage. They're presented as a name and photo in a pair of lists that slowly scroll horizontally.
Parallels Desktop is now updated to version 20.3, featuring new enhancements such as OBS support, Touch ID authentication, and improved legacy emulation that makes the virtual machine experience even smoother.
Parallels Desktop 20.3 now out
This recent update to Parallels Desktop, a popular virtual machine (VM) tool, has brought the software to version 20.3. This is just over three months after the previous update to version 20.2.
It brings plenty of new and expanded features, perfect for those who need to use Windows, but aren't looking to have a dedicated PC. This makes it ideal for content creators and streamers, as well as developers and IT admins who need more control over their devices.
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