Good evening Kindred, in our recent Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 stream, we shared exciting news about the game and our first extended gameplay trailer. On the stream, The Chinese Room (TCR) Community Manager Josh Matthews was joined by Alex Skidmore, Project Creative Director at TCR, who shared insights on the game, the narrative background, and how the game plays. If you missed the stream, you can check it out below. The gameplay stream contains several spoilers, and if you wish to avoid them, there are sections marked in the video timeline, or you can watch the trailer version of the gameplay video, which does not contain any major spoilers.

Matthews and Skidmore highlight an early-game mission, discussing why the player character, Phyre, infiltrates an abandoned warehouse to uncover clues about the mysterious mark on their hand. Players must choose their actions wisely, whether confronting the court's secret keeper like Willem or meeting unruly ghouls and illusions that cloud the environment. Acting as "The Sheriff" of the Court, Phyre's choices impact how the world perceives them and bring them closer to uncovering Seattle's secrets.

2023. There are three cases that Lian Li is presenting: O11D EVO XL, O11D EVO RGB, O11 Vision, and SUP 01. Starting off with the O11D EVO XL, it is a versatile e-ATX case designed to house cutting-edge hardware, with the added flexibility of being set up in a reverse configuration. This case allows for placing a GPU next to the motherboard, either upright or flipped, in either standard or reverse setups. It is also equipped with an adaptable I/O module that can be mounted at various points for optimal user-friendliness. Furthermore, the O11D XL comes with a detachable support column on the front left, providing unimpeded visual access to the case's interior. It also boasts a motherboard tray that can be adjusted in height for three different cooling arrangements, even accommodating up to three 420 radiators simultaneously.

During Computex 2023, EK Water Blocks, a company known for making all kinds of liquid cooling solutions, showed off a concept case in partnership with InWin. Called 977EK, the concept case is a pre-production model that centers around the idea of a brushed aluminium shell combined with tempered glass panels. The case is made out of the internal structure, and for the outside, the two brushed aluminium sheets meet in the back and at the bottom of the case, removing the visible lines of the 4 mm thick aluminium sheets meeting, improving aesthetics. On the sides, the case carries two tempered glass panels held by thumb screws in the corners. An odd shape perforates the top part of the aluminium sheet.

The internal structure is interesting, as the case is built for water cooling of the system. While the motherboard tray can support any format from Mini-ITX to E-ATX, the tray itself can be rotated, reversed, and removed entirely based on user preference. For radiator setup, the 977EK concept case can accommodate up to 420 mm radiators with 45 mm thickness at both the top and bottom of the chassis. Additionally, the case has support for 350 mm GPU, 7 or 8 PCIe slots (depending on the configuration), a PSU of 160 mm length, and an option for either one 3.5-inch drive bay or two 2.5-inch bays. The final production case will see some changes, as EK notes; however, they won't be too significant.

At its Computex 2023 showcase and ASUS HQ tour for the press, the company has unveiled a new ASUS ROG concept graphics card based on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 design, that actually has no standard power connectors, but draws power from the motherboard via a proprietary slot.

As noted, the graphics card is still in its concept phase, and actually draws power from a special PCIe like slot connector at the bottom of the graphics card. Of course, this also means that it will need a special motherboard, which ASUS had on display as well. The motherboard is based on a Z790 TUF Gaming motherboard, with a design that had all the connectors at the back of the motherboard. In addition to the standard power and other connectors like SATA ports, it also includes three 8-pin PCIe and single 12VHPWR connector, which are meant to power the graphics card. Of course, such motherboard also requires a special PC case that have cut-outs for those connectors.

It's one of the most common and frustrating problems - having multiple gamers under one roof competing for access to their favorite titles and totally crushing Wi-Fi bandwidth. Or is it??? We're always thinking ahead to the future - near and far - and thinking about the ways we can provide the best gaming experiences out there. Which is why we're incredibly stoked about potentially solving one of the biggest challenges in PC gaming and changing the game completely: how to simultaneously allow players in a household to easily access their full game library and play on any device, even if they want to change screens during gameplay. A tall order, but Alienware is hurtling towards a solution. We call it Concept Nyx.

An R&D project from our consortium of wizards also known as our Experience Innovation Group (EIG), The Concept Nyx solution comes in the wake of other audacious Alienware initiatives that have broken boundaries and elevated the PC gaming experience: from creating our thinnest gaming laptops to date with the Alienware X Series to bold gaming ideas like Concept UFO. Now we've done it again, literally breaking the mold of the PC gaming experience with an eye toward the future.

EK Waterblocks, who have decided to go by EK for the brand presence in the retail stream henceforth, had a stronger showing at the virtual CES 2021 than most other brands, and showcased a good deal of new products amidst their EK Expo ongoing as of this post. The most interesting product to me at least was their upcoming actively cooled backplate solution, which is different from what Aqua Computer has done to date in that it has an actual cold plate and coolant going through a small block on the back rather than just a heatpipe. Now I will mention that Aqua Computer had shown off some renders of their own take of this, but this is the first time a retail solution has been shown off by a company.

EK says that the new backplate offering will come in either acetal or nickel-plexi variants, and will incorporate a thicker terminal that splits coolant flow to the front and back. The backplate, first coming for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080/3090 reference PCB, will make direct contact with the components on the back as well, with freshly conducted internal testing showing VRAM cooling improvements in significant double digits already. The company plans to make this an option for other popular new GPU releases as well, except for the RTX 3090 FE that gets its own bespoke cooling solution with the backplate connected to the coldplate on the front via thermal pads for a more petite, semi-active cooling solution coming up soon. The first active backplate is due to release in a month, with cost on the order of a typical GPU block itself. Click past the break for more from EK at CES 2021!

CORSAIR introduced us to their small form factor Capellix LEDs, co-developed with Primax, at CES last year and has since been utilizing them in memory and peripheral products alike. So it was just a natural next step for them to find a way to include them into their cases, and the company took to CES 2020 to show off a traditional retail case which has been covered with a film encompassing these LEDs.

The glass panels are lined with a thin, transparent film so that you are able to have a matrix of these RGB LEDs on the backside without any easily visible wires, which makes for quite a unique look. This implementation does require a lot of more complex wiring relative to a standard LED strip, tiny as it still may be spatially, which currently limits the number of LEDs that could be embedded in such a removable panel, but the result is attention-grabbing regardless. There is no concrete launch date or pricing for this, and CORSAIR is still deciding if they will include these on current cases as a special edition or for future enclosure products. That said, the implementation at CES already looked pretty clean externally and, a fun fact is, you can touch them on the backside of the glass panel and will not get zapped.

During this year's CES, Dell had a few concept products on hand that we checked out. Among those are the two laptop concepts called the Concept Duet and the Concept Ori. Designed as unconventional mobile devices, these laptops are very different than anything currently present on the market. First in line is the Concept Duet. This model is a standard looking laptop from outside, however, when you open it up, you will find that the keyboard is absent. The place where the keyboard sits is now replaced with another screen. Both the main and the secondary screens are the same quality 13.4-inch 1080p displays that work in tandem to achieve the best possible experience. However, if you wish to use a real keyboard, there is a magnetic addon that snaps on the bottom screen and makes for a standard laptop experience, like show in the image below.

At CES 2020, Dell's gaming-inspired division, Alienware, had a handful of new products to showcase. Among these, we found a new product that is still in development called the Concept UFO. The UFO is a concept product that hints a new development strategy for gaming PCs, and that is a portability first approach. Inspired by Nintendo's Switch console, this computer puts gaming PCs on the go. Designed to be a handheld based solution, this PC is based on Windows 10 operating system so you can be sure that all of your existing game libraries are also playable on it as well.

Having an Intel processor as its base, the Concept UFO uses Intel's iGPU to power an 8-inch display of unknown resolution. While we don't know which architecture is powering the UFO, we speculate that Ice Lake is behind it. Our speculation is based on an assumption that, if the concept is capable of playing games, Alienware would put as high-performance iGPU as possible, and such performance is currently only found inside Intel's Ice Lake processors, in form of Intel Iris Plus integrated graphics. Frank Azor of AMD tweeted a question if anyone would like to see this product come with new AMD 4000 series of Ryzen mobile processors, so we could be in for a surprise, given that final specifications are not determined. Ryzen 4000 series would represent a perfect choice as it offers a lot of CPU and GPU power in a mere 15 W TDP package, however, we don't know what solution will be present in the end.

When looking for unique, trendsetting, or just plain odd, In Win has you covered when it comes to cases. Every year they bring something interesting and at Computex 2019 that trend continues with the 9th-generation Signature Series, otherwise dubbed Yǒng, cases. This latest design is 3D printed with each one being built to order. In Win is using ABS plastic for this design, and users can pick any color they wish with the company preparing a website that will allow users to customize the case to their liking. Just be prepared for sticker shock as these cases are expected to cost $4000 each. If that doesn't take your breath away one way or another, I don't know what will.

During our visit with ASRock, we caught a glimpse of two VGA concept cards they have been working on. One can only guess but it would seem likely these design may be used in ASRock's upcoming Navi based offerings. That said, for now these concept cards are using Polaris as a base with the first of concept cards being inspired by their Taichi motherboard brand. The center fan along with a side plate is illuminated by RGB LEDs which feature support for ASRock's Polychrome SYNC. As for the cooler itself is a beefy triple slot or more design that makes use of three fans and a stylish metal backplate. Overall the design looks to be a perfect fit for any system running a Taichi motherboard.

An AMD "Concept Store" opened in the Philippines. The store retails AMD processors, graphics cards based on AMD GPUs, and pre-builts such as notebooks and desktops, which feature either or both. It wouldn't surprise us if they took the concept a step ahead with processor + motherboard + memory + graphics card combos. There could even be fully functional gaming desktops so customers could experience gaming in-store. The store has just the AMD logo in its masthead, and no other retailer branding, leading us to believe this could be an experiment by AMD's local office for the country to dabble with direct retail in an emerging market with relatively low awareness of alternatives to larger competitors such as Intel and NVIDIA.

EKWB were full of updates at Computex this year, as seen in our other news post, but this did not stop them from unveiling wholly new concepts as it comes to the company. These are ideas that their R&D thinktank decided to explore beyond the norm, and first up is the creation of a new brand under the EK Special Projects (Spec) team that is tentatively named König, after their founder Eduard König. As we found out in person, Eddy has a passion for woodworking in addition to managing a company, and decided to combine the two. The new König brand intends to offer a personalized, made-to-order experience wherein they will work with the end user to design and manufacture products to match a lifestyle. This is currently built around solid wood of multiple varieties, three Slovenian version of which were shown at their suite, but they are open to working with other materials including carbon fiber, anodized aluminum, leather and so on. They shared some images of some example products as it pertains to watercooling (CPU block top covers, GPU blocks and backplate, fittings and so on) as well as modded cases with wooden panels as seen below. Be sure to also click on the story to read more on an entirely different concept from the company.

Update: Qarnot has updated their page with AMD Ryzen 7 support for its 3 computing units, so it's not limited to Intel offerings. You can see the before and after screenshots on the bottom of this article.

In a move that is sure to bring the cozy, homely warm feeling back towards the space heater concept of yore - who doesn't remember AMD's mocking videos of NVIDIA's Fermi architecture - french company Qarnot has announced their third-generation iteration of a product which is sure to change the Kelvin and Celsius degrees in the computing space. The French company has decided to not let go to waste the (until now) waste heat generated by computing hardware on execution of workloads, and has instead decided to capitalize on those "wasted", byproduct degrees as means of reducing company's and users' heat bills. Their Q.rad concept takes what is usually seen as a drawback in hardware (the amount of waste heat it generates) and turns it into a net positive, by making sure that the heat generated is put to good use in increasing the otherwise chilly temperatures you might be facing.

At GTC (GPU Technology Conference) today, NVIDIA has gone on to show how much VR is in the company's cards for future expansion. After giving us a ray-tracing solution for gaming audio with their VRWorks Audio SDK, and a VR stitching solution via their 360 Video SDK, NVIDIA has now showcased a system capable of running what could be defined as a "local VR party". I would like to point out, however, that such a system may find itself of much more use to businesses, education, and the military segments than local LAN parties, though I wouldn't mind embracing the skin of a VR-driven Darth Vader.

NVIDIA's proof-of-concept system can drive four different VR headsets. It makes use of four of the company's Quadro P6000 GPUs running four virtual machines on a PC server, which are paired with four HTC Vive Business Edition headsets and HTC's Lightroom tracking system. The system appears to be tiny for such a powerful configuration, though having a system powered by four video-cards shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone at this point in time - even if such an approach is now bordering on virtual impracticality for most consumers. NVIDIA is offering a look at the design guide technical document for such a system, though, which can prove an interesting read, right here.

Cooler Master is excited to announce the launch of the MasterCase, the world's first mid-sized modular tower with exterior expandability. The MasterCase heralds a new family of cases that offer unparalleled control over form and function. It draws inspiration from the MasterConcept, a revolutionary concept case developed at Cooler Master Headquarters in Taipei.

"The MasterConcept represents a vision that every person's PC case should be unique, and is a first step in a fundamental reimagining of our relationship with our fans and supporters," said PS Tang, Vice President, Cooler Master. "Inspired by the MasterConcept's revolutionary approach to interior and exterior modularity, the MasterCase represents the crest of this new wave of case technology."

Razer, the world leader in entertainment devices and software, today announced a concept of what promises to be the world's most modular gaming system, Project Christine.

The PC has traditionally been one of the most open platforms in all of technology. However, given the technical complexities of PC hardware, only the most hardcore enthusiasts have been able to take advantage of this openness to build, customize and continuously upgrade their PC desktop systems. The tremendous promise of the PC has remained underexploited by the vast majority of general consumers for more than 30 years, largely due to the convoluted hardware -- knowing what does what, what works with what, and how to connect the pieces.

ASUS showed of three new design concepts for the otherwise boring-looking thermal armor of the TUF Sabertooth Z77 motherboard. The designs were sourced from the PC enthusiast community. The top design is entitled "Ammo depot," and makes use of props that look like grenades and shells. The next design is entitled "Gears of TUF," and bears a rustic industrial look. The final design concept is called "Desert Warrior," and features a non-digital desert camo design with a few rounds lying on it. For now, these are merely design concepts. ASUS probably found its newest product designer out of the exercise.

Earlier this week, we learned about Nokia working on a Windows 8-driven tablet. Concept art of this tablet (probably designed by well-informed fans), suggests that the tablet, Nokia "Lumia Coffee Tab", is essentially a stretched-out Lumia 800, which is its flagship Windows-driven smartphone that's extensively marketed with the monies it received from Microsoft to go Windows. The tablet features a 10.1-inch screen, and is designed to be competitive with Apple's iPad.

Interestingly, Nokia will have to use Windows 8 ARM, since the tablet reportedly uses a Qualcomm-made processor, and it is reported that Windows 8 ARM could arrive much later than Windows 8 x86. Could this mean Microsoft handing out Nokia exclusive early-access to Windows 8 ARM? Microsoft is evidently desperate to give its mobile versions of Windows a single potent launch-pad manufacturer, and as one of the most competent mobile phone makers, Nokia is the chosen one. Microsoft looks aware that the post-PC future of computing is very real, and approaching fast.

Yesterday the creative mind behind SKYRIM and Fallout 3, Adam Adamowicz fell in his battle with cancer. Mr. Adamowicz was the lead artist behind the entire artistic concept of the two modern day gaming masterpieces Fallout 3 and SKYRIM, giving those worlds life and personality. Everything from coin operated fallout shelters to dragons atop snowy peaks was first visualized and created in the mind of Adam Adamowicz.

Razer, the world leader in high performance gaming hardware, is proud to announce their newest gaming concept design - the Project Fiona PC Gaming Tablet. Unlike other tablets designed for general use and casual gaming, Project Fiona is a tablet concept designed to play the most popular PC games of today with an intuitive control setup for a phenomenal on-the-go gaming experience.

Here's our ASUS LGA-1156, Intel P55 motherboard for the day: TUF Series Sabertooth 55i. As a short history lesson, ASUS' TUF series motherboards was touted as a parallel to its Republic of Gamers (ROG) series, and was unveiled back in March as the "Marine cool" design, although no products made it to the market. The selling points of TUF series is unparalleled durability and next-generation motherboard components, including "breakthrough innovations in materials--ceramic and metal--for exceptional Cooling". Here's hoping this one does. The Sabertooth i55 comes across as fairly mid-range within the P55 motherboard lineup, as far as features go, but banks heavily on design innovations.

For starters, the CPU is powered by a 12+2 phase VRM, while the four DDR3 DIMM slots rely on a 2-phase VRM. For the greater part of its features, the Intel P55 chipset pithes in. Additional storage controllers provide extra SATA ports, supporting ASUS DriveXpert technology. Expansion slots include two PCI-E 2.0 x16 (arrange as x8, x8 in SLI and CrossFireX), two PCI-E x1, and two PCI. Here's where the unique features start: metal heatsinks with ceramic coating that boosts surface area by 50% for better heat dissipation. On the components front, it features durable "TUF-branded" MOSFETs, and capacitors. The DDR3 DIMM slots lack retention clips on one end, a feature implemented by ASUS with several recent motherboards, that makes sure the clips don't interfere with installed graphics cards. Although there's adequate clearance on this board, it is utilised by providing a placeholder for a fan dedicated to memory cooling. In a short presentation, ASUS describes its innovations. There's no word on its availability and pricing.

Gigabyte has been showing off a lot of cases in a suite at the Tapei 101 on the 36th floor. The MIB enclosures feature a VESA compatible monitor arm, so you can buy the case, add your own mini ITX board and other components. Then add a monitor of your choice to create an all in one PC. Gigabyte is showing off two versions of the case, but there is another one in the works, which we were not able to take a picture of.

Following the first news we heard of ASUS' new concept motherboard, they have now released an official press release, including some close-up imagery of the new cooling solution. The odd "backplate" to the rear of the board is in fact a built in UPS (uninterruptible power supply) through the use of a polymer battery. The board also features built in memory to guarantee a successfull boot in the event of installing faulty or incompatible RAM. Then of course is the new cooling solution utilizing a combination of ceramincs and metals which ASUS say doubles the cooling efficiency. The official press release follows.