Gary McKay, General Manager at BioWare, states: "Hello, it's been a little while since I've checked in, and as you might have heard, there's a lot happening here at BioWare. Almost 12 years after launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) remains a fantastic success, continuing to welcome new players to its vast galaxy and entertaining veteran players with its evolving content. It's the longest-running live service Star Wars game ever and we're enormously proud of the work the team has done in creating, expanding, and maintaining this incredible game. We're delighted to have grown such a dedicated and passionate community through all these years. The future of the game and the community continues to be very bright.

I've been working closely with Keith Kanneg, who leads the SWTOR team, to give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve. And so, while EA will remain SWTOR's publisher, development of the game will move to our partner and friends at Broadsword, a boutique studio with expertise in managing online games. Both the Broadsword studio and SWTOR team members will be joining forces and working tirelessly to support "every player, every day," ensuring that these worlds and these communities continue to thrive and grow. Their Founder and President, Rob Denton, even has direct experience with SWTOR, having helped lead the team during the development and launch of the game during his time at EA.

Google's Android logo has been reworked in recent times—their classic green robot design was debuted in a new 3D form earlier this year at CES 2023. 9to5Google reckons that the redesign will be rolled out soon, along with a new typeface. These are allegedly set to replace the flat aesthetic from the company's 2019 branding refresh. The specialist news outlets points to Google first teasing the 3D "bugdroid" head in early January via its Keyword blog, and further examples have popped up at trade events and conferences since then.

According to 9to5Google the reworked brand identity is official, but Google was acting coy about an official launch window—details will be revealed at a later date. Industry insiders posit that Google's new design language will debut with the release of Android 14 (codenamed "Upside Down Cake"). The next-gen mobile OS is currently in Beta (version 3) and has reached platform stability.

A BioWare Austin developer is openly discussing the transfer of their long-running "Star Wars: The Old Republic" MMORPG to an external studio—games news sites picked up on insider information earlier this month alleging that the studio and its parent company (EA) were holding meetings with Broadsword Online Games. An EA spokesperson responded to the leak (at the time) and explained: "We're evaluating how we give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve, which includes conversations with Broadsword, a boutique studio that specializes in delivering online, community-driven experiences. Our goal is to do what is best for the game and its players." It seems that the involved parties have agreed upon terms for "handing off" responsibilities, according to a developer's recent declarations.

Keith Kanneg - the Executive producer for Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) - has this week provided a comprehensive update about future plans on the game's discussion board: "Appreciate your patience with us as we continue to navigate the future shift of SWTOR's development team to a third party studio. We're working through the changes right now so I'll share with you the details I have. With 7.3 now live, our priority is continuing to prepare for Game Updates 7.3.1 and 7.4 along with planning for 2024 and 2025 with a focus on content and continued modernization initiatives." It is interesting that Broadsword is not named or directly referred to.

Microsoft has announced some major changes for a selection of integrated Windows 11 productivity apps—yesterday's preview piece declared that: "The new Outlook for Windows brings the latest features with a modern and simplified design to your Windows 11 PC. You can tailor it to your style and do more with the new Outlook for Windows! Learn more about the new Outlook for Windows here." Many W11 users are not fans of the current and very neglected set of Mail, Calendar & People applications, but forthcoming updates will provide some joy since the next version of Outlook is set to replace this messy arrangement entirely. A longer and more in-depth Insider article demonstrates the shape of things to come, including a dark mode! A trial version can be accessed via a toggle within the Windows 11 Mail & Calendar app.

Microsoft's roadmap/timeline indicates that new devices running Windows 11 will have the brand new Outlook app pre-installed, starting in early 2024: "The new Outlook for Windows (will be available) as the default mailbox application free for all to use. The Mail and Calendar applications will continue to be available via download in the Microsoft Store through the end of 2024. On existing devices, users can switch to the new Outlook for Windows from a toggle in the Mail and Calendar applications." The company's software engineers are alleged to be working on a project dubbed "Hudson Valley," which is rumored to be the next major version of Windows - aka 12 - arriving September 2024, which coincides with the removal of the improved Outlook app from Microsoft's store. The updated web-based client could be built into Windows 12, and positioned as the default email handling program.

Momomo_us posted on Twitter about their finding of a BIOS firmware update for an Intel chipset motherboard from AsRock, others soon pointed out that ASUS had quietly revised a higher-end model as well. Both boards share the same socket platform - LGA 1700 - and currently support Team Blue's 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPU series, but new details presented on pages for the ROG Maximus Z790 APEX and B760M PG Sonic WiFi suggests that these models are pre-prepared for the (still heavily rumored) launch of Raptor Lake Refresh. The changelogs for their respective BIOS updates mention "compatibility for the next-gen" and "support for next-generation" processors. TPU community member, Nater, has pointed out that his ASUS ProArt Z790-CREATOR WIFI board is also eligible for 14th gen support.

Leaks suggest that the Intel 14th Gen Core lineup is expected to launch around October time this year. Raptor Lake Refresh is likely going to serve as a sort of interim release, since insiders think that desktop Meteor Lake-S SKUs are no longer on the menu, and a full-fledged next-gen upgrade - Arrow Lake-S - is not due until Q4 2024 or Q1 2025. Not much is known about how much more performant the RPL refresh will be when compared to the existing range, but more leaks are expected in the coming months. Mobile Meteor Lake examples have been spotted in the wild recently, in official and less official capacities, so keep your eyes peeled.

Celebrate French Aviation with new Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) cities and the Latécoère 631 The Microsoft Flight Simulator team is delighted to introduce the free City Update II: France, which captures five beautiful cities: Amiens, Angers, Nantes, Nîmes, and Reims; and to celebrate the Paris Air Show, the update also includes the famed Paris-Le Bourget Airport (LFPB) in both standard and festival configurations.

City Update II: France is now available free to all owners of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Ensure that your simulator is updated to version 1.32.7.0, download City Update II, and experience some of the very best sights that France has to offer.

According to the report, it appears that the latest ASUS ROG Ally 319 BIOS update actually has a big impact on the performance of the handheld console. While the earlier pre-release BIOS updates brought significant performance improvements, especially for the Ryzen Z1 Extreme-based version, the latest one, BIOS update version 319, actually slows down the portable.

According to the results seen online, the 319 BIOS actually lowers performance by up to 20 percent. While the release notes say that it should increase the performance of the 9 W low-power mode, it simply doesn't, and the results are even worse on 15 W and 25 W modes. ASUS is apparently aware of the issue and has advised users not to update just yet. To make things worse, downgrading back to the BIOS 317 version is possible but quite hard.

Hello! We're excited to announce that we've just shipped a new version of the Steam Client to everyone. This update includes all the new Steam Desktop features that have been tested and fine-tuned in the beta branch. Before we get into the details, we want to thank our beta testers really quick - we couldn't have shipped without all of your invaluable feedback and bug reports!

New framework, new foundation
The most impactful changes in this update aren't immediately visible; much of the work went into changing how we share code across the Steam Desktop Client, Big Picture mode, and Steam Deck. These changes also means quicker implementation and iteration of new features. For example, many of the features in this update (like Notes in the overlay) are simultaneously shipping on Steam Deck because of the shared codebase.

In June last year, we launched Raspberry Pi Pico W, a $6 wireless-enabled variant of our Pico platform, built around our RP2040 microcontroller. In the year since, we've sold over half a million of these tiny boards, and they've found their way into countless projects, from singing fish to web servers to communicative house plants. But one thing has been missing: Bluetooth support. Now that's been fixed - and you don't even need to buy a new Pico W.

Pico W's wireless functionality is provided by the Infineon CYW43439 device, which contains a 2.4 GHz radio providing both 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.2, supporting Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) functionality. At launch, our firmware and host-side software only enabled Wi-Fi, not Bluetooth.

Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy have proudly announced a major set of improvements for their PC port of The Last of Us Part 1. A social media message from yesterday stated: "Patch 1.1 is now live for The Last of Us Part I on PC, including performance improvements, fixes for various crashes, and more. Read the patch notes here. We are also happy to announce that Part I is now Steam Deck Verified.✅"

The development team has outlined a significant number of improvements for the PC version—just in time for the game's tenth anniversary celebrations this week. The patch notes mention tweaks for global CPU and GPU performance, texture and environment load times, a full shader rebuild as well as fixes for multiple types of game crashes. General performance on Steam Deck has been improved, and a memory leak issue has been addressed which previously caused crashes on the handheld system. These fixes very likely got Valve's attention, hence the granting of Verified status.

Dear Bloodlines fans, it's been quite a while between updates while we've had our heads down working on the game. We remain just as dedicated to delivering a great Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines game as we were when we announced, and are looking forward to showing you more in September this year.

We acknowledge it was a long time ago that many of you pre-ordered Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. As development continues, we will be updating the game's editions and bonus content, and we want to provide the best value to those of you who supported us via digital pre-order after all this time. We are thus offering refunds to anyone who has pre-ordered any edition of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. As part of this process, we are proactively refunding all pre-orders of physical products, including the Collector's Edition. The digital versions of the First Blood Edition, Unsanctioned Edition and Blood Moon Edition remain, but can be refunded if you choose.

GIGABYTE Technology, one of the leading global manufacturers of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, has always prioritized cybersecurity and information security. GIGABYTE remains committed to fostering close collaboration with relevant units and implementing robust security measures to safeguard its users. GIGABYTE engineers have already mitigated potential risks and uploaded the Intel 700/600 and AMD 500/400 series Beta BIOS to the official website after conducting thorough testing and validation of the new BIOS on GIGABYTE motherboards.

To fortify system security, GIGABYTE has implemented stricter security checks during the operating system boot process. These measures are designed to detect and prevent any possible malicious activities, providing users with enhanced protection:

• 1. Signature Verification: GIGABYTE has bolstered the validation process for files downloaded from remote servers. This enhanced verification ensures the integrity and legitimacy of the contents, thwarting any attempts by attackers to insert malicious code.
• 2. Privilege Access Limitations: GIGABYTE has enabled standard cryptographic verification of remote server certificates. This guarantees that files are exclusively downloaded from servers with valid and trusted certificates, ensuring an added layer of protection.

BIOS updates for the Intel 500/400 and AMD 600 series chipset motherboards will also be released on the GIGABYTE official website later today, along with updates for previously released motherboards. GIGABYTE recommends that users regularly visit the official GIGABYTE website for future BIOS updates.

Welcome to the first Age of Wonders 4 development diary since release. My name is Lennart Sas game director / studio manager at Triumph. Today we'll be reflecting on the launch, the reception and we are going to be looking forward to the big Dragon Dawn DLC and specifically the free Wyvern Update that accompanies it.

Reflecting on the Launch
Wow! What a launch. For us the Age of Wonders 4 launch has been a dream: both a critical and commercial success. Paradox put out a press release the game is the fastest selling in the series; selling 250,000 units by day four of release. We are very grateful to all the people making this possible. The launch has been a rollercoaster in other ways too of course; some may have seen the user reviews directly after release. This was primarily caused by people not being able to launch the game after purchasing. This was unfortunate and we started investigating and preparing a hot fix which alleviated some of the issue.

Technology is creating amazing opportunities for our industry and the world, and Windows 11 is at the center of innovation with new experiences that transform how we interact with the Windows PC and each other. With Windows 11, we're seeing record engagement, our highest customer satisfaction over any previous version of Windows in the U.S., and accelerated growth in commercial deployments. In fact, we recently shared as part of our latest earnings report that over 90% of Fortune 500 companies are currently trialing or have already deployed Windows 11.

In February, we brought the new AI-powered Bing to the taskbar and other features to improve the way people get things done on their PCs. Today, we are providing a look at new features and enhancements for Windows 11 that will start to become available tomorrow, May 24, that focus on business needs, such as security and IT management, and new benefits that enhance professional and personal usability. For developers building on Windows, this week we are announcing new innovation at Microsoft Build.

Microsoft has been hyping up a new implementation of AI assistance into its flagship operating system - Windows 11 - this week, but a keen-eyed journalist has noticed an interesting tidbit placed in plain sight amongst all of the artificial intelligence bluster. Those who have legitimately purchased the WinRAR archiver extractor tool within the past few days should look away now. Within the announcement of a Windows 11 Co-Pilot, under the section named "Reducing toil and unlocking the fun and joy of development on Windows with new features and improvements," Panos Panay (the chief product officer) mentions an unexpected addition: "We have added native support for additional archive formats, including tar, 7-zip, rar, gz and many others using the libarchive open-source project. You now can get improved performance of archive functionality during compression on Windows."

It is slightly amusing that it has taken Microsoft's engineers almost three decades to add native support for RAR files in their OS product environment - it should be noted that Windows 10 is not getting this exclusive treatment, after all the company's product managers are encouraging folks to get onto 11 to enjoy all of the latest fun features. It is perhaps not great news for the developer of this archive file format - RARLAB proclaims on their site: "With over 500 million users worldwide, WinRAR is the world's most popular compression tool! There is no better way to compress files for efficient and secure file transfer. Providing fast email transmission and well-organized data storage options, WinRAR also offers solutions for users working in all industries and sectors." Windows users have often joked about getting the most out of time-limited shareware versions of the WinRAR suite, but not many have actually purchased it - will the small update to Windows 11 impact RARLAB's sales figures in the immediate future?

From races and stories to road trips and expeditions, since arriving in Mexico you've embarked on the most incredible journeys through beautiful landscapes, vibrant towns and diverse biomes. There is so much rich heritage and culture to discover in this locale, so just how well do you know it? Explore the Horizon will test your Forza Horizon 5 map knowledge and lead you to breathtaking scenery along the way. With 6 new-to-Forza cars, upgraded Photo Mode features, overlanding modifications for select vehicles, and Pathfinder accolades to complete, this will be a Mexican journey like no other. Dust off your camera and charge up your sat-nav, we're going on an adventure!

GAME FIXES & RELEASE NOTES
Explore the Horizon will be available to download on Xbox, Windows and Steam from Tuesday, May 23. Players can immediately try out the new Photo Mode improvements and explore Mexico under a new lens with Pathfinder accolades. Series content will be available on Thursday, May 25 until June 22.

Microsoft is determined to get the entirety of its Windows 10 userbase onto the final version - 22H2 - by early summer. Older iterations including 21H2 (issued in November of 2021), will not receive official support beyond the date: June 13 2023. The announcement crept out quietly last week, via the company's Learn Documentation center: "Home, Pro, Pro Education, and Pro for Workstations editions of Windows 10, version 21H2 will reach end of servicing. The upcoming June 2023 security update, to be released on June 13, 2023, will be the last update available for these versions. After this date, devices running these version will no longer receive monthly security and preview updates containing protections from the latest security threats."

The reminder does not give specific details about rollout timings, but news outlets reckon that OS-focused enforcements will begin in early June: "To help keep you protected and productive, Windows Update will automatically initiate a feature update for Windows 10 consumer devices and non-managed business devices that are at, or within several months of, reaching end of servicing. This keeps your device supported and receiving monthly updates that are critical to security and ecosystem health. For these devices, you will be able to choose a convenient time for your device to restart and complete the update." Microsoft provides further advice and recommends that users update (manually) to version 2H22 at the earliest opportunity, or take the larger step of transferring to Windows 11. Last month TPU reported on a similar official advisory blog entry, where the author/product manager (in effect) proposed "that current Windows 10 users move to 11 as soon as possible, in order to enjoy a continued stream of feature updates."

Dear Combo Breakers - this winter will be Killer Instinct's 10th year on Xbox Live. Throughout that time, Xbox platforms and services have been constantly evolving. We have been able to keep KI operating and adapting to many of these changes behind the scenes. Over the last five years, however, it has become more challenging to deal with issues that crop up due to KI's reliance on legacy services. We have been working on solutions to address these concerns. Thank you for being patient and amazing fans through any bumps in the road.

We have started migrating KI's legacy services to PlayFab services, a process which will happen over the next several months. This is a quality-of-life (QOL) update and does not have any new content or tuning changes: it ensures the game you know and love continues to provide the best possible player experience. Today, we've kicked off the first migration build for Xbox consoles, Windows PC, and Steam.

IT'S ALIVE! The first major content update for V Rising, Secrets of Gloomrot, is available to play RIGHT NOW! Build bigger and better than ever before! Multi-level castles give you new and here-to-for unequaled freedom in creating the Vampire lair of your dreams in our dark fantasy open world. Build a rock-solid war stronghold, a sprawling citadel of towers, or a gorgeous mansion!

HUNT more powerful and diverse enemies than ever, with a wide array of new weapons of war. Unload black-powder death with the dual pistols, play the executioner with the hulking greatsword, and command thunder and lightning. Modify your spells with the new jewels. So rise from your coffins, Vampires! Gather your clan and delve into the poisoned valleys and thunder-scarred peaks of Gloomrot!

Maxon, developers of professional software solutions for editors, filmmakers, motion designers, visual effects artists and creators of all types, announced today a comprehensive update to Maxon One. Maxon's Spring 2023 release offers exciting new features and workflow enhancements across the entire product line, that will empower designers and artists to turn their creative ideas into reality with stunning results. Cinema 4D 2023.2 offers an improved Commander, enhancements to its Nodes system, simulation improvements and a new Thicken generator for modeling. Updates to the Red Giant toolset feature new tools and augmentations; most notably the introduction of Symbol Mapper for Universe 2023.1, anamorphic lens support for Real Lens Flares for VFX 2023.3, and Trapcode 2023.3 includes performance optimizations for Particular and a new collection of Atomic Age sprites.

Redshift 3.5.14 brings a fantastic new Sky and Sun Model, a new Flakes Shader and new Camera Backplates. The latest release of ZBrush is highlighted by two new revolutionary workflow tools, Proxy Pose and Drop 3D. Forger updates include new features for lighting and previews, and the integration of ZBrush's powerful ZRemesher. The latest additions to Capsules include new material collections, a new dynamic Swirl Modifier and a new Redshift Shaderball. Rounding out this exciting release is an update to Cineware, focused on Unreal 5.0 and 5.1 integration.

CD Projekt RED has released the newest update for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen, bringing performance improvements for ray tracing, adding support for Intel XeSS, and fixing some issues seen earlier.

According to the update release notes, the latest The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update 4.03 introduces general performance improvements for ray-traced global illumination and ray-traced reflections, and fixes some issues seen with ray-traced shadows. It also addresses issue with DirectX 11 crashing on certain AMD GPUs, adds support for Intel Xe Super Sampling, and fixes lighting issues with Screen Space Reflection when ray-traced global illumination is off. There are also plenty of visual, quest, and gameplay fixes on both the PC and other platforms.

Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy have released a fresh update for the PC version of The Last of Us Part I, Update v1.0.5. This is the ninth update for the PC version of the game, and it brings further performance improvements, reduced shader building times, and improves texture fidelity on low and medium presets.

According to the release notes, the newest update further reduces shader building times, but, more importantly, includes optimized code to improve global CPU performance, which has been plaguing the game since the launch. Naughty Dog was keen to note that the newest patch triggers a full shader rebuild and that you need to have the most up-to-date version of the graphics driver, especially since the latest AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition v23.4.3 includes a fix for "longer than expected shader compilation time" in The Last of Us Part I.

Hello, Crusaders! Less than a week to the release of Tours & Tournaments! On May 11, you will be able to travel through your realm to check on your vassals. Attend royal weddings to demonstrate your loyalty to a distant lord. Or, if you are brave enough, enter competitions of body or mind in tournaments. As always, there are no guarantees, and danger still lurks around every corner. But with great risk, comes great renown...

Life is a journey of chivalric adventure, so why don't you embrace yours, ruler?
Create your very own epic story with the major expansion, Crusader Kings III: Tours & Tournaments. Be awed by the sights and events that await you, from bold, mock combat in the jousting area to adventuring perilous wilds with your royal entourage.

Store Quick-Search now includes developer pages and tags, also it will be better at handling of misspelled words. Today, we rolled out an update to the Steam store search to add more ways for players to search. Recently we've noticed more players searching for particular store hubs, tags, or developers so we've updated Steam store search to handle those destinations. For these new results, we'll show a new format with a subtle background generated from images of the most popular games in that result. Let's take a quick look at all the recent search updates...

Search for Developers, Publishers, and Franchises
Additionally, players can now search directly for your developer or publisher if you have set up a homepage. For more about developer and publisher homepages, please see: partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/creator_homepage. Looking for a particular developer or publisher on Steam? Excited about a specific gaming franchise? Now those appear in the quick search results too. Looking for "Bethesda" games? Or perhaps you want to browse all the "Star Wars" or "Final Fantasy" games. Now you can!

Avalanche Software has released quite a big patch for Hogwarts Legacy, improving visual, performance, gameplay, and general stability. In addition to more than 500 bug fixes, it also brings the new Arachnophobia Mode.

Performance-wise, the newest patch resolves general crashes on the PC and various memory leaks, brings plenty of optimizations, fixes ray tracing issues, and more. It also updates minimum driver recommendation for NVIDIA graphics cards, updates NVIDIA DLSS to v3.1.2, AMD FSR to v2.2, and Intel XeSS to v1.1.