The fastest way to give the gift of cloud gaming starts this GFN Thursday: For a limited time, every six-month GeForce NOW Ultimate membership includes three months of PC Game Pass. Also, the newest GeForce NOW app update is rolling out to members, including Xbox Game Syncing and more improvements. Plus, take advantage of a heroic, new members-only Guild Wars 2 reward. It's all topped off by support for 18 more games in the GeForce NOW library this week.

Give the Gift of Gaming
Unwrap the gift of gaming: For a limited time, gamers who sign up for the six-month GeForce NOW Ultimate membership will also receive three free months of PC Game Pass - a $30 value. With it, Ultimate members can play a collection of high-quality Xbox PC titles with the power of a GeForce RTX 4080 rig in the cloud. Jump into the action in iconic franchises like Age of Empires, DOOM, Forza and more, with support for more titles added every GFN Thursday. Seamlessly launch supported favorites across nearly any device at up to 4K and 120 frames per second or at up to 240 FPS with NVIDIA Reflex technology in supported titles for lowest-latency streaming. This special offer is only here for a limited time, so upgrade today.

Get ready for Gunfire Games and Gearbox Publishing's highly anticipated Remnant II, available for members to stream on GeForce NOW at launch. It leads eight new games coming to the cloud gaming platform. Ultimate and Priority members, make sure to grab the Guild Wars 2 rewards, available now through Thursday, Aug. 31. Visit the GeForce NOW Rewards portal and opt in to rewards.

Kick off the weekend with one of the hottest new games in the cloud. Remnant II from Gunfire Games and Gearbox Publishing, sequel to the hit game Remnant: From the Ashes, is newly launched in the cloud for members to stream. Go head to head against new deadly creatures and god-like bosses while exploring terrifying new worlds with different types of creatures, weapons and items. With various stories woven throughout, each playthrough will be different from the last, making each experience unique for endless replayability.

It's a party this GFN Thursday with several newly launched titles streaming on GeForce NOW. Revel in gaming goodness with Xenonauts 2, Viewfinder and Techtonica, among the four new games joining the cloud this week. Portal fans, stay tuned—the Portal: Prelude RTX mod will be streaming on GeForce NOW to members soon. Plus, find out how members can score an upcoming Guild Wars 2 premium reward.

Get 'Em While They're Hot!
Choose from over 1,600 games in the GeForce NOW library, starting off with the titles making their cloud debut. Be among the first to experience Xenonauts 2, Viewfinder and Techtonica from a high-performance GeForce RTX gaming rig in the cloud, without worrying about download times or system specs.

A new chapter in Tyria's story begins August 22 with the launch of Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure, our newest expansion. Soon, you'll be soaring through new maps high in the skies above Tyria, testing your mettle against invaders from the Mists, and mastering new combat options. The adventure continues after launch, with major releases planned every few months that introduce new locations and rewards as they expand the features and continue the story of Secrets of the Obscure.

Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure is available for pre-purchase! Pick it up right now through our official web store or from the in-game store, Steam, or official retailers. Pre-purchasing guarantees you the following three rewards: the Demon Hunter title, the Arcane Spellweaver's Hat Skin, and an Eagle Eye weapon skin of your choice. Your pre-purchase rewards, as well as any items associated with the expansion edition you buy, will be distributed and available in the game once you apply your Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure registration code to your account. For full details on the items included with the Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate Editions, visit the official store page.

Intel Arc "Alchemist" graphics architecture was originally developed as a forward-facing PC GPU architecture with many of the contemporary graphics technologies, including full DirectX 12 Ultimate support, however, the GPU curiously lacks hardware support for DirectX 9. Released 20 years ago, DirectX 9 continued to power AAA PC titles well into the 2010s as game console development lagged (the era of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), and most e-sports titles of the time included either native or fallback DirectX 9 support for those on older GPUs. This is a problem for Intel, as many of the currently-popular e-Sports titles may still use DirectX 9, and so the Intel Graphics team set out to individually optimize DirectX 9 titles with each new Arc GPU driver release.

While Arc GPUs lack DirectX 9 support, foolproof API translation technologies exist, which convert DirectX 9 API instructions into DirectX 12. This is not fundamentally unlike how 32-bit applications work on 64-bit Windows (using WOW64 machine-architecture translation). This, however, requires per-game optimization to ensure any engine-level special features are correctly translated. With the latest 101.3959 Beta drivers, Intel optimized popular DirectX 9 titles "League of Legends," "Counter Strike: Global Offensive," "Starcraft 2," "Payday 2," "Guild Wars 2," "Stellaris," "NiZhan," and "Moonlight Blade." The company seems to be going about this the smart way, by relying on market analysis for selecting the games in need of optimization (understanding what DirectX 9 games are still being played).

Today, SteelSeries, the leading global manufacturer of gaming peripherals, and ArenaNet, developer of Guild Wars 2, completes the co-branded peripheral line-up for the acclaimed MMO with the introduction of the Guild Wars 2 Gaming Keyboard. Preorder this new addition from the SteelSeries Web Shop for $79.99 and for a limited time, receive a free Guild Wars 2 Gaming Mouse.

A visually stunning design showcases the game's distinctive artwork, dynamic red, white and black color scheme and vibrant red illumination with 8 levels of adjustable brightness. Tailored for Guild Wars 2 specific gameplay, the keyboard enables gamers to react quickly, move effortlessly, and to customize its performance for every aspect of the game, whether it's PvE, PvP, or WvW. Users can program every key, including its 17 raised macro- keys along the top and left side of the keyboard, and up to 2 layers per key, for a total of 250 programmable keys on the board.

Hot on the heels of NVIDIA's GeForce 313.95 Beta drivers, AMD launched Catalyst 13.2 Beta, targeting EA's release of Crysis 3 multiplayer open-beta. The driver improves performance by up to 15 percent, but in highly specific scenarios, vaguely put by AMD as "in high MSAA cases." There is no general performance improvement announced, but that future Catalyst releases could address performance. Catalyst 13.2 Beta also addresses frame latency issues related to three titles, TES5: Skyrim, Boderlands 2, and Guild Wars 2. Single GPU performance for Devil May Cry is improved by up to 50 percent. CrossFire systems running Crysis 2 could see a 10 percent performance improvement. Lastly, a texture-flickering issue seen with DirectX 9.0c applications is resolved.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 13.2 Beta

SteelSeries the leading manufacturer of premium-quality, competitive gaming peripherals, today announced along with the launch of the game, the Guild Wars 2 co-branded headset, mouse and mousepads are now available online in the SteelSeries Web Shop.

SteelSeries, the leading global manufacturer of gaming peripherals, in partnership with ArenaNet, the world's premier developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), today announced a new line-up of gaming peripherals for Guild Wars 2.

Created in collaboration with ArenaNet, the line-up includes the Guild Wars 2 Gaming Headset, a slim profile, on-ear headset design that delivers a quality, immersive audio experience, and the Guild Wars 2 Gaming Mouse, an ambidextrous mouse that features seven programmable buttons, red illumination, and industry-leading technology. Both products are highlighted by the distinctive look of the Guild Wars 2 logo. The Guild Wars 2 QcK Mousepads are available in three designs, including the stylized dragon logo and the heroes Logan Thackeray and Eir Stegalkin. The Guild Wars 2 Gaming Keyboard rounds out the product line-up with an entirely new design that features SteelSeries Engine software for ease of use and advanced functionality as well as game-specific shortcuts; additional details about the keyboard will be unveiled later this year.