Tech Journalist Brad Sams, who first reported on Halo: The Master Chief Collection coming to the PC platform before its official announcement, has spilled the beans on another juicy detail regarding the Halo universe: that Microsoft will use this E3 2019 to showcase the first gameplay for the game. This isn't news, really - after last year's tease, it was expected that gameplay would be available this year to whet gamers' appetites. However, the fact that Halo Infinite will be running in the PC platform is newsworthy, since this is quite the departure from previously-known Microsoft, which seemed to relegate its PC gaming ambitions to other developers.

Now, with Microsoft vouching to treat the PC platform as the gaming juggernaut it is, and the already-known information that 343 Industries' (the current Halo developers) Slipspace engine would treat PC gamers with the latest technology in terms of graphics presentation, PC has become the defacto platform of choice to showcase Halo's next-gen visuals (whilst using an Xbox One controller, by the way). This likely only happens because Microsoft isn't ready to completely pull the wraps on the next-generation Xbox; or it could serve as a show of good faith from the company when it comes to PC gaming. Whatever the reason for Microsoft's decision, this seems like a great time to be a PC - and Halo - fan.

MetallicGear took to Computex 2019 to renew and revive its product portfolio, announcing the development of no less than four new PC chassis for the discernible enthusiast. One of them is the MetallicGear Neo Silent: a subtle and silent case that integrates sound insulation to the front panel design. The case comes with 1x 120mm Skiron fan non-RGB) and features open PCI slot design for vertical GPU mounting (bracket required).

Second comes the MetallicGear Neo Air, a high airflow case that implemented the MetallicGear's characteristic to the front mesh panel design. The case comes with 2x 20mm Skiron RGB fans and features open PCI slot design for vertical GPU mounting (bracket required). This is followed by the MetallicGear Neo G, a case designed to impress with its tempered glass front panel. Features include 2x 120 Skiron D-RGB fans and open PCI slot design or vertical GPU mounting (bracket required). And finally, the MetallicGear Neo series V2 now refined to improve airflow. The cases are now designed with larger air intake mesh on the front to bring in more air. Pricing information is available after the break.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, announced in conjunction with Lenovo the world's first 5G PC2 today at its Computex Press Conference. Project Limitless encompasses a strong technology collaboration between Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. a leader in 5G connectivity, and Lenovo, the leader in PCs, to bring innovation to the always on, always connected PC ecosystem. Project Limitless is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform and is the world's first 7nm platform purpose-built for PCs that offers 5G connectivity.

The new platform is running on Windows 10 for ARM. It promises multi-day battery life and 7GBps transfer speeds with a Snapdragon x55 5G modem.Image Source: Tom's Hardware

ASRock will be showing the world's first Thin Mini-ITX form factor - RX570TM-ITX/TBT graphics card, which adapts with AMD Radeon RX570 graphics card and supports Intel Thunderbolt 3 technology. The RX570TM-ITX/TBT graphics card is not only the first graphics card with a Thunderbolt 3 Type-C interface which supports 40Gb/s transfer rate and power delivery, but it also features 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and SATA 6Gb/s interface.
The RX570TM-ITX/TBT graphics card is based on the Thin Mini-ITX concept. With this graphics card, All-in-One PC manufacturers can develop their own Thunderbolt monitors with 3D performance and power charging with less effort. Moreover, it would be able to fit in a mini ITX chassis. By connecting a notebook through Thunderbolt 3 Type-C interface, it helps to increase the notebook's 3D computing power and charge the notebook at the same time.

It looks like E3 will be a very good event for Microsoft, which will have its hands full of announcements during the show. According to the latest rumors, Gears 5, the latest release in the Gears of Wars franchise, will be launched in September this year. The supposed launch will be happening during Microsoft's E3 conference. Besides Gears 5, Microsoft will launch PC exclusive game Gears Tactics.

As rumors suggest, we will be getting new Gears of War 5 game in September of this year. The new game is launching as a sequel to the well-known Gears of War 4 game, which showed focus on story and tactics driven gameplay. We expect its sequel to be no different. With many improvements in the game's graphics, we should expect to see high-quality game gameplay given the heritage the previous release, Gears 4, left us with.

The former PS4 exclusives Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human have had announcement dates for their releases on the PC platform. The games, developed by Quantic Dream for the PlayStation platform, are considered some of the best in terms of narrative-focused, visual storytelling experiences in the industry, and have previously been locked behind platform exclusivity that meant Xbox and PC players were being left in the cold regarding these titles.

Heavy Rain will see its release on June 24th for the PC platform, closely followed by Beyond: Two Souls on July 27th - a month difference so gamers can get them across at least two different paychecks. Detroit: become Human will be released in the Fall of 2019, though at an unspecified date (so far). The games will be Epic Games Store exclusives, and free demos will be made available for all titles. A trailer has been released for these demos, which you can catch after the break.

Steam's Link application, which allows users to stream their games from PC to the desired device, has finally come to iOS and Apple TV. Originally, the application was expected to release on Android and iOS at the same time, but it has been available on Android devices for more than a year now and iOS support just landed. The reason behind this was rejection from Apple to include such an application in their store.

While the application finally got released for iOS and Apple TV (so you can stream games to your TV as well), it isn't the same as the Android version. Mainly, the difference is simple - no game purchases are allowed in iOS/Apple TV version. That decision came after Valve, the company behind Steam, decided to remove that feature in order to comply with Apple's App Store rules. If game purchasing was allowed then Valve would have to share a cut of the profits with Apple. So far the application has an excellent rating and users have positive opinions about it. You can find it here.

Today Intel announced ModernFW - an experimental approach to building a minimum viable platform firmware for machines such as cloud server platforms. The reason for this software is that, while traditional PC Firmware has evolved over time and retained its backward compatibility, it has become very big and often inefficient.

So to meet the requirements of new platforms that need to be built quickly and adapted easily, Intel decided to offer a new software package that will help with that. The new firmware package targets x86_64 from ISA standpoint and Linux kernel based OSes.

A report from technology market analyst Trendforce places SSD's pricing in sharp decline, with price per GB being projected to hit as low as $0.1 by year's end. Citing oversupply in the NADN flash market and an impending price war to allow manufacturers to sell out accumulating inventory, this is one of those clear cases of a win for consumers - which, after the shenanigans in the DRAM market, is about time. Trendforce further states that the price reductions should render 128 GB SSDs obsolete, as they mostly are by now, with 512 GB capacities becoming the mainstream choice for system integrators and DIY.

Pricing evolution in the market also places premium NVMe solutions at an only 6% premium over SATA offerings, showcasing the increased cost savings that manufacturers have achieved with the reduction in price for NVMe controllers, and the lower amount of physical materials needed to put an NVMe SSD together compared to a SATA-based alternative. Furthermore, Trendforce says that value PCIe-based solutions have a 0% price difference compared to SATA-based ones, so the option for the older form factor should only fall upon how many NVMe/PCIe sockets users' motherboards have available to populate.

Update: A clarification was sent out earlier today where Epic said that they won't stop supporting Rocket League on Steam, as they never could actually do, since legions of players that had already purchased the game on that platform would pick up their pitchforks with a vengeance. However, wording on Epic's clarification leaves much to be desired, and seemingly confirms that the game will not be available on Steam:

"The PC version of Rocket League will come to the Epic Games store in late 2019. In the meantime, it will continue to be available for purchase on Steam; thereafter it will continue to be supported on Steam for all existing purchasers. (...) "Rocket League remains available for new purchasers on Steam, and long-term plans will be announced in the future."

Epic Games has announced the acquisition of Rocket League developer Psyonix, which created one of the most addictive non/Battle Royale game of recent times. The move by Epic will see the games- introduction to the Epic Games Store, with platform exclusivity confirmed for late 2019 / which means that anyone looking to purchase the game on a PC/centric digital storefront will have to go to Epic's, since Steam will be leaving the vendor equation.

We knew this was coming, given Valve's own teaser confirmation from March, and then a faux pas that resulted in an incomplete Steam store page ending up public for a short time. Valve had promised more details would come in May, and here we are with a lot of information available about the Valve Index headset, the controllers, the base stations, as well as retail pricing + availability.

Name aside, the Valve Index specs that leaked before end up holding true with the retail product. The headset uses dual 1440x1600 RGB LCDs which Valve claims helps provide 50% more subpixels relative to an OLED display. This in turn should result in higher effective sharpness for the same rendering horsepower, and is further accentuated via a 3x better fill factor to mitigate the dreaded screen-door effect. The headset runs at 120 Hz with full backwards compatibility to 90 Hz to work with VR titles built around that specification and, more interestingly, also supports an experimental 144 Hz mode. PC gamers have long known the benefits of higher framerates, and this is especially valid with VR, but time will tell how the rest of the ecosystem works around this. Equally important to VR gaming is the illumination period, which allows on-screen imagery to remain sharp while you are in motion just as well as when at rest. Valve claims up to a 5x reduction here, with a rated illumination period of 0.33 to 0.53 ms depending on the real time framerate. More to see past the break, so be sure to do so if this interests you!

Intel Corporation today reported first-quarter 2019 financial results. In the first quarter, the company generated approximately $5.0 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.4 billion and used $2.5 billion to repurchase 49 million shares of stock.

"Results for the first quarter were slightly higher than our January expectations. We shipped a strong mix of high-performance products and continued spending discipline while ramping 10nm and managing a challenging NAND pricing environment. Looking ahead, we're taking a more cautious view of the year, although we expect market conditions to improve in the second half," said Bob Swan, Intel CEO. "Our team is focused on expanding our market opportunity, accelerating our innovation and improving execution while evolving our culture. We aim to capitalize on key technology inflections that set us up to play a larger role in our customers' success, while improving returns for our owners."

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has come out with an interesting commitment: that EPIC would stop hunting for exclusives in the PC platform is Steam were to match them in their 88% return to developers for each game sold. Being a developer themselves, Epic games have certainly looked into creating their own storefront as a way to escape the clutches of Steam's cut in the digital, PC distribution market (a move that had already been done by the likes of EA and Ubisoft, if you'll remember). A commitment to stop hunting for exclusives (and thus segregating the PC games offering across different platforms) is a clear indicator of Epic's mission with the Epic Games Store: to bring back power and returns to developers such as them (while taking a cut from the profits for themselves, obviously).

Check out after the break for the full content of Sweeney's remarks regarding their Games Store and the problem with Steam. I, for one, don't see much of a problem with virtual segregation of games across multiple PC-bound platforms - one of the strengths of PC gaming is actually the ability to install multiple applications that increase functionality, after all. But if the end game of all of this is simply to give more back to developers and Epic's move facilitates that by forcing Valve's hand in matching them for fear of drying profits - then so be it.

Jon Peddie Research has released a new report on the state of gaming and its future, with the research firm estimating a total of 20 million PC gamers will make the shift to console gaming by 2022. It does make sense, as the no-frills architecture of consoles and highly specialized hardware and development - alongside the lower cost of entry) have been calling gamers from all ages and budgets. Add to this the fact that IQ considerations are becoming smaller and smaller between a high-end gaming PC and their console counterparts - at least when it comes to global, base IQ of settings - and it does make sense that makers make the shift.

Adding to this is the expectation of increased doubling-down on exclusives from games consoles, with the exception of Microsoft, which will be bringing all of its exclusives to the PC market as well. The increased attention to game streaming, with Google's Stadia and Microsoft's own xCloud will prompt change in the way gamers consume content - no dedicated hardware may mean no consoles, but it will also mean no need to purchase expensive, high-end PC gaming hardware to run the latest games with the latest graphics technologies - that will all be run in the cloud. Smart TVs, for instance, may be all the investment required for a premium, lag-free gaming experience with maximum details, should worldwide internet access improve as it has been. Of course, the ratio of high-end PC gamers making their way to consoles is lower than that of gamers with basic or entry-level PCs that are capable of gaming - those will make up the vast majority of the quoted 20 million shift.

Phillips announced the latest in their Brilliance line of PC monitors. The 329P9H monitor features a 31.5" diagonal with a 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution. The panel is of the IPS type, and a fairly basic one at that when it comes to features gamers expect: a 60 Hz refresh rate and 5 ms response times aren't the most attractive for serious gaming - but then again, this monitor isn't really being marketed for serious gaming. And there's life in the PC world besides that one.

For those users that still think this monitor is interesting, the anti-glare coating and 350 nits of brightness should be interesting propositions for a more work-inspired usage scenario. The 178º angle of view and 1.07 billion colors join a wider than usual color gamut, covering 108% of the sRGB, 90% of the NTSC CIE1976, or 87% of the Adobe RGB color spaces to serve creative professionals' (or just color-correct amateurs) a precise environment. The Brilliance 329P9H also ships factory-calibrated to a Delta E < 2 accuracy. Height, tilt, and swivel are available, as well as a 90 degree rotation capability. I/O stands at 1x DisplayPort 1.2 input, 1x DisplayPort 1.2 output, 2x HDMI 2.0a, 1x USB Type-C (with DP 1.2, 65 W PD, data), as well as a 4-port USB 3.0 hub (one supports fast charging) and one Ethernet, GbE port. The recommended price for the Philips 329PH9 stands at £809, so MSRP in the US should land around the $899 mark.

One of the big no-nos for some users looking to upgrade do Windows 10 was the fact that Microsoft enforced constant, 6-month update cycles independent of whether users wanted them or not. This move was done to streamline the update process and keep all users at parity when it comes to important security and feature updates that Microsoft considered relevant. However, it seems Microsoft is now abandoning this practice, which means that users that like to know exactly what is being changed in their systems - and at a time of their convenience - now have one less reason to not upgrade.

Not only will Windows no longer push updates inadvertently, now home users will also have the ability to not only pause updates, but also remove them. There's a caveat, though - you won't be able to postpone feature updates forever. As it stands, Microsoft has an 18 month "end of life" period for major Windows 10 versions, which means that after your 18 months of postponing updates are up (and all of the kinks have been ironed out), you PC will still update to the latest version. There are some other details, which I will transcribe from the Microsoft blog post for your perusal.

News of Assassin's Creed III getting a remaster was met with lukewarm reception from the get go, primarily because the original game does not rank high in the preference of games in the series for most people. Personally, I thought it was an underrated game but does have a slow start that can put off many people who came to it after the excellent Ezio trilogy just before. The remaster itself also seemed to be more a color palette sweep-over than many suspected, with a faux-HDR effect at times that has had mixed reviews in the few short days since it has been made available. Many on Steam have also took to the review section to complain about bugs and launch issues, as well as the $39.99 pricing (although it is included for free with the season pass for Assassins Creed Odyssey at the same price point).

Ubisoft has since de-listed the original game from Uplay, and had the same done on Steam too as the original store page says. This is a standard business practice in cases where the publisher does not wish to have any confusion on what they intend to be the best gameplay experience henceforth, but things are less simple on the PC. Steam users, and others in general, were quick to point out that the remaster now is the only choice and at a much higher price than what the original went for, especially during a sale. Others made reference to PC remasters usually getting a free update, bringing out examples such as Bioshock 1 and 2. A combination of everything discussed here has in turn led to the game having mostly negative reviews on steam, and reviews by independent media outlets seem to also indicate a troubled future ahead for the remaster.

It seems that the EPIC Game Store exclusivity saga is still coming strong, with not one, but two AA games coming to PC that are exclusive to the new games distribution platform. Obsidian's The Outer Worlds is likely one of the most anticipated RPG games this side of Fallout 76, and Remedy has always been known for great single-player games that push the boundaries of the medium - and sometimes wreck those boundaries completely, as it happened with Quantum Break.

Now, both games are known to be part of EPIC's Game Store in a time-limited exclusive format for one year after launch, much like has happened with Metro Exodus - though here there is no sudden Steam departure to be met with. The Outer Worlds will also be available in Microsoft Store, true (Obsidian is now part of Microsoft's Game Studios, remember?).

I am an assumed, and unabashedly proud, Halo fan, so yes, I believe the fact that the games' definitive (but by no means complete) The Master Chief Collection is coming to PC is a very important matter. The Halo series' efforts on the PC have been extremely lackluster, until now, barring the excellent Halo Wars 2 (in terms of how it runs and its PC-centric features; not talking about the game per se). Now, rumors of Microsoft being hard at work with porting the game to the PC platform have gained substantial traction, as Brad Sams, a tech journalist whose track record with Microsoft leaks has been notable, said that "Microsoft's open secret is that they've been working on the Master Chief Collection for the PC, and I'm hearing that that's getting close to release."

This "getting close to release" plays well into the upcoming E3 event, starting July 11th. The Master Chief Collection's release (and for wow factor, immediate availability) during the show would be an amazing way for Microsoft to market the Halo saga's true PC vision come to life. This would pave the way for a later Halo 5: Guardians release and the already-announced-for-PC Halo infinite, which is expected only with the next generation of consoles.

In a report via Ars Technica, it seems that Microsoft is actually inching ever closer to having PCs powered by Xbox games (and Xbox servers). After the company pushed some free copies of State of Decay to a limited number of beta testers for its upcoming Windows 10 updates (and asking for feedback on the game's behavior), a number of users tried (and managed) to dig deeper.

It seems that Microsoft used the Xbox's distribution services instead of the usual Game Store ones for distributing State of Decay, which would mean a tight integration of its console distribution platform and its Windows PC one. Furthermore, the state of Decay files came in encoded on a proprietary, Xbox-bound .xvc file system. State of Decay, as it is being delivered, also tries to update the DirectX installation on the users' PC, which speaks of it being aware of some PC-specific requirements for it to be run, which wouldn't be present shouldn't that be the case. This is all part of Microsoft's GameCore initiative, which aims to build a common set of system services and APIs that allow for higher development integration between both the PC and Xbox platforms, lowering the coding barrier for games to run on both, and perhaps even enabling PCs to be recognized as equals to Xbox consoles when it comes to content distribution. Maybe we'll finally be able to get The Master Chief collection and... Red Dead Redemption in our PCs?

Digital Storm aims to strike the perfect trifecta for gamers between price, performance, and exceptional quality by launching Lynx, starting at $799.

Lynx is our evolution from distilling 17 years of knowledge in crafting enthusiast-class PCs for our clients. Our aim with this new launch is to deliver Digital Storm's unique brand to a more mainstream PC gamer audience. With a new in-house design, Lynx provides exclusivity not usually found at this price point by Digital Storm. Lynx is highly customizable, delivering the kind of bespoke custom aesthetic Digital Storm is known for, while still offering excellent value for the customer.

The original Jade Empire was Bioware's first foray into their own imagined IP and universe, and released to wide acclaim as an original Xbox exclusive (and I mean original Xbox, the one that gave us Halo and Azurik and other small and not so small gems). First outed in 2005, the game was later released for PC in 2007 with a Special Edition. Now, EA has filed for a trademark on the game in the "Goods and Services" category, allowing for "Entertainment services, namely, providing an on-line computer game; Provision of information relating to electronic computer games provided via the Internet." The fastest and dirtiest interpretation would be a multiplayer or always-online game, but we have to remember that all games now have a form of digital distribution and/or upkeep via downloadeable updates, so, it could really be as simple as that.

It could also just mean that EA is keeping up with soon-to-be-expiring trademarks so as not to lose their rights to the IP, but still, launch of any game would require the establishment/renewal of such trademarks. We'll have to play the most unavoidable game known to gamers: the waiting one.

SteelSeries, the global leader in gaming peripherals, today announced its newest full-size, multi-platform controller, the Stratus Duo. Gamers can swap between the low latency 2.4GHz wireless connection for gaming on Windows, and Bluetooth for mobile gaming on Android, Oculus Go and Samsung VR. Gamers can utilize the Stratus Duo in multiple ways using the 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth and wired connections. With its Bluetooth connection, the Stratus Duo supports Android, Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Go. Gamers no longer need to struggle with awkward touchscreen controls while playing mobile games on their Android devices.

The Stratus Duo allows gamers to enjoy playing on their Android device via Bluetooth or on their PC via the 2.4GHz wireless connection with no additional software needed for setup. "The gaming ecosystem is continuing to evolve and grow beyond PC and consoles to include mobile devices and VR systems," said Tino Solberg, SteelSeries CTO. "The Stratus Duo allows gamers to easily navigate across several platforms through wireless and Bluetooth technology to create a truly seamless experience."

Intel Corporation today reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 financial results. The company also announced that its board of directors has approved a five percent increase in its cash dividend to $1.26 per-share on an annual basis. The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.315 per-share on the company's common stock, which will be payable on March 1 to shareholders of record on February 7.

"2018 was a truly remarkable year for Intel with record revenue in every business segment and record profits as we transform the company to pursue our biggest market opportunity ever," said Bob Swan, Intel CFO and Interim CEO. "In the fourth quarter, we grew revenue, expanded earnings and previewed new 10nm-based products that position Intel to compete and win going forward. Looking ahead, we are forecasting another record year and raising the dividend based on our view that the explosive growth of data will drive continued demand for Intel products."

Computer Upgrade King demoed 2 new extremely powerful and colorful mATX gaming desktops at CES that release in Spring 2019. On display at Patriot's suite, they featured their Continuum Mini which has an intense infinity mirror front panel with large side vents to ensure excellent air flow. Inside, there was an NVidia RTX 2080 TI GPU and an Intel i9-9900K CPU with their own custom cooling system consisting of an RGB CPU water block, anodized brushed aluminum reservoir and pump combo, front mounted 240mm radiator and lotus style ARGB fans.

On display at AMD's suite, they featured their Stratos Mini which has a triple RGB fan front panel with metal blade design to ensure excellent air flow. Inside, there was a Gigabyte Vega 56 GPU, an AMD Threadripper 2950X CPU with their own custom cooling system, a Team Group T-Force Delta RGB SSD, and halo style RGB fans.