As pressure mounts over Sony and Microsoft's (in)ability to deliver their current-gen PS5 and Xbox Series S|X consoles at a fast enough pace to satisfy demand, it seems that users now have yet another reason to throw their gamer hands up in the air in frustration. Stocks of new PS4 / PS4 Pro and Xbox One S|X have been increasingly harder to come by in recent times, and especially in the US, stock of the last-gen consoles on Amazon, Target, Walmart and GameStop is virtually non-existent. The only choice prospective gamers have is to find a second-hand last-gen console - and pricing on those seems to be (predictably) going up.

When one looks at it, it does make sense that last-gen consoles are also becoming hard to find, despite the fact that they haven't been discontinued yet. It all pertains to the finite resources at manufacturers' disposal. Even if there are no common components between last and current-gen consoles, the difficulties faced by the supply chain in procuring even raw materials for fabrication means that manufacturers have to prioritize resource allocation - and it seems obvious that both Sony and Microsoft would prioritize current-gen consoles over the alternative. The stock issues even extend to peripherals - controllers for Sony's PS4 are also out of stock, and while the PS5's Dual Sense sees healthy stock levels, that controller has no backwards compatibility, meaning that users looking for a replacement or additional PS4 controller have to make do with either used ones or third-party alternatives. As for Xbox controllers, fear not - they're in stock, for both current and last-gen systems.

Corsair had acquired the performance system builder Origin PC in 2019, and we are seeing the first apparent synergic effects of this at CES 2020 with the all-new Big O system. The one-off from last year was a hand-built concept that made serious waves online by incorporating a PC, XBOX One X, PS4 Pro, and Nintendo Switch in the same chassis. It was not really intended to be a retail product, however, but this new 2020 version will actually come to the market in two main flavors: with an Xbox One S or a PS4 Pro pre-installed in a Corsair Crystal Series 280X dual-chamber case.

Origin will still offer all the usual configurations on the gaming PC side, with the base configuration starting at $2,499 MSRP for the XBOX One S version paired with a 1 TB HDD, as well as an Intel Core i5-9600K, 16 GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 GPU, a 240 GB SSD, and a 450 W power supply. The interesting element is certainly the console within, as it will be liquid cooled alongside some additional elements to keep the rest of the key components cool as well. You may also opt for upgraded storage options for the console, and further customize it by having an Elgato capture card built-in, so that you could stream your console gaming straight through the PC for example. Also, thanks to the completely separated power setup, your console would not shut down if your PC happens to go into standby for example. In terms of warranty, Origin PC will offer direct warranty for the consoles as well just like its traditional PCs. The Big O is up for pre-order with a special price starting at $2327 on the Origin website now.

After months of speculation, the lid is off Nintendo's "NX" project, with the company finally announcing today its much-awaited games console, the Nintendo Switch. With an expected release slated for March 2017, the console blurs the line between a games console and a handheld device, by making use of a docking station which will allow it to connect to a television, much like a traditional games console, while instantly entering a so called "portable mode" when it is undocked. As both a console and a portable device, the Nintendo Switch will use cartridges known as Game Cards, displaying games in a "high definition display" embedded on the console while on the go, with two detachable Joy-Con controllers stepping in as input devices.

For PC hardware enthusiasts, that may not be all too interesting. What is arguably more interesting is that this games console will make use of NVIDIA hardware: most notably, a custom Tegra processor is the one pulling out all of the console's processing needs, with the graphics being served by what the company calls "the same architecture as the world's top-performing GeForce gaming graphics cards."