CD Projekt acquired The Molasses Flood—a Boston, Massachusetts-based video game developer—back in 2021. The New England studio was best known for making two indie titles: Drake Hollow (2020) and Flame in the Flood (2016). Under Polish ownership, the team embarked on a new "Project Sirius" adventure—several veteran members had spent time pumping out Bioshock, Halo, Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise entries at previous workplaces. Earlier in the week, an official statement popped up on the company's official site: "dear all, we want to let you know that on April 1, 2025, The Molasses Flood LLC ("TMF") merged with CD PROJEKT RED Inc. ("CDPR Inc."), a company being a part of the CD PROJEKT Group. As a result of the merger TMF, in its former legal state (of a separate legal entity) ceased its operations, while CDPR Inc. assumed the rights and obligations of TMF. The merger will not affect the availability or distribution of 'The Flame in The Flood' and 'Drake Hollow' video games, which will continue to be published by CD PROJEKT Group."

In a LinkedIn post, Damian Isla provided an extra couple of tidbits and confirmed his exit from operations. The Molasses Flood (TMF) co-founder commented on recent reshuffles: "the studio I co-founded with some of my ex-Irrational friends, was to be absorbed into CDPR proper. To be ultra clear: this is a GOOD AND HEALTHY thing for the studio, and it was long-expected. It breaks down some organizational barriers, and better integrates the TMF team with the rest of the amazing CDPR org. Overall, it shows a very bright future for Project Sirius (aka "the multiplayer Witcher game," of which I was the Design Director for three years). It's going to be an amazing game, one for the books, and I cannot wait until the rest of the world learns about what we've been working on...On the sadder side—not to bury the lede—I've decided not to follow TMF on this transition. So last Monday—the last day of TMF's legal existence!—was also my last day at the studio."

Not too long ago, Storm City Retro's Ebay store listed an unusual Steam Deck model—the original asking price was $2999.99, although potential buyers were allowed to bid with "best offers." The sales page was titled: "Early Valve Engineering 34 Prototype Steam Deck 256 GB, Tested, Please Read!" Gary_the_mememachine—a member of the Steam Deck subreddit—reported an eventual successful transaction, on April 8. The seller—a "primarily online" Kirkland, Washington-based retro video specialist—managed to attract a buyer; who apparently bagged "Engineering Sample No. 34" for a cool two thousand bucks. Given the presence of a sticker that states "not for resale," Valve is likely not enthused by the appearance of pre-commercial phase hardware via second hand channels. The company's Bellevue HQ is located not too far away from Storm City Retro's placement; both being in the Greater Seattle (Pacific NW) area. Kotaku reached out to its contacts at Valve, but a spokesperson has not provided a comment regarding the alleged leak of an AMD "Picasso" APU-powered engineering sample.

Handheld gaming device experts have analyzed saved screenshots and photos; prototype number 34 seems to of February 2020 vintage. It was compared to various "officially revealed" prototype units—as seen in an informative infographic. An exact match was not found in this compilation, but it is obvious that No. 34 differs greatly—externally and internally—when lined up against final retail models. In 2022, Pierre-Loup Griffais—one of the architects of SteamOS—provided some insight about a similar looking proto device: "the best part is that they (mostly) all still boot, serving as an exciting reminder of how far things have come since. This one has a Picasso APU, at about half of the GPU power of the final Deck. The flatter ergo was an interesting experiment and taught us a ton about comfort." The Steam Deck LCD model launched back in early 2022, with a custom 7 nm AMD Ryzen "Aerith" APU onboard—utilizing Zen 2 + processor cores and RDNA 2 graphics architecture. An OLED refresh arrived over a year later with a die shrink; now 6 nm. Team Red had kindly prepared a more efficient Ryzen "Sephiroth" mobile processor design.

Not too long after delivering its in-depth Switch 2 showcase, Nintendo of America and retail partners postponed pre-launch reservations for the forthcoming hybrid gaming console. An official announcement stated: "pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged." The vast majority of industry watchdogs reckon that company will be assessing an adjustment of launch day product MSRPs. Last week's North American presentation outlined price points of $449.99 and $499.99; for a standard package and a Mario Kart World Pack (respectively). Theorized adjustments could extend to physical copies of games, as well as accessories; e.g. the Switch 2 Pro Controller.

Gamers further north—in the neighboring nation of Canada—were relieved about last week's alert being non-applicable to their market region. Up until yesterday, pre-orders were on track at CA$629.99 (base console) and CA$699.99 (with Mario Kart World). Unfortunately, the House of Mario's Canuck branch has confirmed that recent events have had a knock-on effect for local customers. As disclosed in a statement to MobileSyrup, Nintendo of Canada explained: "pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in Canada will not start on April 9, 2025 in order to align with the timing of pre-orders to be determined in the U.S....Nintendo will provide updated information at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged." MobileSyrup's report was updated yesterday evening; with links to social media bulletins posted by the regional arms of Walmart and GameStop. Both retail outlets repeated Nintendo of Canada's disappointing message.

Days Gone Remastered comes to PlayStation 5 on April 25. Experience the definitive version of Days Gone with new modes, features, and technical enhancements to leverage the PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles. The new game modes including Horde Assault, Permadeath, and Speedrun—also arriving on PC; via the Broken Road DLC. Whether you're visiting Days Gone for the first time or jumping back on the Drifter bike, there's plenty of content to explore and new things to discover. If you haven't already, be sure to read our Days Gone Remastered announcement post for more details on all the new content and features. Introducing one of our most expansive new additions to Days Gone Remastered, Horde Assault—a survival arcade mode. Before we dive in, watch the gameplay trailer for the new mode below.

What is Horde Assault mode?
Horde Assault offers fresh and unexpected gameplay designed to challenge your skills as you try to achieve a high score, while surviving as long as possible against increased horde sizes and various other enemies, like Breakers, Reachers, and Rager bears, oh my! Fight your way through a brutal, ever-changing landscape where enemies escalate in difficulty the longer you survive. Horde Assault was built from the promise of "This World Comes For You," showcasing the core gameplay of the Days Gone open world in a unique way. Horde Assault is your playground for a truly endless game mode, go show them Freakers who's boss.

GIGABYTE has registered an (overall) impressive number of unannounced AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti custom models in South Korea. The early April filings were spotted by harukaze5719—evidence of this "official" leak was posted to social media this afternoon. The South Korean Radio Agency (RRA) registrations indicate an imminent arrival of cheaper offerings from the opposing teams—possibly within proximity of each other, time-wise. GIGABYTE's collection of forthcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB SKUs includes AERO, AORUS ELITE, EAGLE, GAMING, and WINDFORCE options.

By comparison, their Radeon RX 9060 XT portfolio is looking thoroughly threadbare—with the registration of two RDNA 4 GAMING OC cards; sporting 16 GB and 8 GB VRAM configurations. As reported late last month, ASUS seems to have three budget-friendly Radeon product lines—DUAL, PRIME and TUF—in the pipeline. It is possible that another set of cards are in line for processing at the RRA. So far, GIGABYTE's custom GeForce RTX 5060 Ti SKU filings are all 16 GB variants. 8 GB cards could be stuck in a queue. NVIDIA's board partners are expected to launch the first wave of GB206 "Blackwell" GPU-based desktop gaming solutions next week; "adjusted" speculative price points were leaked a day or two ago.

Since its summer 2023 launch, Apple's pricey Vision Pro mixed reality headset has not exactly attracted a mainstream audience. Roughly a year later, rumors of a (then) recently canceled successor appeared online—insiders posited that company engineers had pivoted onto the development of a cheaper alternative model. Vision Pro "Version 1.0" arrived with an intimidating $3499 price tag; thus eliminating interest from a wide swath of potential AR/VR headset enthusiast customers. Industry insiders reckon that Apple had "abruptly reduced production" of the current-gen model last October, with further whispers suggesting a complete cessation of manufacturing activities by the end of 2024. Yesterday, an ITHome article cited compelling claims made by supply chain insiders—the initiation of mass production for a speculated second generation "Apple XR/Vision Pro" device.

The online report stated that: "multiple independent sources (have) confirmed that the panels, shells and other key components of the second-generation Apple XR headset are already in production." Very specific leaked information indicates Lens Technology being the exclusive supplier of glass panel pieces, and Changying Precision tasked with the making of the next-gen model's casing. Additionally, several contract circuit manufacturers are supposedly "rushing to complete orders." Secretive figures posit that Apple will release its sequel mixed reality headset later on in 2025. Differing "expert opinions" have not determined whether this incoming set of fancy goggles will be the predicted "cheaper" model, or a proper "M5 SoC-powered" successor.

NVIDIA is collaborating with Google Cloud to bring agentic AI to enterprises seeking to locally harness the Google Gemini family of AI models using the NVIDIA Blackwell HGX and DGX platforms and NVIDIA Confidential Computing for data safety. With the NVIDIA Blackwell platform on Google Distributed Cloud, on-premises data centers can stay aligned with regulatory requirements and data sovereignty laws by locking down access to sensitive information, such as patient records, financial transactions and classified government information. NVIDIA Confidential Computing also secures sensitive code in the Gemini models from unauthorized access and data leaks.

"By bringing our Gemini models on premises with NVIDIA Blackwell's breakthrough performance and confidential computing capabilities, we're enabling enterprises to unlock the full potential of agentic AI," said Sachin Gupta, vice president and general manager of infrastructure and solutions at Google Cloud. "This collaboration helps ensure customers can innovate securely without compromising on performance or operational ease." Confidential computing with NVIDIA Blackwell provides enterprises with the technical assurance that their user prompts to the Gemini models' application programming interface—as well as the data they used for fine-tuning—remain secure and cannot be viewed or modified. At the same time, model owners can protect against unauthorized access or tampering, providing dual-layer protection that enables enterprises to innovate with Gemini models while maintaining data privacy.

Make some space on your calendar—the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 will be livestreamed on Sunday, June 8, starting at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK time. Following in the footsteps of the 2023 Starfield Direct and 2024 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct, this year we will again have a double feature, with the Xbox Games Showcase immediately followed by The Outer Worlds 2 Direct. It all begins with our annual Xbox Games Showcase, bringing you a look at upcoming titles from across our first-party studios, in addition to incredible new titles from our third-party partners across the globe.

This year, the show will be digital-only—our livestream will bring you everything you'll need to know about what's next for Xbox, no matter where in the world you're watching. Immediately following Showcase, The Outer Worlds 2 Direct will bring you inside the walls of Obsidian Entertainment, revealing new gameplay, details, and developer insights, straight from the people making the sequel to the award-winning, first-person sci-fi RPG.

South of Midnight is available now globally on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox App for Windows PC, Steam, Cloud, & Game Pass! As Hazel, you will explore the mythos and encounter creatures of Southern folklore in a macabre and fantastical world. When disaster strikes her hometown, Hazel is called to become a Weaver: a magical mender of broken bonds and spirits. Imbued with these new abilities, Hazel will confront and subdue dangerous creatures, untangle the webs of her own family's shared past and—if she's lucky—find her way to a place that feels like home. From the entire Compulsion Games Team: Thank you for your support, and happy playing!

Deep in the heart of the bayou, something stirs. Bigger than any gator you've ever seen, Two-Toed Tom is a legend of scales, survival, and insatiable hunger. More than double the size of the world's biggest recorded alligator, Tom is an unstoppable force of nature. To celebrate the launch of South of Midnight, in which Tom makes a very big appearance, Xbox has brought this monstrous gator to life in the gator-infested waters of Marrero, Louisiana, a location chosen for its haunting resemblance to the game's Southern-inspired setting. Murky swamps, ancient cypress trees, and the distant splash of unseen creatures make it the perfect place to step into Hazel's world and experience the bayou's dark magic first-hand.

Following last week's jam-packed Switch 2 presentation, Nintendo staffers engaged in conversation with media outlets. To the surprise of many, a high level member of the incoming console's design team was quite comfortable with his name-dropping of NVIDIA graphics technologies. Meanwhile, Team Green was tasked with the disclosing of Switch 2's "internal" workings. Attention has turned to the much anticipated-hybrid console's bundled-in detachable Joy-Cons—in the lead up to official unveilings, online debates swirled around potential next-gen controllers being upgraded with Hall Effect joystick modules. Many owners of first-gen Switch systems have expressed frustration regarding faulty Joy-Cons—eventually, Nintendo was coerced into offering free repairs for customers affected by dreaded "stick drift" issues. Unfortunately, it seems that the House of Mario has not opted to outfit its Gen 2.0 Joy-Cons with popular "anti-drift" tech.

As reported by Nintendo Life, Nate Bihldorff—senior vice president of product development and publishing at Nintendo of America—"outright confirmed the exclusion" of Hall Effect. Up until the publication of Nintendo Life's sit down interview, other company representatives have opined that Switch 2's default control system features very "durable feeling" sticks. When asked about the reason behind "new-gen modules (feeling) so different to the original Switch's analog stick," Bihldorff responded with: "well, the Joy-Con 2's controllers have been designed from the ground up. They're not Hall Effect sticks, but they feel really good. Did you experience both the Joy-Con and the Pro Controller?" The interviewer confirmed that they had prior experience with both new models. In response, Bihldorff continued: "so, I like both, but that Pro Controller, for some reason the first time I grabbed it, I was like, 'this feels like a GameCube controller.' I was a GameCube guy. Something about it felt so familiar, but the stick on that especially. I tried to spend a lot of time making sure that it was quiet. I don't know if you tried really whacking the stick around, but it really is (quiet)...(The Switch 2 Pro Controller) is one of the quietest controllers I've ever played." Nintendo will likely not discuss the "ins and outs" of its proprietary stick design, but inevitable independent teardowns of commercial hardware could verify the provenance of underlying mechanisms. Nowadays, hardcore game controller snobs prefer third-party solutions that sport Tunneling Magnetoresistance (TMR) joysticks.

Late last month, speculative Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 (aka SM8850) technical details emerged online. Up until then, Digital Chat Station's Weibo channel has delivered all sorts of pre-release information—mostly concentrating on Qualcomm's alleged redeployment of a familiar "2 + 6" core configuration, and selection of TSMC's 3 nm "N3P" node process. Earlier today, the veteran leaker predicted a couple of new-gen improvements—first concentrating on the alleged mobile chipset's "Adreno 840" integrated graphics solution. Digital Chat Station (DCS) believes that the company's engineering team has increased their iGPU design's independent cache size "from 12 MB to 16 MB," leading to: "early setting performance increased by 30%±." It is not clear whether this rumored upgrade has affected the SoC's L2 or L3 cache provisions, but the current-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile processor makes do with 12 MB of L2 cache per cluster. Additionally, DCS reckons that an enlargement of caches has resulted in performance of Qualcomm's "second-generation self-developed CPU architecture" increasing "by 25%±."

As interpreted by Wccftech: "the upcoming SoC will now feature 32 MB of L2 cache, with the L3 count currently unknown at this time. The initial test results revealed that the 'Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2' delivered a 30 percent performance increase, but it is unconfirmed if this delta exists between the Snapdragon 8 Elite or some other silicon." DCS has heard whispers about the upcoming chip supporting "new generations of high-speed LPDDR5X/LPDDR6" memory. The mentioning of LPDDR5X is not surprising; given that the current Snapdragon 8 Elite model is already up to snuff with this spec. Just over a year ago, JEDEC was reportedly working on the finalization of LPDDR6 standards for mobile platforms. Shortly thereafter, smartphone industry watchdogs started to theorize about the arrival of a so-called "Snapdragon 8 Gen 4" chip with LPDDR6 RAM in 2025. Fast-forward to the present day; fresh reports suggest that manufacturers will have the option to outfit next-gen flagship devices with "bog-standard" LPDDR5X or faster/more efficient LPDDR6 memory.

This week, IBM and Tokyo Electron (TEL) announced an extension of their agreement for the joint research and development of advanced semiconductor technologies. The new 5-year agreement will focus on the continued advancement of technology for next-generation semiconductor nodes and architectures to power the age of generative AI. This agreement builds on a more than two-decade partnership between IBM and TEL for joint research and development. Previously, the two companies have achieved several breakthroughs, including the development of a new laser debonding process for producing 300 mm silicon chip wafers for 3D chip stacking technology.

Now, bringing together IBM's expertise in semiconductor process integration and TEL's leading-edge equipment, they will explore technology for smaller nodes and chiplet architectures to achieve the performance and energy efficiency requirements for the future of generative AI. "The work IBM and TEL have done together over the last 20 years has helped to push the semiconductor technology innovation to provide many generations of chip performance and energy efficiency to the semiconductor industry," said Mukesh Khare, GM of IBM Semiconductors and VP of Hybrid Cloud, IBM. "We are thrilled to be continuing our work together at this critical time to accelerate chip innovations that can fuel the era of generative AI."

Quantum Machines (QM), a leading provider of advanced quantum control solutions, today announced its intention to work with NVIDIA at its newly established NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center (NVAQC), unveiled at the GTC global AI conference. The Boston-based center aims to advance quantum computing research with accelerated computing, including integrating quantum processors with AI- supercomputing to overcome significant challenges in the quantum computing space. As quantum computing rapidly evolves, the integration of quantum processors with powerful AI supercomputers becomes increasingly essential. These accelerated quantum supercomputers are pivotal for advancing quantum error correction, device control, and algorithm development.

Quantum Machines joins other quantum computing pioneers, including Quantinuum and QuEra, along with academic partners from Harvard and MIT, in working with NVIDIA at the NVAQC to develop pioneering research. Quantum Machines will work with NVIDIA to integrate its NVIDIA GB200 Grace Blackwell Superchips with QM's advanced quantum control technologies, including the OPX1000. This integration will facilitate rapid, high-bandwidth communication between quantum processors and classical supercomputers. QM and NVIDIA thereby lay the essential foundations for quantum error correction and robust quantum algorithm execution. By reducing latency and enhancing processing efficiency, QM and NVIDIA solutions will significantly accelerate practical applications of quantum computing.

Last week, industry reports pointed to evidence of NVIDIA H20 AI GPU shortages in China—supply chain insiders expressed frustration about limited availability, and alleged price hikes. Days later, local media outlets have disclosed staggering sales figures. Two unnamed sources opine that the likes of Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance have spent roughly US$16 billion on H20 purchases, across the first three months of 2025. Back in February, Reuters noted an extraordinary surge in orders for: "(Team Green's) H20 model—the most advanced AI processor legally available in China under U.S. export controls—driven by booming demand for Chinese startup DeepSeek's low-cost AI models." The unprecedented rush—to secure precious AI-crunching hardware—was likely motivated by whispers of elevated restrictions; coming from across the Pacific Ocean.

Curiously, local government bodies have allegedly "advised" a stoppage of H20 orders—a recent Financial Times article suggested that this message was directed at the nation's largest AI players (mentioned above). A few industry moles believe that NVIDIA's engineering department is working on another Chinese market exclusive AI chip, although it is not clear whether a new entrant will be designed to conform to recently introduced "not very strict" environmental regulations. Anonymous sources have made noise about an upgraded H20 variant; sporting fancy HBM3E modules.

Within the past few days, Best Buy updated its product inventory with brand-new CyberPowerPC GamerMaster desktop SKUs, featuring NVIDIA's unannounced GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB graphics card. Earlier today, the ever watchful momomo_us spotted NDA-busting listings on the North American retail chain's webstore. Similar information turned up weeks ago, albeit from a French vendor. At the time of writing, CyberPowerPC's "GMA2600BSTV2" and "GMA2600BST" models are no longer visible/accessible on BestBuy.com.

Thankfully, VideoCardz's investigative article contains preserved screengrabs—their fresh news piece also extends to coverage of Newegg's premature listing of upcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060-based STORMCRAFT pre-built SIRIUS desktop gaming systems. The online publication has deduced a possible $299 price point for Team Green's lower end GB206 GPU-driven, given fresh rumors of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB and RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB being tagged with speculative guide figures: $499 and $399 (respectively). A guesstimated verdict was reached following their analysis of (now removed) CyberPowerPC and STORMCRAFT product pages, with a comprehensive comparison of leaked system integrator price tags vs. speculative GeForce RTX 5060 Ti guide digits.

Intel introduced its new brand to the world Tuesday at the Intel Vision 2025 event in Las Vegas. Leading with "That's the power of Intel Inside," Intel leans into the essential role the company—along with its partners and customers—plays in the world while giving a nod to the company's wildly popular "Intel Inside" campaign of the 1990s.

Brett Hannath, chief marketing officer for Intel, says the new brand platform anchors on the idea that "Intel ignites the greatness within"—in every employee, customer, consumer, community, partner. All the while, it allows Intel to reflect on its proud heritage. (The Intel Inside co-marketing campaign launched in 1991 helped Intel become a household name around the globe over the next decade.) More than a marketing initiative, "That's the power of Intel Inside" is an avenue for amplifying Intel's importance in today's world. Intel's leaders plan to leverage the new brand platform to drive differentiation, revenue growth, and equity with customers and partners.

Audio-Technica, a leading innovator in transducer technology for over 60 years, is expanding its R-Series line of professional open-back headphones with the introduction of the ATH-R30x Open-Back Reference Headphones. First previewed in January at the NAMM show, they join the ATH-R50x and flagship ATH-R70xa, both of which launched to rave reviews earlier this year. Open-back R-Series headphones provide a natural, spacious sound akin to that produced by a speaker monitor system, ideal for mixing, mastering, and creating in a studio or other private space. ATH-R30x headphones offer the natural R-Series open-back listening experience at an affordable price. Ideally suited for those working in a home studio, or anyone interested in exploring open-back sound, these headphones provide extremely accurate audio reproduction with a spacious soundstage that replicates live performance.

Fully open-back sound relies solely on the performance of the 40 mm drivers, with each diaphragm movement directly translating into sound—ATH-R30x headphones are engineered to eliminate internal resonances and provide extremely quick transient response to deliver an authentic open-air experience with minimal distortion. The spacious soundstage and audio clarity are the result of Audio-Technica transducer design with very little additional tuning or damping. High-efficiency magnets and pure alloy magnetic circuit design reduce distortion and ensure accurate and extended high-frequency response. Acoustically transparent, honeycomb-mesh housings provide a natural and spacious open-back sound.

Intel's Vision 2025 conference ended yesterday—since then, media outlets have spent time poring over a multitude of announcements made during the two-day Las Vegas, Nevada event. Notably, Team Blue leadership confirmed that their Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake" processor series is built to scale (on) 18A, and is on track for production later this year." Prominently-displayed presentation material indicated a roadmapped 2026 launch of "Panther Lake" client chips. The success of this next-gen mobile processor family is intertwined with Intel's Foundry service making marked progress. As summarized by the company's social media account, production teams are celebrating another milestone: "Intel 18A has entered risk production. This final stage is about stress-testing volume manufacturing before scaling up to high volume in the second half of 2025."

Under Pat Gelsinger's command, Team Blue set off on a "five nodes in four years" (5N4Y) adventure around mid-2021. This plan is set to conclude with the finalization of 18A, at some point this year, under a newly refreshed regime—with Lip-Bu Tan recently established as CEO. During an on-stage Intel Vision 2025 session, Kevin O'Buckley—Senior VP of Foundry Services—explained the meaning of: "risk production, while it sounds scary, is actually an industry standard terminology, and the importance of risk production is we've gotten the technology to a point where we're freezing it...Our customers have validated that; 'Yep, 18A is good enough for my product.' And we have to now do the 'risk' part, which is to scale it from making hundreds of units per day to thousands, tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands. So risk production..is scaling our manufacturing up and ensuring that we can meet not just the capabilities of the technology, but the capabilities at scale." By original "5N4Y" decree, top brass demanded that process nodes be (fully) available for production, rather than be stuck in a (not quite there) final high volume manufacturing (HVM) phase.

NVIDIA has not formally announced the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti GPU, but its existence was leaked months ago via usual insider channels. Despite whispers of a launch happening mid-way through this month, Team Green did not host a rumored special preview event back in March. Premature listings of lower end "Blackwell" GPU-powered pre-built gaming systems have popped up online; Lenovo is the latest company to join in one the fun. Their "Legion Tower 5i Gen 10" pre-build is advertised as "coming soon," and configurable with GeForce RTX 5070, RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 discrete graphics solutions. Curiously, Lenovo is prepping this model with an "Intel ARL-HX customized HM870" microATX motherboard—implying that the Core Ultra 9 APU (285HX or 275HX) will be soldered on.

Lenovo's NDA-busting product page does not go into as much (GPU-related) detail as HP New Zealand's webstore and Best Buy Canada's listings. Last week, reports focused on a new-generation OMEN 16L compact pre-built series—providing further evidence of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics cards being readied with 16 GB and 8 GB pools of VRAM. Interestingly, TechPowerUp's GPU curator has scrubbed the alleged GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB model's page from the site's database. VideoCardz has trained its expert eye on the Legion Tower 5i Gen 10 model's spec sheet and promotional imagery—their investigation put a spotlight on Lenovo's pre-rendered mock-up of a dual-fan card design that sports a single 8-pin power connector. In the recent past, AIB insiders have alluded to several custom models being configured with this older standard. VideoCardz noted that the forthcoming Legion pre-build is listed with "limited DisplayPort 1.4 support." This could be a pre-release mistake (based on placeholder material), or an indication of NVIDIA's cheaper GeForce RTX 50-series options arriving without DisplayPort 2.1 capabilities.

No kidding. This is not a drill. Monster Train 2 will be in your hands in under two months. If you haven't already, please enjoy the trailer (watch below), wishlist the game, and get ready for five all-new clans, dozens of new cards, and surprises of all shapes and sizes. As we ramp up towards launch, we'll be back at a regular cadence giving you deep dives into Monster Train 2's new content, from clan deep-dives to new game mode reveals and more. All aboard.

If you've spent enough time on the internet, you already know what today is about. It's about goofs. It's about tricks. It's about "pulling a fast one." April Fools' Day in the video game world is a particularly special time for video game studios like us. With the right April Fools' Day announcement, your game can land at the top of the gaming news sites and subreddits.

Qualcomm today announced the acquisition of MovianAI Artificial Intelligence (AI) Application and Research JSC (MovianAI), the former generative AI division of VinAI Application and Research JSC (VinAI) and a part of the Vingroup ecosystem. As a leading AI research company, VinAI is renowned for its expertise in generative AI, machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. Combining VinAI's advanced generative AI research and development (R&D) capabilities with Qualcomm's decades of extensive R&D will expand its ability to drive extraordinary inventions.

For more than 20 years, Qualcomm has been working closely with the Vietnamese technology ecosystem to create and deliver innovative solutions. Qualcomm's innovations in the areas of 5G, AI, IoT and automotive have helped to fuel the extraordinary growth and success of Vietnam's information and communication technology (ICT) industry and assisted the entry of Vietnamese companies into the global marketplace.

Intel's freshly concluded Vision 2025 "Products Update and GTM" showcase included a segment dedicated to forthcoming Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake" client processors. Industry watchdogs have grabbed a select few screenshots from Team Blue's broadcast from Las Vegas, Nevada—one backdropped slide confirms that Intel's next-generation mobile CPU series will launch in 2026. This information mirrors the company's Chinese office presenting of an AI PC roadmap—coverage of last month's event highlighted a scheduled first quarter 2026 "volume" arrival of "Core Ultra Next-gen Panther Lake (18A)."

Going back to early March, Intel leadership refuted online rumors of "Panther Lake" mobile CPUs being delayed into 2026, due to alleged problems encountered during the development of the Foundry service's 18A process node. An interviewed executive repeatedly insisted that his firm's brand-new series was on track for release within the second half of 2025. Fast-forward to the end of last week; Lip-Bu Tan expressed a similar outlook in a letter addressed to investors. The newly-established boss stated: "we will further enhance our (leadership) position in the second half of this year with the launch of Panther Lake, our lead product on Intel 18A, followed by Nova Lake in 2026." Industry insiders propose that the Core Ultra 300 series will become available in a very limited capacity come October, via an Early Enablement Program (EEP). Returning to this week—Jim Johnson, senior vice president of the firm's Client Computing Group, informed a watchful audience about the merits of his group's design: "I'm personally excited about Panther Lake because it combines the power efficiency of Lunar Lake, the performance of Arrow Lake, and is built to scale 18A and is on track for production later this year...Our client roadmap is the most innovative we've ever had, and we are far from done."

Yesterday, at Intel Vision 2025, IBM announced the availability of Intel Gaudi 3 AI accelerators on IBM Cloud. This offering delivers Intel Gaudi 3 in a public cloud environment for production workloads. Through this collaboration, IBM Cloud aims to help clients more cost-effectively scale and deploy enterprise AI. Intel Gaudi 3 AI accelerators on IBM Cloud are currently available in Frankfurt (eu-de) and Washington, D.C. (us-east) IBM Cloud regions, with future availability for the Dallas (us-south) IBM Cloud region in Q2 2025.

IBM's AI in Action 2024 report found that 67% of surveyed leaders reported revenue increases of 25% or more due to including AI in business operations. Although AI is demonstrating promising revenue increases, enterprises are also balancing the costs associated with the infrastructure needed to drive performance. By leveraging Intel's Gaudi 3 on IBM Cloud, the two companies are aiming to help clients more cost effectively test, innovate and deploy generative AI solutions. "By bringing Intel Gaudi 3 AI accelerators to IBM Cloud, we're enabling businesses to help scale generative AI workloads with optimized performance for inferencing and fine-tuning. This collaboration underscores our shared commitment to making AI more accessible and cost-effective for enterprises worldwide," said Saurabh Kulkarni, Vice President, Datacenter AI Strategy and Product Management, Intel.

Greetings, heroes! Tribute Games, Dotemu, and Marvel Games assemble today to announce MARVEL Cosmic Invasion, an arcade-style beat 'em up featuring an incredible roster of characters from Marvel's golden eras!

A Cosmic Battle awaits!
After Annihilus has launched an unprecedented attack across the galaxy, all life hangs in the balance. Nova, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Phyla-Vell, Captain America, and many more heroes, both earth-born and cosmic, will join forces in a star-spanning brawling adventure against the deadly Annihilation Wave. Get ready to brawl through the streets of New York City and all the way to the depths of the Negative Zone to foil Annihilus' plan to spread death across the cosmos!

Digital Chat Station (DCS)—a tenured leaker of Qualcomm pre-release information—has shared new "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2" chipset details. Earlier today, their Weibo feed was updated with a couple of technological predictions. The announced smartphone chip's "SM8850" identifier was disclosed once again, along with the repeated claim that Qualcomm has selected a 3 nm "N3P" node process. Industry watchdogs expect to see the San Diego-headquartered fabless semiconductor designer introduce its next-generation flagship smartphone SoC in October. The current-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite platform was unveiled last Fall; sporting cutting-edge "Oryon" (aka Phoenix) processor cores and an integrated Adreno 830 graphics solution. DCS reckons that the natural successor will reuse a familiar "2 + 6" core configuration; comprised of two prime "big performance" units, and six "normal" performance-tuned units. An Adreno 840 iGPU was listed as DCS's final point of conjecture.

The incoming "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2" chipset was mentioned in the same sentence as rumored "Pegasus" cores (Phoenix's sequel)—slightly far-fetched rumors from 2024 suggested Qualcomm's upgraded processor architecture being tested at maximum frequencies of 5.0 GHz (on performance cores). As pointed out by Wccftech, Gen 1's performance cores run at 4.47 GHz (by default). In today's follow-up post, DCS claimed that Qualcomm's: "self-developed CPU architecture is now in the second generation, with a performance setting of over 380 W+." Industry watchdogs reckon that the "Snapdragon 8 Elite 2" chip will be capable of recording 3.8+ million point tallies in AnTuTu V10 gauntlets, thanks to the alleged utilization of ArmV9 architecture. DCS theorized that the speculated "SM8850" SoC will support ARM's Scalable Matrix Extension 1 (SME 1) and Scalable Vector Extension 2 (SVE2) instruction sets.