AMD's December 2023 launch of new Instinct series accelerators has generated a lot of tech news buzz and excitement within the financial world, but not many folks are privy to Team Red's MSRP for the CDNA 3.0 powered MI300X and MI300A models. A Citi report has pulled back the curtain, albeit with "projected" figures—an inside source claims that Microsoft has purchased the Instinct MI300X 192 GB model for ~$10,000 a piece. North American enterprise customers appear to have taken delivery of the latest MI300 products around mid-January time—inevitably, top secret information has leaked out to news investigators. SeekingAlpha's article (based on Citi's findings) alleges that the Microsoft data center division is AMD's top buyer of MI300X hardware—GPT-4 is reportedly up and running on these brand new accelerators.

The leakers claim that businesses further down the (AI and HPC) food chain are having to shell out $15,000 per MI300X unit, but this is a bargain when compared to NVIDIA's closest competing package—the venerable H100 SXM5 80 GB professional card. Team Green, similarly, does not reveal its enterprise pricing to the wider public—Tom's Hardware has kept tabs on H100 insider info and market leaks: "over the recent quarters, we have seen NVIDIA's H100 80 GB HBM2E add-in-card available for $30,000, $40,000, and even much more at eBay. Meanwhile, the more powerful H100 80 GB SXM with 80 GB of HBM3 memory tends to cost more than an H100 80 GB AIB." Citi's projection has Team Green charging up to four times more for its H100 product, when compared to Team Red MI300X pricing. NVIDIA's dominant AI GPU market position could be challenged by cheaper yet still very performant alternatives—additionally chip shortages have caused Jensen & Co. to step outside their comfort zone. Tom's Hardware reached out to AMD for comment on the Citi pricing claims—a company representative declined this invitation.

NVIDIA's H800 AI GPU was rolled out last year to appease the Sanction Gods—but later on, the US Government deemed the cutdown "Hopper" part to be far too potent for Team Green's Chinese enterprise customers. Last October, newly amended export conditions banned sales of the H800, as well as the slightly older (plus similarly gimped) A800 "Ampere" GPU in the region. NVIDIA's engineering team returned to the drawing board, and developed a new range of compliantly weakened products. An exclusive Reuters report suggests that Team Green is taking pre-orders for a refreshed "Hopper" GPU—the latest China-specific flagship is called "HGX H20." NVIDIA web presences have not been updated with this new model, as well as Ada Lovelace-based L20 PCIe and L2 PCIe GPUs. Huawei's competing Ascend 910B is said to be slightly more performant in "some areas"—when compared to the H20—according to insiders within the distribution network.

The leakers reckon that NVIDIA's mainland distributors will be selling H20 models within a price range of $12,000 - $15,000—Huawei's locally developed Ascend 910B is priced at 120,000 RMB (~$16,900). One Reuters source stated that: "some distributors have started advertising the (NVIDIA H20) chips with a significant markup to the lower end of that range at about 110,000 yuan ($15,320). The report suggests that NVIDIA refused to comment on this situation. Another insider claimed that: "distributors are offering H20 servers, which are pre-configured with eight of the AI chips, for 1.4 million yuan. By comparison, servers that used eight of the H800 chips were sold at around 2 million yuan when they were launched a year ago." Small batches of H20 products are expected to reach important clients within the first quarter of 2024, followed by a wider release in Q2. It is believed that mass production will begin around Spring time.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce publicly announced two new notices of intent—as reported by Tom's Hardware, this involves the latest distributions from the CHIPS Act's $11 billion R&D budget: "$300 million is to be made available across multiple awards of up to $100 million (not including voluntary co-investment) for research on advanced packaging, while another $200 million (or more) is set aside to create the CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute. Companies will have to compete for the funds by filing an application." The Act's primary $39 billion tranche is designated to new construction endeavors, e.g. the founding of manufacturing facilities.

A grand total of $52 billion was set aside for the CHIPS Act in 2022, which immediately attracted the attention of several semiconductor industry giants. Companies with headquarters outside of North America were allowed to send in applications. Last year, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, made some controversial statements regarding his company's worthiness of government funding. In his opinion, Team Blue is due the "lion's share" due to his operation being a USA firm—the likes of TSMC and Samsung are far less deserving of subsidies.

In a major stride toward building a shared national research infrastructure, the U.S. National Science Foundation has launched the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program with significant support from NVIDIA. The initiative aims to broaden access to the tools needed to power responsible AI discovery and innovation. It was announced Wednesday in partnership with 10 other federal agencies as well as private-sector, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. "The breadth of partners that have come together for this pilot underscores the urgency of developing a National AI Research Resource for the future of AI in America," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "By investing in AI research through the NAIRR pilot, the United States unleashes discovery and impact and bolsters its global competitiveness."

NVIDIA's commitment of $30 million in technology contributions over two years is a key factor in enlarging the scale of the pilot, fueling the potential for broader achievements and accelerating the momentum toward full-scale implementation. "The NAIRR is a vision of a national research infrastructure that will provide access to computing, data, models and software to empower researchers and communities," said Katie Antypas, director of the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at the NSF. "Our primary goals for the NAIRR pilot are to support fundamental AI research and domain-specific research applying AI, reach broader communities, particularly those currently unable to participate in the AI innovation ecosystem, and refine the design for the future full NAIRR," Antypas added.

A DigiTimes Asia report posits that TSMC is preparing another VVIP foundry lane for Apple Inc.—insiders claim that the Taiwanese foundry giant is in the process of expanding production capacity into next generation 2 nm nanometer fields. This expensive and time consuming endeavor is only made possible with the reassurance of big customers being added to the foundry's order books. TSMC's 2 nm-class N2, N2P, and N2X process technologies are due in 2025 and beyond (according to recent presentation slides)—these advanced packages are set to drop with all sorts of innovations: nanosheet gate-all-around (GAA) transistors, backside power delivery, and super-high-performance metal-insulator-metal (SHPMIM). According to a DigiTimes source "Apple is widely believed to be the initial client to utilize the (next-gen) process."

Apple and NVIDIA were reported to be ahead of many important clients in the queue for TSMC's 3 nm process nodes, so it is not surprising to see old patterns repeat (according to industry rumors) again. Apple is expected to update its next generation iPhones, iPad, and Mac laptop product lines with more advanced Bionic and M-series chipsets in 2025. Last year's roster included a rollout of 3 nm TSMC silicon across Apple A17 Pro and M3 ARM-based processors.

A whole bunch of custom GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and 4070 Ti SUPER graphics card models were available to purchase via online retail outlets last week—several ZOTAC options were available on Amazon USA for a brief period over the weekend. Enthusiastic customers have jumped at the chance to acquire potent Ada Lovelace SUPER cards ahead of NVIDIA's official review embargo and launch dates—TPU's resident GPU Judge has just published his first set of GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER evaluations. An early example was documented on the /NVIDIA community subreddit—user "LightMoisture" provided evidence of his PNY RTX 4070 Ti VERTO Triple Fan purchase arriving two days before the sanctioned release date (January 24).

It is not too surprising to see retailers ship out pre-ordered products a tad prematurely (given delivery lead times), but intriguing posts on social media have been highlighted by VideoCardz. A very fortunate soul has received an ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4080 SUPER OC graphics card, well in advance of Team Green's preferred January 31 launch day. The plucky owner has asked around for functioning drivers (good luck)—LightMoisture also ran into this issue with his PNY RTX 4070 Ti VERTO. The next public GeForce Driver release (551.15) is due tomorrow, with (presumed) support for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER GPUs. LightMoisture's evidence included screenshots of the aforementioned PNY card's crendentials being displayed in TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.57.0, and test results generated by Maxon's Cinebench 2024 suite.

TSMC's Fab 21 Phase 2 facility is currently under construction in the Greater Phoenix area, Arizona—this secondary production facility was originally announced as housing a 3 nm process production line (opening by 2026), but that company target will be missed by a sizable margin. The transcription of the company's Q4 2023 Earnings Call presents another set of shifted expectations—outgoing CEO, Dr. Mark Liu—admitted that a number of factors are expected to delay Phase 2's opening by another year or two: "The second fab shell is under construction, but what technology [to use] in that shell is still under discussion...I think that also has to do with how much incentives that fab, the U.S. Government can provide…The current planning [for the fab] is '27 or '28, that will be timeframe."

Industry analysts believe TSMC leadership have a tough choice to make—the second Arizona factory's delayed launch could provide enough lead time to upgrade with a more advanced node (e.g. 2 nm), but ambitions could be lowered for the troubled site. An older plus more mature fabrication process could be a better fit, although the neighboring Fab 21 Phase 1 site is already set for a full 2025 initiation on 4 nm FinFET. Liu outlined this challenge: "To be honest, most of the overseas fabs, what technology is being set up, really, it is a decision of customers' demand in that area at that timing. So, nothing is definitive, but we are trying to optimize value for the overseas fab for TSMC." The current chairman will not be around for Phase 1's full deployment, but he shared some positive Arizona-related news: "We are well on track for volume production of N4, or 4 nm process technology, in the first half of 2025 [in Arizona] and are confident that once we begin operations, we will be able to deliver the same level of manufacturing quality and reliability in Arizona as from our fabs in Taiwan."

Apple today announced Apple Vision Pro will be available beginning Friday, February 2, at all U.S. Apple Store locations and the U.S. Apple Store online. Vision Pro is a revolutionary spatial computer that transforms how people work, collaborate, connect, relive memories, and enjoy entertainment. Vision Pro seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world and unlocks powerful spatial experiences in visionOS, controlled by the most natural and intuitive inputs possible—a user's eyes, hands, and voice.

An all-new App Store provides users with access to more than 1 million compatible apps across iOS and iPadOS, as well as new experiences that take advantage of the unique capabilities of Vision Pro. Pre-orders for Apple Vision Pro begin Friday, January 19, at 5 a.m. PST. "The era of spatial computing has arrived," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Apple Vision Pro is the most advanced consumer electronics device ever created. Its revolutionary and magical user interface will redefine how we connect, create, and explore."

NZXT, a leader in PC gaming hardware and services, today announces the H6 Flow and H6 Flow RGB, a compact dual chamber mid-tower ATX case. The H6 Flow offers a harmonious blend of performance and visual appeal for PC enthusiasts. Designed for an expansive and uninterrupted view, the H6 Flow is adorned with consistent tempered glass on the front and sides, granting a panoramic peek into the insides of your build. Leveraging its dual chamber architecture, the new angel front panel directs the airflow from the three pre-included 120 mm fans (or 120 mm RGB fans for the H6 Flow RGB version) and two 140 mm fans at the base of the case allow you to cool your heat generating components. The revamped perforated panels come with a design fine-tuned for optimal airflow and superior performance. While all being easy to build with the H6 Flow facilitates generous cable-routing channels and straps, ensuring organized cable management.

MicroCenter has reduced the price of PowerColor's Fighter Radeon RX 7600 graphics card to $229, representing a nice $40 saving over the original launch price of $269. A digital download version of Bethesda's upcoming epic, Starfield, is also included as a bundled incentive (Standard Edition is worth $69.99) to purchase the budget friendly model that is based on Team Red's Navi 33 XL GPU.

The offer is limited to in-store purchases—it seems that MicroCenter has nullified the option to get the discounted PowerColor Fighter card delivered to your address of choice. Other retailers in North America appear to be selling Radeon RX 7600 cards for around $260. This price bracket is also occupied by Intel's Arc A750 and A770 8 GB models, following consistent price cuts in order to attract cautious buyers to the nascent Alchemist GPU architecture.

Dell Technologies introduces new offerings to help customers quickly and securely build generative AI (GenAI) models on-premises to accelerate improved outcomes and drive new levels of intelligence. New Dell Generative AI Solutions, expanding upon our May's Project Helix announcement, span IT infrastructure, PCs and professional services to simplify the adoption of full-stack GenAI with large language models (LLM), meeting organizations wherever they are in their GenAI journey. These solutions help organizations, of all sizes and across industries, securely transform and deliver better outcomes.

"Generative AI represents an inflection point that is driving fundamental change in the pace of innovation while improving the customer experience and enabling new ways to work," Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and co-chief operating officer, Dell Technologies, said on a recent investor call. "Customers, big and small, are using their own data and business context to train, fine-tune and inference on Dell infrastructure solutions to incorporate advanced AI into their core business processes effectively and efficiently."

Stan Shih, the co-founder & honorary chairman of Acer Inc., thinks that the USA will have hard time catching up with Asian semiconductor production facilities. Yahoo Taiwan managed to extract some choice comments from the multi-faceted businessman—he believes that the US government's initiative to boost native chip making will not be enough to match existing overseas strongholds. A key area of focus was volume output—Shih reckons that North America is already too far behind Asian counterpart industries, with Acer's home base of Taiwan being particularly strong (in his opinion). Workplace culture and state of the art equipment are cited as the main pillars for success.

Shih observed that that US chip industry has historically been far too reliant on outsourcing (going back many decades) production to foreign facilities, and Asia's position has been fortified thanks to long established and optimized supply chains—he thinks that the American system is not mature enough to reach parity. On a semi-related note, TSMC is reportedly struggling to get its new US facility fully operational—company chairman Mark Liu (according to Tom's Hardware): "said that the Taiwanese company would delay mass production of its Arizona fab from early 2024 to 2025, partly due to a lack of cleanroom tools necessary to produce chips at scale." TSMC has been transferring staff from its home turf to plug staffing gaps at the Phoenix facility—Liu divulged his latest batch of complaints during an earnings conference (last Thursday): "We are encountering certain challenges, as there is an insufficient number of skilled workers with the specialized expertise required for equipment installation in a semiconductor-grade facility."

A Newegg product page popped up last week, giving us a first glimpse at ASRock's Phantom Gaming Arc A770 16 GB graphics card. The e-tailer had no stock available on July 20, but the listing included an asking price of $329.99 (MSRP is $349). The Taiwanese manufacturer was radio silent at the time—no press material was released, and their own website was not updated with a product page for the 16 GB variant of its existing custom Alchemist design.

The ASRock Arc A770 Phantom Gaming 16 GB OC model's page is now live and fully accessible, and Newegg appears to have units in stock. TPU has not received any fresh PR material, so ASRock is seemingly taking a quiet approach to their new product's launch. The spec sheet shows that the card's memory clock comes in at 17.5 Gbps, which makes it a good alternative to Intel's recently discontinued A770 Limited Edition. It joins Acer's competing Predator BiFrost model in an exclusive club—these are the only 16 GB A770 custom design graphics cards available in the West.

IBM today announced that it has received an additional Trusted Supplier accreditation from the Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) for delivery of embedded security services customized for a U.S.-based advanced microelectronics manufacturer. IBM Consulting's accredited security services were previously recognized with the prestigious James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Award for overall security program excellence in 2022.

Microelectronics are used in most defense technology platforms—from mobile devices to computers and advanced weapons systems. This makes microelectronics supply chains critical to our national security and economic prosperity. However, they also represent one of the most complex defense-critical supply chains to secure because of their global reach and manufacturing. IBM Consulting's award-winning accredited security services takes this complexity into account, allowing for not only the identification, but also the remediation of microelectronics supply chain vulnerabilities.

Sony has implemented a time limited price reduction for its PlayStation 5 Standard/Disc Edition console in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy—according to billbil-kun (writing for Dealabs magazine) the time limited summer promotion is going to reach Germany, Great Britain and the United States shortly. The campaign has been running since mid-July, and customers in eligible regions have (so far) enjoyed a €75 reduction, bringing the standard PS5 model's price down to as low as €450 (~$498). Dealabs believes that that some of these regional offers have already ended (as of July 24).

The article seems to source some insider information, with very specific discount figures presented for the next batch of participants—German customers are set to get the aforementioned standard European €75 reduction, bringing the PS5's price down to €474.99 (from €549.99). UK gamers get £75 off, so £404.99 total (reduced from £479.99). US folks are lined up for a less generous $50 cut—due to Sony not implementing PS5 price increases for that market—resulting in $449.99 (instead of $499.99). Billbil-kun reckons that the following retail outlets will be taking part in the campaign's next phase: PlayStation Store/PlayStation Direct, Amazon, MediaMarkt, Target and GAME UK. The timing of these temporary cuts could point to Sony responding to Microsoft's unpopular decision to jack up asking prices for the Xbox Series X console, as well as Game Pass subscription fees.

According to a report published by Bloomberg, the German government has formed plans to create €20 billion ($22 billion) of investments to aid in the growth of local semiconductor manufacturing. The article proposes that the organization is racing to bolster the country's technology sector, and is attempting to secure essential supplies of components. Various geopolitical issues have complicated matters in recent times. Funding will be made available to German and international companies, from Germany's (now diversified) Climate and Transformation reserve, over the next four years. The finance ministry responded to Bloomberg's query, and stated: "The draft for the economic plan 2024 and the financial plan until 2027 for the Climate and Transformation Fund are currently being prepared...This process has not yet been completed." Germany's economy ministry did not provide a statement/response to Bloomberg's queries.

Around 75% of the fund is reportedly set aside for multinational semiconductor firms including Intel Corporation (USA) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC). Bloomberg believes that Team Blue is due an allocation of €10 billion for investments in its new production facility, located close to Magdeburg, Germany. The government is allegedly deep into talks with TSMC regarding the foundation of a proposed €10 billion production base in the Dresden area—the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen AG would benefit greatly with quicker access to (localized) microcontrollers manufacturing facilities. The government could subsidize half of that total investment (€5 billion). Infineon is possibly in line to receive a €1 billion aid package, since it is building a new fab location in Dresden.

We're excited to announce that we're once again partnering with Computer Upgrade King to provide our attendees with the ability to rent either a monitor and or a full PC set up. As an added bonus to our Elite ticket holders, Computer Upgrade King is offering a special rental package with a 34" Ultrawide Monitor! For more information, and to secure yours today, visit beth.games/43obykp.

Need a rig? Reserve your computer at QuakeCon 2023. It's official! After three years of digital-only events, QuakeCon 2023 will mark the return of the beloved BYOC, in-person at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas from Thursday, August 10 through Sunday, August 13.

It's been a little over a month since fans around the world enjoyed the Xbox Games Showcase and Starfield Direct and we're delighted to say that, within seven days of the broadcast, we saw over 92 million views across our first ever double feature, trailers, and segments from the shows - a 38% rise in viewership over last year's show. It's become the highest rated and most-viewed show for Xbox, ever! We can't thank you enough for being a part of that, and we hope you're as excited as we are for Xbox's future.

From our own games - like Starfield, Forza Motorsport, Hellblade II: Senua's Saga, Fable, South of Midnight, Avowed, Clockwork Revolution, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Towerborne, and more - to those coming to Xbox from our partners around the world - Star Wars Outlaws, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Cities: Skylines 2, 33 Immortals, and more - our show aimed to bring something for every kind of player. Whether you're an RPG obsessive, an indie curio collector, a PC player, a console owner, or even brand-new to gaming, we like to think there was something that piqued your interest.

According to various news sources, CEOs from Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm have been holding meetings with representatives of the US government—with the topic of discussion reportedly being the escalation of semiconductor import restrictions placed on China. AMD was notably absent from Monday's proceedings, due to Dr. Lisa Su attending to business matters in Taiwan. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, National Economic Council director Lael Brainard and National Security Council director Jake Sullivan were alleged to have met with industry leaders.

Chipmakers have expressed worry about new restrictions coming into effect within the next couple of week—the latest negotiations could have touched on some sort of provision for leading silicon manufacturers. The US government believes that by limiting China's access to cutting-edge technology, it will bolster national security interests—with the Chinese military not being able to develop competitive defense systems. The Semiconductor Industry Association stated on Monday that: "overly broad, ambiguous and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the US semiconductor industry's competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China." Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm did not provide any comments to press outlets following the conclusion of their meetings with senior government officials. It is speculated that Qualcomm is set to lose the most trade following the implementation of stricter rules—Bloomberg proposes that 60% of the firm's business revenue comes from Chinese territories.

Best Buy has slashed $100 off of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X's normal asking price—North American customers can obtain these 6-core/12-thread processors for $199.90 a piece. Amazon US price matching the consumer electronics store's offer earlier today, but their stocks were depleted at some point this afternoon. AMD's Ryzen 5 7600 (non-X) processor is still stuck at MSRP ($229), so its X-model sibling presents a better deal at its current lower price. Buyers will have to splash out extra on a CPU cooling solution, since Team Red does not include a Wraith Stealth or Prism air cooler as standard with the Ryzen 5 7600X's retail package. AMD + Bethesda's Starfield Game Bundle partnership campaign kicked off last week, and all of the AM5 desktop Ryzen 7000-series models qualify for the active promotion. This plays a part in boosting customer interest, but a nice discount also goes a long way—hence the quick run on Amazon's supplies of the Ryzen 5 7600X.

USA retailer, Newegg, is currently running a sale on a couple of custom NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB graphics cards. The cheapest option is an MSI VENTUS 2X BLACK 8G OC model, available for an an-all-time low price of $334 (representing a nice 16% discount)—thanks to a promo code ("ZIPTECH") shaving off a further $45.60 from the sale price of $379.99. NVIDIA set an MSRP of $399.99 upon the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti's launch back in late May, generating plenty of ambivalence within the PC hardware enthusiast community. That pattern will likely repeat with next week's premiere of RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB variants—its recommended retail price is set at $499, with tricked out custom cards predicted to go beyond $550.

Potential buyers of the bog standard 8 GB GPU in the States will be somewhat happy to discover that Newegg is not limiting the sale and discounts to a single model. MSI's slightly fancier (triple fan design) VENTUS 3X 8G OC card is going for $351.99, and the GIGABYTE RTX 4060 Ti EAGLE plus ASUS RTX 4060 Ti DUAL OC are available at the same price. These deals look quite good when placed next to discounted GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB custom cards—these are getting blown out for $329 - 339.

Microsoft is closing in on its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard—the company is celebrating another victory, following the conclusion of a crucial court case against the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Both parties were recently engaged in five days of arguments and deliberation—yesterday Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley's final ruling stated: Microsoft's acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision's content to several cloud gaming services."

The lady justice continued: "This Court's responsibility in this case is narrow. It is to decide if, notwithstanding these current circumstances, the merger should be halted—perhaps even terminated—pending resolution of the FTC administrative action. For the reasons explained, the Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED."

As we celebrate the 57th anniversary of Black Panther's comic debut this July, we're thrilled to announce Cliffhanger Games, a new triple-A development studio based in Seattle, is working on an original, third-person, single-player Black Panther game in collaboration with Marvel Games. Our mission is to build an expansive and reactive world that empowers players to experience what it is like to take on the mantle of Wakanda's protector, the Black Panther.

Led by Kevin Stephens (ex-Monolith Productions), Cliffhanger has already brought together accomplished talent with leaders from the critically acclaimed and innovative action-adventure game, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, along with veterans of top franchises including Halo Infinite, God of War, Call of Duty and others. "We're dedicated to delivering fans a definitive and authentic Black Panther experience, giving them more agency and control over their narrative than they have ever experienced in a story-driven video game. Wakanda is a rich Super Hero sandbox, and our mission is to develop an epic world for players who love Black Panther and want to explore the world of Wakanda as much as we do," said Kevin.

Newegg is currently running a time limited offer on AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU—the base price sits at $662, but a promotional voucher can be applied at checkout that removes $105. Amazon USA price matched the competition earlier today—via their own voucher system—but stock allocation of the powerful desktop processor appears to be sold out. North American customers eager to acquire an attractively priced Ryzen 9 7950X3D soon-ish will have to do business with Newegg.

The latest $557 deal is certainly more generous when compared to a campaign run by the American online retailer back in May, albeit via their Ebay store—several Ryzen 7000X3D-series CPUs were discounted at the time, perhaps in reaction to bad publicity swirling around the product lineup (referring to accounts of hardware burnouts). The Ryzen 9 7950X3D was reduced to a previous all-time low of $629.99. Perhaps public perception of AMD's top flight models has not improved all that much since then (plus other economical factors), and very deep discounts are necessary to attract customers. A Newegg mini-store page recently revealed a forthcoming "Starfield Game Bundle Promotion," that will apply to all Ryzen 7000-series CPUs. The AMD + Bethesda initiative will probably kick in closer to the game's September 6 launch date.

Apple and Epic Games have been locked in a bitter legal feud for two years, relating to an antitrust case started by the latter company. The iPhone and Mac computer giant has made an appeal to the US Supreme Court—as demonstrated in a court filing that was released to the public on Monday (June 3). They request that justices take up its appeal of a ruling for tomorrow (June 7) by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court (of Appeals). A 2021 verdict determined that Apple had to cease anti-steering practices. Apparently game developers were restricted to certain payment practices (imposing of fees) within the iOS App store. Epic Games sued Apple for anti-competitive practices back in 2020, with the US district court of California rejecting nine of out Epic's ten claims the following year—only the aforementioned anti-steering case was allowed to proceed.

The Ninth Circuit rejected petitions from Apple and Epic late last week—both companies urged that the court reconsider an April 2023 decision about the Californian law violation. Epic thinks that certain legal decisions have been made in Apple's favor, and the latter continues to rile against the App Store order. It argues that Epic was the sole "non-representative" plaintiff, yet the injunction applies to all iOS developers and US states outside of California. Apple believes that the ruling "raises far-reaching and important questions" about the federal court's limited authority to issue injunctions that apply to organizations not directly involved in the case.