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.

Players come to Xbox to build friendships, be competitive, and to experience incredible games - and they expect to be treated fairly, for interactions to be free of hate or harassment. Our investments in safety have helped players feel safer across text, video, and image - and our new voice reporting experience is the latest addition to our robust suite of family and online safety features.

Starting this week, we are releasing a new platform-wide voice reporting feature to Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead Xbox Insiders, that gives players the option to capture and report inappropriate in-game voice chats. More specifically, this feature equips Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One players with the ability to capture a 60-second video clip of an in-game voice incident that they believe violates our Community Standards and submit it as evidence to our Xbox Safety Team for review. This feature is purpose-built to support the broadest arena of in-game interactions between players and works across thousands of games that offer in-game multiplayer voice chat, including Xbox 360 backward-compatible titles.

Irdeto is the current owner of Denuvo Software Solutions—the Austrian development team behind the infamous anti-tamper technology and digital rights management (DRM) system. According to Ars Technica neither of these organizations have made great efforts (in the past) to engage in discussion about the controversial anti-piracy and anti-cheat suites—but Steeve Huin, Irdeto's Chief Operating Officer of Video Games—agreed to grant the publication an exclusive interview. The article is titled "Denuvo wants to convince you its DRM isn't evil," which sums up a lot of the public perception regarding Denuvo technologies—having received plenty of flak for high CPU usage and causing excessive activity within storage components. Some users propose that the latter scenario has resulted in shorter lifespans for their solid-state drives. Ars Technica has a long history of Denuvo-related coverage, so a company representative has been sent in for some damage control.

Off the bat, Huin acknowledges that he and his colleagues are aware of Denuvo's reputation: "In the pirating/cracking community, we're seen as evil because we're helping DRM exist and we're ensuring people make money out of games." He considers the technology to be a positive force: "Anti-piracy technologies is to the benefit of the game publishers, [but also] is of benefit to the players in that it protects the [publisher's] investment and it means the publishers can then invest in the next game...But people typically don't think enough of that...Whether people want to believe it or not, we are all gamers, we love gaming, we love being part of it. We develop technologies with the intent to make the industry better and stronger."

The Windows Update Restored project was launched not along ago—this community led initiative aims to fill a gap, once occupied by official Microsoft support. The team wants to "restore the legacy Windows Update websites, (allowing) older operating systems (Windows 95, NT 4.0, 98, Me, 2000, and XP) to obtain updates like they used to." Volunteers have so far made the service available to users actively running Windows 95, 98 (& SE), and NT 4.0. Their system is currently limited to a clone of the Windows Update v3.1 website (of 1997 vintage). They hope to get Update v4 (2001) and Update v5 (2004) running in the future. It is stressed to visitors of the page that their project is not affiliated at all with Microsoft, and users are at risk of exposure to security exploits—given the outdated nature of older variants of Windows OS and the recreated update sources.

The Windows Update Restored mission statement reads: "Ever since 2011 when Microsoft pulled the plug on nearly all the Windows Update websites, the Windows Update feature for older Windows operating systems was no longer functional. The only way to install updates after that point was through external third-party installers which didn't cover all the updates that the operating system would fully support. So, with this project, we can now update operating systems as old as Windows 95 all the way through Windows XP RTM like we used to back in the day. The Windows Update Website provides users with security updates, optional updates, driver updates, and other types of software for the operating system. This project only restores the Windows Update website, not the Automatic Updates feature. To find out more about the Windows Update Website and what it does, follow this link."

Dears Twinsunians, we [2.21] are thrilled to announce the opening of our pre-alpha of Twinsen's Little Big Adventure Remastered! The aim of this playtest is to gather your valuable insights and feedback on the game, helping us to fine-tune it and create a gaming experience that truly resonates with our player community. This is your chance to contribute directly to the game's development process and to help shape its future.

To participate, click on "Request access" on the Steam page and you will be granted access automatically. Once in, you'll be able to explore our game in its early stages, discover new features, and contribute to its improvement.

Mark Zuckerberg just announced the initial version of Threads, an app built by the Instagram team for sharing with text. Whether you're a creator or a casual poster, Threads offers a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations. We are working toward making Threads compatible with the open, interoperable social networks that we believe can shape the future of the internet.

Instagram is where billions of people around the world connect over photos and videos. Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas. Just like on Instagram, with Threads you can follow and connect with friends and creators who share your interests - including the people you follow on Instagram and beyond. And you can use our existing suite of safety and user controls.

Gary McKay, General Manager at BioWare, states: "Hello, it's been a little while since I've checked in, and as you might have heard, there's a lot happening here at BioWare. Almost 12 years after launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) remains a fantastic success, continuing to welcome new players to its vast galaxy and entertaining veteran players with its evolving content. It's the longest-running live service Star Wars game ever and we're enormously proud of the work the team has done in creating, expanding, and maintaining this incredible game. We're delighted to have grown such a dedicated and passionate community through all these years. The future of the game and the community continues to be very bright.

I've been working closely with Keith Kanneg, who leads the SWTOR team, to give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve. And so, while EA will remain SWTOR's publisher, development of the game will move to our partner and friends at Broadsword, a boutique studio with expertise in managing online games. Both the Broadsword studio and SWTOR team members will be joining forces and working tirelessly to support "every player, every day," ensuring that these worlds and these communities continue to thrive and grow. Their Founder and President, Rob Denton, even has direct experience with SWTOR, having helped lead the team during the development and launch of the game during his time at EA.

CAPS—& CATS—FOR CAUSES - Having raised tens of thousands of dollars in our previous Treecaps, Streamcaps, and Ukrainecaps runs, we're excited to launch the fourth installment in Caps for Causes: MT3 NoveltyCats. This time, we want to honor June's "Adopt a Shelter Cat Month" with a donation to the ASPCA on behalf of our Mech Keys community.

For these feline-focused novelties, we used the original MT3 Susuwatari First-Edition Cat Keycap mold to craft some absolutely adorable caps in Black-on-White, Dasher, Fairlane, and Dusk colorways. (If you're a Studio Ghibli fan, you may recognize the talkative inspiration for this particular cinematic cat.) With just 550 packs made—in brand-new colorways, no less—we're not expecting the NoveltyCats to last long. Get yours now, before the cat's out of the bag for good.

2023. There are three cases that Lian Li is presenting: O11D EVO XL, O11D EVO RGB, O11 Vision, and SUP 01. Starting off with the O11D EVO XL, it is a versatile e-ATX case designed to house cutting-edge hardware, with the added flexibility of being set up in a reverse configuration. This case allows for placing a GPU next to the motherboard, either upright or flipped, in either standard or reverse setups. It is also equipped with an adaptable I/O module that can be mounted at various points for optimal user-friendliness. Furthermore, the O11D XL comes with a detachable support column on the front left, providing unimpeded visual access to the case's interior. It also boasts a motherboard tray that can be adjusted in height for three different cooling arrangements, even accommodating up to three 420 radiators simultaneously.

Natural disasters, like flooding, are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change, threatening people's safety and livelihood. It's estimated that flooding affects more than 250 million people globally each year and causes around $10 billion in economic damages.

As part of our work to use AI to address the climate crisis, today we're expanding our flood forecasting capabilities to 80 countries. With the addition of 60 new countries across Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and South and Central America, our platform Flood Hub now includes some of the territories with the highest percentages of population exposed to flood risk and experiencing more extreme weather, covering 460 million people globally.

A huge thank you to all of our Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition players for your record-setting support and to everyone who has played Return of Rome so far! This is the biggest DLC launch in Age of Empires II history! We've been listening to your feedback and would like to share our plan to address the concerns regarding your in-game experience and your desire to see Age of Empires campaigns in Return of Rome.

We are actively monitoring the issues you're reporting and will address them as soon as possible. This includes disruptions to your hotkey settings, issues preventing UI mods from loading in correctly, and games failing to load. The hotkey disruption was a one-time adjustment. You can visit our support page if you need help getting them reconfigured. Our teams are paying close attention to the reports you make and are thankful for your continued trust.

While accessibility is an important topic year-round, May is always special as we celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day and recognize the strides made by the accessibility community and the games industry to make gaming more inclusive. At Sony Interactive Entertainment, we are committed to furthering that mission, so today we're excited to share new details and images of the Access controller for the PS5 console.

New details and product images
First revealed at CES this year as "Project Leonardo," the Access controller for PS5 is an all-new, highly-customizable accessibility controller kit designed to help many players with disabilities play games more easily, more comfortably, and for longer periods. Developed in collaboration with accessibility experts, the Access controller will include a wide array of swappable button and stick caps so players can freely create different layouts that work for their unique strength, range of motion, and physical needs.

Maxon, developers of professional software solutions for editors, filmmakers, motion designers, visual effects artists and creators of all types, announced today a comprehensive update to Maxon One. Maxon's Spring 2023 release offers exciting new features and workflow enhancements across the entire product line, that will empower designers and artists to turn their creative ideas into reality with stunning results. Cinema 4D 2023.2 offers an improved Commander, enhancements to its Nodes system, simulation improvements and a new Thicken generator for modeling. Updates to the Red Giant toolset feature new tools and augmentations; most notably the introduction of Symbol Mapper for Universe 2023.1, anamorphic lens support for Real Lens Flares for VFX 2023.3, and Trapcode 2023.3 includes performance optimizations for Particular and a new collection of Atomic Age sprites.

Redshift 3.5.14 brings a fantastic new Sky and Sun Model, a new Flakes Shader and new Camera Backplates. The latest release of ZBrush is highlighted by two new revolutionary workflow tools, Proxy Pose and Drop 3D. Forger updates include new features for lighting and previews, and the integration of ZBrush's powerful ZRemesher. The latest additions to Capsules include new material collections, a new dynamic Swirl Modifier and a new Redshift Shaderball. Rounding out this exciting release is an update to Cineware, focused on Unreal 5.0 and 5.1 integration.

The Steamworks Development team has announced some welcome changes to how game trailers get displayed on product pages - users have provided feedback about the frustrating process of having to navigate through lots of videos (as many as 12!) before reaching game screenshots. Valve's storefront UI designers introduced the adjusted system yesterday: "These changes include new logic that determines the order of trailers and screenshots, plus the ability to specify a category for each trailer to show to players." Game developers will face a brand new restriction: "Starting today, a maximum of two trailers can appear in the row of thumbnails to the left of screenshots. Any remaining trailers will be displayed after the screenshots, resulting in a default view for players that always has a mix of screenshots and trailers in view." This a welcome change and effectively ends the frontloaded spamming of trailers in screenshot galleries.

Product page managers will need to be more selective with their choices of headlining footage: "You are welcome to upload as many trailers for your game as you wish, but it is important to select the order of your trailers to prioritize the ones you think will be most useful to potential new customers. You can specify the order of your trailers in the 'Edit Store Page' section of Steamworks, on the 'Trailers' tab...Ideally you'll want to give players a good look at the gameplay of your game in as short a time as possible. We recommend that your first trailer be one that features primarily gameplay, clearly demonstrating what the player will be doing in the game and how they will be interacting with the world you've built. Save your company logos or narrative storylines for further into your trailer once you've gotten the interest of a player.

The PC port of The Last of Us Part I has gained a lot of attention for its shoddy technical performance at launch, with a flurry of patches issued by developer Naughty Dog to calm down matters following barbed community feedback. An unofficial modification project has been ticking along behind the scenes, with team members and contributors content to tinker with the game, rather than engage in arguments about poor optimization and crashes to desktop. The Voyagers Revenge project has this week revealed footage of a first person perspective mode implemented into the Windows version of The Last of Us Part I.

The mod is still a work in progress, so demonstrations have been captured in the form of gameplay footage and uploaded to YouTube - actual playable code is not available to the public. The modders have implemented a feature that Naughty Dog had previously abandoned, with vice president Neil Druckmann confirming that the development team had experimented with a first person perspective mode in the early days of production, but they ultimately decided to drop it in favor of sticking to an over-the-shoulder viewpoint.

Hello everyone, Antoine here, those who recognize me know that I used to work on Humankind during the last few years. I'm now working as a Producer on Endless Dungeon, which means I'm helping to coordinate the Endless Dungeon team to make sure we can deliver a high-quality experience for you. We have some news to share regarding the release date of ENDLESS Dungeon.

We have decided to delay the release of the game to the 19th of October of this year, this includes all the versions: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, and Xbox X/S. The Nintendo Switch version will have a release date announced later. After all the feedback we've received we believe that it's important to spend extra time working on the game. We hope that you understand that decisions like this are never easy to make.