Wccftech News, Tips, Tricks, Ideas

In a surprising move, Meta has announced the opening of the operating system behind its Quest mixed-reality headset. This means third-party hardware makers will be able to create their own mixed reality headsets; in fact, ASUS has already announced it is developing a high-performance gaming headset. S.Y. Hsu, Co-CEO of ASUS, said in a statement:

A new Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora update is now live on PC and consoles, introducing new improvements and features to the game developed by Ubisoft Massive.

The next project from the Final Fantasy XVI developer, Square Enix's CBU 3, will likely be more lighthearted, as Yoshi-P seems to be done with dark fantasy for the time being.

A few hours ago, Private Division and Wētā Workshop finally shared the first trailer and gameplay details for Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings game.

7 Days to Die, the survival open world first-person shooter zombie-themed game, will finally leave early access after over ten years. Developer The Fun Pimps announced the unexpected news during the weekend. The goal is to release version 1.0 in June for PC, while the console version will ship in July. Later, cross-play will be added to the game, probably with the first major post-launch update.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

AMD has made huge strides on Linux with its latest patch release, bringing in the fundamental firmware files for its anticipated RDNA 3+ GPUs.

The highly anticipated Splinter Cell remake may feature one of the best ray-tracing implementations to date, according to some online rumors circulating today.

TCL China has decided to go one step ahead with its Mini-LED TV series, unveiling its flagship Q10K lineup, designed for the high-end segment.

NVIDIA's monopoly over the AI markets is now being questioned by several analysts, who claim that increasing GPU power consumption won't be sustainable in the future.

AMD might be sticking to the good old-fashioned 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory solution for its next-gen RDNA 4 "Radeon RX 8000" GPUs, alleges @Kepler_L2.

A few hours have passed since Huawei officially announced the Pura 70 series of flagships, which boast the upgraded Kirin 9010 chipset, along with improvements in various areas. As you would expect, in the blink of an eye, the premium Pura 70 Pro and the Pura 70 Ultra sold out in just one minute when sales went live on the Chinese phone maker’s online store. This might showcase evidence that the latest models will ship in droves and that Huawei’s competition has much to worry about.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra improves upon its predecessor, the Galaxy S23 Ultra, in every possible way, and for those looking for a premium flagship on Amazon, the 512GB storage version can be yours for $200 less. Yes, you read that correctly; the current retail price for the unlocked variant of Samsung’s top-end offering is available for $1,219.99. Bear in mind that the cost of a base model that ships with 256GB of onboard memory launched for $1,299.99, so this is practically a steal if you want one of the best Android handsets at a lower price.

Rambus has unveiled its next-gen GDDR7 memory controller IP, featuring PAM3 Signaling, and up to 48 Gbps transfer speeds.

Looking for a new AMD Radeon RX 7000 "RDNA 3" GPU for your gaming PC? Newegg has the right deals for you across 7900 XTX, 7900 GRE, 7800 XT, 7700 XT & 7600 XT graphics cards.

Apple's Vision Pro headset took the AR market by storm with its stunning looks and advanced technology underneath. While the headset had a solid start, the traction has reduced over time, potentially due to its hefty price tag and minimal real-world use cases. Prominent industry analyst claims that the demand for Vision Pro demos has greatly reduced, highlighting poor demand for the headset after initial hype.

The Watch Dogs is "dead and buried", as Ubisoft canceled multiple projects based on the franchise, according to online rumors.

This morning, the Embracer Group announced a major transformation of the company, which will be split into three separate publicly listed companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. The existing Embracer Group listing on Nasdaq Stockholm will be renamed to Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends, and shares of Asmodee Group and Coffee Stain & Friends will be distributed as dividends to shareholders of Embracer Group. The listing and distribution of Asmodee Group shares is expected to occur within 12 months, and Coffee Stain & Friends shares during calendar year 2025.

Codemasters is making some big changes to physics in F1 24 in what they are calling the series' most comprehensive update yet.

A few of Qualcomm’s phone partners always make an appearance at the company’s annual Snapdragon Summit to reveal which of their devices will be powered by the next flagship chipset. Historically, Xiaomi has always been the first to announce its premium offering for next year, and according to a tipster, the Chinese manufacturer will retain those exclusive rights when it unveils its first Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 smartphone. However, showcasing a launch is one thing, and making it officially available to purchase is another.

Roborock has become synonymous with high-end and high-tech, efficient automated cleaning. After taking over an industry that was keeping robot cleaning restricted only to a niche few users, the company refuses to take a breather, managing to deliver cutting edge technology almost every year. This Spring starts with the cleaning giant introducing the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra with yet another revolutionary cleaning dock that ups the game - once again!

Valheim developer Iron Gate Studio have been teasing the new Ashlands biome for a long time, since early 2023 at least, and lo and behold, it’s finally arrived! The Ashlands are a rather interesting mashup of spooky land of the dead and volcanic themes, with plenty of lava and twisted monstrosities to deal with. The pleasant scenery of earlier Valheim biomes has definitely been left far behind. You can check out a quick trailer for Ashlands, below.

The Vision Pro saw daylight last year at the WWDC event, but it took its sweet time to hit the shelves as the company was creating the necessary hype and preparing developers to create proper use cases for the headset. While the reviews shared positive feedback, the possibilities for the device are endless as developers work to expand the Vision Pro's applications in the real world. We are now hearing that an orthopedic surgeon in Brazil used the Apple Vision Pro to successfully perform surgery on a patient's shoulder.

A very interesting rumor came out of the latest episode of the XboxEra podcast, with insider Shpeshal_Nick claiming to have heard that a Helldivers 2 Xbox port is currently under consideration at Sony.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

The Snapdragon X Plus is Qualcomm’s less powerful version of the Snapdragon X Elite that will power less capable notebooks, but on paper, its specifications are quite promising. According to a Geekbench 6 leak, in the ‘ML’ benchmark, we spotted that the upcoming SoC will sport a 10-core CPU cluster, making it two cores less than the Snapdragon X Elite, along with other details, so let us check them out here.

SSD & HDD prices are expected to skyrocket, with two big manufacturers, Western Digital, and Seagate, anticipating increased demand.

Following the official reveal of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, IGN was able to speak with Tobias Stolz-Zwilling (Warhorse Studios's PR Manager) to get some extra details about the newly announced action RPG sequel.

Final Fantasy XVI: The Rising Tide story expansion is out now, and one of the big advertised features was the addition of the water-themed Leviathan Ikon, but it turns out there’s actually a second new Eikon and set of moves included in The Rising Tide – Ultima. But how do you unlock this semi-secret new Eikon? Scroll on down to find out…

Final Fantasy XVI: The Rising Tide story expansion is out now, which introduces the new region Mysidia. At the center of this region is the town of Haven, but when you first arrive there, it’s kind of useless. There’s no shop, no blacksmith’s foundry. Thankfully, by completing certain sidequests, you can unlock the blacksmith and shop in Haven, and you’ll want to do that, as they offer some of the best gear and craftable weapons in the game. Here’s how to do so…

Final Fantasy XVI: The Rising Tide story expansion is out now, and as you’d expect, it includes some new gear, including the best weapons in the game thus far. One of these is the Tonberry Knife, which isn’t the most powerful in the game in terms of raw damage, but is the most best in terms of inflicting “Will” or stagger damage. For those familiar with FF16’s combat system, staggering enemies frequently is arguably more important than just dealing raw damage, so you’re going to want to get your hands on the Tonberry Knife. Here’s how to do so…

Sapphire has introduced its first AM5 socket motherboard, the Nitro+ B650I WIFI Ultra Platinum which features a Mini-ITX design.

The resurgence of the Fallout games is seemingly causing issues with popular modding portal Nexusmods.

While Atlus has largely become synonymous with the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series, their next big RPG is actually a new IP – Metaphor: ReFantazio. Developed by a team led by many of the minds that created Persona 3 through Persona 5, Metaphor looks to expand that trademark Atlus RPG style with a more expansive dark fantasy world. Well, today Atlus announced Metaphor: ReFantazio will be launching in October of this year. You can check out a fresh trailer for the game, below.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, or ASE, has reportedly won an exclusive order from Apple to supply two SiPs, or ‘system in a package’ for the upcoming iPhone 16 series. These chips will serve to replace both the volume and power buttons on the upcoming handsets, presenting capacitive buttons that will deliver extra functionality.

Sonic X Shadow Generations, the upcoming remaster from SEGA, has been rated in South Korea.

Sonic Frontiers 2 is reportedly currently in development at SEGA with the gameplay being a sequel to 2022's Frontiers gameplay-wise.

ASUS has offered a new "baseline profile" setting in its motherboard BIOS which should help mitigate Intel 14th & 13th Gen stability issues.

The upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 has brought about a considerable change in the look of the main character, James Sunderland, as revealed in a new game icon on Steam.

Gigabyte has unveiled new Mini PC solutions in China as a part of its ITX & DIY PC range which feature AMD's Ryzen 8000G APUs.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

Despite not being a recent release, Cyberpunk 2077 remains among the best-looking open-world released to date, thanks not only to the amazing post-launch support provided by CD Projekt Red but also thanks to the hard work of modders who continue improving the game's already excellent visuals.

This year's iPhone 16 lineup will get some notable improvements in design and how users use the device, as the company aims to integrate generative AI technology with the release of iOS 18 later this year. Apple is keen to increase the screen size of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max this year, while the standard iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will house the same display as the current models. A prominent analyst is now claiming that the iPhone 17 Plus will come with a smaller display size that will sit between the screen size of the 'Pro' models.

As expected following the glowing reception, Amazon has renewed the Fallout TV series for a second season.

The next Dragon’s Dogma 2 update will not address the performance issues plaguing the game, instead focusing on gameplay adjustments.

NVIDIA's early engineering sample of the RTX 2070, known as the GeForce GTX 2070, has been spotted and features lower cores than the original variant.

The Nintendo Switch 2 may use Samsung 5th generation V-NAND, which would be a huge step up from its predecessor, judging from some recent findings.

The Apple Watch Series X will mark the 10-year anniversary of the company’s first smartwatch, which was launched on September 9. Since then, Apple has been hard at work, introducing newer models with slight changes while also battling with the limited space it has to work with its wearable line. The upcoming model will be the culmination of all the technology giant’s efforts, and through a series of multiple rumors and reports, we get to see some detailed renders of the upcoming Apple Watch Series X while discussing what design and internal changes can be expected.

MMORPGs have offered the promise of player agency and being able to shape the world but those promises usually fall flat beyond the premise of having a stronghold in one part of the world or adjusting tax and trade ratios in another. Bitcraft: Age of Automata aims to break that concept down to the basic voxels by allowing players to literally shape the shared world as they see fit. With a single shared world to craft bit by bit, there's something special in the works with Clockwork Labs, Inc.

The venerable hero shooter Team Fortress 2 has been around for a very, very long time (coming up on 17 years) but that doesn’t mean Valve isn’t still showing the game a bit of love. Case in point, Valve just dropped an update that finally adds 64-bit support for Team Fortress 2. No, believe it or not, that was not a thing until now. In addition to dragging TF2 kicking and screaming into the modern day, the jump to 64-bit should result in improved performance. Whether it has any real effect on other issues facing the game, like bots, remains to be seen. Here are the patch notes for the update…

Intel has rolled out its latest Arc graphics driver 5444 which adds new game fixes and brings more DX11 game performance uplifts for GPUs.

NVIDIA has finally acknowledged tough competition in the AI segment, claiming that AI is the "largest computational problem in history."

Huawei added a slew of improvements to its latest Kirin 9010 over the Kirin 9000S, such as a 12-core CPU cluster, but those upgrades do not necessarily translate into the chipset being faster or more power efficient than the rest of the competition. According to a series of tests, the company’s latest SoC is revealed to be 30 percent slower than Qualcomm’s previous-generation Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 while consuming the same amount of power. Let us have a look at those results in more detail.

Fallout 76, the online survival game set in the Fallout universe, got a massive player base boost thanks to the combination of the Prime Gaming giveaway, heavy discounts, and the popularity of the Amazon Prime Video TV series (just renewed for a second season).

Helldivers 2 is an extremely popular game, far more than probably either Arrowhead or Sony hoped for. That said, it isn't perfect, and the developers are well aware of that.

From the looks of it, former PlayStation console exclusive Kena Bridge of Spirits is coming to Xbox Series consoles.

Final Fantasy XVI: The Rising Tide story expansion is out now, and unlike the game’s first DLC, Echoes of the Fallen, this one adds the all-new region of Mysidia to explore. That’s great, but as you’re exploring you may notice something – you can’t ride your trusty Chocobo steed Ambrosia! Is it just not an option in this DLC? Don't worry, you can ride your Chocobo, but you have to complete some tasks before you’re able to do so. Here’s what you have to do…

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

Developer SHIFT UP and Sony have released an official Stellar Blade BIBI 'Eve' music video ahead of the game's launch on PS5 next week.

Insomniac Games has deployed Spider-Man 2 Patch 1.002.003 for PlayStation 5, offering fixes for various encountered issues within the game.

Final Fantasy XVI is no small game, but for those who want more, Square Enix has also rolled out a pair of story expansions for the RPG – last year’s Echoes of the Fallen, and the just-released The Rising Tide. But how does one play this new DLC? It isn’t a simple matter of just hopping into the new content from the main menu, there are some pre-requisites. Also, how leveled up should your party be before you take on this new challenge? Don’t worry, we have the answers for you…

A few hours ago, Geoff Keighley himself shared four new screenshots of The Wolf Among Us 2 on Twitter. The long-anticipated sequel has been in the works for several years now at Telltale, ever since the announcement at The Game Awards 2019.

Intel & JEDEC have pointed out DDR5-8800 memory capabilities for next-gen servers such as Xeon 6 "Granite Rapids" CPUs with up to 128 cores.

Most times, when you buy a brand new Windows laptop, a PC, or a Mac, you don't get Microsoft Office included. So, if you need to type up a document or put together a presentation, you'll have to buy the two modern versions of Office. You can subscribe to Microsoft 365 for a yearly or monthly fee and get the core Microsoft Office apps (and other bonuses), or you can purchase Office 2021 for a one-time fee and worry less about subscriptions. Office 2021 Professional Plus is a one-time purchase in what's known as a perpetual license that you get for a one-time fee without a subscription or expiration dates to worry about. You buy it and own it for life on your computer.

Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke recently discussed various topics in an interview published by GamesIndustry. The director of Baldur's Gate 3 talked about avoiding overlap with Bethesda's Starfield (Larian's game launched in early August on PC, while Starfield was released in early September) and his respect for the studio.

Recently Larian Studios made the surprise announcement that Baldur’s Gate 3 would not be getting any major story-driven DLC, as they’re moving on to a pair of original projects, but that doesn’t necessarily mean updates are ending. In fact, in a new blog post Larian has provided some fresh details about what players can expect from Baldur’s Gate 3 Update 7, which is currently in the works.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a massive success for developer Larian Studios, but the developer recently made the surprising announcement they won’t be following up with Baldur’s Gate 4, or even DLC for BG3. Instead, they’ve vowed to focus on new original IP and projects. That’s a noble, albeit risky, goal, although beyond some musing about likely doing the early access thing again, we haven’t heard much about what this next step for Larian will entail.

Since the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era, Japanese developers have struggled to keep up with their Western colleagues, as, according to the NieR series creator, they are not good at adapting technology from overseas for multiple reasons.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

Over six years after the first game's release, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is finally official. Czech developer Warhorse Studios has been cooking a sequel in great secret until it's almost ready.

Fallout 4 sales have soared in select European countries following the debut of the Fallout TV show on Amazon Prime.

AMD's Radeon RX 6000 "RDNA 2" GPUs are starting to fade from the markets as inventory levels drop to a new low. Few to no SKUs are retailing at mainstream marketplaces.

Samsung is reported to stick with a dual-chipset launch strategy for its upcoming Galaxy S25 series, where some regions will offer the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, while others will sell the Exynos 2500 variants. The Exynos 2400 provided a slew of surprises as the company significantly improved its current-generation flagship SoC. Next year, Samsung is expected to kick things up a notch and is rumored to leverage its second-generation 3nm process to mass produce the Exynos 2500. This move could give the SoC power efficiency attributes that dwarf Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4.

Huawei did not reveal much about the Kirin 9010, but the company could do little when it comes to controlling information after it officially announced the Pura 70 series. Compared to the Kirin 9000S that debuted in the Mate 60 family last year, the Kirin 9010 is a noteworthy upgrade, offering a 12-core configuration, along with other changes, as you will soon find out.

For nearly two years, Microsoft's unprecedented $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard stayed in the news, mostly due to the Windows and Xbox company's battle with certain regulators (chiefly the US FTC and the UK CMA). That came to an end, even though the FTC is still trying to unmake the deal, on October 13, when Microsoft announced the closure of the acquisition.

The PlayStation 5 Pro CPU is unlikely to improve performance in CPU-bound titles and may not even be enough to implement 40 FPS modes that are impossible on the base model.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

iOS 18 will open new doors for the iPhone in terms of utility and possibly UI design changes, which will make it the biggest update Apple has released since the beginning of the platform itself. The company's AI-driven utilities will extend beyond standard features as it is expected to implement the technology on a system level, with various apps gaining improvements. The latest information suggests that the Notes app in iOS 18 will offer Voice Memos and math functionality within the app for convenience and easier access.

Homeworld 3 has suffered a number of delays on its road to launch, but it seems the game is actually sticking to its May release date. In fact, publisher Gearbox is detailing the game’s post-launch content, which will focus on the game’s roguelike-flavored multiplayer mode, War Games, with additional free challenges and three paid DLC content drops which you can acquire via the game’s $20 Year One Pass.