Platform News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Intel's upcoming Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPUs and Lunar Lake-MX Mobility CPUs have been spotted in the latest shipping manifesto leak.

BLUETTI, a renowned provider of energy storage solutions, has announced the expansion of its Solar+ program to three additional states in the United States. Building upon its successful launch in Texas last year, BLUETTI now extends its reach to California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. This initiative aims to offer homeowners a hassle-free approach to achieving energy independence and reducing utility bills through comprehensive solar and battery home power solutions.

Apple may be about to introduce topographic maps to its Apple Maps app across various platforms, including iOS 18, macOS 15, and visionOS 2. This information comes from a recent analysis of code by MacRumors, suggesting that the tech giant is preparing to enhance its navigation offerings.

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI said on Thursday it will launch an enhanced version of its chatbot Grok.

While it's no secret that Mana has been spun-off a ton, it's shocking to realise that it's taken 15 years for someone to envision another mainline entry. For those of you unfamiliar with the era of parachute pants and 1993's Secret of Mana, it is fondly remembered as a legendary must-own for the SNES—an impressive feat given that system was teeming with JRPG GOATs.

With the rise of all-digital consoles, more and more people are doing a majority of their game shopping on digital storefronts. For PlayStation 5 owners, whether you have a disk drive or not, you more than likely have at least a couple of games purchased from the PlayStation Store. The convenience of simply downloading a game and not having to worry about the disk is great, but you also can catch some amazing deals. The biggest sales events come seasonally, and the current Spring Sale is offering deep discounts of up to 90% on some of the biggest games on the platform. If you’ve been waiting to pick up one of the great games you missed earlier this year or in years past, now might be the best time to snag it for cheap!

Look, it’s been a busy time for video game enthusiasts. Rather than easing out of a busy holiday season, the first three months of 2024 have been filled with enormous, high-profile RPGs that can eat up an upwards of 60 hours each. I’m tired. You’re tired. Don’t you just want to play something short and sweet at this point?

Sega Europe is going through some major restructuring, and as a result, it is laying off about 240 developers and letting Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment spin off as an independent company.

To describe a game as being a non-stop grind from start to finish would be considered a negative in almost any other context, but not in the case of Pepper Grinder. This energetic platforming adventure straps a high-powered drill to your hand and throttles you forward through a series of terrain-churning 2D paths littered with enemies to pummel and challenging platform sections to navigate at speed. It’s lively, fluid, and frequently frantic, and folds in some fun diversions that help each stage stand out, even though a surprisingly short list of levels means that Pepper Grinder is here for a good time rather than a long time.

LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, is following the trend set by other popular apps like Instagram and Snapchat by experimenting with a TikTok-like short-form video feed. This new feature, spotted by Austin Null, a strategy director at McKinney, introduces a vertical feed of short videos accessible through a dedicated "Video" tab in the app's navigation bar. Users can swipe through the videos, engage with them by liking, commenting, or sharing, and explore professional content in a more dynamic format.

Back in 2018, Retro Games Ltd. released THEC64 Mini, a plug-and-play console and computer modeled on one of the best-selling computers of all time, the Commodore 64. That was followed in 2019 by a full-sized THEC64 and THEVIC20, complete with working keyboards, as well as THEA500 Mini in 2022, which miniaturized the popular Commodore Amiga 500. Now, nostalgic Atari 8-bit computer fans get to join in on the fun with THE400 Mini.

The world of Dragon's Dogma 2 is an exciting and unpredictable place to explore, however, there are a few ways it can be improved. That's where mods come in.

Former President Donald Trump launched his social media platform, Truth Social, in early 2022, after he was banned from major sites such as Facebook and the platform formerly known as Twitter following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Apple’s App Store is said to have a guardian in the form of former Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, who, despite transitioning from his senior executive role to an ‘Apple Fellow,’ an honorary position, holds tremendous influence in the firm. According to the latest profile shared by The Wall Street Journal, Schiller is said to be working 80 hours a week, becoming a shield for the App Store, and standing vigil to guard it at all times from external threats such as antitrust watchdogs and other entities.

Activision has fully pulled back the curtain on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone Season 3, including first looks at the return of fan-favorite maps, new weapons, and more.

Intel has disclosed the compute performance that you would need to run Microsoft's Copilot locally on Windows-based AI PCs.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has suggested that Microsoft would be willing to open up their console platform to third party storefronts. Could with see the likes of itch.io and Epic Games Store on Xbox in future?

Xbox head Phil Spencer has said that he wants to see more digital retailers on the console, such as the Epic Games Store and Itch.io.

NVIDIA continues to push the AI envelope with its strong TensorRT-LLM suite, boosting the H200 GPUs to new heights in the latest MLPerf v4.0 results.

ConcernedApe, the creator of Stardew Valley, has said that he's "eager" to get back to work on Haunted Chocolatier now that Stardew Valley's 1.6 update has been released.

The newest pictures of Intel's next-gen Lunar Lake-MX CPU powering thin & light platforms have been leaked by Igor's Lab.

AMD's Zen platform is reportedly vulnerable to Rowhammer attacks, as revealed in new research by ETH Zurich, affecting the usability of DRAM.

If you missed out on last week's pre-order deal for Princess Peach Showtime! from QVC, you’re in luck. For a limited time, you can save $10 on the new Nintendo Switch platformer at Woot, discounting its usual $60 price to $49.99.

Greetings, Adventurers!

The much-awaited Snapdragon X Elite CPU platform has been demoed running Baldur's Gate 3 at 30 FPS as a demonstration of its gaming GPU performance.

The Crew Motorfest is coming to Steam soon.

"Xbox is in real trouble as a hardware manufacturer," GamesIndustry.biz head Chris Dring said. "That's the thing that came out of [the Game Developer Conference] for me."

SEGA is said to be working on a Sonic Heroes Remake within Unreal Engine 5.

With the motto “You can be anything,” Barbie dolls became an intrinsic part of childhood for multiple generations. Now the Super Mario franchise is taking a page from Barbie’s playbook and giving Princess Peach her own dress-up adventure.

The festival of Holi brought amazing smartphone offers that buyers took advantage of to grab their favourite gadgets at a low price. But if you missed the chance, then there's still an opportunity for you. Flipkart's Month-end Mobile Fest, which kicked off on March 23, is still going strong, offering massive discounts and other offers on a wide range of smartphones including iPhones. So, if an iPhone is on your purchasing radar, then you can check out exciting deals on two iPhones - iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. Both these smartphones launched last year as part of the iPhone 14 lineup and are still great options to consider.

Inspector Rishi OTT release: Looking for a thrilling horror and crime drama series that can keep you hooked for hours? Then a new Tamil web series named Inspector Rishi is all set to make its OTT debut soon. The month of March has been exciting in terms of exciting OTT releases. Now as we get ready to enter April, we are expecting more such web series and movies to stream online. Inspector Rishi is one such spine-chilling tale that you can binge-watch in one go as the suspense and horror will keep you glued to your device. Know more about the Tamil web series here.

While Microsoft has tried to put a happy face on things, the future of Xbox – at least Xbox as a distinct brand with its own hardware and exclusives – has never been more in question. Last month Microsoft tried to calm worries with an Xbox Business Update, in which they revealed several older, smaller-scale games were going multiplatform, but that others, like Starfield, aren’t for now. Furthermore, they vowed to continue working on new hardware which will, apparently, deliver the “largest technical leap ever” (how they plan to deliver on that boast, I don’t know).

AMD is planning to refresh its Ryzen 5000XT CPUs based on the huge popularity of the AM4 platform with faster Zen 3 chips.

Producer Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida has hinted that Final Fantasy XVI could be coming to other platforms after the PC version is released. The game was first released for PlayStation 5 back in June 2023 and is coming to PC at some point in the future.

Back in January, the indie horror game The Night is Grey released after a grueling seven-year development process that just barely survived the dedication to frame-by-frame character animation, and despite positive reviews, it's still struggling to find an audience at the time of publication.

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

Dragon's Dogma 2 is getting its first patch since release soon, adding the option to start a new game even if save data already exists. 

The executive team of Bidstack have bought back the in-game advertising platform from investors and shareholders.

Stardew Valley's Eric Barone says he's "eager" to get back to working on Haunted Chocolatier, but is focused on the farming game's 1.6 update for now. 

About a month ago, the Game Developers Conference 2024 schedule unveiled a new technology called Microsoft DirectSR. As one could easily guess from its name (Direct SuperResolution), it's an attempt to make the implementation of upscalers easier, and it was built in collaboration with all of the main CPU and GPU vendors (NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel).

About a month ago, the Game Developers Conference 2024 schedule unveiled a new technology called Microsoft DirectSR. As one could easily guess from its name (Direct SuperResolution), it's an attempt to make the implementation of upscalers easier, and it was built in collaboration with all of the main CPU and GPU vendors (NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel).

The recently announced Girls’ Game Lab is designed to break down stereotypes and encourage a new generation of girls to follow their passion for games.

Considering the variety and excellent quality of current Mario games, the world can afford to wait a little longer for a . Released seven months after the launch of the Nintendo Switch, the first was met with acclaim from critics and players alike. Since its debut, the game has sold over 27 million units, reaffirming Mario as the crowned prince of platformers. Switch already boasts numerous world-class Mario and Mario-adjacent titles that people can discover and enjoy. Therefore, it seems wise to save a potential for the next Nintendo console.

Activision Blizzard has answered the call of mobile gamers with its latest release, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile. It brings the adrenaline-fueled action of the battle royale genre right to your fingertips. Available now on both Android and iOS platforms, this iteration marks a new chapter in mobile gaming, arriving four years after the debut of the original Warzone.

Instagram has started an automatic clamp down on the amount of political content appearing in its users' feeds, but there is a relatively quick and easy way to turn off the controls if you don't want to keep the limitations place.

Irdeto, the firm that owns the Denuvo DRM, has launched a new solution called TraceMark to crack down against high-profile game leaks. The announcement came at GDC 2024, where Irdeto revealed that they are coming up with a new platform to combat leakers in the industry, showing the "TraceMark For Games" watermark technology that allows developers to ensure their game's privacy.

AMD's 5th Gen EPYC Turin CPU lineup featuring Zen 5 & Zen 5C cores with up to 160 cores has been leaked out by Yuuki_AnS.

Relic Castle, a vibrant hub for Pokemon fan game enthusiasts, has vanished from the internet without any prior notice. The closure stems from a DMCA takedown, leaving the community stunned and disheartened. Established in 2014, Relic Castle served as an online forum where fans congregated to discuss and share Pokemon fan games. It acted as a central nexus for enthusiasts to exchange links to download these games from external platforms like Mediafire and Google Drive. However, the forum's sudden disappearance has left a void in the community.

Blizzard has released patch notes for Patch 1.3.5, launching March 26, which will address several bug fixes and introduce Ray Tracing to the game.

Blizzard has released patch notes for Patch 1.3.5, launching March 26, which will address several bug fixes and introduce Ray Tracing to the game.

NVIDIA's Blackwell B200 GPUs incorporate a brand new architecture compared to Hopper but also consume almost twice as much power.

Apple was just hit with an antitrust by the US Justice Department.

Apple has just released iOS 17.4.1 to the general public, which includes a boatload of essential fixes for bugs and performance enhancements for the iPhone. The update was released without beta cycles for developers, which means that the update was not big enough for the company, but it could include a handful of updates that will improve the user experience. However, we have seen some iOS updates bring a handful of bugs to the operating system, which poses a question for users as to whether they should upgrade to the latest iOS 17.4.1 platform for the iPhone.

AMD is preparing two new Ryzen 8000 APUs for the AM5 platform which include the Ryzen 7 8700F & the Ryzen 5 8400F.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gives players an unprecedented amount of freedom by letting them attach objectives to each other using the Ultrahand, and the process of developing such an intricate system and having it feel polished was no easy task.

MediaTek might be the first company to confirm the use of NVIDIA's next-gen RTX & AI GPU IP for its upcoming Dimensity SOCs for automobiles.

Awaken Astral Blade is a larger-than-life Metroidvania with massive monsters, precise platforming, and more earth-shattering magic than you can shake a gated map at. Its latest trailer is jam-packed with all of the above and more, tracking some of bionically-enhanced protagonist Tania's turbulent journey to reveal her origins and fate – while kicking scores of alien enemy butt along the way.   Better still, Awaken Astral Blade now has a release window – Q3 2024 - as revealed at the Future Games Show Spring Showcase.

If you’re keen to download Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile so you can play the battle royale game on the go, you’ll probably be wondering if it has cross-platform and/or cross-progression with the console and PC versions of the game.

One of the reasons why a lot of people prefer PCs over consoles is how relatively easy it is to share your games with friends and family. On consoles, digital games you own are (mostly) yours only, but with Steam, it's actually possible to share your purchases with others. Now, Steam game sharing is getting better, with Valve revamping the whole experience with a new collection of features called Steam Families.

While Nintendo’s February Direct Partner Showcase included a few unexpected games, nothing was more surprising than the return of Epic Mickey. The Nintendo Wii adventure is something of a cult classic among Disney fans thanks to its unique painting hook and some clever 2D levels that pay tribute to classic Mickey Mouse cartoons. Though it’s beloved by some, reviews at the time were mixed due to some clumsy Wii-era motion controls and a poor 3D camera.

Epic Games Inc., the developer behind the popular Fortnite franchise, announced plans for a mobile online store on the iOS and Android platforms.

It seems odd that Activision would release Call of Duty Warzone Mobile when it already has a hugely successful Call of Duty mobile game making millions of dollars for the company. But from a business perspective it makes sense. Call of Duty Mobile, the 2019 mobile first-person shooter spin-off that has seen 650 million downloads since launch, is developed by Tencent-owned TiMi Studio Group, and so not all the huge profits it generates benefit Activision’s bottom line. Call of Duty Warzone Mobile, on the other hand, is developed entirely in-house at Activision, and so the company gets a bigger slice of the revenue pie every time a player drops cash on a battle pass.

There's great news for gamers interested in playing Dragon's Dogma 2 without having a beefy PC: NVIDIA has just announced that CAPCOM's open world game will be available at launch via its GeForce NOW cloud platform. Despite the fact that the previous installment is supported on GeForce NOW, the same was far from a given for the sequel. While the Japanese publisher has agreed to add games like Exoprimal, Resident Evil 2, 3, and 7, and Devil May Cry 5 to GFN, Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 are still nowhere to be seen, and the same goes for Street Fighter 6.

AMD has officially confirmed RDNA 3+ Radeon GPU architecture for 2024 which will be powering the next-gen Strix Point APUs.

If there was one thing I could count on growing up in the ’90s, it was the weekly family trip to Blockbuster. While my mom or dad browsed the new movies, I took my baby sister’s hand and headed straight to the video game section. More often than not, I knew what I was renting: The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie, a Super Nintendo Entertainment System game released by Capcom in 1994. I was charmed by the fact that I could play as Minnie — and that Minnie could transform into different characters, like a makeshift Ghostbuster with a vacuum that sucks up enemies, a jungle explorer that gave her acrobatic moves, or a cowgirl with a pop gun and hobby horse. The game was a staple in my childhood playtime until it suddenly wasn’t anymore.

Princess Peach: Showtime! MSRP $60.00 Score Details Pros

Activision may be under new ownership at Xbox, but that’s not slowing down its flagship series. After a few years in development, Call of Duty Warzone Mobile is finally launching worldwide under the Microsoft banner. It’s a major moment for the shooter series that’s endured multiple industry changes over its long lineage. The new mobile game is the latest evolution for Call of Duty, bringing a high-quality battle royale experience to phones.

Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., X Corp. and Match Group Inc. asked a federal judge to reject Apple Inc.'s plan for opening its App Store to outside payment options.

The first Dragon's Dogma 2 PS5 vs Xbox Series X|S and PC comparison video has been released, highlighting visual and performance differences between the platforms.

Update: Arrowhead has offered a temporary fix for the issue of accepting friend requests from other platforms in Helldivers 2. 

Epic Games is launching a set of tools for Unreal Editor for Fortnite that’ll let players create their own Lego Fortnite islands. Epic and Lego announced the tools during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Hogwarts Legacy is the best Harry Potter game to ever land on consoles and PC, and the title’s open-world setting is one to be reckoned with. You’ll spend hours exploring the fantastical universe, completing an array of inspired side quests and puzzles, all while evolving your character. The Merlin Trials is a particular set of challenges you’ll want to take on, as you’ll earn additional inventory slots when you beat one. And if you’ve ever played an open-world RPG, you’ll know just how vital these extra digital cubbies can be.

Red Dead Redemption 2 has received its first update in more than a year, and it finally squashes a pesky bug that players have been saddled with for far too long.

The developer of a Steam game that currently has “overwhelmingly positive” reviews on the platform has been accused of achieving this by bribing players with free in-game items.

The ambitious, yet flawed Alpha Protocol is available for purchase once again. The 2010 game, which was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Sega, was removed from all platforms in 2019 because Sega’s music licensing rights had expired. The game is making a comeback as a DRM-free exclusive on GOG.com, available today for $19.99, with an additional 10% launch discount lasting through April 3.

WhatsApp users on Android may soon rejoice as a new feature appears to be making its way to the platform - voice message transcription. This feature, which has been available on WhatsApp for iPhone since last year, offers users the convenience of converting voice messages into text, making communication more accessible and convenient, and now it is making its way to WhatsApp for Android.

Ubisoft Montpellier has today confirmed the slate of free and paid updates it has planned for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, having first teased them last month. The main addition takes the form of a paid story DLC arriving in the second half of 2024, but releasing between now and then are three updates adding new modes and challenges, all for free.

It’s been a fantastic couple of years for fighting games, and SNK is aiming to keep the run rolling with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. While not specifically announced for any platforms just yet, it’s probably safe to assume this will release on PS5, as that’s where the bulk of the fighting game community’s audience plays. The outing is expected in 2025.

In January, the «Pokemon with guns» game Palworld blew up the internet. Thanks partly to its availability via Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview, the game attracted some 25 million players. Developer Pocketpair says that plans to bring the game to other platforms continue apace, and discussions with unnamed platform holders are underway, likely including PlayStation.