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Strike it big in the Season of Plunder(Image credit: Bungie)
Destiny 2 Season of Plunder: Everything you need
Destiny 2 map fragments: How to get treasure maps
Destiny 2 Delicate Tomb: Grab this fusion rifle exotic
Destiny 2 Cryptic Quatrains: Solve the riddlesPowerful Cabal aren't the easiest enemy type to locate in Destiny 2, and only spawn in a few certain locations and activities. The bad news is that to complete one of this week's seasonal challenges for repute to upgrade your star map, you're going to have to beat a whole heap of these fellas. At least it's not quite the fifty champions we had to farm last week.
This week is also important since you can finally unlock the last level of star chart upgrades, including that mysterious "rumored treasure map". Though it didn't turn out to be the guaranteed Deepsight weapons that everyone was hoping for, it does still get you a free map to use on an expedition once per week. Either way, here are the best powerful Cabal farm locations in Destiny 2, so you can quickly complete that seasonal challenge.
The best powerful Cabal farm locations in Destiny 2
Image 1 of 3The Quarry is located in a cave in The Sunken Isles (Image credit: Bungie)Image 2 of 3To get to Skydock IV you'll have to go underneath the Cabal ship (Image credit: Bungie)Image 3 of 3The Conflux is one of the shortest lost sectors in Destiny 2 (Image credit: Bungie)Powerful Cabal refers to a certain type of yellow-bar Cabal enemy that you can find in certain activities and destinations across the system. You'll need to kill a fair few of them in order to complete the weekly challenge. The best places to farm powerful Cabal are Lost Sectors, specifically The Quarry and Skydock IV in the EDZ, or The Conflux on Nessus.
Each of these Lost Sectors has four guaranteed powerful Cabal who will spawn when you're fighting the boss. However, a far faster method is doing Legend or Master variants of these Lost Sectors. If you can wait for today's reset (September 28) then The Conflux is coming up in the daily Lost Sector rotation, and features a lot of Cabal champions you can beat while also farming exotic armor. If you miss today, then Skydock IV will appear on rotation on October 2.
That said, you can always just farm the regular version of the Lost Sectors on repeat. Each one should give you around ten percent progress if you beat every powerful enemy. I personally recommend The Conflux if you're doing this, since it's incredibly short and can be completed quickly. Once you've defeated your Cabal, you just have to finish the new weekly story quest and place the relic in the H.E.L.M.
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A few weeks ago I held a Raptor Lake wafer in my own two hands, however, it looked absolutely nothing like the Raptor Lake wafer just spotted at Intel Innovation by Paul Alcorn for our sister site Tom's Hardware. So what gives?
This new wafer shows off a fundamentally different chip design to the 'standard' Raptor Lake-S wafers we've seen so far. Rather than two rows of P-cores butting up against four clusters of E-cores—for a maximum of 24 cores in total, a la the Core i9 13900K—what we're seeing on this unannounced wafer is an interconnected grid of what appears to be solely P-cores. 34 of them.
This sort of die layout is more expected of Intel's server-grade processors, starting with those based on the Skylake architecture. It works by increasing interconnectivity by having more cores connected directly to one another, reducing the bottlenecks that could happen with high core count chips on a ring bus architecture.
Intel had previously brought these sorts of remixed server chips to the enthusiast and workstation market under the X-series branding, though that all stopped when desktop core counts skyrocketed. We've not seen an X-series processor since 2019, which was when Intel released Cascade Lake, led by the 18-core Intel Core i9 10980XE.
It's possible then that we're going to see a return of these sorts of high-end processors on the desktop. Alcorn says the team over at Intel Innovation, while initially unsure of what the wafer was, did spot a sticker on the wafer that notes it as "Raptor Lake-S 34-core". That's a bit surprising, as the Raptor Lake-S lineup is one and the same with the desktop processors readying for launch next month.
Image 1 of 4This is a Raptor Lake-S 24-core die wafer. (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 4And here's the 24-core die up close. (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 4The 24-core die uses a familiar core layout to previous Intel desktop processors. (Image credit: Intel)Image 4 of 4Yet the 34-core die appears to use a mesh architecture. Here's a diagram of Intel's Mesh architecture from when it was first introduced with Skylake server chips. (Image credit: Intel)The 34-core die appears significantly larger than the 24-core Raptor Lake dies coming in the LGA 1700-sized package to desktop. So if these chips are intended for the desktop, it's unlikely that there's any sort of upgrade path for 600- or 700-series motherboards already available or announced for Alder Lake and Raptor Lake.
It appears very likely that a 34-core Raptor Lake chip will now arrive in some form, anyways. I suppose it's possible the label was incorrect, but that seems unlikely for such a tight ship as Intel's fab team.
However, I suspect Intel would likely aim for the high-end workstation market rather than target enthusiasts with such a lineup of server-grade chips. Spoilsports. AMD does something similar with its Threadripper processors, which were once enthusiast chips but are now wholly intended for powerful, but quite boring, workstations. I hate to admit that it makes some sense, as core counts were once quite low on traditional desktop chips, but enthusiasts could pay through the teeth for more cores if they wanted them. Nowadays, desktop chips have 12/16/24 cores and the demand for higher core counts will have shifted to the much more prosumer types.
Still, it'd be nice to have the option to go big.
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Players have made good arguments for other expansions being more consequential for WoW's development and history, particularly Burning Crusade. But Wrath of the Lich King has always been the most beloved WoW expansion, and that is all to do with its era, that little window between the end of 2008 and the release of Cataclysm in late 2010, when it felt like everyone you knew was playing WoW and MMOs couldn't get better than this. For some, they never did.
It didn't feel like it at the time, but Wrath of the Lich King was a grand final act for the World of Warcraft that Blizzard had set out to make. Many players will tell you that it was the last time WoW 'felt' like WoW should, particularly when it came to the social side, while others will point to the outstanding Death Knight class and arguably the best story questline WoW has ever had.
Wrath of the Lich King has now returned as part of WoW Classic, a game that is an ongoing and fascinating exercise in trying to recapture different eras. WotLK is a vessel of mixed memories, different things to different players, and the way that WoW Classic has timed its expansions evokes a bizarre nostalgia for the time once spent waiting.
We all know what WotLK is now but, if you're interested in WoW, chances are you remember the white-hot anticipation for this in the buildup to release, helped immeasurably by the decision to seed a bunch of the expansion's improvements (and the Death Knight) into vanilla WoW in the month before the full release. There were certain pieces of key art you'd see again and again, and you began to notice the office Azeroth junkies—the ones who said they were clean—start to shiver in anticipation of the sweet release they absolutely definitely wouldn't be indulging in.
Wrath of the Lich King was a definitive end to one journey, an adventure many players had been on since Warcraft 3. That game and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, had the player controlling Arthas on his arc from hero of the light to eventually becoming the undead Lich King, and that's where it ended. No later WoW expansion would have such a core character to this world at the heart, nor feature them so prominently.
The expansion positions this character not only as the main antagonist, but squarely at the centre of the big story beats. Arthas doesn't just turn up at the end of WotLK as a big old boss, though of course he does that too, but is a constant presence on your character's quest.
Living history
When players talk about this story being one of if not the most memorable Warcraft arcs, it's not just Arthas but the fact that players have lived part of his story and are now the key figures in bringing him down—this had impact, it felt like players were actually saving Azeroth for once, and it felt like you were right at the heart of it rather than some all-powerful NPC. Later expansions, for me, felt like players were relegated to supporting roles as Warcraft grandees play out predetermined roles, but here the stakes were high and it was all on your little band to deliver.
Northrend too was a joy to revisit, with Blizzard at the top of its game in how it reimagined the setting while keeping familiar elements, managing to deliver something that felt both fresh and undeniably nostalgic. A particular masterstroke was how Northrend in WoW is shaped by the events in Warcraft 3, and a constant stream of in-game Easter eggs about what had gone before. It's funny to think about revisiting an expansion that gained no small part of its impact from being a revisit in the first place.
Exploring Northrend with a crew was a joy, from awe-inspiring sights like Coldarra and Zul-Drak to complete curveballs like finding a tropical jungle (Sholazar Basin) in the middle of the arctic. The PvE side of WotLK was built for tootling around and questing in long, lazy sessions, and the quality-of-life changes it brought to the game were all about making this process easier with things like a quest tracker. This process would ultimately result in the Dungeon Finder Tool arriving partway through WotLK's lifecycle, an infamous moment in WoW and one of the big questions for Classic—which currently has no plans to implement it.
The Dungeon Finder Tool is loved and loathed in equal measure. This is because, when people reminisce about the WotLK experience, it's not so much that the expansion was the best thing since sliced bread (though it was) so much as that WoW overall felt like it had hit a sweet spot of abundant content, exciting new mechanics (like being able finally dual spec characters), and communality.
Image 1 of 5(Image credit: Blizzard)Image 2 of 5(Image credit: Blizzard)Image 3 of 5(Image credit: Blizzard)Image 4 of 5(Image credit: Blizzard)Image 5 of 5(Image credit: Blizzard)Going into the pub to try and find some Tauren who fancies a punch-up was once a much bigger thing, and it's easy to understand why some miss it.
That last point is where the disagreement over the Dungeon Finder Tool stems from. There was a time in WoW where, if your group was short one night and you needed some extra tanking, you would go to the local tavern or somewhere in the town and start chatting to other players. This in itself was quite a fun diversion as your little gang dispersed and started to bug people, and it was always great when you're the one who manages to get a few heavy boys on board. The Dungeon Finder Tool is incredibly useful—it automatically searches for and groups you up with appropriate random players—and more-or-less killed interactions like this.
I don't have strong feelings about it, mainly because when I play WoW it tends to be with the same small group, and I appreciate the utility of the Dungeon Finder Tool. But there is that interesting question of what players get from convenience versus what they get from a bit of friction. Having to assemble a decent crew in WoW, and I'm not even talking about high-level Raids, was once a part of the default experience. Going into the pub to try and find some Tauren who fancies a punch-up was once a much bigger thing, and it's easy to understand why some miss it.
Wrath of the Lich King's early period was this mythical golden age, the one where recollections cast Azeroth in a warmer, friendlier hue. I've always been more of a PvE WoW player and, while PvPers will tell you WotLK was also great for that side of the game, it's that succession of stone-cold classic areas, like the re-worked Naxxramas and the Icecrown Glacier with its looming Citadel, that still burn bright in memory.
Returning to WotLK will never be the same. Mistakes have been ironed-out with hindsight: Death Knights were notoriously OP for the longest time after launch, while the developers say the high-end Raids are somehow reworked. We know what to expect also, and you don't ever get to re-live the excitement of first seeing a flying mount.
But then WotLK never existed in isolation either. It’s remembered so fondly because this felt like WoW at the game's absolute peak, delivering more and better to an audience that greedily devoured it. World of Warcraft was the biggest MMO because it did most things better than the competition, and this was WoW with all guns blazing—executing an epic storyline with panache and polish.
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Streaming giant Netflix is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and it's been quite the journey. I'm old enough to remember the novelty of receiving DVDs and videogames through the letterbox, and the pleasing back-and-forth rhythm of visiting the post office every few days to return and receive.
That now seems like another era, and Netflix's transformation from essentially a postal library into the dominant force in online streaming and a major studio in its own right has been remarkable. But one thing it is yet to crack, despite a stated intention to do so, is games. Netflix has over the years acquired smaller studios, and cut deals to have individual games ported to its service, and it clearly recognises the value of games in its programming choices: most obviously the Witcher series, but alongside that a host of well-received animes from the recent Cyberpunk: Edgerunners to Castlevania.
Netflix doesn't just want to make the spinoffs, though, it wants to make the games. Now the company has announced it has set up its first games studio, based in Helsinki, Finland. The studio director is Marco Lastikka, who started in the industry as a programmer before rapidly moving into management: he spent eight years at Digital Chocolate (a specialist in Facebook games), four years at EA as a GM / executive producer on the mobile side, and five years at Zynga as a vice president.
That history suggests that this studio will be focused on producing so-called casual games for the Netflix service. "[The studio] will bring a variety of delightful and deeply engaging original games—with no ads and no in-app purchases—to our hundreds of millions of members around the world," writes Amir Rahimi, Netflix's vice president of games.
Netflix says Helsinki is full of the talent it needs, which is probably the right thing to say if you're moving to Helsinki, and this follows on the heels of it acquiring Next Games earlier this year, which is also based in the city. In total and including this newly established enterprise, Netflix now has four internal game development studios, the other two being Night School Studio and Boss Fight Entertainment.
Rahimi says this bunch have "different strengths and focus areas, [and] will develop games that will suit the diverse tastes of our members." It will likely be years before we see anything from this new studio, which seems to be operating under the name of Netflix Games, but don't expect the next Elden Ring. Netflix has been experimenting with how it ties-in games to its shows, such as with an elegant Chess accompaniment to The Queen's Gambit, and that strategy looks set to continue.
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Dalaran is the main city for both factions in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. Originally enclosed inside a magical barrier on the edge of Hillsbrad in the Eastern Kingdoms, the city has now moved to Northrend to serve as a hub. It floats high above Crystalsong Forest so you may be wondering how you're supposed to get there, especially as you won't unlock flying in Northrend until level 77. Luckily, this guide will help you out.
Of course, if you know a friendly mage that has already learned the portal to Dalaran, the city is just a teleport away. But if you're looking to get there naturally as you progress through zone quests, I'll explain what you need to do. Here's how to get to Dalaran in Wrath Classic.
Wrath Classic: How to get to Dalaran
The city of Dalaran has a bank, portals to the major cities in Azeroth, and all the profession trainers in one place, so it's good to get access to it as soon as you can. You won't get the quest, The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran, until you hit level 74, however, and there are a few NPCs you can pick it up from.
Dalaran quest NPCs for Horde:
- Borean Tundra (Warsong Hold): Magistrix Kaelana
- Howling Fjord (Vengeance Landing): Magister Varenthas
- Dragonblight (Venomspite): Magister Tyr'ganal
- Dragonblight (Agmar's Hammer): Image of Archmage Aethas Sunreaver
- Grizzly Hills (Conquest Hold): Magistrix Phaelista
Dalaran quest NPCs for Alliance:
- Borean Tundra (Valiance Keep): Magister Dath'omere
- Howling Fjord (Valgarde): Baron Ulrik Von Stromhearth
- Dragonblight (Wintergarde): Vas the Unstable
- Dragonblight (Star's Rest): Image of Archmage Modera
- Grizzly Hills (Amberpine Lodge): Magistrix Haelenai
Both factions can also pick up the quest from Magister Teronus in Zul'drak, at Argent Stand.
The flight point location at Krasus' Landing. (Image credit: Blizzard)Whoever you speak to, the quest giver will ask you to deliver an item to Archmage Celindra in Dalaran and will offer you a teleport to the city when you speak to them again. Once you arrive, don't forget to unlock the flight point at Krasus' Landing.
It's also worth pointing out that the teleporter from Crystalsong Forest only works if you've used it to travel from Dalaran first. The teleporter does nothing if you reach it before activating it from the city above.
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Finding every scarab location in the new Genshin Impact 3.1 desert region can be a challenge, but these wandering beetles are a vital material in ascending the new five-star Electro character, Cyno. It's very hard to actually use a Genshin character without levelling them first, especially if you have a high world level, and don't want them fainting from a single attack every time you get in a fight.
Sadly, no sneaky scarab farms were possible before the release of version 3.1, since both the desert region and the material weren't introduced. Here, I'll explain the best place to find scarabs in Genshin Impact, as well as some handy farming tips about how to spot them.
Genshin Impact scarab locations: Where to find them
Most of the scarabs are located around the pyramid (Image credit: miHoYo interactive map)Though the scarabs are located all across the desert region, you can find the highest density of them for farming in the western section of Sumeru map, around the Mausoleum of King Deshret in the Hypostyle Desert. If anything, the pyramid serves as a handy farming route, since you can circle around it, picking up scarabs as you go. As ever, the official Genshin Impact interactive map already has a handy list of every scarab location in the desert.
Be aware that they are quite hard to spot at times, especially with all the tumbleweeds rolling around. When you get close to one it'll emerge from the sand and start rolling in a ball, so don't run through too fast or you might miss them. If you're not too bothered about being optimal and want to see the sights, a decent farming route is heading to the statue of the seven in the Hypostyle Desert, then travelling west and circling around the pyramid before finishing at the Sobek Oasis. Of course, there are far more optimal farming routes like this one from KyoStinV if you want to spend a minimum amount of time grabbing them:There are 76 scarabs overall, and considering you'll need 168 scarabs to ascend Cyno, that's around three big farms. In Genshin Impact, local specialities take 48 hours to re-appear, meaning you'll have to wait between each farm if you want to ascend Cyno to his maximum level. Unlike the Sakura Blooms in Inazuma, there's no fancy stuff you have to do to grab them, just make sure you don't attack the beetles, as they'll burrow into the ground and disappear if you do.
It's also worth being aware that since the mausoleum has underground areas, some of the scarabs shown on the map may be in lower levels. If you get near to their location and they don't emerge from the sand, chances are they are underground.
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I've got everything you need to solve today's Wordle the way you want to just below. If you'd just like a few tips then I've got them (with links to further Wordle guides if you'd like to dig deeper), and if you want to see the answer to the September 28 (466) puzzle as quickly as possible then I can show you that too.
It took me until the very last go to get this one—and strangely enough, I didn't mind. The relief I felt at the end almost made the worry (and screen full of grey boxes that came before it) worth the extra wait.
Wordle hint
Today's Wordle: A hint for Wednesday, September 28
Today's answer is a word used when power is taken by force, or a commanding role or position is seized without the right to do so. It's a term that can be applied personally as well as politically, but either way, it's always a dramatic event. There's one vowel to find today, used twice.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
If there's one thing better than playing Wordle, it's playing Wordle well, which is why I'm going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:
- A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
- A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
- The solution may contain repeat letters.
There's no time pressure beyond making sure it's done by midnight. So there's no reason to not treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you're coming up blank.
Wordle answer
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)What is the Wordle 466 answer?
Some days those greens just don't turn up fast enough. The answer to the September 28 (466) Wordle is USURP.
Previous answers
Wordle archive: Which words have been used
The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today's Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that's already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.
Here are some recent Wordle solutions:
- September 27: SOGGY
- September 26: BRISK
- September 25: ADMIT
- September 24: GRATE
- September 23: GLORY
- September 22: SAINT
- September 21: RECAP
- September 20: ALIKE
- September 19: TRICE
- September 18: STICK
Learn more about Wordle
Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it's up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.
You'll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. If a box turns
️, it means that letter isn't in the secret word at all. 
means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 
means you've got the right letter in the right spot.You'll want your second go to compliment the first, using another "good" word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn't present in today's answer.
After that it's just a case of using what you've learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E). Don't forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you'd like to find out which words have already been used you'll find those below.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn't long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
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Prior to the official reveal of Nvidia’s RTX 40 series, there were some disturbing rumors floating around regarding their power consumption, particularly the AD102 equipped RTX 4090. Thankfully, the most outlandish of those rumors didn’t come to pass. We won’t be seeing 900W GPUs this generation, though there’s surely the 4090 Ti to come, so never say never.
Nvidia posted an FAQ on its support page, and it addresses the concerns users may have regarding things such as the minimum wattage requirements, connector durability and compatibility with existing power supplies. The bottom line seems to be, if you have a good quality power supply now that meets the minimum wattage requirements, it should all be smooth sailing.
Beginning with the wattage. The RTX 4090 carries a TGP of 450W, the 4080 16GB draws 320W and the 4080 12GB draws 285W. These numbers have led Nvidia to set the minimum PSU wattages at 850W, 750W and 700W respectively. That’s more or less the same as equivalent RTX 30 cards. The RTX 4080 12GB really should be called the RTX 4070, but I digress.
Another major PSU question relates to 8-pin to PCIe Gen 5 16-pin adapters and compatibility. Nvidia says the adapters have circuitry to quote: "translate the 8-pin plug status to the correct sideband signals according to the PCIe Gen 5 (ATX 3.0) spec." It can also tell the GPU whether three or four 8-pin connectors are plugged in. If four are detected (for 600W in total), it allows the card to unlock more power headroom for overclocking.
Your next upgrade(Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the restA couple of other rumors have also been debunked – though we’ll need to wait until the cards are in the hands of millions to be 100% sure. The first relates to the durability of the PCIe 5.0 connectors, which is officially rated for 30 connect cycles. That is the same is it has always been pretty much. As a reviewer changing GPU connectors just about every other day, I can confidently say that connector durability should not be a problem.
The last significant rumor revolved around the possibility of an overcurrent or over power risk with non-ATX 3.0 PSUs and the new 16-pin power connector. Nvidia says it encountered an issue with a single supplier early in development, which has since been rectified. However, this last point illustrates the need to use a good quality PSU from a reputable brand. A no-name OEM model may not stick to PCI-SIG guidelines as strictly as a well-known brand would.
The takeaway seems to be much like it has always been. A good power supply is a long-lasting component that’s perfectly capable of handling your RTX 40 build. As long as it meets the minimum wattage requirements, you should be fine. Add more power if you plan to OC and handle the power connectors with care and you should have no problems.
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Earlier this year we checked out the Alienware 34 QD-OLED AW3423DW curved gaming monitor and our reviewer was not disappointed. The wonderful contrast and colours combined with HDR made for a gorgeous lush screen while the 175 Hz refresh rate and G-Sync Ultimate technology offered that smooth experience gamers expect. But that bit of Nvidia tech comes with a tax, and in this case it seems to be about $200 USD.
Alienware's AW3423DW monitor released a few months back with a price tag it still holds of $1,299 USD. Alienware's new AW3423DWF monitor has just been announced (spotted by Tom's Hardware) and it's very similar to our favoured AW3423DW but with open standard technology, making for a $200 cheaper monitor.
Avoiding the Nvidia licence and using AMD's FreeSync Premium Pro and VESA's AdaptiveSync means this new shiny OLED is now down to $1,099.99 USD. It also means the anti-screen tearing efforts and variable refresh rates are compatible with consoles like the Xbox Series X and PS5 for up to 120Hz.
For $200 less you're still getting a great 34-inch 3440 x 1440 QD OLED panel with quantum dot tech. It's a huge upgrade for gaming if you don't already have an ultrawide. The dark blacks and contrast is further enhanced by HDR and it really adds to immersion and image quality while gaming. But the refresh rate has been cut down ever so slightly from 175Hz to 165Hz.
Your next upgrade(Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the restThere are a few other minor changes of note in this new model. The G-Sync variant sports a white backing design while the AMD is a more toned down looking all black with small LED highlights on the back with a smaller footprint. Dell has also swapped the port configuration offering up two DisplayPorts but only one HDMI 2.0, which seems weird when they could just give us two of each. Regardless, it's still offering a 0.1ms response time while rocking the 1800R curve, though not a bendable one like that crazy Corsair screen.
It's pretty exciting to see a new variation of our top choice in gaming monitors release at a price drop, even if that is just made of Nvidia tax. This does bring the AW3423DWF down into what might be a more affordable price point for many, especially if they weren't going to benefit from the proprietary software in the first place. Finally, we might be seeing the best gaming monitor of the year for AMD builds when this one releases in the US and Canada on November 8.
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Hello zxczxcx,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
zxczxcx joined on the 09/28/2022.
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There were some dark times for sci-fi racing games after Sony closed Wipeout developer Studio Liverpool in 2012. As Nintendo left F-Zero to languish, high-speed antigrav racers became one of those "don't make 'em like they used to" genres for a few years, until indie games like Redout and BallisticNG started to fill the void. There are a bunch of these games now, but almost all of them take after Wipeout more than F-Zero.
Then there's Aero GPX, which looks F-Zero as heeeeell.
This indie racer from developer Aaron McDevitt, which has a Steam page full of mesmerizing gifs, is clearly emulating the F-Zero X / GX games in Nintendo's series, which sent you corkscrewing around tubular tracks at frankly absurd speeds. Aero GPX looks like it's particularly focused on the aggressive side of F-Zero, with a couple ways to slam your ship into other racers to knock them out of the running.
Aero GPX has a bright and bubbly cel shaded aesthetic, but in action it looks manic, with ships doing spin attacks at each other at 1,500 kilometers per hour. The action here might conjure up some painful memories if you ever tried to beat F-Zero GX's notoriously difficult story mode or its grand prix at higher difficulties. Seriously, that game was not messing around. But there really hasn't been a racing game that fast and brutal since, at least not one with F-Zero's relentlessly twisty tracks.
To my knowledge there's really only been one other indie successor to F-Zero in the last few years, and that's Super Pilot. It's been in early access since 2018 and looks like it really gets the speed and track design just right, though with less emphasis on attacking other racers. But you can play it right now, while Aero GPX is currently gearing up for a Kickstarter campaign. What a treat it'd be to have two riffs on one of the best racing games ever made both available on PC.
(Image credit: Aaron McDevitt) -
Warhaven is a "visceral medieval-fantasy sword fight experience" being developed by Nexon that will pit teams of 16 players against one another in brutal battles with blades, bows, and magic. It was revealed earlier this month with a trailer that strikes me as Chivalry mixed with a little bit of For Honor and just a hint of JRPG color, and while there's no release date yet, a beta test is coming in October and everyone's invited.
Warhaven will offer six unique characters to start, each with their own unique weapons and abilities. Groups of up to four players can form squads within their teams, with no restrictions on experience or levels: A skilled veteran can team up with newcomers "to increase the achievements of all squad members," Nexon said.
Slashing and bashing is obviously central to the Warhaven experience, but players will also have the opportunity to transform into mighty, god-like Immortals, unleashing devastating attacks that can turn the tide of battle in an instant. And even in human form, there are aspects of divinity: Players who fall in battle can be revived by teammates, or opt to respawn quickly near surviving allies.
Neither the trailer nor the announcement are what you'd call overladen with detail, but that doesn't really matter because Warhaven is holding an open beta beginning on October 12, so if you're at all interested—and personally, I think it looks good enough to be worth at least a look—you can just hop in and see for yourself. The beta will include four maps and three game modes—Onslaught, Skirmish, and Arms Race—and is completely free to join: Just pop around to the Steam page and mash the "join the Warhaven playtest" button.
Here's what you'll need to play:
Minimum
- OS: Windows 10 64 bit
- Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz
- Memory: 16GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 950 or Radeon R9 270X
- DirectX: Version 11
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 40 GB available space
Recommended
- OS: Windows 10 64 bit
- Processor: Intel Core i7-10700 2.90GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 3700X 3.6GHz
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia RTX 2060 or AMD RX 5600XT
- DirectX: Version 11
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 40 GB available space (SSD recommended)
The Warhaven open beta is scheduled to run until November 2. While you're waiting for it to begin, you can find out more about what's coming and maybe make some squad buddies on the official Warhaven Discord.
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One of the nice things about a game like Skyrim is that you can safely ignore the main questline for, well, as long as you like. You're the Dragonborn, but you don't technically need to act like it. Some mods, like Alternate Start - Live Another Life, help out by letting you skip the original introductory sequence and begin the game as just another citizen of Skyrim instead of the fabled Dragonborn.
And here's yet another way to shirk your duties as a legendary dragonslayer and direct your efforts toward another equally noble pursuit: a desk job. The 9 to 5 Office Job Mod for Skyrim Special Edition lets you trade in your sword and shield for a pen and parchment. This may be a fantasy world, but that doesn't mean there isn't paperwork to be done.
Spotted by PCGamesN, the mod adds a desk job at the Drunken Huntsman in Whiterun, where you'll find an office through a door in the back of the pub. Speak to Olfina Grey-Mane, who now works in the office during business hours, and ask for a job. (If she's dead in your game, you're out of luck.) Once hired and at your desk, you'll see some books stacked up and a prompt to get to work. Your new office job consists of a minigame where you'll need to memorize a short list of words and then correctly enter them into your book. When your books are filled, you'll put them into a box on your desk—consider it the fantasy equivalent of sending a spreadsheet attachment in an email.
But this job isn't just a time-killer. You get paid, too. On Friday, ask Olfina for your paycheck (the office is closed on the weekends). And if you're a good and accurate parchment-pusher, you'll gain fame at your job. When you've accumulated 100 fame points, you can ask for a raise and you'll gain a new title. As a new hire you'll be considered a Drifter, but you can work your way up to Veteran, Demigod, and Praetorian.
And don't worry, you won't have to sit there for an entire nine hours of in-game time doing medieval data entry. Shortly after you busy yourself at work, the screen will fade to black and when your vision returns you'll find the entire day has passed. Just like at your real day job! Or am I the only one who regularly blacks out and wakes up at the end of the day?
To get the mod working you'll need a few other mods like SKSE and SkyUI, which are standard requirements for just about everything these days. Find the 9 to 5 Office Job mod here at Nexus Mods.
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On my first night in Foxhole, I didn't fire a gun for hours. Instead, I wandered around a town until I ran into a fellow Colonial (my faction) and asked how I could be useful. He put me to work in the scrap fields, where I harvested bits of discarded metal that we'd then load into a big container, crane into the back of a truck, and deliver to the local refinery. Our scrap became basic materials (or "bmats") used to craft guns, ammo, vehicles, tools, clothes, explosives, sandbags—anything and everything that our actual (virtual) comrades a dozen miles away needed on the frontline.
As I worked the scrapyard, the Wardens were destroying one of our bases. Dozens of miles to the south, we'd secured a Warden base of our own, pushing the front further west in a war that'd been raging for more than one real-time month.
The scale of Foxhole continues to boggle my mind weeks into playing it—it's one gigantic war game with thousands of simultaneous players across two factions fighting for domination of a map so large that I gave up measuring it. The game is hitting 1.0 this week after five years in early access, and it's the biggest update yet. Soon, both sides will compete to build expansive train networks across the map and construct massive factories capable of producing fire-breathing tanks.
As a single soldier, I'm a tiny cog in the works, and yet my contributions feel real and useful no matter what I'm doing. Amazingly, the distribution of players between frontline fighters and blue collar factory workers is balanced. I've played a few military sims, including FPSes like Squad, where logistic (or "logi") roles go mostly ignored by players who'd all rather be shooting guns than driving trucks back and forth. That's not the case in the persistent world of Foxhole, probably because the logi part of the game is just as deep as the frontline. Building experts spend days and weeks constructing freeform bases and fortifying them with walls, gates, bunkers, pillboxes, and trenches. The first few weeks of a war are not a race to grab territory, but a race to the end of a tech tree that starts with sandbags and ends with devastating nuclear weapons.
An actual RPG
Foxhole is an honest-to-god MMO. It's also an RPG, but in the literal roleplaying sense, not in the stat grinding sense. Like the best social games, great stories happen as a matter of course. Like last night, a few friends and I were helping secure a frontline base by guarding a bridge that Wardens had been seen sneaking through. The four of us stood at the ready for over an hour, occasionally chasing after enemies who tried to slip past our watchtowers and steal a vehicle. It was going pretty well until a pair of Wardens came rolling down the bridge in an armored car with a mounted machine gun. We got slaughtered, but were determined not to let it stand.
After repsawning in the base we'd been protecting and lacking our own APC, my friend hatched a plan just silly enough to work: hop in the bed of an armored transport, drive straight toward the APC, and toss anti-tank grenades out the back.
Three guys in a truck: 1; Armored gun car: 0.
I've become instant friends with soldiers scrunched in cramped foxholes only to lose them moments later in a hail of bullets. I've snuck deep behind enemy lines with a small partisan squad, stolen a Warden tank, and taken it on a joyride through their base. I've delivered crates of desperately needed respawn tokens to a frontline base just minutes before it ran out (got a lot of grateful messages for that one).
I can't overstate how important proximity voice chat is to making this all work. Hearing distant conversations or urgent calls for help creates points of interest that I naturally want to investigate. Sometimes I find a squad preparing a coordinated tank push on a distant Warden base. Sometimes it's a bleeding rifleman who needs to be carried to a medical tent. Other times it's a recon squad arguing about anime as they set out on a spy mission.
It's almost impossible to run five minutes in a direction without interacting meaningfully with other players, and the vast majority of the time, the interactions have been positive. That guy who showed me the ropes on my first night? He really didn't have to. I was slowing him down with my constant questions, but his patience was deep and his instruction remarkably thorough—you'd have thought he was a convincingly programmed tutorial NPC if he hadn't later told me he's a machine operator from Utah who plays Foxhole during the quiet hours of his graveyard shift. I kept expecting to run into jerks as I was learning the game, but without fail I've found players eager to help. The obnoxious loudmouths and outright trolls common in Squad and Hell Let Loose seem to be fewer in Foxhole. Maybe its top-down perspective and simplistic shooting don't conduct egotistical behavior as well.
Dugout
Good thing Foxhole's community is cool, because there are a bunch of unintuitive design decisions that make getting into the game harder than it needs to be. You have to really like the idea of Foxhole to put up with its frustrating inventory menus, obtuse interaction controls, and general lack of explanation of how things work beyond a basic boot camp area that teaches you to the bare minimum of movement, combat, and factory work. YouTube, wikis, and good ol' human conversation will have to be your real teachers.
I find it hard to stay frustrated by what Foxhole doesn't do well because of how many things it does spectacularly well. They're things that other games don't even aspire to. Foxhole places its complete trust in players to use the tools provided to conduct a war with essentially zero direction. There's not even an official command structure or class system that dictates who can do what. You do rank up by receiving comendations, but it's mostly a cosmetic title. I, a lowly sergeant, can do anything a Captain can. I'm endlessly impressed that Siege Camp, a small Toronto-based studio that got its start in mobile games, has successfully operated an MMO for years that allows thousands of concurrent players to build, shoot, drive, and explode tens of thousands of objects on a single server with minimal interruptions.
A friendly town nuked early on in the war, permanently destroyed and memorialized with a Call of Duty 4 quote. (Image credit: Siege Camp)I suspect some of the magic can be explained by the smart way Foxhole instances the map in several kilometer-wide hexes. Only your current hex is loaded at a given time and traveling to a bordering hex requires a few seconds of loading. At the borders of the busiest fronts, ones packing hundreds of players on both sides, I sometimes had to wait in a queue for a few minutes before getting in.
As Foxhole nears its 1.0 release, I've wondered if the single biggest reason the game works is because it's relatively small. Unlike most most other MMOs, Siege Camp can place its full attention on a single server that covers its entire population. The studio has been able to increase the map size over the years to support a growing player base, but a few times Siege Camp has been forced to start up a second shard—an overflow war cut off from the original. The war that just wrapped up seemed to comfortably fit a daily average of 1,500 players on a single server. If Foxhole's player base doubles overnight following its 1.0 release, the server list will almost certainly have to expand to accommodate. That's fine, but I do find it charming that right now, every single person playing Foxhole is on the same map.
Selfishly, I want Foxhole to stay small, but I also think more people would give it a shot once the major 1.0 Inferno update drops on September 28.
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Blizzard is taking aggressive new steps to tackle toxicity in Overwatch 2, including plans for a system that will record all voice chat and issue bans based on transcription analysis conducted by "chat review tools."
Overwatch, like so many other shooters, has struggled with crappy player behavior pretty much from the start: In October 2017, not much more than a year after it launched, we said that Blizzard's failure to curb toxicity undermines the game's inclusive message. A couple years later, Blizzard talked about using machine learning to combat abusive chat, which seemed to have a positive effect: In November 2020, then-president J. Allen Brack said the technology had resulted in "an incredible decrease not only in toxic text chat, but an overall decrease in re-offense rates."
The updated system, expected to go live shortly after Overwatch 2 comes out, will expand on those capabilities by incorporating automatic transcriptions of voice chat recordings when disruptive behavior is reported. Once the transcription is complete, it will be analyzed for misconduct using Blizzard's internal tools. Blizzard didn't say what will happen in the case of positive results, beyond stating vaguely that the new transcription tool "will enable the team to act on abusive voice chat."
Importantly, none of the recorded or transcribed data will be kept long-term, Blizzard said: Audio files will be erased "quickly" after they're transcribed, and the transcribed text files will be deleted within 30 days of their creation.
"This system relies on players reporting disruptive behavior as soon as they encounter it in game because we do not store voice chat data long term," Blizzard explained. "This means you should report disruptive behavior as it’s occurring in-game to give us the best chance at detecting, catching, and preventing disruptive players. Your reports matter—player reporting is one of the most effective methods for identifying and actioning disruptive behavior as quickly as possible."
The prospect of omnipresent machines listening to and judging my voice chat strikes me as a bit dystopian—the first brick in a bleak "Lowtax bans hentai" real-life meme that ultimately leads to war with Skynet—but Overwatch 2 isn't actually the first game to embrace this technology. That honor goes to Valorant, which began testing a "voice evaluation" system in July. Initial reaction to that news wasn't entirely positive, as many players expressed concern about corporate intrusion and the actual fate of the data collected, but it doesn't appear to have negatively impacted the game or player counts to any appreciable degree. In fact, Riot recently announced plans to up the ante against toxicity by expanding its hunt for disruptive in-game behavior.
Along with the automatic voice recording, beginning on October 4 Blizzard will also require that all Overwatch players on all platforms—including consoles—have a phone number attached to their Battle.net account if they want to launch Overwatch 2. Each account will require a unique phone number, and some types of numbers, including prepaid and VOIP, cannot be used. With Overwatch 2 going free-to-play, it's more vulnerable than ever to cheaters with multiple accounts worming their way back into the game. Blizzard said the SMS Protect system, as it's known, will serve two purposes: to protect against accounts being stolen, and to make it harder for banned players to sneak back in.
"Overwatch 2 gives us the chance to continue to level-up and iterate on our systems to combat disruptive behavior and cheating in ways that a simple update wouldn’t allow," Blizzard said.
Overwatch 2 is set to launch, and completely supplant the original Overwatch, on October 4. The voice recording transcription system is expected to go live "in the weeks following."
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Right now, Amazon has a great deal on a Razer Viper Ultralight gaming mouse at $22, which is the lowest price since its release back in 2021. The mouse has seen a couple of price drops this year from its $79.99 MSRP, but $22 is an absolute steal.
The Viper Ultralight is a speedy wired gaming mouse. It has a 20K DPI optical sensor that Razer claims can "register buttons presses at the speed light." That responsiveness makes it ideal for competitive shooters, but more importantly, it's lightweight without needing a honeycomb design which freaks some people out.
If you're wondering, this differs from the Viper Ultimate, Razer's wireless version of the ambidextrous gaming mouse. However, that mouse is also on sale for 30% off. Not a bad deal if you need a premium wireless mouse with a charging dock.
Razer Viper Ultimate | Wireless | White | Ambidextrous | 20K sensor |
$39.99$21.99 at Amazon (save $18)
This lightweight gaming mouse with 20K DPI was already a bargain at $40. At $22, there's no reason not to up your competitive game with the Razer Viper Ultralight. View DealThe only downside to this mouse I can spot is that the deal is only for the white model, which I suppose might be an issue if you're all in on Razer's usually black and green colorway. Personally, I Iike a little variety. The only issue I ever had with this mouse was that $79.99 too steep for a wired esports mouse. But at $22, I'm totally on board.
If you are still looking to spend more on upgrading your gaming rodent, we have plenty more picks, including ones without pesky wires, on our best gaming mouse page.
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The Grand Theft Auto 6 leak drama took another step forward over the weekend, as Eurogamer reports that the youth accused in the matter has pleaded not guilty to a charge of computer misuse.
The 17-year-old hacker was arrested in Oxfordshire on September 22, less than one week after the devastating leak of GTA 6 material, which included 90 gameplay videos taken from a test build of the game. Interestingly, while the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge of computer misuse, he pleaded guilty to a separate charge of breaching his bail conditions.
Details on the breach of conditions weren't provided but it's possibly related to previous cyberattacks for which he's already facing charges. According to tech reporter Matthew Keys, the suspect was arrested and charged earlier this year in relation to attacks against companies including Microsoft and Nvidia.
Keys added that the suspect is associated with the Lapsus$ hacking group; seven people in the UK associated with the group, aged 16-21, were arrested by City of London Police earlier this year in connection with those hacks. In fact, it was similarities between those attacks and the hacks of Rockstar and Uber, which ultimately attracted the attention of the FBI, that led police to the suspect in the first place.
The teenager, "A.K," is being charged with two computer crimes and two counts of violating his bail, according to a source. https://t.co/n7EvGVqUwDSeptember 24, 2022
See moreOne of the alleged leaders of the group that carried out the Microsoft and Nvidia attacks, who was 16 at the time, had reportedly amassed a Bitcoin fortune worth roughly $13 million despite his parents' efforts to "try to stop him from going on computers," which were obviously not successful. For the suspect in this case, who has not been confirmed as the same person, that won't be an issue: After entering this plea, he was remanded to a youth detention center.
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It’s not often that a rapper goes to bat for a video game developer after a disgruntled fan base enacts gross harassment, but not all rappers are built like T-Pain.
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Overclockers may want to start getting excited about what's to come with Intel's Raptor Lake CPUs. I'm told by someone very familiar with the upcoming 13th Gen chips, Marcus Kennedy, GM of gaming at Intel, that the company expects "a lot of world records to fall," when these 13th Gen chips launch on October 20.
There's a ton of headroom in these bad boys.
Marcus Kennedy"We know that there's a ton of headroom in these bad boys, so you'll be able to crank it as high as you want, as long as you've got the thermals, as long as you've got the right cooling, we expect a lot of world records to fall," Kennedy tells me at a recent event at Intel's Haifa lab.
Leading the pack is the Core i9 13900K, which is a chip that will reach 5.8GHz out of the box. That's a 600MHz uplift over the Core i9 12900K, but even with that improvement Intel says 6GHz should be on the table for many. So why has Intel left headroom on the table with these chips? Kennedy tells me it's because overclocking was a key consideration.
"We chose not to eat significantly into our overclocking headroom because we know the overclocking community really appreciates that. And so we like to look at our products and make product decisions based on the way it's going to impact the community. So we think that, even with the performance we're getting out of it, could we get more performance by eating into overclocking? Sure, but then you have a worse overclocking experience."
I'm sure one other reason for the decision is that Intel plans to release an Intel Core i9 12900KS that will gobble up that headroom and hit 6GHz out of the box, but sadly Intel has only the slightest hint of what's to come on that front. During his keynote at Intel Innovation today, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger confirmed "limited volumes" of a chip that can hit 6GHz out of the box coming early next year. No prizes to whoever guesses what that chip is.
The current record for CPU frequency is 8,722.78MHz, and that was managed with an AMD FX-8370 running under liquid nitrogen. That was also set eight years ago, so these records tend to stick around for a long time. Remember the chip has to boot in order to make it into the record books.
I'm sure that the Core i9 13900K will get close to the realms of the current world record, at least. The reason I'm sure of that is because, while I was at Intel's labs, the team there overclocked a chip live in front of us to a top speed of 8.1GHz. Reportedly the best clock speed they managed that same day was 8.2GHz—so close yet so far from the record. But hey, that's a score in at least the top 50 on HWBot. The images on this page are of those very attempts, in fact.
(Image credit: Intel)And the Core i9 13900K is by far the most modern chip to get anywhere up to that sort of speed—an old Celeron stands a better chance of reaching records than most modern chips. These older chips come from a different era for chipbuilding, and it's tough to compare an old Celeron or Pentium to those today. For one, the Celeron and Pentium brands no longer exist.
That's why it's good to check out CPU overclocking records ordered by CPU generation. For comparison, the Alder Lake Core i9 12900KS has been logged at 7.6GHz on HWBot by user LUCKY_NOOB. That's the world record with all the chip's cores active. With only eight P-cores enabled, overclocker Splave hit a whopping 7.8GHz. Though that's considered a different league ranking due to the disabled cores.
But Intel did say it found the shiniest of golden samples to hand to its overclocking team to ruin with LN2, in the name of overclocking. It's very possible that some samples won't get anywhere over 8GHz, even at temperatures of -190°C, but there may also be some that will take to overclocking like Pat Gelsinger to a pushup.
The world record books are definitely going to be something to watch over the next few months.
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Inside of me are two wolves: the Gundam superfan and the year one Overwatch enjoyer. Gundam Evolution has thrown these dormant forces into tragic conflict, clashing beam sabers in a pitched battle for supremacy over my mind. There’s no getting around it—this is Gundam: Overwatch, with every mode, mobile suit, map, mechanic, and idea here derivative of Blizzard’s FPS.
After a few days of playtime, I can glibly report that Gundam Evolution doesn’t make you feel like you’re piloting a Gundam (if you’re looking for a nauseatingly faithful Gundam game, you’re better holding out for Gundam: Battle Operation 2 dropping later this year), but it nonetheless excels as a hero shooter, even if some of the series’ identity has been lost in the translation from anime to live service game.
My experience with Gundam goes back decades. I’ve seen almost every Gundam show, read most of the spin-off manga and novelizations, and if you showed me a random mobile suit, I’d probably be able to tell you what show it's from, if not the specific episode. If you’re unfamiliar with Gundam, think Heinlein’s Starship Troopers novel with giant robots and some Freudian political drama. Gundam’s deeply interpersonal, anti-establishment stories have always translated awkwardly to action games. Gundam Evolution's not the immersive, next-gen simulation fans have been holding out for for decades, but that it manages to channel even a bit of that frenetic energy on its own merits is a significant break from depressing tradition.
There’s a real toybox quality to Gundam Evolution that can’t be understated here. There are very few hitscan weapons, the sound effects are all lifted right from the anime (the bassy "ka-chung" of the Zaku II’s monoeye zoom sounds chillingly good), and the swelling orchestral score really hits the Gundam Unicorn pleasure centers in my brain.
The action is smooth and tight, often requiring leading your shots with powerful beam rifles and sputtery machine guns. And goddamn, getting fifteen kills with the brutally oppressive Sazabi as the match goes into overtime feels just as good as those blitzkrieg payload runs from early Overwatch. On a good run I don't feel like I'm in the cockpit, but I do feel like I've possessed the body of an ace pilot who is, and that’s a powerful high in its own right.
Gundam Evolution pulls from both Overwatch and Titanfall 2, with recharging dashes, abilities on cooldown, and familiar lane-based map design and objective game modes. A motley crew of giant robots pulled from different Gundam shows comprise the "hero" lineup. There are no-brainer picks, like:
- The iconic RX-78-2 from the 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam (which you may have seen walking around at the last olympics)
- Gundam Unicorn (yes, another life-size statue in Japan. There are three.)
- Gundam Barbatos, a cat-like, demonically inspired glass-cannon from the recent Iron-Blooded Oprhans
There are also some truly deep cuts:
- The Pale Rider (a Gundam possessed by a psychic ghost)
- Dozle Zabi’s Zaku II Praetorian Guard, who did as Praetorian Guard do by letting their boss die alone
- The bizarre, alien-looking Syd Mead-designed Mahiroo and Turn-A Gundam
My personal favorite so far is the Asshimar, a quirky little cyclopian hamburger-shaped transforming mobile suit that balances damage-over-time incendiary grenades with a punchy burst fire rifle, able to effectively dive in and out of battle by briefly transforming like a 40-ton McDonald’s toy.
The lineup broadly mirrors Overwatch archetypes of DPS, tank, healer, etcetera: The Pale Rider is a half-and-half blend of Tracer & Soldier 76, with a crunchy short-range SMG that mulches enemy suits and easily clears objectives. The RX-78-2 plays like McCree, plinking targets at mid-range and doling out close range stun attacks with a very '70’s mecha ball and chain. The Sazabi definitely feels closest to its on-screen counterpart in Char’s Counterattack, a deceptively fast technical tank with monstrous defense that specializes in area denial and objective holding. The Sazabi can shut down a whole lane by itself, exactly as I'd expect it to do.
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)Unsurprisingly, there are a few mobile suits don’t totally feel like accurate or soulful representations of their show counterparts (the TV series cannon fodder GM is a lot more durable than I think most fans would expect), and there’s a real tonal disconnect from the often somber source material. It’s a little odd to play a Gundam game where you’re celebrating getting kills. Most jarringly, the Turn A Gundam's godlike "send human civilization back to the neolithic period" Moonlight Butterfly ability from the show has been replaced with a laughably weak damage over time aura. These are the unwieldy contradictions that Gundam games have always tripped up on, and there’s no getting around the irony that comes from gleefully unloading Turn A’s unearthly weaponry for the noble cause of "Capture Point B."
Presentation is the real stumbling point for Gundam Evolution: it nails the shooting but there's no real sense of scale outside of some decorative construction equipment and military vehicles inside of spawn. The maps too lack distinction. "Defense Ministry" resembles a futuristic warehouse more than any government building I’ve ever seen, with samey space industrial tilesets giving way to samey moon craters and landing pads.
This lack of distinctiveness is a real drag, not just when viewed in contrast to Overwatch’s maps that are bursting with personality, but also when contrasted against some of the incredible locations seen throughout the anime. Fighting in the wreckage of, or even inside of a space colony plunging through Earth's atmosphere seems like a no-brainer, as does a bomb defusal in the confines of a secret underground base.
Another thing that Gundam Evolution really leaves me wanting is that inside-the-cockpit immersion. Compared to Titanfall 2’s titan combat, Gundam Evolution gives me a real "guys in Gundam costumes" vibe. Titanfall 2’s presentation, with the detailed cockpit HUD, visual artifacting when a shell pings off your hull, the motion sway and variable roar of turbines and the ear-splitting grinding of steel on asphalt as you skate between low rise buildings—these all massively amplify the sense of latent weight and power in your machine, something sorely missing from the ace pilot fantasy Gundam Evolution is peddling.
It’s a sorry state of affairs when a six-year-old game’s killstreaks are giving me a more immersive first-person mecha experience than a brand new Gundam game.
Despite these presentation trip-ups, there’s a very specific feeling that Gundam Evolution ends up channeling. In Zeta Gundam’s final episode, there’s a climactic dogfight in the barrel of a space colony-sized laser weapon. Char Aznable gets caught in a high octane deathmatch with two other high performance mobile suits, his mech picked apart until it’s just barely holding together. Time is running out, the whole chamber begins radiating as the laser charges up, and Char readies himself for another round, gritting his teeth and growling "Not yet! I’m not done yet!" Those moments of white knuckle skill and hot blooded determination in the face of overwhelming odds are, to me, the essence of Gundam.
For all of Gundam Evolution’s stylistic shortcomings, it does something no other Gundam game has successfully done. For a brief, fleeting moment, once a match when the stakes are high, you feel like Char Aznable. If it had the confidence to lean its source material more, I think Gundam Evolution could really prove to be a persistent needle in Overwatch 2’s side.
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Valve is making some changes to its seasonal Steam sales that will see Lunar New Year sales dropped, and a new, major Spring Sale event added in its place.
Steam has traditionally had major sales in summer, fall (paired with Black Friday), and winter, but spring has always been a little different. Rather than a traditional sale, the passing of winter has brought us a "Spring Cleaning Event" over the past several years, which was more of a "let's do something about your ridiculous backlog before the Summer Sale kicks off" kind of thing than a regular, seasonal sale. There was actually no spring-specific event at all this year: Instead, we had the Going Rogue event in the first week of May, and the Racing Fest in the last week.
Under this new system, the second-best season of the year will finally take its proper place amongst the Steam sale big boys. Valve said the new Spring Sale will be similar to the other seasonal sales, and that developers can expect similar levels of support from Steam in making it happen.
"The addition of a Spring Sale was a popular request from our developer and publisher community," Valve said. "It will allow us to create more space between our four major seasonal sales and provide more opportunities throughout the year for developers to expand and execute their discounting calendar."
Here's the updated calendar for the next three seasonal Steam sales:
- Autumn Sale: November 22-29
- Winter Sale: December 22-January 5
- Spring Sale: March 16-23
The Autumn and Winter Sales are right on schedule, while the Spring Sale will arrive in March, right around the time of the JRPG sale that landed earlier this year.
As for why Valve decided to drop the Lunar New Year Sale, which it launched in 2016 "to celebrate the influx of game developers and customers from territories like Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and South Korea," the reason is simple: It's just too damn close to the big Winter Sale blowout. The 2021 Steam Winter Sale, for instance, ended on January 5; the 2022 Lunar New Year Sale followed just three weeks later, on January 27.
"We think many publishers will still opt to discount games around the Lunar New Year holiday, using the custom discount tools," Valve said. "But we suspect customers will be better served by a little bit more time between the big Steam-wide seasonal sales."
To stay up to speed on all the upcoming Steam sales that we know about, be sure to keep an eye on our running list of Steam sale dates.
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As part of Overwatch's transition into a free-to-play game with its sequel, Overwatch 2 will have restrictions on new players to help prevent cheating and "disruptive players," Blizzard wrote in a blog post today. Most notably, new accounts, which have never played the original game before, will have to earn access to most of its game modes and heroes.
Fresh accounts that start with Overwatch 2 will have "access to a limited set of game modes, heroes, and some other restrictions to onboard them more gradually," Blizzard wrote. The first phase of the "First Time User Experience" will unlock game modes and in-game chats and then you'll unlock the original cast of Overwatch heroes "over the course of approximately 100 matches."
To be clear, this first-time player progression seems to be separate from Overwatch 2's upcoming battle pass, which will also ask players to grind through 55 levels to unlock a new hero (or pay $10 to get them immediately).
Blizzard said "most" game mode restrictions are lifted if you play in a group, but the game's ranked competitive mode will be locked until you've won 50 Quick Play matches first—previously you had to hit level 25.
All accounts will require a phone number for SMS verification to play the game at all. Blizzard hopes it will prevent banned accounts from returning to the game and the added layer two-factor security should help protect accounts from being stolen.
The company also announced that it will increase its efforts to find "disruptive behavior" through voice chat transcriptions, much like Riot does with Valorant. Blizzard will convert the reported audio to text and run it through its "chat review tools," that include machine learning, and determine if it's actionable. It will then delete the text file "no later than 30 days after the audio transcription." Voice chat data from matches isn't stored very long, so Blizzard urges you to report players as soon as you can.
The blog post details a broad initiative to collate "anti-tamper, anti-cheat, and anti-reverse-engineering technologies," from Activision Blizzard and its external partners, as well as other small changes to the game that could help alleviate harassment and hate speech, like removing rank icons in the pre-match competitive screen and deleting the general chat from the main menu.
Overwatch 2 will replace the original game when it launches next week on October 4.
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We've been waiting a long time for this. Intel has finally unveiled the release date and price of its upcoming Arc A770 graphics card: October 12 and $329.
Intel told us it would be competitive on price for its upcoming A770 and A750 graphics cards, and it looks to be for at least the A770. The A750 price is not known yet.
Since the A770 is reportedly going to face off against the RTX 3060 in performance—Intel says it will be a match or better in at least DX12 and Vulkan games—that price makes a lot of sense. It's actually the exact same MSRP as Nvidia's popular budget GPU, though Intel holds that no RTX 3060s are actually available for that price, instead noting a price around $418 for that card.
Intel did previously tell me we'd see "a card that's faster than the [RTX] 3060 at prices that are lower." That's got to be the A750, then, as Intel did say that should compete with the RTX 3060 and perhaps beat it on some occasions. The A750 should be priced lower than the RTX 3060, too, but again we haven't heard confirmation on the price of that card. I sure hope Intel can keep that promise, anyways.
After a look around on a couple of retailers just now, I'm inclined to agree that Nvidia's card doesn't sell close to its MSRP (at least for a brand new model rather than open box). Though you can at least find them for a touch cheaper than mentioned, like this MSI model for $410.
But point made, Intel. If it can stick to that price and maintain a steady supply of cards (which it says it has plenty of, but will roll out gradually), it may well prove a decent card for gamers on a slimmer budget.
It's going up against AMD at this price, however, and the RX 6600 launched for roughly the same price but is often found for less today. That Radeon card tends to slip behind the RTX 3060 in our testing, but it sounds like Intel's A770 performance will really depend on the API you choose.
(Image credit: Intel)In Vulkan and DX12, Intel appear confident of the A770's performance. But in DX11 and older APIs, not so much. At least with ray tracing games, Intel appears super confident of the A770's ability. Heck, it even states a 65% "peak performance" improvement versus "the competition" (assumedly the RTX 3060) in ray tracing.
Though who can say if Intel's third-party models will also hit that $329 price tag. Intel's only confirming here the A770 Limited Edition model MSRP, which is a model of card that it is producing under its own brand rather than relying on AIBs to do it. So far we don't know which partners Intel has scored for its upcoming first-generation Arc GPUs, but we know it has at least spoken to a few. ASRock has produced an A380 GPU, which was Intel's first, and very low-end, discrete GPU out of the gate, so perhaps ASRock will take it up on the A7 cards, too.
Admittedly, there are still a few unknowns regarding Arc—most of all performance outside of Intel's own labs. Thankfully, as Pat notes during Intel Innovation, Intel A770 cards are headed out to reviewers, including yours truly, so I'll have that info to share with you closer to that October 12 release date. Stay tuned.
Chess explodes as world champion accuses opponent of cheating
in Gaming News
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The chess world has spent the month of September embroiled in what is already one of the biggest cheating scandals in the venerable game's history. The story began at the Sinquefield Cup tournament, in which the young American player Hans Niemann had a wild card entry and was drawn against world champion Magnus Carlsen in the third round. The 19 year-old Niemann, in a tremendous upset, won the match.
Shortly afterwards, Carlsen withdrew from the tournament. He posted a meme of football coach Jose Mourinho saying "I prefer really not to speak. If I speak I am in big trouble..." But the news quickly spread through rumours and proxies like American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura: Carlsen believed Niemann had cheated. But he didn't come out and say so. The British grandmaster Nigel Short described the situation, not unfairly, as "death by innuendo" for Niemann, who nevertheless defended himself robustly.
Things ticked along before coming to a head when Carlsen was drawn against Niemann in an online tournament, and resigned after one move, leaving the game immediately afterwards. This gesture of contempt whipped the speculation about Niemann into a frenzy.
Now Carlsen has moved from innuendo to outright accusation. The Norwegian world champion has accused Niemann of frequently cheating, and says he won't play against him again.
"I know that my actions have frustrated many in the chess community. I’m frustrated. I want to play chess at the highest level in the best events," Carlsen's statement reads.
"When Niemann was invited last minute to the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, I strongly considered withdrawing prior to the event. I ultimately chose to play. I believe that Niemann has cheated more—and more recently—than he has publicly admitted."
When defending himself previously, Niemann has admitted to cheating twice: once as a 12 year-old and once when he was 16. He says he has never cheated on an over-the-board game.
"His over-the-board progress has been unusual," Carlsen continues, "and throughout our game in the Sinquefield Cup I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions, while outplaying me as black in a way I only think a handful of players can do. This game contributed to changing my perspective."
"We must do something about cheating, and for my part going forward I don’t want to play against people that have cheated repeatedly in the past, because I don’t know what they are capable of doing in the future.”
Carlsen describes cheating in chess as "an existential threat to the game" and calls on the game's various organisers and governing bodies to improve cheating detection in over-the-board games.
The world champion goes on to say that he won't play against Niemann again. "So far I have only been able to speak with my actions, and those actions have stated clearly that I am not willing to play chess with Niemann. I hope the truth on this matter comes out, whatever it may be."
Chess.com has also turned against Niemann, banning him from the platform and the events it organises. IM Danny Rensch said in a statement earlier in September that "We have shared detailed evidence with [Niemann] concerning our decision, including information that contradicts his statements regarding the amount and seriousness of his cheating on Chess.com."
This supposed evidence may lie behind Carlsen's rather odd ending to his accusation, which reads: "There is more that I would like to say. Unfortunately, at this time I am limited in what I can say without explicit permission from Niemann to speak openly."
I mean, he's the world champion and he's just accused a young opponent of cheating. It's hard to think of why he may be holding back solid proof, if such exists, unless he wants to give Niemann the chance to confess before being damned.
Some elements of the chess world have responded positively to Carlsen's statment, such as Indian grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly.
However there is also considerable support for Niemann, given the lack of evidence and part of Carlsen's argument being essentially that 'he played way better than I thought he could'.
Niemann has been silent since Carlsen's statement. His previous defences have been robust: "I have never ever in my life cheated in an over-the-board game. I do not want any misrepresentation. I am proud of myself that I learned from that mistake and now have given everything to chess. I have sacrificed everything for chess and I do everything I can to improve."
Niemann also claimed he'd been lucky in guessing the opening Carlsen would use in their Sinquefield Cup game, and doubtless improved the Norwegian's mood by adding: "It must be embarrassing for the world champion to lose to me. I feel bad for him."
This situation has an awful lot of smoke but, even now, there's no definitive proof of a fire—even though for many chess fans Carlsen's word will be enough. The story has acquired a tremendous amount of media traction, sadly in part thanks to absurd claims such as Niemann using anal beads to cheat (there is absolutely no proof of this), and fits into a long history of cheating scandals around the game of kings.
"So the old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity," Nigel Short mused to the BBC. "Well, I don't subscribe to it 100%—but there is always something in that."
That old adage is certainly getting a workout. I've contacted Hans Niemann for comment and will update with any response. Deservedly or no, 'damned by innuendo' is right.
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