As a result of what appears to be disappointing sales for Treyarch’s latest Call of Duty Black Ops 7, Activision confirmed that they would no longer be doing back-to-back releases within the same sub-series. While we’ve already seen a solid number of leaks regarding next year’s COD MW4, details surrounding Sledgehammer Games’ 2027 project have now been revealed.

A shared by known Call of Duty leaker TheGhostofHope, 2027’s Call of Duty is set to be led by Sledgehammer Games. While they were most recently put in charge of Modern Warfare III, Sledgehammer are reportedly working on a brand new sub-series for 2027 “with completely new characters set in the late 1990s/early 2000s.”

Details beyond this are light, however, TheGhostofHope did claim that omni-movement (first seen in Black Ops 6 and refined in BO7) will make a return in 2027. Interestingly, other recent leaks have stated that next year’s Modern Warfare 4 from Infinity Ward WON’T feature omni-movement.

Going back to Sledgehammer’s COD however, Ghost also claimed that the much-loved pick-10 system seen in earlier Black Ops releases could make a return.

The final notable detail shared was the fact that it appeared as though the Zombies mode won’t be present in COD 2027. While this may disappoint some, it should allow for Treyarch to recoup and put all their focus on Black Ops 8 in 2029 or whatever it ends up being called.

While all Call of Duty studios have been victim to decisions made by high-up executives, Sledgehammer Games have historically been given the shortest end of the stick, being brought in to finish up troubled projects or forced to work on other sub-franchises. As such, here’s to hoping that the team’s next Call of Duty manages to stand on its own and allow Sledgehammer Games to flex their creative muscles.

KitGuru says: What do you think of the current state of COD? Are you glad to see them moving away from back-to-back Black Ops / Modern Warfares? What’s your favourite Sledgehammer game? Let us know down below.

The post Sledgehammer to develop new sub-series for COD 2027 according to insider first appeared on KitGuru.

Following half a decade of hype, excitement and anticipation, Hollow Knight: Silksong officially arrived in September with a level of interest so high that it temporarily broke pretty much all digital store fronts. Amassing over 500,000 concurrent players on PC alone, it was clear that Silksong had sold millions of copies already. That said, we now have official figures, with Team Cherry confirming that Silksong has so far surpassed 7 million copies.

As part of the surprise announcement for Hollow Knight: Silksong’s upcoming free expansion – Sea of Sorrow – Team Cherry confirmed that the game has already sold over 7 million copies, writing:

“We wanted to say a huge thank you to all the players who’ve braved Silksong’s distant and dangerous lands. That’s over seven million of you who’ve purchased the game, alongside millions more playing on Xbox Game Pass! It’s a truly staggering number of players, more than we could have ever expected (enough to crash all of the storefronts!)”

For context, the original Hollow Knight is confirmed to have sold over 15 million copies as of August 2025, meaning Silksong still has a ways to go to surpass its predecessor. That said, the first game had ‘only’ sold 2.8 million copies after over 2 years on the market.

With Silksong just a little over 3 months on from release, and plenty of post-launch support still planned, it would not be surprising to see the sequel surpassing the OG Hollow Knight – perhaps even by the time Sea of Sorrow releases next year.

KitGuru says: Are you one of the 7 million? Were you an OG Kickstarter backer? How long will it take Silksong to surpass Hollow Knight? Let us know your thoughts down below.

The post Hollow Knight: Silksong has already sold over 7 million copies first appeared on KitGuru.

The U97 PZ Powered by MSI prebuilt desktop from CyberPowerPC is quite possibly the cleanest system we’ve ever had on the bench. Built around MSI’s Project Zero ecosystem, with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and a Project Zero RTX 5070 Ti Ventus 3X OC, it hides the cables almost entirely and leans hard into a sleek, minimalist look. We’ve put it through its paces at both 1440p and 4K to find out whether that clean aesthetic is backed up by the performance you’d expect at this level.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
01:06 Pricing / Giveaway / Specs / Warranty
01:42 CPU
02:15 Graphics Card
02:50 Memory
03:42 Storage
04:07 Motherboard
04:40 Rear I/O
05:10 PSU
05:32 AIO Cooler / Fans
05:56 Case and I/O
06:36 Build Quality and Appearance
07:53 Pre-benchmark setup
08:38 Call Of Duty Black Ops 7
09:35 Cyberpunk 2077
10:36 Forza Horizon 5
11:20 Marvel Rivals
12:10 Black Myth Wukong
12:55 Gaming Thoughts
13:17 CPU and GPU Power and Thermals
14:32 Noise Testing
14:52 Worth buying? You can WIN this system!

Specifications:

• Case – MSI MAG Panoramic 130R Project Zero Gaming Case – White
• CPU – AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• CPU Cooling – MSI Coreliquid A13 360mm ARGB AIO
• Cooling Upgrades – Thermal Grizzly Premium Thermal Paste
• Motherboard – MSI B850 Gaming Plus WIFI PZ
• Memory – Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) 5600MT/s CL36
• Graphics Card – MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G Ventus 3X PZ OC
• PSU – MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850W
• Primary Storage – 2TB MSI M470 PCle 4.0 NVMe SSD
• Operating System – Windows 11 Home
• Warranty Service – DESKTOP STANDARD WARRANTY: 5 Years' Labour, 2 Years' Parts, 12 Months' Collect and Return plus Life-Time Technical Support

The core specs are confirmed in the following CPU-Z and GPU-Z screenshots:

We tested the U97 PZ across a range of modern titles at both 1440p and 4K, starting with native rasterised performance before enabling DLSS Super Resolution's Performance preset and, where supported, adding Frame Generation or Multi-Frame Gen. The screenshots below highlight a selection of results, while the full breakdown and on-screen analysis can be found in our video review on YouTube.

At 1440p, the system delivers consistently strong performance across all of the games we tested, with plenty of headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. Competitive titles in particular benefit from the pairing of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RTX 5070 Ti, while more demanding single-player games still run smoothly at native settings. Stepping up to 4K, performance remains solid, though the heaviest titles can dip below 60fps when running fully rasterised. Enabling DLSS and Frame Generation dramatically improves framerates, turning this into a very capable machine for both high-refresh 1440p gaming and more visually demanding 4K experiences without needing to compromise on settings.

Black Myth: Wukong (3840×2160 – Max Settings, DLSS Performance, Frame Generation On)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (3840×2160 – Max Settings, DLSS Performance, 4X Multi Frame Generation On)

Forza Horizon 5 (3840×2160 – Max Settings)

Cyberpunk 2077 (2560×1440 – Max Settings, DLSS Performance, 4X Multi Frame Generation On)

Marvel Rivals (2560×1440 – Max Settings)

Closing Thoughts

There’s a lot to like about the U97 PZ Powered by MSI. The Project Zero ecosystem is the clear highlight here, delivering one of the cleanest-looking prebuilts we’ve ever tested. Cable management is excellent, the overall presentation is superb, and CyberPowerPC has done a very tidy job with the assembly. It’s a system that looks genuinely special when you take the side panel off.

Performance backs that design up nicely, too. The pairing of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RTX 5070 Ti delivers excellent 1440p gaming performance across a wide range of titles, with enough headroom to step into 4K when paired with DLSS and Frame Generation. Thermals are well controlled under sustained load, and nothing about the configuration feels mismatched or under-specced for its intended use.

It’s not completely perfect, though. The memory configuration is functional rather than premium, with speeds and timings that are a little conservative for a system at this price point. That said, given the current state of the memory market, it’s an understandable compromise to keep overall pricing in check. Aesthetically, white memory modules would also have suited the rest of the build far better and completed the look MSI and CyberPowerPC were clearly aiming for.

Pricing is fair overall. Building a near-identical system yourself comes out slightly more expensive once Windows licensing is factored in, and that doesn’t account for the quality of the cable management, assembly, and after-sales support included here. Taken as a complete package, this is a very strong 1440p gaming system with standout design and sensible performance choices.

You can purchase the U97 PZ prebuilt desktop for £2249 from Cyberpower PC HERE. We will also be giving away this system as part of our Advent Calendar so stay tuned for more details!

Pros:

• Outstanding design and aesthetics thanks to MSI Project Zero components.
• Excellent 1440p gaming performance, with headroom for 4K in certain titles.
• Well built with very tidy cable management by CyberPowerPC.
• Fair pricing versus a comparable DIY build.

Cons:

• Memory speed and timings are a little conservative for the price.
• White memory modules would better suit the overall theme of the build.

KitGuru says: A superbly clean Project Zero prebuilt that pairs standout design with excellent 1440p gaming performance, fairly priced and well assembled. The only thing holding it back is the memory specifications, and even then it's only a slight downside.

The post CyberPowerPC PBM U97 PZ Prebuilt Desktop Review first appeared on KitGuru.

After nearly a decade stuck in development hell, the long awaited Dead Island 2 finally released thanks to the efforts of Dambuster Studios. Despite the long wait, interest did not dwindle, with the 2023 sequel going on to exceed 20 million total players. Though teased previously, a Dead Island 3 has now been officially confirmed.

Back in September, the team at Dambuster Studios celebrated Dead Island 2’s latest milestone achievement of surpassing 20 million total players, writing at the time “This isn’t the final cut though. Dambuster Studios are already carving out what comes next. For now, the details stay under wraps, the outbreak is far from over…”

While this was clearly hinting at a new Dead Island entry, we did not have official confirmation. As part of Dambuster Studios’ latest financial reports however (shared by Timur222), the company not only announced Dead Island 3, but offered a launch window, writing:

“After release of Dead Island 2 Ultimate Edition in October 2024, the primary focus for Dambuster Studios is now Dead Island 3. All developers are assigned to the project and once the Luna and Mac versions of Dead Island 2 are complete all of Dambuster's QA team will also be assigned to Dead Island 3.”

Offering even more on their current timeline, they continued, “Parts of the game are now in early production with feature, character, world and story design moving at pace. The current predicted release window for the project is Q1/2 2028.”

Given the fact that Dead Island 2 was clearly announced far too early back in the day, it perhaps makes sense that Dambuster would want to avoid making a big splash with Dead Island 3 until they are confident in its release. Hopefully we won’t have to wait another decade.

KitGuru says: What did you think of Dead Island 2? Was it a successful follow-up? Do you trust Dambuster to handle another entry? Let us know down below.

The post Dead Island 3 officially announced alongside 2028 release window first appeared on KitGuru.

GORN 2 received a new “dungeon brawler” mode in its winter-themed update on Quest, PC VR, and PlayStation VR2.

Now live on all platforms, GORN 2 is the comically over-the-top arena brawler where you battle the five sons of the God of the Afterlife after reaching your untimely demise. While the main campaign puts you into a series of arena fights as you defeat muscular gladiators, publisher Devolver Digital announced it's now received a dungeon crawler mode.

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Appropriately known as the 'Dungeon Brawler' update, this also comes with various winter-themed additions like icy floors, new dungeon hazards, and the ability to freeze enemies. New weapons include hockey sticks, icicle swords, ice arrows, pitchforks and more, while developer Cortopia also introduced a jump button to leap over enemies.

New story content is also promised and this dungeon crawler mode features 25 unique rooms, with the studio confirming player and weapon modifiers can be found as you progress. Additional missions are also available for unlocking the dungeon crawler weapons.

This joins a growing list of seasonally themed updates that GORN 2 has received. October's 'Fight of the Living Dead' update celebrated Halloween by letting you fight the undead, also adding a crossbow, scythe, and a Resurrection Spire. That was followed last month by 'Shanksgiving' with its timed-exclusive 'Turkey Hunt' game mode.

GORN 2 is available now on Quest, Steam, and PlayStation VR2.

GORN 2 Review: Familiar Action With Welcome Evolutions

GORN 2 offers a familiar but welcome sequel to the brutal VR arena fighter, and it’s out today on Quest and PC VR.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Designed in collaboration with the Susanto brothers, the ambidextrous Susanto-X features Pulsar's XS-1 sensor, optical main button switches, and wireless polling rates of up to 8000 Hz, all within a solid shell for a total weight of 50 g. Configuration is possible either through software or a web driver.

DrakkenRidge gets a free expansion tomorrow on Quest 3 and 3S, adding a new island, new enemies, and more.

Launched in September, DrakkenRidge is a retro-themed VR fantasy adventure that we favorably compared to old-school RuneScape in our impressions. As a Novice of the Mage Order, you're tasked with policing magic use across this land while exploring dungeons and solving puzzles. Now, it's receiving the Maruk's Hammer expansion as a free update.

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While the main game sees you exploring five unique islands across the DrakkenRidge archipelago, Maruk's Hammer introduces a distant Dwarven Island that's home to a mythical Forge. With the island under siege from mysterious invaders and an ancient threat, you must fend off this threat to help the Dwarves defend their home and save the Forge.

This occurs over a multistep main quest, with four new side quests also available. You can find two new weapons, such as the talking 'Void Whisper' sword that's possessed by an ancient evil. New elemental arrows can also be crafted, while new enemies in this expansion include a new Dragon, a Frost Howl, Battlemages, and Corrupted Paladins.

It's the biggest update DrakkenRidge has received since its September launch, and Garage Collective previously released four separate updates. Patch 1.3 added a new distance grab ability and the option to summon weapons by grabbing from over your shoulder, while last month's Inventory Update delivered a new inventory layout and auto-sorting ability.

DrakkenRidge is out now on Quest 3/3S, while the Maruk's Hammer expansion goes live tomorrow at 10am PT.

AMD has quietly expanded its graphics card lineup with the Radeon RX 9060 XT LP, essentially a lower power version of the regular Radeon RX 9060 XT for mid-range gaming PCs. From what we can tell, the specifications between and regular and LP models are virtual identical, save for a lower TBP (typical board rating) on the new LP variant. Both

In recent years we’ve seen a number of veteran developers and studio founders leave their long-standing occupations, either to pursue other endeavours or simply to retire. Following in the footsteps of Insomniac Games’ Ted Price earlier this year, Sucker Punch Productions co-founder Brain Fleming has now announced the end of his tenure at PlayStation.

Making the official announcement via a press release, Sony Interactive Entertainment confirmed that “After nearly three decades helping bring to life iconic franchises like Sly Cooper, inFAMOUS, Ghost of Tsushima, and Ghost of Yōtei, Brian Fleming has announced he’s passing Sucker Punch studio leadership on to a new generation.”

Though this comes as a surprise to many, efforts on handing over the reigns has apparently been going on for quite some time, with Sony adding: “Over the past year, Brian has worked closely with PlayStation Studios to ensure that Sucker Punch was in the best hands moving forward with a strong foundation for the studio’s continued success.”

Come the start of 2026, Sucker Punch will now be led by “longtime creative and technical leaders Jason Connell and Adrian Bentley” as part of a joint role (something which we have seen with other first-party PlayStation studios). That said, it seems Connell will also keep his role as co-creative director alongside Nate Fox.

As mentioned, this isn’t the first big PlayStation departure of the year, with Insomniac Games founder Ted Price leaving the studio back in January; likewise following 30 years of service. While these teams have been left in good hands following the retiring of their long-time leaders, it is bittersweet nonetheless to see another major figure leaving.

KitGuru says: What’s your favourite Sucker Punch game? Is the studio in good hands? Let us know your thoughts down below.

The post Sucker Punch Productions Co-Founder departs studio after almost 3 decades first appeared on KitGuru.

For Day 17 of the KitGuru Advent Calendar we have teamed up with Iiyama to give one lucky reader a new monitor upgrade! Today's prize is the Iiyama G-Master GCB3486WQSCP-B1, a 34-inch ultrawide gaming monitor with a blazing fast 240Hz refresh rate.

The Iiyama G-Master GCB3486WQSCP-B1 is a 34-inch curved ultra-wide gaming monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate. It features a VA panel with 3440×1440 resolution, HDR400 support, and FreeSync Premium for smooth, tear-free visuals. It even includes a USB-C dock with 95W power delivery and KVM switch, along with picture-by-picture and picture-in-picture modes, making it a great monitor for productivity as well as gaming.

How to Enter:

To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is head over to our competition announcement post on Facebook, HERE. In the comments, leave an answer to the following question – Have you used an ultrawide before?

This competition is open worldwide.

The winner will be picked randomly shortly after 11AM GMT December 18th, and a new competition will be announced for Day 18. The chosen winner has 48 hours to respond, if we do not hear from them, a new winner will be picked.

Terms and Conditions: This competition is open worldwide, starting at 11AM GMT on December 17th and ending at 10:59AM GMT on December 18th. Due to the busy Christmas season, prize deliveries could take longer than usual, and some prizes may not ship until January. In compliance with GDPR, we will not collect or store any personal information as part of this competition. Once the winner has been contacted and their prize received, personal details will be deleted from our email servers. Your details will not be shared, we respect your privacy.

KitGuru Says: Good luck to all who enter, we'll be back tomorrow morning to announce a winner and turn the calendar over to Day 18!

The post KitGuru Advent Calendar Day 17: Win an Iiyama ultrawide gaming monitor! first appeared on KitGuru.

The latest AI-based attempt to visually reinterpret The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is attracting attention and causing controversy within the gaming community. It is based on a video created by a single content creator that uses artificial intelligence to transform original footage from the game into a photorealistic representation. The aim of this experiment is […]

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Sharkoon has significantly expanded its current portfolio and has now introduced several new products that address both the classic gaming sector and the increasingly relevant office and home office sector. The new additions show a clear strategic focus on versatile usage scenarios, where ergonomic aspects, flexible connectivity and individual adaptability are paramount. The OfficePal C50 […]

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The Bavarian state government is being criticized for the planned awarding of an extensive IT framework agreement to Microsoft without prior tendering. The subject of the dispute is a multi-year enterprise agreement for the use of cloud and software services in public administration, the volume of which is expected to reach almost one billion euros […]

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A boom with an announcement: Google’s hunger for AI is giving MediaTek a firework display of orders that is not only shaking up its own balance sheet, but also the CWoS capacities at TSMC. While the world stares at Nvidia and its H100 clones, another chip offensive is running at full speed in the background: […]

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The dramatic price increases for DRAM, both DDR5 and GDDR6/6X, will cast a long shadow over the gaming PC market in 2025. Edward “Ed” Crisler, PR Manager at Sapphire, gets to the heart of the matter in the Hardware Unboxed podcast: “The current price trends are eating through all levels of GPU manufacturing like a […]

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The price development of the GeForce RTX 5070 series in Japan has changed significantly in just a few weeks and is increasingly attracting the attention of market observers and buyers. The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti in particular has recently seen an unusually rapid increase in street prices. Within just one week, the lowest available offer […]

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As a high-end motherboard for AMD’s AM5 platform, the ASRock X870E Taichi OCF is clearly positioned above the classic enthusiast segment and is aimed at users who are specifically looking for maximum electrical and signal reserve. With this model, ASRock consistently transfers the OC Formula concept to the X870E chipset and thus to the current […]

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The new ARCTIC MX-7 is a consistent further development of a paste series that has been shaping the market for many years in a rather inconspicuous but technically relevant segment. ARCTIC focused early on creating uncomplicated yet reproducible solutions for users who require reliable thermal bonding without having to deal with exotic formulations or short-lived […]

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Intel took the stage at the Barclays Global Technology Conference 2025 to dive deep into the company’s progress, challenges and strategic shifts. John Pitzer, Corporate Vice President of Corporate Planning and Investor Relations, provided a remarkably candid update on Intel’s manufacturing technologies, capacity planning and market positioning. The main focus was on the progress of […]

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The ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine not only has military and humanitarian consequences, but also raises legal questions about the responsibility of Western technology companies. Ukrainian civilians have filed lawsuits in the USA against several major semiconductor manufacturers because they believe that modern Western chips were used in Russian weapons systems that were […]

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AMS-IX is ending its business activities in the United States. According to the company, operations at the two US locations in Chicago and the Bay Area of California will cease on March 5, 2026. The Amsterdam-based operator is one of the world’s largest and oldest Internet Exchanges and had been active in the US since […]

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Internal documents from the South Korean memory manufacturer SK Hynix indicate that the supply situation for DRAM will remain tight until at least 2028. This primarily affects classic memory products for end users, including DDR4 and DDR5 for desktop and notebook systems as well as GDDR6 and GDDR7 for graphics cards. The analysis suggests that […]

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I’m taking today’s launch of the Arctic MX-7 at 2 p.m. (article in full depth only here, of course) as an opportunity to give you a brief, deliberately neutral impression, without anticipating the actual test, as this is not intended as an advertising text, but as a clean technical classification. What I can spoil about […]

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With the new ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB, ASUS is positioning itself clearly: this card is not a shiny status symbol for RGB fetishists or benchmark record hunters, but a sober tool for demanding gamers and creative users. The GPU is based on Nvidia’s latest Blackwell architecture and delivers what is required […]

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