The most exciting part of reviewing PC hardware is looking at brand new products from a fresh new company. Levelplay debuted its cooling line at Computex 2024, so its products are very new to the market. Today we get our first look at one of the company's AIO coolers, the Combat Liquid 360 HUD, equipped with a 360mm radiator, RGB fans, and an LCD screen, or you could say… a Heads-Up Display! 

Features:

• Integrated 2.6″ circular display: Combat Liquid 360 HUD is equipped with a built-in HUD, providing real-time system info like CPU temperature, power draw, usage rate, and clock speeds directly on the pump cap mounted LCD.
• Jet impingement pump technology: Levelplay AIOs use a high-velocity coolant flow pumped directly onto the cold plate to improve thermal transfer from the CPU.
• Rigid All-in-one fan design: Three 120mm ARGB fans are encased in a unified frame design, pre-installed to the cooler for less cable clutter and maximum airflow.
• Engineering designed to last: Durable metal brackets support installation on AMD and Intel desktop platforms while reinforced rubber tubing with braided sleeving allows for maximum flexibility, leak protection and a clean look.

Specifications:

• CPU Socket Compatibility: Intel LGA1851 / LGA1700, AMD AM5 / AM4
• Radiator Material: Aluminium
• Radiator Dimensions: 397 x 120 x 27mm
• CPU Block/Pump Dimensions: 89 × 80 × 64 mm
• Pump Speed: 800 ~ 3000 RPM ± 10%
• Cold Plate Material: Micro-Skived Copper
• Pump Connector: 4-Pin PWM / 9-Pin USB (LCD)
• Fan Dimensions: 360 × 120 × 25.5 mm
• Fan Speed (PWM): 800 ~ 2000 RPM ± 10%
• Fan Static Pressure: 2.1mm H20 (max)
• Fan Airflow: 71 CFM (Max)
• Fan Noise: 6 ~ 36 dBA
• Fan Connector: 4-Pin PWM / 3 Pin 5V ARGB
• LCD Screen: 2.6-Inch Segmen LED screen
• Warranty: 3 Years

Levelplay ships the Combat Liquid 360 HUD in a cardboard box with an image of the cooler and Combat logos on the front. On the back, some key features are listed with images. Inside the box, the contents are packed into a cardboard crate for protection during shipping. The cooler is wrapped in plastic, and the accessories are included separately in a smaller box.

The included fans are mounted in a single-frame design to reduce cable clutter and feature a PWM speed range of 800-2000 RPM. The opaque fan blades illuminate with ARGB lighting once the cooler is powered on, and a single cable connects from the centre, featuring standard 4-pin PWM and 3-pin ARGB connections.

The Combat 360 HUD uses a standard 27mm thick aluminium radiator with 12 waterways and a dense fin pitch with fixed position tubing at the radiator tank. The radiator is coated with a slightly textured, satin black finish that appears high-quality. The tubing is fitted with premium-looking braided sleeving.

For an LCD-equipped pump, the Levelplay Combat Liquid 360 HUD is a compact unit, with dimensions of 89 x 80 x 64 mm with the screen housing installed. The screen housing is attached to the pump body magnetically and can be easily removed and rotated so that the display can always be mounted in the correct orientation.

Tubing is flexible EPDM rubber connected to the CPU block on 90-degree rotary fittings. At the base of the CPU block, the cold plate is manufactured from micro-skived copper. Wiring to the pump is standard 4-pin PWM, and the LCD connects to the PC motherboard via a 9-pin USB header connection.

In terms of included accessories, all installation hardware for current AMD and Intel platforms is shipped with the cooler. There is also a small tube of thermal compound, as there isn't any pre-applied to the cold plate and a thermal paste spreading tool. A physical copy of the installation guide is included too, which I prefer to digital versions that seem to be more common these days.

The post Levelplay Combat Liquid 360 HUD AIO CPU Cooler Review first appeared on KitGuru.

For pretty much its entire existence, Call of Duty has operated using a familiar model, with the FPS franchise seeing a brand new title released on an annual basis from one of the 3 core COD studios. While this has worked in the past, Black Ops 7 seems to have been a breaking point for some. According to known insiders, Microsoft is now considering a major shake-up, including a standalone Zombies game.

As reported by known Call of Duty leaker TheGhostofHope, an internal delay of the next-gen Xbox console from Microsoft has “hurt a lot of CODs marketing plans as they wanted Modern Warfare 4 to be a launch title and draw a lot of hype to compete with people's attention alongside GTA VI.”

According to Hope, this has led to “the idea of two Call Of Duty games launching with the next Xbox” being considered – namely “a traditional Call of Duty multiplayer and a standalone Zombies title presumably developed by Treyarch.”

Alongside this, Microsoft is reportedly wanting “Activision to be more agile and less attached to annualized releases in the future,” with one example of its failings being the lack of evolution in MW2’s DMZ extraction mode due to it being attached to an annual COD entry.

Of course, Microsoft and Xbox are in a weird spot at the moment, so these plans could be altered or changed at any point.

Still, considering just how rigidly the franchise has stuck to its annual releases up until now, it would be interesting to see what Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games could achieve if given enough time and freedom. Hopefully we find out.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this leak? Would you welcome a shift in strategy? Between a standalone DMZ and Zombies game, which would you prefer? Let us know down below.

The post Insider claims Call of Duty could see a massive shake-up including no more annual releases first appeared on KitGuru.

The past year has been a big one for Ubisoft, with the publisher going through a ton of changes on an executive and strategic level. So far this has primarily led to a bunch of negative news, with countless project cancellations, lay-offs and more. Following the departure of the long-time Assassin’s Creed franchise boss Marc-Alexis Côté late last year, Ubisoft have now shared an official “Update on the Future of Assassin’s Creed.”

Taking to Reddit to make the announcement, the official AC team at Ubisoft detailed the future of the Assassin’s Creed franchise in the wake of these most recent shake-ups, stating:

“We know that what comes next has been a big topic within the community lately, and today, we can finally share some updates, starting with the introduction of newcomers to the leadership team that will shape the future of the franchise.”

As mentioned, Marc-Alexis Côté – who had been working on the AC franchise for the past two decades – was announced to be departing Ubisoft back in October of last year. Since then, the franchise’s future has been somewhat unknown.

Now however, the publisher officially unveiled Assassin Creed’s new leadership team – comprising of a “trio of experts of the series”:

• Martin Schelling (Head of Brand)
  • Leading the “franchise team, as well as the overall strategy, long‑term vision, and development of Assassin's Creed”
• Jean Guesdon (Head of Content)
  • Will lead “the creative direction of the franchise, support ongoing projects, and help shape the franchise’s future while ensuring it remains true to its DNA”
• François De Billy (Head of Production Excellence)
  • Tasked with “strengthening production practices and execution across the franchise”

Being one of Ubisoft’s biggest franchises, the publisher already had a solid half-a-dozen entries in development in one form or another. With some of these having reportedly since been cancelled, it will be interesting to see how this new trio navigate the future of the AC franchise. Additional details on each of these new heads can be found HERE.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this new team? Are you more or less confident in Assassin’s Creed following this announcement? Is the franchise’s best days behind it? Let us know your thoughts down below.

The post Ubisoft offers update on “the Future of Assassin’s Creed” first appeared on KitGuru.

Apple is apparently planning another strategic adjustment to its premium models in order to further strengthen momentum in key markets. According to reports from Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman’s sources, the company is considering a deep red color variant for the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. The move would not be purely […]

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Anyone who has ever tried to wake up an electric car with conventional LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cells at a fast charger in winter knows the misery: the charging curve resembles a flatline, and the range melts faster than the ice on the windshield. But while we in the West are still philosophizing about lithium […]

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Sometimes I feel like the software department in Redmond is like a giant ocean liner trying to turn around in a bathtub. While the marketing team tirelessly proclaims the next “AI era,” the engineers at the grassroots level are struggling with what I like to call “digital dry rot”: legacy issues, some of which date […]

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The debate surrounding a legal age limit for social networks is gaining momentum in Germany. After the SPD had been calling for a social media ban for children under the age of 14 for some time, the CDU has now also passed a resolution to this effect at its party conference in Stuttgart. According to […]

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Google has postponed the planned discontinuation of POP3 import for external email accounts and the Gmailify feature in the web version of Gmail, granting users an extended transition period. Originally, the integration of external email accounts via POP3 was supposed to be discontinued in January. Now, new users can still use the feature until the […]

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Let’s forget for a moment the familiar whirring of stepper motors and the sluggish gliding of print heads. While we in the consumer sector are still arguing about Core-XY kinematics and acceleration values, researchers at Tsinghua University in China have opened a door behind which mechanics simply disappear as a limiting factor. We are talking […]

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There are moments in the laboratory when you have to admit that even experience, measurement methods, and a well-stocked shelf of thermal interface materials cannot save the day. Normally, I find the cause, take measurements, optimize, replace pads, vary the contact pressure, or get to the bottom of the problem with a microscope and measurement […]

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A demo of the immersive XR game will be playable this year at special public events.

Pixelity Inc., developers of Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections, announced that a demo of the game will be playable throughout the year at live events all around the world.

The game has thus far only been playable to an extremely small segment of the public. In December, it was playable at a limited event spanning three days in Tokyo, then at a one-day event in California. In order to try the game, applicants needed to apply through Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections' X account and be selected to participate. More recently, the demo was playable for lucky lottery winners who attended the Evangelion 30th Anniversary Event, which just wrapped up.

Supporting both VR and mixed reality gameplay, Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections is the first installment in a planned trilogy that aims to cover all 26 episodes of the TV series. The game will tell a new story from the perspective of an original protagonist who dreams of becoming a pilot, making connections between the anime's “key episodes” and the game's new characters.

“Players will enjoy the story set in the locations from the anime from their own perspective. Battles between Evangelions and Angels, various interactive elements, and engaging captivating storylines with original characters are also planned,” Pixelity noted in a press release.

Originally created by the filmmaker Hideaki Anno, and first airing in 1995, Neon Genesis Evangelion is a critically-acclaimed post-apocalyptic anime mech series focusing on the fight between NERV, a paramilitary group, and the Angels, otherworldly antagonists seemingly bent on humanity's destruction.

The anime series has been massively influential within and outside of its native Japan, expanding to manga, merchandise, anime retellings, video games and more. While the franchise has dabbled in VR before with Bandai Namco's 2017 release, Evangelion VR: The Throne of Souls, that arcade VR experience was only playable on-site at VR Zone locations in Japan. Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections is the first Evangelion VR/XR game designed for home use via consumer headsets.

News broke this week that a new Evangelion animated series is in production. The new series is being written by Yoko Taro, the unconventional video game creator most-known for Nier and Nier: Automata, in collaboration with Hideaki Anno's Studio Khara.

An Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections public demo is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2026. Specific platforms and release dates remain unconfirmed, and while no dates or details have yet been revealed regarding the aforementioned live events, Pixelity encourages anyone interested in trying the game to watch their official X account for announcements.

Styx: Blades of Greed brings back the cult stealth series after nine years, moving the infamous goblin to Unreal Engine 5 with larger, more vertical environments. In our performance review, we examine its graphical fidelity, VRAM usage, upscaling options, and how well it runs across a wide range of modern GPUs.

The first of Steam's triannual showcases of upcoming games is now live and features dozens of PC VR demos.

This is the first chance for many players to try popular upcoming titles for the first time like Beyond Frames' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City.

Some of the participating games released demos prior to the start of Next Fest, like Echoes of Mora, Alliance Tales: Battle For The Frontier, Birdseed VR, and How To God.

Please note that this list was provided two weeks ago by Valve and is subject to change. Developers can (and previously have) drop out of Next Fest if their demo is not ready or release a demo on short notice.

For now, here are the games we're aware of:

• Birdseed VR

• Alliance Tales: Battle For The Frontier

• Wingsuit: Romsdalen

• King Crab

• How To God

• Axiomatik

• Proton VR

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City

• Project Louisiana - The BOUNDS VR Demo

• Detective VR

• Echoes of Mora

• Artemis VR

• Scared By Squares

• Just One Man

• Confined: Leaving OKB-134

• Combat Pilot: Carrier Qualification

• La Royale: Below Deck

• That's My Tofu

• Tammuz: Blood and Sand

• Annulus

• Get Out

• The Amusement

• Orbital Overdrive

• Marrow Marrow

• Diorama Maker

• Gun X

• Subliminal

• Dream Corps

• Quantum Eye

• Isle of Food

• Full Steam Undead

• Ironforged

• Versus One

• DJ Lusty Beats

• The Gallery: VR Secrets

• Plug Priority

• Space Control

• Road To Yvhalon

• Enigmo

Steam Next Fest runs until 10am Pacific Standard Time on March 2nd.

This year's CES was pretty lean on exciting announcements, at least for enthusiats. Intel's Core Ultra 300 series, the chips codenamed Panther Lake, are pretty cool, but that was really about it. Next year is looking to be a lot more exciting, though. According to the latest rumors, Intel and AMD may be having a metaphorical knife fight at

In response to fan feedback, the new 'Survival Mode' allows players to play the game without the restrictions of the main campaign.

Neolithic Dawn, a survival game set in the neolithic era, started out in Early Access on Quest in June 2025 followed by PC VR in September. Both versions went to full release in December 2025.

The latest update from developer Neolithic LLC adds a fan-requested quick play 'Survival Mode' option. This new mode has every map unlocked and is free of any objectives and story-based missions to complete, designed for players looking for a more open, sandbox survival experience.

The update also expands the Saugeen Bluffs area, adds support for bHaptics vests, and improves the main menu interface and inventory system.

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We went hands-on during the Early Access period and had a mostly positive experience despite the bugs and jank to be expected in Early Access titles. In our hands-on piece, we said "Exploring the world is wonderful. Environments are vast and varied. There are moments of pure wonder and true terror."

Neolithic Dawn Hands-On: Survival Of The Fittest

VR survival game Neolithic Dawn recently entered early access on Quest.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

Neolithic Dawn is available now on Steam and Meta Quest for $19.99.

Wispr Flow, the popular dictation app that leverages AI, launched last year across Windows, Mac and iOS, and is finally coming to Android. The developers claim that it this isn’t just a straight port of what’s found on other platforms and that the team has gone to great lengths to create an experience that's “optimized for Android’s system-level

iOS users may already be aware of the commercial spyware dubbed Predator, but may not know exactly what it's capable. Fortunately, malware researchers Nir Avraham and Hu Ke have published a detailed write-up on how the Predator spyware works, including how "a single hook defeats both camera and microphone indicators simultaneously." The Predator

Iron Guard: Salvation, a VR sci-fi tower defense game, is launching on PlayStation VR2 in March.

Iron Guard: Salvation is a tower defense strategy game in which players must build and upgrade bases and weapons while managing resources and fending off waves of enemies in VR. A story-driven campaign mode offers a cinematic experience across 30 hand-crafted missions.

Iron Guard: Salvation is a direct sequel to Xlab Digital's Iron Guard, which first debuted in 2021 and was ported to PS VR2 last year.

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We previously reviewed Iron Guard: Salvation when it released on Quest, where our reviewer found it to be a strong tower defense game that might have benefitted from heavier implementation of RTS mechanics and inclusion of a multiplayer mode.

Iron Guard: Salvation launches March 5th on PlayStation VR2. It's out now on Quest and PC VR.

Enthusiast and frequent leak-spotter Gray (@Olrak29_ on Xwitter) spied a fresh job posting from Intel that's got the tight-knit community of hardware nerds buzzing with speculation on Chipzilla's plans. Intel's on the lookout for a Senior CPU Verification Engineer to join the team in Austin, Texas. Base pay kicks off at around $142K (the national

In case you have not heard, Netflix is planning to the pull the plug on streaming support for PlayStation 3 consoles. Same goes for legions of legacy TVs and older set-top boxes. Now, we're not here to drag Netflix over the coals for abandoning a 20-year-old console and other aging hardware, but with Sony estimated to have sold nearly 90 million

Apple confirmed its first big product event of this year as the company sent invites to press for a “special Apple Experience” taking place in New York, London, and Shanghai. However, this slate of product launches will be different from past ones, according to Bloomberg’s Apple insider Mark Gurman, who’s expecting a slew of new additions

Oh boy, here we go again. A supposed early retail listing for Grand Theft Auto VI, arguably (and not all that arguable, really) the most anticipated video game of all time, is causing a ruckus with a listed price of $124.19. It comes on the heels of speculation that GTA VI could break hit and surpass the $100 barrier, though before anyone

Intel has reportedly finalised the specifications for its long-rumoured “Bartlett Lake-S” Core 200E family of processors, a platform that's expected to use only P-cores for the ageing LGA-1700 socket.

Despite the gaming community calling for a P-core-only desktop chip, Intel might be skipping this market with Bartlett Lake-S.

The technical specifications leaked by Jaykhin (via VideoCardz) showcase a 12-core, 24-thread flagship dubbed the Core 9 273 PQE. This high-performance SKU features a base frequency of 3.4GHz and can reach a single-core boost of 5.9GHz, with an all-core boost of 5.3GHz. The processor is equipped with 36MB of L3 cache and a 32-EU integrated Xe-LP graphics engine, all while operating within a 125W TDP. The lineup is segmented into three distinct power tiers: the higher-end PQE (125W), the balanced PE (65W), and the efficiency-focused PTE (45W).

Across the stack, Intel reportedly offers configurations with 8, 10, and 12 P-cores, all of which feature Hyper-Threading. All high-power PQE models support Intel vPro and ECC memory, though these features are selectively omitted from certain lower-power PE and PTE variants to better align with specific price points. The detailed table shared by Jaykhin can be found below:

BTL-S P	Base Power (W)	Core Count	ST Boost (GHz)	MT Boost (GHz)	Base Clock (GHz)	EU Count	L3 Cache (MB)	vPro	ECC
273PQE	125	12	5.9	5.3	3.4	32	36	Yes	Yes
253PQE	125	10	5.7	5.3	3.5	32	33	Yes	Yes
223PQE	125	8	5.5	5.3	4.0	32	24	Yes	Yes
273PE	65	12	5.7	5.2	2.3	32	36	Yes	Yes
253PE	65	10	5.5	5.2	2.5	32	33	Yes	Yes
223PE	65	8	5.4	4.8	2.9	32	24	Yes	Yes
213PE	65	8	5.2	4.6	2.7	24	24	No	Yes
273PTE	45	12	5.5	4.6	1.4	32	36	Yes	Yes
253PTE	45	10	5.4	4.6	1.8	32	33	Yes	Yes
223PTE	45	8	5.4	4.8	2.3	32	24	Yes	Yes
213PTE	45	8	5.2	4.6	2.1	24	24	No	Yes

KitGuru says: Gamers have asked for a modern Intel CPU without E-cores, and the Bartlett Lake-S series offers just that. Unfortunately, we do not know if Intel will be serving the gaming market with this release.

The post Intel “Bartlett Lake-S” lineup reportedly leaks first appeared on KitGuru.

MSI has started teasing a limited-edition graphics card collaboration with the popular fantasy anime Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, signalling another high-profile crossover.

The announcement first appeared on MSI's official Chinese Bilibili accounts (via Ruby_Rapids), featuring imagery that confirms a partnership with the series' copyright holders. While the specific product has not been officially confirmed, MSI's history suggests the collaboration will likely centre on a graphics card.

If it's indeed a graphics card, it will likely be based on one of MSI's existing high-end cooling platforms, such as the Gaming series, though customised with unique artwork.

This follows a growing trend of anime-inspired hardware, such as the Asus x Hatsune Miku series, or before that, the Evangelion collaboration. US custom PC company, Starforge Systems, also built a Frieren-themed PC. While this specific MSI teaser was primarily aimed at the Chinese market, there is a chance that we'll see it in the West as well.

KitGuru says: If this collaboration does exist it will also be interesting to see if it ends up being region specific. 

The post MSI is teasing a collaboration with anime Frieren first appeared on KitGuru.