The much-rumored HomePod with a display has been delayed again, claims analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, but will include Apple Intelligence when it launches.
An artist's rendition of a HomePod with a display
Claims of a HomePod with some kind of iPad-like screen affixed to it have been rumored for years, and most recently it's been referred to as a Home Hub. Kuo has repeatedly reported on its development, most recently claiming that it would be released in the first half of 2024.
"The mass production time of HomePod equipped with a screen has been delayed several times," writes Ming-Chi Kuoin his blog (in translation). "The first time was postponed from 2024... to 1Q25, and recently it was postponed to 2025 after WWDC/3Q25."
The Atom is a small yet mighty projector with great portability and ease of use.
Dangbei Atom Projector review
Projectors are inherently space-saving devices and are great to have in dorms, apartments, and other smaller living spaces. Mounting a TV is tiring, and it's difficult to manage when you're renting the wall it's on.
Dangbei was founded in 2013 and has been specializing in projectors since 2019.
Apple's macOS has been under siege in 2024 as malware-as-a-service platforms and AI-driven threats make the year a turning point for Mac security.
MacBook Pro
For years, macOS had a reputation for being malware-resistant, but 2024 has painted a different picture. A surge in malware targeting macOS users — fueled by the rise of malware-as-a-service (MaaS) platforms and even artificial intelligence — is changing that narrative.
Moonlock's 2024 macOS Threat Report reveals alarming trends that are turning Apple's platform into a lucrative target for cybercriminals. The report dives into the evolving tactics attackers are using, from cheap, plug-and-play malware kits to sophisticated AI-generated exploits that bypass key protections.
If you're an Apple Books user, the 2024 Year in Review is now available, which aggregates all of your reading data into a fun slideshow akin to Spotify Wrapped.
Apple Books 20204 Year in Review and collections
It's December, which means it's time for every app and service to take part in the social media hype of sharing year-in-reviews. Apple doesn't shy away from the trend, as it offers Apple Music Replay throughout the year and now the Apple Books review is available.
It's quite simple to get your Apple Books Year in Review. Just open the app and tap the green icon that says "Year in Review" under the "Top Picks" category.
Apple has released a new firmware update for its Beats Solo Buds, though there are currently no details as to what the software update contains.
Apple has released a firmware update for its Beats Solo Buds.
Tuesday's firmware update increases the build number to 3A130, up from version 3A112, which originally shipped with the Beats Solo Buds. While Apple has not provided any release notes for the firmware, the update likely includes various bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements rather than new features.
The Beats Solo Buds were originally announced in April 2024. They feature a custom acoustic architecture with nozzles and laser-cut vents made with ergonomics in mind. However, they notably lack the active noise cancelation found in products like the AirPods Pro 2.
Apple is using chips sourced from Amazon Web Services to handle searches, and it may also use them to pre-train Apple Intelligence AI models.
Apple Intelligence features may get trained with Amazon AI chips
It is common knowledge that large companies like Apple rely on external service providers when it comes to offering certain services. However, while it is expected for Apple to do so for tasks that don't have a level of privacy and security, it turns out that it is doing so for some of its machine learning features.
Revealed during the annual AWS Reinvent conference on Tuesday, Apple confirmed it is using Amazon's custom artificial intelligence chips, reportsCNBC.
2024 is coming to an end and Microsoft is looking to wrap up the year with a big wave of new titles for Game Pass. The big headliner this month is Machine Games' latest, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but there are a few surprises coming over the next few weeks too.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is launching on the 9th of December, promising an original story and smooth first-person gameplay. The game will be available to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers on day-one.
Here is the full list of titles hitting Xbox Game Pass this month along with dates and platforms:
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fuelled (Console) – December 4th
Forza Motorsport on Game Pass Standard (Xbox Series X/S) – December 4th
Hauntii (Console) – December 4th
Humanity (Console) – December 4th
EA Sports WRC (Cloud, Console and PC) – December 5th
Overthrown (Cloud, Console and PC) – December 5th
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Cloud, Console and PC) – December 9th
Wildfrost (Cloud, Console and PC) – December 10th
Carrion (Cloud, Console and PC) – January 2nd
Road 96 (Cloud, Console and PC) – January 7th
Those subscribed to the cheapest Game Pass Core subscription tier will get three more games this month too, including Crash Team Racing, DayZ and Goat Simulator.
KitGuru Says: Will you be installing any of this month's Game Pass titles?
Montech King 65 Pro Case Review & Benchmarks: Cable Management, Thermals, Noisejimmy_thangDecember 3, 2024
We review the Montech King 65 Pro’s build quality, value, design, thermals, and more
The Highlights
The Montech King 65 Pro shares tooling with the Montech King 95 Pro case before it
The King 65 Pro is not a great thermal performer
The actual core of the chassis is good overall
Original MSRP: $100
Release Date: October 14, 2024
Table of Contents
AutoTOC
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Intro
Today we’re reviewing the new $100 Montech King 65 Pro. The coolest feature of the case is its side-mount fan tray, which can be released with two screws and pivoted out for easy cable routing or fan and radiator installation. It’s well-designed so that the tray is loosely secured by the cable grommets, which use their chamfered edges to guide it into place in a way that almost feels like there’s a guide wheel.
This dual-chamber case comes with 3 pre-installed fans: 2x 140mm reverse blade ARGB side fans and 1x 120mm ARGB rear fan. Looking around the case, we can find remnants of the King 95. That’s because a lot of this case is the same, but cheaper.
Editor's note: This was originally published on October 14, 2024 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.
Credits
Test Lead, Host, Writing
Steve Burke
Testing
Mike Gaglione
Camera, Video Editing
Vitalii Makhnovets
Camera
Tim Phetdara Andrew Coleman
Writing, Web Editing
Jimmy Thang
But for those of you who have used the King 95, a lot of this case will be familiar: It’s intended to be a cheaper variation of the theme. There are some paneling changes, like the top panel, but a lot of the interior is familiar.
Because we never formally reviewed the King 95 as it was during our case benchmarking rework, we’ll treat this as the first look at both the 95 and 65 features and review it fully. Since there’s shared tooling, some of the discussion will apply to both.
Let’s get into the review.
Pricing & Alternatives
We’ll start with the competitors in this price range.
Currently, the King 95 Pro is $140 to $150, including its 6x ARGB fans. The non-Pro variant is the same case, but drops to 0 included fans and is currently around $110. At $100, the King 65 Pro swaps some panels but adds 3 fans back.
Somewhat confusingly, we found Montech’s own King 95 on Newegg for $90 at the time of writing this. They’re calling this a “holiday sale” -- it’s October 10th as we write this and we have absolutely no idea what holiday that is for, maybe “Newegg Needs Money Day,” but the point is that $90 makes it cheaper than the brand new King 65 Pro and may lead to some product cannibalism. Adding 3 fans wouldn’t be that expensive.
In price and ignoring form factor, the King 65 Pro competes with the Lian Li Lancool 207, the $80 case we just reviewed. The Lancool case is a more traditional design, while this is a dual-chamber fishtank, so they have different looks. Lian Li’s Lancool is an excellent thermal performer with some cable management challenges.
The SilverStone 514X is another case around $100 that the King 65 competes with on price, but is totally different on style.
The Phanteks XT Pro Ultra is $80 and comes with 4x 140mm fans in a standard form factor case as well.
As for actual style competition, the Lian Li Vision is currently $130 to $140 and doesn’t include fans, but would match for the general design.
Montech King 95 & King 65 Differences
The King 65 Pro adds a bolted-on front plastic piece to square out the front/bottom of the case. This is in contrast to the curved design of the King 95.
Aside from the glass, the top panel also features curved edges as compared to the King 65’s straighter-edge design. The King 65’s top and back side panel also features a more standard mesh ventilation as compared to the King 95’s Hyte-inspired sweeping design. The King 95’s ventilated side panel also features a built-in dust filter, whereas the King 95’s solution does not.
There are also differences between the fan hubs of both cases. The King 65 features 6 total connections whereas the King 95 Pro has 10 total ports.
Another difference includes the fact that there are rubber grommets within the King 95 Pro, which are absent from the King 65 Pro.
Montech King 65 Pro Build Quality & Panels
Those are the key differences. Now we’ll get into build quality and panels of the King 65. A lot of this discussion will also apply to the King 95.
Overall, panel construction quality is good on the King 65, but there are some caveats.
At Computex, we noticed that the front panel was very slightly misaligned with the decorative plate for the I/O side. This is somewhat of a nitpick, but that’s because it’s rarely an issue.
The cases that we got resolve this issue and have the two front panels level, so that was nice to see.
The front decorative strip is actually just plastic with a brushed look to sort of fake an aluminum appearance, serving as a cheaper gimmick to emulate the O11D and 6500D (read our review) look.
As a downside, the top metal strip for the supporting backing of the glass front panel was bent up on our black King 65 Pro. We always include damage in our reviews, whether that’s quality control or shipping. This particular damage looks like something that happened at the factory, not in shipping. It could be easily pressed back down with a flat edge.
As a positive, the panel gap between the front and side panel is flush, which wasn’t the case with the show model we saw 5 months ago. Cheaper cases often have problems with panel alignment.
The side panels are secured with thumbscrews, which we always like to see just as a security feature when moving the computer around for cleaning and maintenance. The front panel pops out easily once the side panel is removed.
Like we saw on the Lancool 207, the King 65 uses a reinforced rectangular piece of steel to support the snaps to the frame.
The front corner of the top panel is also relatively strong, unlike the Tryx case, because Montech designed it properly. The Tryx case top panel was caving in not from shipping damage, but from design issues, and we want to make sure that plot doesn’t get twisted because it’s important. The King 65 is relatively stout, which helps reduce the top panel length to provide strength, and is also supported by a more significant anchor to the deeper secondary channel, meaning a lengthier attachment point to serve as a counter support on that front edge.
The top panel itself is of sturdy build and has butted-together steel around the edges to give clearance from the fan rails while adding structural rigidity, but lacks the mesh we saw in the King 95.
The final side panel is a little floppy from lack of thicker supports, but has no functional downside. It’s also ventilated for air intake through the side.
Removing that panel, there’s a cable management cover tray with 2x 2.5” SSD mounts in it. Two screws can be removed to hinge the door outward, giving access to the drive mounts and two additional fan mounts with rails in the door. And this is where we get into an area that Montech could improve.
Both sets of fan mounts have heavy obstructions. By accommodating both 120mm and 140mm sizes, Montech needs two sets of mounting points. Unfortunately, in the process of creating these, it has covered up to about 20mm per side of the fan blade, or 40mm total horizontally obstructed. This is a huge amount of intake area loss. Montech could still support two sets of rails, but at least cutting a hole right in the middle would be better -- or even running the rails the entire length of the fan so that there’s some room for air. This is an oversight that likewise extends to the King 95. The King 95 Pro did OK in most of our tests, but falls behind other cases with similar fan count. This is a large contributor to that.
Montech King 65 Pro Cable Management
For cable management, the King 65 continues the trend of including velcro cable ties that secure behind the motherboard tray, which itself is already deep enough to provide functionally limitless cable space. Although we’ve since built in the cases, we liked how the fans were pre-routed and arranged out of the box.
The power supply sits elevated atop a rubber-damped pad, providing clearance on all sides while hopefully absorbing vibration that could cause noise. Although the exterior of the hard drive cage has rubber dampers, the drive sleds themselves do not. If supporting 3.5” drives, we’d like to see rubber dampers at the contact points where the drive meets the plastic or metal.
Access is through the rear for drive installation, which mostly makes things easier. They aren’t hot-swap cages with pre-wired backplanes or anything fancy like that, but the rear access does make things easy to get to.
As for radiator, GPU, and fan support, it’s the same as the King 95 Pro: Montech’s GPU support is up to 420mm long, so basically any video card, and radiator support is up to 280mm or 360mm top, 140 or 240mm side, and 175mm tall air coolers.
Montech King 65 Pro Thermal Benchmarks
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CPU Thermals: Noise-Normalized
We’ll start with noise-normalized CPU thermals under a full torture workload.
Unfortunately for the King 65 Pro, it’s the new worst result on the charts. These fans just aren’t powerful enough to provide the cooling necessary, and likewise, extra noise created by paneling choices, such as the sharper angles and the obstructions, leads to a need to reduce speed to normalize for noise.
The King 65 Pro lands at 57.6 degrees over ambient for average P-core temperature, putting it behind even the Hyte Y60 (watch our review) in the baseline setup.
The Antec C8 runs about 3 degrees cooler, which is significant, although it carries a $50 premium. The same-priced Silverstone 514X (read our review) runs about 6 degrees cooler with its own stock fans. The Flux Pro (read our review) does well here, but costs $80 more than the King 65 Pro, so it’s not a fair comparison. We know, that’s hard to believe since they’re both pros.
The Lancool 207 is $20 cheaper than the King 65 Pro though and manages to completely dominate it on this chart. At 44.5 degrees, it’s not even close. The King 65 Pro is just not a great thermal performer.
The King 95 Pro with the glass front ran at 50 degrees over ambient, which is over a 7 degree reduction without even using mesh. That’s a lot of impact from the extra fans and panel changes.
GPU Thermals: Noise-Normalized
Here are the GPU thermals for the same noise-normalized test.
The King 65 Pro gets destroyed here. It is not only at the absolute bottom of the chart, but it’s several degrees worse than the previous worst: The FARA 515XR set the floor at 54 degrees over ambient previously, with the King 65 Pro at 57 degrees over ambient. For GPU testing, that’s a big swing. The GPU is not normally as sensitive to the case changes as the CPU in our tests.
The $150 Antec C8 (read our review) is an impressive 15 degrees better than the King 65 Pro. The $80 Lancool 207 is also about 15-16 degrees better than the $100 King 65 Pro.
Standardized Fans: CPU Thermals
The next test is where we pull all the included fans and swap them for 3 standardized fans. Some cases are worsened by this, as we’re removing more abundant or better fans; however, this is useful for evaluating changes to the chassis structure itself.
As a perfect example: The King 95 and King 65 are suddenly exact equals when we swap to the same fans and positions. They’re within 0.4 degrees of each other for P-core average performance, which is impressive. That’s a testament to our new methodology and is great to see.
The Antec C8 with comparable side intake lands at 46 degrees, outperforming the King 65 and King 95 alike. Because we’ve normalized to the same fans and in the same positions, we can confidently state that the King 65 and King 95 have paneling that obstructs the fans enough to worsen performance. Montech could boost itself by changing its porosity and all the small obstructions to airflow that add up, like those earlier rails we discussed.
Standardized Fans: GPU Thermals
GPU thermals when using standardized fans are also within roughly 1-degree ranges between the King 95 and King 65. The curvature of the glass theoretically should help improve air access to the GPU, but this gets into areas where we’d need CFD to know for certain. Regardless, at about 1-degree difference, they’re functionally the same.
The Antec C8 with side intake again climbs ahead, up at 42 degrees for GPU temperature against 44.6 on the King 65.
CPU Thermals: Full Speed
Back to the included stock fans and at 100% fan speeds, the King 65 Pro landed at 37.8 dBA as tested in our hemi-anechoic chamber, aligning it most comparably with the Antec C8 ARGB, which was 37.11dBA. That’s the same noise level.
The C8 outperforms the King 65 even with both at full fan speed, at 49 degrees to 54 for the average P-core temperature. The cheaper FARA 514X is quieter than both, at an impressive 35 dBA and 47 degrees over ambient. The Lancool 207 sounds more like a vacuum cleaner at 41.6 dBA when running at full speeds, but pushes to 41.6 degrees over ambient.
VRM Thermals: Noise-Normalized
Noise-normalized VRM and RAM thermals position the King 65 Pro at 36 degrees for the VRM and 26 for the RAM. These results have it toward the bottom of the chart, though better than the Hyte Y60 with its stock configuration. Both the VRM and RAM thermals are completely acceptable, it’s just that it isn’t as competitive.
Montech King 65 Pro Conclusion
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Thermally, the Montech King 65 Pro is just not impressive. It can’t overcome the limitation it has on its panel and case design. Its 3 moderate fans are just not sufficient for it to get anywhere impressive on our thermal charts and it’s at the bottom of some of those charts.
In terms of build quality, in some places, it’s pretty good. The actual core of the chassis is good overall. There’s a lot of space to work with the cabling. There’s also some cool features like the side-mount fan tray, which is also on the King 95 Pro. Overall, the build and panel quality are fine. It’s just that at $100, it has to be really competitive and one of the things it's competing against is the King 95 Pro without any included fans.
This makes it hard to recommend the case in any one category. Overall, the King 65 Pro is okay. We don’t hate it, but against standard form factor cases like the Lancool 207 or even the FARA 514X, which we weren’t thrilled about but we thought was fine, those are better options at this price. They are also better thermal performers, though the King 65 Pro is certainly a lot easier to build in than the 207.
In terms of other competition, the Antec C8 is similar in design to the King 65 Pro, but it’s wider and its non ARGB variant without fans is similarly priced.
Within $20 plus or minus of the King 65 Pro, the case kind of gets its ass kicked in either direction thermally.
We've already got Face ID sensors and a bunch of health sensors in the Apple Watch, but future Apple devices including the Apple Vision Pro will have many more measuring devices, including one for analyzing breathing through your nose. Here's what else is coming.
Future Apple Vision Pro could contain many more sensors
It's not that long ago that sensors were just something to reveal a plot point on the USS Enterprise. But now we have devices that know when we touch them, when we speak to them, and even when we glance in their direction.
Just going through 2024's patents and patent applications, though, there can't be a type of sensor that Apple is not at least investigating. A newly-granted patent regarding a microphone on your nose is just the latest, although it appears to be the first time Apple has expressed interest in nasal passages.
Apple Watch collects much more health data than users realize. Let's walk through some of the lesser-known metrics so that you can better leverage them to better your health.
Reviewing our sleep data on Apple Watch
For years now, Apple has been boasting about the health impacts of Apple Watch, featuring touching stories in many of its event hype videos. It's easy to see what a difference the wearable has made.
Everyone knows about a lot of these major features, such as the ability to take an ECG, call emergency services in a car crash, or track your workouts throughout the day. This though, is only touching the surface.
Apple has distributed its fourth developer beta build of visionOS 2.2, giving the Apple Vision Pro's operating system more testing time ahead of a public release.
Following the Thanksgiving weekend, Apple had a more relaxed beta release than usual on Tuesday, with the first build in this round being visionOS 2.2's fourth iteration.
The third round of this version of visionOS was handed out to developer testers on November 18.
An exclusive discount is in effect on Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 with a bump up to 16GB of RAM, now priced at $1,349 with a blowout deal.
Apple's M3 MacBook Pro is on sale for $1,349 this week only.
With other retailers selling the closeout 8GB model for $1,299 — it's worth spending $50 more to get an upgrade to 16GB of RAM to help future-proof your purchase.
Pick up the M3 14-inch model with 16GB unified memory and 512GB of storage for just $1,349* at Apple Authorized Reseller B&H Photo when you shop through the pricing links in this post from a laptop or desktop (mobile apps are not supported at this time).
A virtual private network is a utility as necessary as a lock on your front door, so pick one up at a big discount from Surfshark VPN during its winter sale.
Get Surfshark VPN at a discount during the winter sale - Image credit: Surfshark
There are many uses for a VPN service, like protecting yourself while using an insecure internet connection or catching up on anime exclusive to Netflix in Japan. Either way, Surfshark VPN has you covered.
Give your household the gift of a VPN with unlimited simultaneous connections, plus a host of additional features offered across three subscription tiers. They're all discounted for the Surfshark VPN winter sale and include bonus months on a two-year pre-paid subscription.
Apple has bestowed the top spot in the annual 2025 Apple Podcasts Award to "Hysterical," honoring the seven-part show for its high quality as well as longevity in the podcast charts.
Dan Taberski with the 2024 Apple Podcasts Award for 'Hysterical'
Each year, the Apple Podcasts award is given out by Apple to the show that demonstrates quality and innovation in podcasting. For 2024, that award went to "Hysterical."
A seven-part series produced by Wondery and Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios, "Hysterical" investigates how an illness spread among a group of New York high school girls.
MSI is updating its 32-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor lineup with the new MPG 322URX. While it might not be a revolutionary upgrade over this year's MPG 321URX, it brings one crucial improvement: full-fledged DisplayPort 2.1 connectivity.
The MPG 322URX retains the same 32-inch QD-OLED panel with a rapid refresh rate and vibrant colours. However, MSI has finally addressed one of 321URX's main shortcomings by incorporating a DisplayPort 2.1 connection with the full UHBR20 specification (80 Gbps). This is a significant upgrade, as many monitors released this year with the “DisplayPort 2.1” label only supported the lower bandwidth UHBR10 or UHBR13.5 modes.
Another welcome addition is the increased power delivery via the USB Type-C port (DP alt. mode), bumped up to 98W from 90W. Moreover, there are two HDMI 2.1 ports, an earphone-out jack, and two USB-A 3.2 ports. In addition to the new features, you can expect a QD-OLED panel with 4K resolution, 10-bit colour depth, and a 240Hz refresh rate. The monitor is DisplayHDR True Black 400, offering 450 nits of typical brightness in HDR mode (peaking at 1,000 nits) and a contrast ratio rated at 1500000:1.
As with most high-end monitors nowadays, the 322URX comes with a HAS stand with tilt, swivel, and pivot capabilities. The MPG 322URX is listed on MSI's official Chinese store for 8,499 RMB (around £930), 30% more than its predecessor.
KitGuru says: Assuming a similar 30% price increase, the new MPG 322URX may be released at around £1,500. Considering its minor improvements, that seems a bit too steep.
Intel's Arc Graphics has finally made its debut on Steam's hardware survey, but it's raising questions about the discrete GPU's adoption rate. Is this a sign of slow progress or simply a reflection of how Steam categorises integrated and discrete graphics?
It's important to clarify that “Arc Graphics” on Steam refers to Intel's integrated graphics solutions found in Meteor Lake CPUs, also known as the Core Ultra 100 series. These have been powering laptops and handhelds for over a year now. The dedicated Alchemist GPUs, like the A770 and A580, are listed separately on Steam and haven't yet gained enough traction to appear prominently in the survey.
This categorisation raises concerns about the visibility of future generations of Arc GPUs. With Intel moving to unique SKU names for integrated graphics in its upcoming generations, these solutions might not be grouped under a single “Arc Graphics” banner, potentially hindering their overall representation in the survey.
Unfortunately, Steam's hardware survey doesn't provide detailed breakdowns of GPU popularity by generation or series. This makes it difficult to gauge the true adoption rate of Arc GPUs among Steam users.
KitGuru says: While the arrival of “Arc Graphics” on Steam is a step in the right direction, it also highlights the challenges Intel faces in gaining market share in the competitive GPU landscape. Whether Intel can overcome these hurdles and establish Arc as a major player remains to be seen.
AMD's next-generation RDNA 4 graphics cards are generating a lot of excitement, and fresh leaks from Chiphell forum users and Seasonic have shed more light on the potential performance and power consumption of the Radeon RX 8800 XT.
According to zhangzhonghao (via Wccftech), the Navi 48-based RX 8800 XT could deliver ray tracing and rasterisation performance comparable to Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4080 and 4080 Super. This claim is based on tests conducted in Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, where the RX 8800 XT reportedly achieves a 45% uplift in ray tracing performance compared to the Radeon RX 7900 XTX.
The same leaker also claims that the RX 8800 XT is significantly more power efficient than its predecessor, consuming about 25% less than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. If that's the case, it would have a power consumption of around 270W. Further fueling the speculation, Seasonic's official power calculator (via VideoCardz) now includes a listing for the Radeon RX 8800 XT with a TDP of 220W. While AMD hasn't officially confirmed this figure, its presence in Seasonic's calculator suggests that it might be based on insider information.
The RX 8800 XT is expected to enter mass production in mid-December, pointing to a potential launch in mid-to-late January. Based on previous leaks, the RX 8800 XT is rumoured to feature 64 CUs (4096 cores) and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory.
KitGuru says: With its potential to rival the RTX 4080 in performance while consuming significantly less power, the Radeon RX 8800 XT is shaping up to be a compelling option for gamers seeking high-end graphics.
In a move that has raised eyebrows among classic gaming enthusiasts, GOG is delisting Warcraft 1 and 2 from its store at Blizzard's request. This comes just weeks after the games were added to GOG's preservation program and, perhaps not coincidentally, shortly after Blizzard released remastered versions of both titles over at Battle.net.
GOG announced that the classic RTS games will be removed from sale on December 13th. While existing owners can still expect the game to work, the delisting has sparked debate about the balance between game preservation and commercial interests.
The timing of the removal is particularly noteworthy, coinciding with the release of Blizzard's remastered versions of Warcraft 1 and 2 on Battle.net. While the original versions are still available on Blizzard's platform, the delisting from GOG limits consumer choice and access to these classic titles.
After sharing the news, GOG offered a small consolation to fans who have yet to purchase the games. It provides a discount code (“MakeWarcraftLiveForever”) for £1.50/$2 off the bundle containing both Warcraft 1 and 2.
Interestingly, Warcraft 1 and 2 were recently included in GOG's newly launched Preservation Program, which aims to ensure the long-term compatibility and accessibility of classic games. As such, even if these titles are soon delisted, those who've bought them will still be able to play them.
KitGuru says: While GOG's dedication to preservation is commendable, the delisting of Warcraft 1 and 2 raises questions about the challenges of preserving classic games. Is this a sign of things to come, where publishers prioritise the remasters and re-releases over the availability of original versions?
Bloober Team has been a part of the video games space for quite some time now, especially in the horror genre. That said, the recent release and success of their Silent Hill 2 Remake has helped put the studio on the map. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, the SH2 team have already begun working on their next big project.
In an interview conducted by MP1st, the game director for Bloober Team’s upcoming ‘Cronos: The New Dawn’ (Wojciech Piejko) revealed that they have a second project in the works, stating:
“Within the Bloober Team, we have two production teams. Both teams operate independently, however the whole team is sharing the experience of working on previous projects like Medium, Observer, Layers of Fear, Silent Hill 2, Blair Witch etc. And all I can say today is that after the completion of work on Silent Hill 2, the team will conduct the pre-production work on a new project.”
Bloober Team have worked on a variety of titles since their founding in 2008 – though saw their first big hit with 2016’s Layers of Fear. Since then, the team have remained in the horror space, releasing both original IPs as well as licensed titles.
KitGuru says: What do you think of Bloober Team? Have they proven themselves with Silent Hill 2? Would you like them to remake more games in the series? Let us know down below.
After months of leaks and rumours, Intel is finally listing the curtain on its second generation graphics cards. The new Intel Arc Battlemage desktop GPUs use the new Xe 2 architecture, promising up to 70 percent more performance per Xe core and up to 50% greater efficiency.
With its first-gen Arc A-series graphics cards, Intel had to spend a lot of time maturing the software side, so while launch day numbers for older DX11 titles weren't where we expected, driver updates brought massive improvements. Now armed with more mature drivers, we are expecting a smoother launch for the 2nd generation Intel graphics cards.
In a presentation (slides above), Intel laid the groundwork for what we should expect from Xe 2. On average in games, the new Arc B580 graphics card is up to 24 percent faster than the Arc A750 graphics card. However, there are more features that can extend that performance lead, including XeSS 2, which includes Frame Generation technology for the first time. Intel is also implementing a driver-level low-latency mode so you can ensure your controls are as responsive as possible while gaming.
On top of that, Intel is claiming some big wins in terms of price to performance ratio. Intel claims best-in-class performance per dollar for the Arc B580, with 25% better ray-tracing performance for its price compared to the RTX 4060. The lead over the similarly priced RX 7600 is even larger. The gains on the rasterization side are also impressive.
If Intel can deliver, the Arc B580 could be the new go-to graphics card for an entry-level gaming rig, particularly if you are using a 1080p or 1440p monitor.
In the slide below you can see the spec sheet for the Arc B570 and B580 graphics cards:
The Intel Arc B570 and B580 graphics cards will be available soon. The B580 launches on December 13th for $249, while the B570 will be available in mid January for $219.
KitGuru Says: What do you all think of Intel's second generation graphics cards? We'll have a review later this month so stay tuned for our own testing and performance impressions.
With the successor to the Nintendo Switch said to be announced sometime early next year, we have started to get an increasing number of leaks claiming to offer details on this elusive next-gen console. One of the biggest weak points for the Switch was its Joycons. Fortunately, Nintendo seems to be revamping them for the Switch 2.
As shared to the Chinese site Bilibili, a video claiming to show off the Joycons for the Switch successor has appeared online – noting some pretty significant improvements/refinements.
By far the most notable change comes in the way the controllers will connect to the handheld, now utilising strong magnets instead of the previous sliding mechanism.
Beyond this, it seems like the Joycon successors will add a couple more buttons, including additional triggers for each controller so they can be used more easily on their own.
Finally, in another instance of controller parity, it appears as though the new Joycons will both feature IR blasters – as opposed to just one with the original Switch.
Based on these leaks, it's clear that the Switch 2 will most likely be a refined version of the original console, with few additional frills, though hopefully plenty of added horsepower.
We will likely get a further influx of leaks as the system gets closer to being revealed.
KitGuru says: What do you think of the new design? Are the changes welcome? What other additions/features would you like to see introduced with the next Switch? Let us know down below.
The Geometric Future Model 5 isn't just looks, but also offers plenty of features paired with that unique layout. It manages to reinvent the dimensional balance, not only moving the PSU to the front top corner, but also allowing for thick radiators or push/pull, 420 mm sized cooling alongside just enough space for quality PSUs and any GPU of your choice. There is simply a lot to love.
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