Earlier this week, we learned more about Microsoft's plans for an Xbox handheld. Rather than building a bespoke device itself, Microsoft is partnering up with an OEM to produce an Xbox-licensed handheld. While initially we didn't know which OEM Microsoft has teamed up with, that has now changed.

According to The Verge, Microsoft has opted to team up with ASUS for its Xbox-themed handheld. With that in mind, the device is expected to be similar to the currently available (and expensive) Asus ROG Ally. Microsoft previously revealed that it had been working with handheld makers like Lenovo and Asus to put together a version of Windows 11 more fit for gaming.

While we will see Xbox-licensed products like the upcoming Xbox handheld from Asus, Microsoft is still expected to be working on its own custom handheld in-house. Whether or not that product sees the light of day remains to be seen. Microsoft has cancelled multiple Xbox hardware projects in recent years, including the Xbox Keystone, a streaming device intended to turn any TV into an Xbox, with full access to Game Pass via Cloud Gaming.

Aside from upcoming handhelds, Microsoft is also currently working on its next-gen home console. The next Xbox is expected to arrive in 2027 and will be more ‘PC-like' and could end up featuring a SteamOS style setup with a gaming UI set as the default boot screen, with access to an advanced desktop view hidden away in the options somewhere.

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KitGuru Says: If the Asus Xbox handheld is indeed real, then I don't expect it to compete with the Steam Deck on price and at that point, I'm not sure there's much of a market left.

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Prior to its delays, Assassin's Creed Shadows wasn't going to be available on Steam at launch and the game was not going to be verified for the Steam Deck. Fortunately, the developers have put the last few months to good use. The game is now coming to Steam on day-one and today, we also learned that the game has been submitted for Steam Deck verification. 

Previously, Ubisoft had ruled out Steam Deck verification for Assassin's Creed Shadows, as the game's minimum PC requirements were higher than what the Steam Deck offers. However, after diving into the files and tinkering around, Ubisoft has now announced that the game will support Steam Deck at launch.

As is the case with many modern AAA titles with realistic graphics, we don't expect Assassin's Creed Shadows to look particularly, and it will no doubt require FSR upscaling to achieve a playable 30FPS even with the lowest settings. FSR doesn't add much in the way of visuals when trying to upscale to 720p from sub-HD resolutions.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is launching worldwide on the 20th of March.

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KitGuru Says: Are you planning on picking up Assassin's Creed Shadows later this month? 

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Over the last couple of years, a recurring rumour has claimed that a remake of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is on the way. More has come to light on this remake in recent months, with sources claiming that the game has been completely rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5. Now, it seems that a surprise release is just around the corner. 

According to two outlets, Nate the Hate and Video Games Chronicle, the Oblivion remake will be announced within weeks and will release well before the Summer. In fact, it is claimed that the game could release as early as April, so we could be looking at a very short wait between the reveal and eventual release date.

The Oblivion remake is reportedly being developed by Virtuos, a company that has primarily taken on support studio duties for the AAA games industry. Some notable franchises Virtuos has worked on include Call of Duty, Dark Souls, Bioshock, Uncharted, Tomb Raider and more. Virtuos is also working on the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 3 remake.

With this being a remake of Oblivion in an entirely different engine, some areas of the game have seen extensive changes. According to MP1st, stamina, HUD elements and combat have all seen notable reworks, so expect something closer to Souls-like melee combat.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: If gameplay has changed too much then my excitement for an Oblivion remake drastically reduces. Still, nothing has been announced yet so don't put too much stock into any early details. 

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There weren't a lot of MMOs trying to compete with WoW throughout the 2010s and the ones that did try ultimately ended up shutting down. One MMO that falls into this category is Defiance, an ambitious project that was supposed to share cross-promotional elements with a TV series by the same name. Ultimately, the show was cancelled and the MMO servers went offline, but a comeback appears to be just around the corner. 

Defiance first launched back in 2013 and featured some of the same characters that appeared in the show. However, outside of a few familiar faces, there was very little tying the two projects together. As a result, when the Defiance TV series was cancelled in 2015, the game was not put in jeopardy. Instead, it rebranded as Defiance 2050 and continued operating through to 2021, when the servers were finally taken offline.

Now, the independent studio and publisher, Fawkes, has acquired the rights to both Defiance (2013) and Defiance 2050, with plans to bring the MMO back online, starting in April this year.

Fawkes identified a passionate community around Defiance as its core reasoning for bringing the game back. Many fans still discuss this game in forum threads and YouTube videos about the game are still popular now, even years after the game going offline.

As Fawkes looks to revive Defiance, it has set up a Discord channel for gathering feedback on future game updates. If you are a Defiance fan, be sure to join the Discord to find groups to play with once the game returns, and to share ideas on what changes could be made to bring the game up to 2025 standards.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Did you play Defiance at all back when it first came out? Would you be interested in seeing the MMO return for good? 

The post Indie studio revives long-dead MMO ‘Defiance’ first appeared on KitGuru.

Hot on the heels of the successful launch of Portal RTX, Nvidia announced plans for an RTX reimagining of Half-Life 2. The mod, known as Half-Life 2 RTX, has been in development for years but we'll finally have the opportunity to play it for ourselves later this month. 

On the 18th of March, the Half-Life 2 RTX demo will be made freely available on Steam. The demo includes the first two levels of the game, complete with reworked textures and materials to fully take advantage of ray-traced lighting effects. Like Quake RTX and Portal RTX, Half-Life 2 RTX will give players access to a full suite of Path Tracing tools, so you can adjust away to really see what is possible with RT once pushed to the limits.

The demo will be available starting on the 18th of March and the full final game will be made available for free to all Half-Life 2 owners. Unfortunately, we don't have a final date for the full game, but it is also worth having patience, as the game is essentially being developed as a volunteer project by the folks at Orbifold Studios, exclusively using the RTX Remix tool set.

Alongside the release of the HL2 RTX demo, Nvidia is also releasing RTX Remix in full this month. The latest version of the software includes support for RTX Neural Rendering and DLSS 4, so we expect to see many more classic games ‘remade' with RTX Remix in the years ahead.

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KitGuru Says: Will you be downloading the Half-Life 2 RTX demo when it drops next week?

The post Half-Life 2 RTX demo comes to Steam next week first appeared on KitGuru.

GDC is kicking off and as is the case every year, Nvidia has more than a few announcements ready to go. The big news this year? RTX Remix is officially launching, complete with support for DLSS 4 and RTX Neural Shaders, enabling developers to bring ray-traced effects to classic DX8 and DX9 based games. 

At this point, Nvidia's research shows that 90% of RTX GPU users utilise features like DLSS, ray-traced graphics and Nvidia Reflex. At this point, over 100 games and apps support the latest version of DLSS, DLSS 4, which brings Multi Frame Generation to the table, while hundreds of other titles support DLSS 3 or older versions. Support for frame generation and super resolution technologies has seen an uptick across the games industry, with some modern titles even factoring in ‘Frame Generation' capabilities when putting together minimum and recommended hardware requirements for new PC games.

We are unlikely to see support for DLSS drop off amongst game developers anytime soon, as Nvidia also claims it has shipped more RTX 50 series GPUs in the last few months than it did when RTX 40 series GPUs first launched back in 2022.

Here are some of the rapid-fire announcements from Nvidia at GDC:

• RTX Kit now available for Unreal Engine 5, bringing RTX Mega Geometry and RTX Hair to UE5 titles.
• RTX Remix is now officially available to all aspiring modders looking to freshen up old titles. The first major showcase of this tookit is Half-Life 2 RTX, with a free demo launching on Steam next week.
• Nvidia ACE AI-powered NPCs are now being used in the real world. The feature debuts in InZOI and Naraka: Bladepoint Mobile PC version this month, with more titles set to use Nvidia's ‘Smart NPCs' in the future.
• Nvidia ACE plugins now updated for Maya and Unreal Engine to further enhance game development with AI tools.

Interestingly, while the demo for Half-Life 2 RTX is being made available this month, complete with the first two levels of the game, a date for the full release has not yet been shared.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Nvidia's AI game development tools are gaining traction. It will be interesting to see if ACE-powered NPCs in a game like Naraka: Bladepoint can be easily differentiated from a typical NPC. For me though, Half-Life 2 RTX is the big announcement here and after years of teasing, I'm looking forward to finally diving in. 

The post Nvidia claims it has shipped twice as many RTX 50 GPUs at launch compared to RTX 40 first appeared on KitGuru.

With both Nvidia and AMD having launched new-generation graphics cards this year, it is now time to take a look at the state of the market. Nvidia's RTX 50 series GPUs have been available since the end of January and as of last week, the AMD RX 9070 series GPUs are also available. Early stats indicate that AMD is currently outselling by volume.

The team at ComputerBase (via 3DCenter) has revealed the results of its latest survey, finding that around 60 percent of 4,200 readers surveyed have bought an RX 90000 series graphics card over an RTX 50 unit. Of those surveyed, around 25 percent opted for a current-gen Nvidia GPU, while a further 20 percent opted to pick up an older generation graphics card instead.

These results confirm something industry onlookers had already suspected – RTX 50 stock is in extremely low supply and AMD did a much better job building up stock for its RX 9070 launch compared to Nvidia's RTX 5090, 5080 and 5070 launches.

As the stock situation fluctuates, we expect these results to eventually change. As Nvidia provides multiple higher-end options compared to AMD, we would expect Nvidia to still accrue more money from GPU sales, even if it doesn't shift as much overall volume over the coming months.

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KitGuru Says: Have you attempted to pick up a new-gen graphics card in recent weeks? Were you successful or have you struggled to find stock?

The post Survey claims AMD RX 9070 series is outselling Nvidia RTX 50 first appeared on KitGuru.

Last week, a dutch etailer caused quite a stir after telling RTX 5090 pre-order customers that they would have to wait longer for their graphics cards to arrive. Despite having units in stock, the store claimed that Nvidia had issued a recall of RTX 50 GPUs. We were quickly able to establish that no such recall is or was taking place, and now, customers who have been kept waiting for over a month are starting to get their graphics cards.

One of our YouTube channel subscribers, Ben, got in touch with us about the situation last week, producing proof of purchase for the RTX 5090 at uwgamespecialist.nl, as well as the email from their customer service stating that Nvidia had recalled a number of graphics cards. Ben had purchased the RTX 5090 for 3399 euros in January but despite the card showing as in stock on the retailer's website, he could not get an update on when the card would ship. This eventually led to the now infamous ‘recall' claim. The CEO for uwgamespecialist.nl later admitted in email to KitGuru that there was no recall and promised to get Ben the unit he ordered.

In an email this morning, Ben confirmed to us that he did indeed receive his MSI RTX 5090 Suprim graphics card from uwgamespecialist.nl on Monday. We know of at least one other customer who bought the same graphics card at a similar price, on the same day as Ben, who is also awaiting their unit. It is our hope that they also get their unit in the coming days.

To catch up on the whole story surrounding this situation, be sure to check out the editorial from our Editor-in-Chief, Allan Campbell, HERE.

KitGuru Says: If you are buying an in-demand item like the RTX 5090, be sure to keep an eye on the store you ordered from for any stock updates and raise the alarm if you notice something suspicious, like a dubious recall claim. You'll always be able to tell if a legitimate recall has been issued or not, as product recalls always require a public announcement from the original product manufacturer.  

The post Dutch etailer sends out long-awaited RTX 5090 after fake recall claim first appeared on KitGuru.

Microsoft has been rumoured to be working on a gaming handheld for decades. Even back during the days of the Xbox 360, there were rumours of an Xbox-style PSP or GameBoy style system. With handhelds now able to offer enough power to run even current-generation games, Microsoft finally looks to be jumping on the bandwagon. 

According to WindowsCentral, Microsoft is working on an Xbox companion handheld device to cap off the Xbox Series X/S generation. In collaboration with an unnamed OEM partner, this Xbox handheld is being developed under the codename ‘Keenan' and it should launch before the end of this year.

The handheld will run Windows 11, like several other handhelds already on the market, but with new ‘device aware' features that allow the OS to shift UI formats based on whether you're using a handheld, laptop or desktop. Think of it similarly to how the Steam Deck launches with the Big Picture UI, but you can opt to switch to desktop mode for more advanced tasks.

The handheld would be the last major hardware release of the Xbox Series X/S generation, as Microsoft is also reportedly moving ahead with plans to ship a new-gen Xbox console in 2027.

KitGuru Says: The issue I have with this strategy if that going via the OEM route almost always leads to increased costs. If the handheld can't compete with the Steam Deck on price, then I don't see any chance for widespread success. 

The post Microsoft reportedly set to unveil Xbox handheld this year first appeared on KitGuru.

Konami's big Silent Hill revival has been a success thanks to Blooper Team's highly rated remake of Silent Hill 2. Now, Konami is gearing up to announce the next game in the franchise. 

This week, Konami will hold its latest Silent Hill Transmission stream, during which we will get new details on the project known as “Silent Hill F”.

Silent Hill F was first teased back in 2022, but Konami has revealed little else about it since. That will change during the stream on March 13th, as we'll get a fresh look at the game and its “completely new story set in 1960s Japan”.

Silent Hill F is being developed by Neoboards Entertainment, which previously worked on Resident Evil Resistance and RE:Verse. Blooper Team has also confirmed plans to work with Konami again on a new game in the future.

KitGuru Says: Following on from last year's remake, are you looking forward to seeing all-new Silent Hill games? 

The post Konami to reveal new Silent Hill game this week first appeared on KitGuru.

ZA/UM Studio made a name for itself years back with Disco Elysium, but we've heard very little from the studio since. It looks like 2025 is set to be another big year for the company, as their next game has now finally been revealed under the codename ‘Project C4'. 

Project C4 is described as a “mind-warping espionage RPG that blends player introspection, deep character-driven dialogue and high-stakes encounters”. Based on that description, it will feature similar gameplay to Disco Elysium, where much of the game centres around character conversations, dialogue options made, dice rolls for skill checks and multiple outcomes to explore.

While the game may also borrow a lot of inspiration from Disco Elysium, it is worth noting that many of the leads on that game no longer work at ZA/UM Studio. Back in 2022, Disco Elysium's game director and art director left the company following a slew of firings and formed a new studio.

There is no word on when Project C4 will release but we expect to learn more about the game later this year.

KitGuru Says: Hopefully whatever behind-the-scenes issues took place following the release of Disco Elysium have been resolved. After all, an Espionage RPG in a similar style to Disco Elysium could end up being a huge hit. 

The post Disco Elysium studio reveals new ‘Espionage RPG’ first appeared on KitGuru.

Recently it was claimed that next year's Call of Duty is already in development for the next-gen Xbox. However, a reliable source has now rebuked this claim, as the next generation Xbox hardware is being planned for 2027 and no development kits exist yet.

According to Microsoft-focused reporter, Jez Corden, the next generation Xbox will be with us in 2027 and currently, development kits do not exist. In a recent podcast, Corden also shed some light on the concept behind Microsoft's future console.

“The whole idea of the next Xbox is that it's going to be a PC in essence but with a TV friendly shell that also has a specific set of specs in mind”, Corden said. He adds that this will mean that developers will be developing for a Windows PC in a way.

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox will need to focus on being a more open platform, as the company has opted to move away from exclusive games entirely.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: What are you expecting to see from the next Xbox?

 

The post Next-gen Xbox to be ‘a PC with a TV-friendly shell’ first appeared on KitGuru.

Prior to being acquired by Sony, Insomniac had signed a deal with Oculus to bring three VR games to the Oculus Rift headset. These games were later made compatible with the Meta Quest headsets but all of Insomniac's VR titles mysteriously disappeared from the store a few years back. Now after a lengthy hiatus, they are finally becoming available again. 

Insomniac's VR classics, Edge of Nowhere, Stormland and Feral Rites, are now available on Meta Quest devices once again. Insomniac is also working on bringing back its fourth VR title, The Unspoken.

There was no reason given for the initial removal for any of these titles. What made the move particularly surprising was the fact that Meta did put money upfront to get these games made. Whatever the issue was, however, it appears to be resolved.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: If you missed out on Insomniac's VR titles previously, you should consider giving them a look now that they are back on the store. 

The post Insomniac brings back three of its best VR games first appeared on KitGuru.

At SXSW this week, Kojima Productions made the most out of its panel appearance by debuting a new trailer for Death Stranding 2. Not only did we get a new look at the game, but a June 2025 release has also been confirmed. 

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be releasing for PS5 on the 26th of June. Below you can watch the new 10-minute trailer, showcasing an extensive look at gameplay, as well as the upcoming Collector's Edition of the game.

Pre-orders for the game go live on the 17th of March. The Collector's Edition, which includes early access to the game starting on June 24th, ships in a fancy box, complete with a Magellan Man statue, a Dollman figurine, Art Cards and a letter from Hideo Kojima. Collector's Edition buyers will also unlock a selection of in-game items, as well as all pre-order bonus content.

While Death Stranding 2 is releasing for PS5 initially, the game is expected to come to PC eventually, and potentially Xbox too, as the original game just landed on Xbox consoles last year.

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KitGuru Says: Are you looking forward to Death Stranding 2? How long do you think we'll have to wait to see it on PC? 

The post Death Stranding 2 gets extended gameplay trailer and June release date first appeared on KitGuru.