The Super series is not common in Nvidia's product launch cycle and it only started with the 2000 series when the company announced a refresh of its 20-series and these new cards came equipped with more CUDA cores and sometimes more VRAM. Nvidia is doing something similar to that this time too as the new cards, at least some of them, will have more VRAM as one of the major complaints from most of the tech press has been about the provided memory buffer, which is simply not enough for the price points Nvidia launched the cards at.

Since the cards' announcements are only a couple of days away, Nvidia and its AIB partners are now testing out the GPUs. As such, the RTX 4070 Super's performance has now leaked as X user/bot Benchleaks spotted two entries of the GPU on Geekbench.

The 4070 Super was tested on both OpenCL and CUDA, and the GPU managed to score 195,384 and 219,237 points respectively. Although this is not exactly the 3D rasterization or ray tracing performance of the GPU, the compute scores here typically tend to align quite nicely with how the 3D output of the graphics card is.

OpenCL

CUDA

Courtesy of Wccftech, we can see how the new 4070 Super goes up against the RTX 4080, the 4070 Ti, and the vanilla 4070. As expected from the purported specifications of the GPUs, it is there sandwiched between the 4070 and the 4070 Ti. Sadly, we can't compare how the 4070 Super will fare against AMD cards with these numbers. For that, we will have to wait either for more benchmarks leak or the review NDA uplift.

Source: Geekbench (link1, link2) via Benchleaks (X1, X2)

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Authors Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage (via Reuters) have filed a class action lawsuit with the Manhattan federal court alleging Microsoft infringed their copyright by using information from their books to train OpenAI's LLM for ChatGPT and other services. The lawsuit also references the one filed by The New York Times and also notes that Nicholas Gage had worked for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Mr. Gage is among America’s greatest and most acclaimed investigative
reporters. He has a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism and his work for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times impacted the
course of key events in American and world history.

The lawsuit asks that authors should be compensated for the use of their work by the tech companies who are leveraging the information to train their AI models.

Notably, shortly after The New York Times filed suit against these same
defendants in this Court, the Defendants publicly acknowledged that copyright owners like
Plaintiffs must be compensated for Defendants’ use of their work

Furthermore, Basbanes and Gage's lawyer said that tech companies have "access to billions in capital, simply stole Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works to build another billion+ dollar commercial industry. It is outrageous."

Both the authors are seeking damages from Microsoft and OpenAI as well as asking the companies to stop using copyright information to train AI models.

Mr. Basbanes and Mr. Gage seek to represent a class of writers whose copyrighted work has been systematically pilfered by Defendants. Mr. Basbanes and Mr. Gage seek damages for copyright infringement, the lost opportunity to license their works, and for the destruction of the market Defendants have caused and continue to cause to writers. They also seek a permanent injunction to prevent these harms from recurring.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time Microsoft has been under a microscope for its investment and interests in OpenAI. Earlier this year, Microsoft was sued for the breach of privacy for using personal data to train AI models. This was followed by a lawsuit from authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad claiming ChatGPT accessed their work illegally. Not only that, but last month FTC and CMA announced that they are looking into Microsoft and OpenAI's partnership in relation to the anti-trust laws.

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This year, we expect lots of new PC hardware reveals at the show, along with new TVs and many other gadgets, some of which may never actually get launched.

While the exhibit halls won't actually open until Tuesday, January 9, CES 2024 actually gets started for the press late on Sunday, January 7, with CES Unleashed, which typically offers a preview of some of the more interesting gadgets and products at the show. On Monday, January 8, lots of big companies will be holding press conferences at CES, and some of them will be live-streamed, so you can check them out even if you are not attending.

Here are some predictions of what we can expect to be revealed and shown off during CES 2024.

Lots of talk about AI

Last year, AI was not the buzzword in the tech industry like it is right now. Expect lots of generative AI-based product announcements and reveals at CES 2024.

One of those reveals will come from Samsung. It will hold a press conference at CES 2024 on Monday, January 8, starting at 5 pm Eastern time (2 pm Pacific time), which will be live-streamed on Samsung's website. The subject of the event is "'AI for All: Connectivity in the Age of AI.'

You can also expect AI-related announcements from companies like NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, and others.

Many PC-related announcements are coming at CES

CES 2024 will certainly be a time for many PC-related product reveals. NVIDIA will hold a press conference at the show at 11 am Eastern time on January 7 (8 am Pacific). The company is expected to reveal three new "Super" versions of its RTX 40 Series GPUs at the event. AMD will hold its own press event on the same day at 10 am Eastern time (7 am Eastern time).

PC laptop and accessory maker Razer will hold its press conference during CES on January 8, starting at 9 pm EST (6 pm Pacific time). Other companies that sell PC hardware, like ASRock, MSI, Samsung, LG, Dell, and more, are also expected to show off new products during the event.

The TVs will be out in force

CES is perhaps best known as the place where most of the major TV makers showcase their new and upcoming models. Samsung, LG, Hisense, TCL, and many others will likely be announcing new televisions that are not only bigger and brighter than ever but also more affordable.

One big TV maker, Sony, will be at CES 2024, but it has already stated it will not be showing its new 2024 TV models at the event. It will wait until later in the year to make those announcements.

PC and video gaming will be around, but it won't be huge

The E3 trade show is officially no more, but don't expect CES 2024 to take its place in terms of new PC and video game announcements. That doesn't mean we won't see any gaming-related reveals at the show next week. Word has already leaked that MSI will show off a Windows-based gaming handheld at CES, and Samsung will show off its first controller that's being made specifically for its Gaming Hub TVs and monitors.

Smart homes, smart cars, but not a lot of smartphones

CES 2024 will continue to be a place where companies make product reveals about smart home devices, and future automobile technology is also a big part of the show. However, don't look out for any major reveals on the smartphone or tablet front, as those announcements are usually saved for dedicated presentations later in 2024.

That's really only a taste of what we can expect to be shown off at CES 2024. We haven't even talked about things like robotics, weird gadgets that might not ever get sold to the public, and sometimes major actors, athletes, and other entertainment folks who pop in during CES.

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PC Gamer reports that two of the monitors will have 27-inch LCD-based screens. One of them will be the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG27QFW2A with a very fast refresh rate of 400Hz and a 1440p resolution. The other monitor, the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG27FFX2A, will have an even faster refresh rate of 520Hz.

At the moment, we don't have any more hardware specs on these fast refresh rate monitors, but hopefully, the company will reveal more details during CES 2024.

That's not all. ASRock plans to reveal two OLED-based gaming PC monitors, the Phantom Gaming PGO34QRT2A and Phantom Gaming GO27QFS2A. Based on their product numbers, one may be a 34-inch monitor, while the other may be a 27-inch display. ASRock says both will have 240Hz refresh rates and QHD resolutions.

Once again, we don't have any more confirmed hardware specs yet for these OLED displays, including which company (Samsung or LG) makes the panels. Prices and availability for these new ASRock monitors have also not been revealed.

We expect CES 2024 to include a lot of new PC monitor reveals. Even before the trade show in Las Vegas begins, LG Display has announced it will show off several new OLED PC monitors at CES, including a 27-inch OLED screen with a 240Hz refresh rate.

Samsung will also be announcing three new OLED PC monitors in its Odyssey gaming lineup at CES 2024. One will be a 27-inch monitor with a 360Hz refresh rate, while the other two monitors (32-inch and 49-inch) will both have displays with a 240Hz refresh rate.

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The first week of January was a busy one for people who follow Microsoft hardware news. First, the company revealed that the upcoming Windows laptops, along with desktop keyboards, will be getting a dedicated Copilot key, designed to launch the Copilot generative AI assistant in Windows 11.

The other big news item is that, several months after Microsoft announced it was getting out of the PC hardware accessory business, it revealed a new partnership with Incase. That company will make and sell PC accessories that were originally designed and sold by Microsoft, including keyboards, mice, webcams, etc. Furthermore, Incase plans to make and sell new accessories that Microsoft previously designed but did not release. One of those future products is reportedly a new ergonomic keyboard.

Interestingly, Microsoft's first-ever PC keyboard was also designed to be ergonomic. It also was the first keyboard to include a dedicated Windows key, similar to this week's reveal of the new Copilot Key.

We've already posted articles about Microsoft's earlier hardware products, including add-in cards for Apple II PCs, along with cards made for IBM-based PCs. However, with the exception of the Microsoft Mouse products that first launched nearly 40 years ago, the company had never entered the PC accessory business until the launch of the Microsoft Natural Keyboard.

Before then, keyboards were mostly designed as straight rectangles full of keys. However, the result was that tons of people who had to use them for work for hours at a time started getting carpal tunnel syndrome on their wrists due to their uncomfortable positions while typing.

The idea of designing a keyboard that would be more comfortable to use for long periods of time was not a new concept in the early 1990s. Indeed, in 1993, Apple released its own Adjustable Keyboard for its Mac PCs.

On the surface, the main keyboard looked like most others, but the center of the keyboard had a hinge that allowed the two halves to separate on a fixed base while the spacebar remained in place. There were also two removable wristrests for each side of the keyboard, and a separate keypad with all the number, arrow, function keys, and its own wristrest.

In short, the Apple Adjustable Keyboard was a bust. It took up a lot of desktop space, and the people who bought it said that it was not comfortable to use. It was also reportedly very expensive when it launched.

When Microsoft decided it wanted to make its keyboards, it got some help from an outside firm, Ziba Design. In a post on its own site, Ziba stated that Microsoft "came to us to help make the ergonomic keyboard as accessible to home users as they'd made the word processor."

The final result was a curved keyboard design that split the main key layout and still included the number and arrow keys on the right side. The wrist rest was integrated into the keyboard instead of being removable.

The angles of the keyboard were made so people could type while their wrists would remain straight. Ziba's site says that many keyboard designs were sent to testers at Microsoft who "would simulate typing—sometimes for hours—under the watchful eye of ergonomics experts and a suite of pressure sensors." Another company, Key Tronic Corporation, made the actual keyboards and also had some input in their design.

Microsoft also introduced the Windows key in the Natural Keyboard over a year before the release of Windows 95. The keyboard actually had two of these Windows keys, which were designed to launch the Start menu. There was also a third new key added, the menu key, designed to let users bring up a menu that they might normally launch with the right-side mouse key. Unlike the Windows key, which has been included in the majority of PC keyboards and laptops, the new Menu key has not always been included in third-party products.

The Microsoft Natural Keyboard was first announced in September 1994. As first reported by The New York Times, the keyboard actually went on sale in early October 1994 for the price of $99. That price made this ergonomic keyboard far more affordable than other similar products, including Apple's. A number of computer makers, including Dell, started including the new keyboard with their new PCs in the same year.

The final result was that the Microsoft Natural Keyboard was a huge critical and sales hit. In November 1997, when Key Tronic announced it was going to make the second generation version of the keyboard, The Spokesman-Review reported that the first version had sold over 2.9 million units since the October 1994 launch.

With Incase announcing it will continue to sell Microsoft-designed ergonomic keyboards, it would appear that the legacy of Microsoft's PC accessory lineup will continue in some form, and that's great news for the many fans of the company's products.

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What you need to know

• Leaks and reports surrounding AMD's Ryzen 8000G lineup have steadily come out over recent weeks.
• Now, we have what appear to be benchmarks for the Ryzen 5 8600G.
• That processor features Radeon 760M integrated graphics, assuming the benchmarks prove to be accurate.
• The Ryzen 5 8600G has impressive benchmark scores for integrated graphics, and it notably bests the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, which is the third-most used graphics card by Steam users.

AMD will announce its new Ryzen 8000G processors at CES 2024 if leaks, reports, and rumors turn out to be accurate. CES starts next week on January 9, so we likely won't have to wait that long to get official word from AMD about the chips, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning out some juicy tidbits. According to benchmarks, we now have details about the Ryzen 5 8600G.

The Ryzen 5 8600G features integrated graphics, so it's not supposed to compete with powerhouse GPUs. That being said, its benchmarks are respectable and defeat the still-popular NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060. The Ryzen 5 8600G scored 30,770 on Geekbench 6.2.2's Vulkan benchmark test and 24,842 on Geekbench's OpenCL test.

Those scores place the Ryzen 5 8600G above the GTX 1060 on the Vulkan side of things but below the GTX 1060 in the OpenCL benchmark. In addition to showing how far integrated graphics have come, the scores also show how impressive discrete graphics cards can be. The GTX 1060 came out almost eight years ago.

Our colleagues at Tom's Hardware put together the above chart to place the benchmarks of the Ryzen 5 8600G with Radeon 760M in context.

The Ryzen 5 8600G that was benchmarked had Radeon 760M integrated graphics with a clock speed of 2.8Ghz. The system also features two 16GB DDR5-6000 DIMMs.

Previous leaks by X users momomo_us stated that the Ryzen 5 8600G will cost between $236 and $281. That same leak included prices for the upcoming Ryzen 7 8700G ($338-$402) and Ryzen 5 8500G ($190-$219).

Why the strange comparison?

At first it may seem odd to compare AMD's Ryzen 5 8600G to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060. In addition to the fact that I'm comparing a discrete GPU to integrated graphics, the GTX 1060 came out in 2016. So, why the comparison? Even in 2024, the RTX 1060 is the third-most used GPU by Steam gamers.

The GTX 1060 held the top spot for ages. Despite coming out in the middle of last decade, it was the most used GPU among Steam gamers until December 2022. It has since dropped to third place, which is more than respectable for a graphics card pushing eight years old.

While the best graphics cards are much newer, they're also much more expensive. Plus, PC gamers who built their own system with a GTX 1060 inside can just keep using that GPU and PC to enjoy their favorite games. Sure, anyone with an GTX 1060 will have to drop settings for most games to their lowest option, but that's fine for some titles.

Since Ryzen 5 8600G has better benchmarks than the GTX 1060, that means PCs with the new processor inside can game, at least on paper. The benchmarks of AMD's new CPU suggest that it can power systems that handle at least as many games as the third-most popular GPU among Steam users.

The new AMD chip didn't just beat the GTX 1060, it did so while being more efficient. PCs with the new processor inside will also have other modern features, like DDR5 memory.

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The Wall Street Journal has reported that executives at Netflix have been having discussions over the last few months over a selection of options to keep users coming back to the streaming service. Ideas that have been floated are not new ones and already exist within the mobile gaming world. This includes in-app purchases within games as well as charging a fee for titles that are more premium (which may include titles such as the aforementioned indie title Hades).

This might also be extended to providing users who subscribe to the ad-supported tier access to the gaming library (something that is not yet available), but these games would then only be available with ads in them. Previously Netflix held the position that it did not want to include ads or other monetization methods within games on its platform. However it appears that has changed in the last few months.

WSJ also reports that Netflix games had been downloaded a total of 81.2 million times globally during 2023, which is nearly three times as much as it saw in 2022. It isn't earth-shattering when compared to some larger mobile titles or bigger games on traditional gaming consoles and PC. However it shows that Netflix is seeing growth in the area, and will continue to invest in its library during 2024 and beyond.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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In a nutshell: Fuel cells - used as an alternative energy source in the automotive industry - convert the chemical energy of a fuel, often hydrogen, and an oxidizing agent (oxygen) into electricity. Japan has a significant fleet of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) on its roads, something Mitsubishi plans to exploit in its latest experiment for an environmentally sustainable energy infrastructure.

Mitsubishi recently announced a joint demonstration for a new-generation data center, a plant designed to use a stationary fuel cell (FC) power station as its main energy source. The company will partner with Honda and Tokuyama Corporation, exploring the feasibility of an FC-based power source in the face of further increase in power demand for data centers crunching larger volumes of data.

The project will be held in the city of Shunan, Mitsubishi said, where Tokuyama has run an electrolysis plant since 1952. Tokuyama will provide the hydrogen extracted as by-product of its saltwater electrolysis business, while Honda will develop the power station by reusing fuel cells removed from its electric vehicles.

The innovative data center was proposed by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a Japanese organization which promotes research, development and adoption of innovative hydrogen-based energy sources. The joint project should begin on March 31, running for two years until March 31, 2026.

FCEVs are a potential alternative to battery-powered vehicles, though they don't provide the same energy efficiency. Honda has already tested retired hydrogen fuel cells repurposed as a data center backup energy source in California, while the new Japan project aims to build a stationary power plant that could work both as a backup and a primary energy source.

Mitsubishi didn't provide any details about the data center infrastructure the company will manage in Shunan, so the amount of energy provided by the FC-based power plant is currently unknown. Hydrogen is considered a clean fuel as it only produces water as a by-product of a fuel cell's electrochemical reaction.

Commercially produced hydrogen is extracted from methane gas with an energy-intensive process based on fossil fuels, which is likely the same technology employed by Tokuyama in its saltwater electrolysis plant. Mitsubishi's project should at least be useful in demonstrating the feasibility of an effective integration of hydrogen and exhausted fuel cells into the energy business.

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Key notes

• Microsoft announced a Copilot key for future Windows 11 PCs.
• Apparently, the key will probably replace the second Ctrl or the Print Screen
• Not everyone’s thrilled about the idea.

Microsoft has just announced today that it will give a dedicated Copilot key to future Windows 11 PCs’ keyboards. But apparently, not everyone’s thrilled about the idea. 

 

Replacing the second Ctrl or Print Screen, the dedicated Copilot key will soon take its place on some keyboards, debuting at CES 2024. Microsoft hasn’t revealed which manufacturers will adopt it first.

Now, folks online have been saying that the idea is ridiculous, criticizing Microsoft’s stance on bringing artificial intelligence into almost everything. In the end, you just can’t please everyone. 

“Microsoft is not satisfied with inserting ads only in the OS, but is planning to insert them physically as well,” one Redditor says. 

Calling the Copilot key an ‘ad’ seems off-base. It’s the most exciting keyboard change since the Windows key, which no one questioned. This is about utility, not marketing.

“Please keep my PC free from all that AI s**t. I want to control my PC myself,” another one says. Of course, that’s not entirely true: it’s an assistant tool that’s called “Copilot” for a reason, and you use it to get help and suggestions on how to run programs on your desktops. 

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this? Are you thrilled about the idea or are you against it? Let us know in the comments!

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Anyone currently worrying about artificial intelligence taking over the world may want to swing by the Boston Dynamics AI Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While walking around, they’d see that the robots that might lead a future uprising are still trying to tie their shoelaces, metaphorically speaking.

The Institute’s founder and executive director, Marc Raibert, has built some of the world’s most famous robots at his previous venture, Boston Dynamics. The company, acquired by Hyundai in 2020, has developed legged machines capable of running, leaping, and of course dancing with spryness that can veer into the uncanny.

Raibert’s creations include the four-legged, pony-sized Big Dog; its smaller dog-like buddy, Spot; and an acrobatic humanoid called Atlas. They have racked up influencer-levels of YouTube views and likes, found their way into comedy skits, and even inspired dystopian Black Mirror episodes.

The future shock inspired by Boston Dynamics’ robots can obscure the fact that off-camera it is humans providing most of the intelligence needed for their most impressive and daring stunts. Raibert’s AI institute, launched in August 2023 with Hyundai’s support, is working on ways to take humans out of the loop. It will research ways for robots to comprehend and tackle complex and unpredictable situations with little or no human help. Raibert sat down with WIRED at the institute’s headquarters to discuss his new venture.

Will Knight: When did you decide to pivot from focusing on robots’ physical capabilities to working on their intelligence?

Marc Raibert: It’s been a while that I’ve been frustrated, if you want to call it that, with how much work it’s been to get the robot to do each next thing. You need substantial resources, and it’s going to take years to accomplish at the level I’d love to see. The athletic part of robotics is really doing well, but we need the cognitive part.

And the parkour that we see Boston Dynamics robots doing is an example of that painstaking programming and engineering work?

Oh yeah, there’s a lot of work that goes into that.

There have recently been some big leaps in AI thanks to large language models and systems like ChatGPT. Can this technology help your mission?

We have a significant effort here looking at the role they can play in robotics. I’m an enthusiast for using what you know in combination with what you learn. One of the interesting things about language models is that the language comes from humans, who are embodied creatures. It’s not focused on physicality, but it’s also not devoid of embodiment.

Language models became much more powerful thanks to scaling up the training data and computing power involved. Could something similar occur in robotics?

I think that's starting to happen. Marco Hutter at ETH Zurich is a visitor here, and we're going to use some of his work. He’s been working on reinforcement learning, largely developed in simulation but then applied to physical robots. It’s in the same neighborhood as large language models, in that you're letting machines discover data and then putting the data together rather than someone hand-designing a solution. He's got robots climbing on things very impressively, using different parts of their bodies to climb without ever having encountered that particular obstacle before, because in simulation they've encountered so many different environments.

A key question for AI researchers these days is whether it is possible to move beyond the capabilities of large language models without giving machines some sort of physical form. Could the work you are doing help other forms of AI advance?

I think this is a great question—it's not like ChatGPT does everything. A child doesn’t have anything like the data that a large language model does and yet their ability to generalize solutions is just remarkable. And you’d certainly like to burn the kind of energy that a kid does rather than what a language model does. The physical and cognitive fit together.

Several companies seem to be following Boston Dynamics’ lead by developing humanoids—including Tesla. What do you think of that trend?

I used to think all that matters is functionality—mobility, dexterity, agility, the ability to see things in the environment, and some kind of intelligence—and it shouldn't matter what the robot looks like.

But if you look at the reaction to our robots, humanoids get 10 times the reaction to anything else. So if you care about people responding, you have to care about that. At Boston Dynamics we got a fantastic reaction to the “Do You Love Me” video, and contrary to what some people think, we did it for pure fun.

I would never count Elon Musk out. He has a big voice that's helping make it feasible for other people to do humanoids, even though I think Boston Dynamics blazed the trail.

Marc RaibertCourtesy of Boston Dynamics AI Institute

Some robots, including from Boston Dynamics, are already doing warehouse work. Do you expect to see that humanoid workforce growing in the coming years?

Warehouse work is one of the great applications at the moment because there's such a need for people. Employers are really frustrated with the difficulty of getting humans and training them and the turnover. You can organize the environment, but then that’s less interesting for people like us who want to, you know, make the real future happen.

What are some of the more challenging environments that the institute will try to have robots master?

One group is working on robots that repair bicycles. The dream is to be able to fix any bicycle, which isn't as hard as fixing a car, but it's also not just stacking boxes. There’s a bicycle out there in the lab, and the robot is doing some stuff, but it’s early days.

Another thing we're doing is building an ultra-mobile two-wheeled vehicle—a bicycle with a jumping and bouncing mechanism on it. It will also have a vision system and will plan. If you watch a parkour cyclist, they are jumping from object to object, which requires a lot of understanding of the environment and planning out a sequence.

The third large-scale project is dexterous manipulation. When you look at the world of robotics, this might be a biased opinion, but I feel that locomotion and mobility has come a long way, but manipulation has a much longer way to go, even though we've been working on it for 50 years. Intelligence is a key part—integrating cognitive intelligence and perception.

People sometimes feel creeped out by the robots you’ve built. Do you think that could get worse now that systems like ChatGPT have prompted more discussion around AI potentially becoming dangerous?

Most bad things that happen in the world aren’t coming from robots. And the question I have is, are people really afraid of robots? My experience of going around with Spot is that people love to engage with it, they love to have selfies with it, and they will pet the robot. Even in individuals, depending on how you pose the question, you could get people saying, “Yeah, I’m afraid of that robot but not afraid of this other robot.” I’d just like to know what the real story is.

Are you at all worried that the leaps we’ve seen in AI could bring new risks?

I'm not afraid at all. I'm a little surprised that Musk and Sam Altman are so out there saying we need to be careful. People worry about robots taking every job, but we're really trying to get them to do one job in most cases, or a couple of jobs. Will we get there someday? You know, maybe, but it’s going to be a long haul.

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CES 2024 is coming up in a few days, but lots of tech companies are already making pre-CES announcements. One of those companies is Dell, and today the PC maker announced it will show off and release two new UltraSharp PC monitors designed to help reduce eye strain.

In a blog post, Dell stated the new UltraSharp 40 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor and the UltraSharp 34 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor have both received TUV Rheinland's five-star eye comfort certification. This is a new standard for monitors that have passed tests that show the displays help to cut down on eye strain.

In the case of the new Ultrasharp monitors, the screens have 120Hz refresh rates and also have an ambient light sensor that changes the brightness and colour temperature of the screen based on local light conditions. Both also have more advanced LED backlights that cut the amount of blue light from 50 percent to less than 35 percent.

The UltraSharp 40 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor includes a 40-inch curved ultrawide display with a resolution of 5,120 × 2,160. Dell states:

This monitor goes above and beyond with its connectivity options, offering Thunderbolt 4 for single-cable convenience with up to 140W power delivery. It also supports high-speed wired Ethernet connectivity at 2.5 Gbps via RJ45, along with HDMI 2.1 FRL (Fixed Rate Link) and DisplayPort 1.4 for smooth image transmission, minimizing any loss in visual quality.

The smaller 34-inch Dell UltraSharp 34 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor has a resolution of 3,440 × 1,440. It also has Thunderbolt 4 support, but only for up to 90W port delivery.

Both of the new Dell UltraSharp monitors will go on sale on February 27. The Dell UltraSharp 40 monitor will have a price tag of $2,399.99, while the Dell UltraSharp 34 will cost $1,019.99.

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Technically, Willis — aka “blue scuti” in the gaming world — made it to what gamers call a “kill screen,” a point where the Tetris code glitches, crashing the game. That might not sound like much of a victory to anyone thinking that only high scores count, but it’s a highly coveted achievement in the world of video games, where records involve pushing hardware and software to their limits. And beyond.

It’s also a very big deal for players of Tetris, which many had long considered unbeatable. That’s partly because the game doesn’t have a scripted ending; those four-block shapes just keep falling no matter how good you get at stacking them into disappearing rows. Top players continued to find ways to extend their winning streaks by staying in the game to reach higher and higher levels, but in the end, the game beat them all.

Until, that is, Willis managed on Dec. 21 to trigger a kill screen on Level 157, which the gaming world takes as a victory over the game — something along the lines of pushing the software past its own limits.

The makers of Tetris agree. “Congratulations to ‘blue scuti’ for achieving this extraordinary accomplishment, a feat that defies all preconceived limits of this legendary game,” Tetris CEO Maya Rogers said in a statement. Rogers noted that Tetris will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year and called Willis’ victory a “monumental achievement.”

It’s been a very long road. Early on, “the Tetris scene people didn’t even know how to get to these higher levels,” said David Macdonald, a gaming YouTuber who has chronicled the gaming industry for years. “They were just stuck in the 20s and 30s because they just didn’t know techniques to get any further.” Level 29 posed an especially tough roadblock because the blocks began falling more quickly than the in-game controller could respond.

Eventually players found ways to make progress, as Macdonald chronicled in his detailed video on Willis victory. In 2011, one got to Level 30 using a technique called “hypertapping,” in which a player could rhythmically vibrate their fingers to move the game controller faster than the game’s built-in speed. That technique took players to level 35 by 2018, after which they hit a wall.

The next big thing came in 2020 when a gamer combined a multifinger technique originally used on arcade video games with a finger positioned on the bottom of the controller to push it against another finger on the top. Called “rolling,” this much speedier approach helped one player reach Level 95 in 2022.

Then other obstacles arose. Because the original Tetris developers had never counted on players pushing the game’s limits so aggressively, bizarre quirks began to crop up at higher levels. One particularly difficult issue arose with the game’s color palette, which traditionally cycled through 10 easily distinguished patterns. Starting at level 138, though, random color combinations began to appear — some of which made it much harder to distinguish the blocks from the game’s black background.

Two particularly devilish patterns — one a dim combination of dark blues and greens later dubbed “Dusk,” the other composed of black, gray and white blocks called “Charcoal” — proved taxing for players. When combined with the strain of increasingly longer games, which could run 40 minutes or more, progress slowed again. It took a Tetris-playing AI program dubbed StackRabbit to break that logjam by helping map out just where players might happen across a glitch resulting in a kill screen, and finally beat the game.

StackRabbit, which managed to make it all the way to Level 237 before crashing the game, ran on a modified version of Tetris, so its achievements aren’t strictly comparable to those of human players. And its findings weren’t immediately applicable to the human-played game, either. But its runs clearly demonstrated that game-ending glitches could be triggered by very specific events, such as which block pieces were in play or how many lines a player cleared at once.

That let human players take over the task of mapping all possible scenarios that could cause such crashes in the original game. These typically resulted when the game’s decade-old code lost its place and began reading its next instructions from the wrong location, generally resulting in garbage input. A massive effort spurred by StackRabbit’s experience eventually led to the compilation of a large spreadsheet that detailed which game levels and which specific conditions were most likely to lead to a crash.

That’s what compelled Willis to make his run for the record. Yet even he appeared shocked when he crashed the game at Level 157. In his livestream video, he appears to hyperventilate before barely gasping “Oh my God” several times, clutching his temples and worrying that he might be passing out. After cupping his hands over his mouth in an apparent attempt to regulate his breathing, he finally exclaims, “I can’t feel my fingers.”

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Happy New Year! Welcome to Xbox in 2024. 🕺🏻🎇

It's a new dawn for Microsoft Gaming. We're now over a full decade removed from the dark days of the Xbox One launch, and we've now moved beyond simply turning a page on the Xbox of yore. We now have a whole new book to write, and 2024 is arguably its first chapter. 

In October 2023, Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard for a cool $70 billion. This completes a truly gargantuan few years of investment in gaming from Microsoft, which includes studios like Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, and InXile, but also ZeniMax and Bethesda. The vastness of the legacy now within Microsoft's umbrella is hard to visualize, but we're talking franchises spanning decades here — Nintendo-like nostalgia that has, up until now, largely eluded the Xbox brand. Microsoft has also expanded its hardware footprint, investing massively in cloud gaming servers powering experiences you can enjoy right from your television, no console required. Microsoft is also making bets on the future for gaming, including AI for dev tooling, graphics, and potentially even gameplay. 

So, with all that in mind, what can you expect to see from Microsoft Gaming and Xbox in 2024? Let's brainstorm, friends.

Perpetual forward motion

(Image credit: @Klobrille on Twitter (X). )

At least from a revenue perspective, Xbox is expected to have a huge leap in growth this quarter, as money from Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and World of Warcraft starts pouring in. The jump could put Microsoft ahead of long time competitors like PlayStation in the global games rankings. And with Tencent's outlook battered by China's aggressive (and evolving) regulatory stance towards home-grown gaming companies, Microsoft potentially has an opportunity to leapfrog them too. 

What does that mean for gamers, though? Well, cash flow from games like Call of Duty will help subsidize Microsoft's gaming operations in general, helping to offset risk as more traditional single-player experiences get ever increasingly expensive to produce. Xbox CEO Phil Spencer also previously hinted that Activision-Blizzard titles will start hitting Xbox Game Pass in 2024 as well, although it might take a little while for some of the more heavy hitters like Diablo 4 and Call of Duty itself to join the service. Initially, I would expect to see games from Activision's back catalog hit the service first. Perhaps we'll get classic Call of Duty games in there initially, alongside games like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and maybe Diablo 3. For more recent titles like Diablo 4 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Microsoft will likely want to assess how an Xbox Game Pass inclusion may disrupt the cash flow of those titles, and impact the teams working on said games, before jumping in head-first. 

Indeed, Microsoft has probably already done some preliminary assessments on these kinds of things, but it was only legally able to begin collaborating with Activision-Blizzard as of October 2023 when the deal closed. Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard will probably spend years fully integrating, and there are a lot of implications for what that may look like.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Beyond the back catalog and Xbox Game Pass, fans will want to know about some of the minutiae. What will Microsoft do with Battle.net? Blizzard's game launcher and social network has been present for decades, and has served as the fabric for communications between games like World of Warcraft, Diablo 4, and even mobile titles like Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble. I suspect Microsoft will leave it as is for now, but it's hard to say what might happen in the future. What about events like Blizzcon, which are notoriously expensive and don't break even financially? What about Call of Duty and Overwatch esports? What about the Blizzard perks on Twitch Prime? And so on. There are a lot of moving parts here, which will probably end up aligning with Microsoft's broader strategy in the coming months and years ahead. 

Something more definitive we can elude to is: Microsoft will want to do is mark the fact Activision-Blizzard is now part of team Xbox, and they'll probably want to mark it soon. I suspect we'll get that big back catalog drop into Xbox Game Pass sooner, rather than later, perhaps even as part of an event and showcase to help set the tone for the coming year. 

Let's face it, Microsoft has a true mountain of content to showcase in the near and long term. 

A swell of fresh first-party content, and events to showcase them

(Image credit: Ninja Theory)

Indeed, this time last year, Microsoft did an Xbox Developer_Direct event which gave us Hi-Fi Rush as its headline act. I would bet money that you can expect something similar in the near term too. I know from my conversations with Microsoft figures at in-person events last year that they are on board with a more regular cadence of information sharing, through events like its Xbox Developer Direct and the E3 Xbox Showcase events in June. So, let's assume that we are getting a new Xbox Developer Direct in the next few weeks, what can we realistically expect to be there?

We already know from previous events that Avowed is slated for 2024. Avowed is the first major game from Obsidian, known for titles like Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds in quite some time. Obsidian has launched smaller projects including Pentiment and Grounded, but Avowed looks set to be something more grand, set in the famed Pillars of Eternity universe. It might be fair to think of Avowed in the following terms: if The Outer Worlds was Obsidian's take on Fallout, Avowed would be Obsidian's take on The Elder Scrolls, albeit with various twists, and Obsidian's industry-leading writing. 

We also have Towerborne, which I was lucky enough to play at Gamescom last year. Towerborne could become something of a sleeper hit. If Diablo, with its loot and progression systems, had a baby with Castle Crashers' tight side-scrolling combat, it might look something like Towerborne. With combat designers from Killer Instinct and the team behind The Banner Saga, Towerborne could also be something really special. 

The headline act for 2024 is undoubtedly Hellblade 2. Long in gestation at Ninja Theory, Hellblade 2's visual quality already speaks for itself. Right now, we have no idea how it actually plays, however. The previous game was something of a cinematic experience with very little combat, but Hellblade 2 has every opportunity to be a little more interactive. Set in bronze age Iceland, Senua will battle myth and legend, and her own demons, on a long journey to Hekla — otherwise known as the gateway to hell. 

Towerborne is a beat 'em up gamer's dream.  (Image credit: Microsoft | Stoic Games)

There are other games likely ready to showcase in greater detail at any potential Xbox Developer_Direct, including the 4X strategy title ARA: History Untold, and the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Last year, though, we had a shadow drop in the form of Hi-Fi Rush. Perhaps Microsoft has some similar surprises up their sleeve this year as well. 

Microsoft has noted its long-standing ambition to get one major game launch in per quarter for Xbox Game Pass moving forward. We know ARA: History Untold, Towerborne, Hellblade 2, and Avowed are slated for 2024, but what else could fit the bill? I would also say it's fair to expect some major surprises at upcoming events, as Microsoft's investments begin to hit their stride in the post-pandemic era. 

Microsoft has a mountain of studios these days, across ZeniMax, its internal teams, and Activision. And while it might be too early to see any exclusive titles emerge from Activision in the near term, plenty of other studios have been quiet for quite some time. We've not heard what id Software is working on, we don't know what The Coalition's next game looks like. We've not heard anything of Avalanche's Contraband project, nor do we know what the status of Perfect Dark is. There's also State of Decay 3 to consider, as well as the big Fable reboot. While it's unlikely any of these could drop in 2024, it stands to reason that we will most likely see them showcased between now and the end of the year. 

New platform features, new hardware innovations

(Image credit: Microsoft)

A major leak last summer detailed Microsoft's Xbox hardware thought processes from back in 2021. While some of the information is outdated, and I have it on good authority some of (and maybe all of) the plans have changed, it does serve us to take a look back and remind ourselves what Microsoft has been considering in recent years. 

The rise of PC gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally has undoubtedly captured Microsoft's imagination. It was an intense topic of discussion at every opportunity and every event I went to in the past year, chiefly among those how Windows 11 is barely fit for purpose on a 7 to 8-inch gaming tablet, with interface issues that aren't functional on touch. It's a testament to Windows' adaptability that a device like that is even possible, but it's also undeniable how much more user-friendly the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch are, with custom-made interfaces more befitting of their hardware paradigms. 

In those previous leaks, Microsoft said building its own handheld gaming device was "out of scope for first party," indicating that Microsoft may want to lean further on Lenovo, ASUS, and other OEMs supporting the PC gaming handheld effort instead. To that end, Windows 11 (or even Windows 12) itself would need to be heavily adapted and customized, and Microsoft has positioned teams to support that effort. But what about on the console side?

The pyramid above from Microsoft's FTC court case leaks details Microsoft's Xbox hardware scope from previous years, although plans may have heavily changed.  (Image credit: US Courts)

In the leaks last year, it was revealed that Microsoft has geared up minor mid-gen refreshes for the Xbox Series X and S, codenamed Brooklin and Ellewood. These consoles would both become all digital, ditching disc drives entirely, while incorporating Bluetooth 5.2 for the first time for better accessory compatibility, as well as Wi-Fi 6E for improved streaming and internet consistency. Neither of these consoles come with any hardware upgrades, however, and would most likely be heavily overshadowed by the PlayStation 5 Pro, which Sony will most likely be looking to position as the "best place" to play the console-exclusive Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2025, no doubt. GTA6 will be a huge event for console gaming, shifting people from PS4 and Xbox One consoles in a way no other game has achieved previously. Microsoft may want to ensure it has at least something fresh to capitalize on that wave, although perhaps they have other plans in mind. 

There have been some suggestions that Microsoft may end up skipping over mid-gen refreshes entirely and just gun for an entirely new gen in 2026 or 2027. Perhaps they could step away from directly competing with PlayStation and instead just building new hardware as and when it sees fit, much like Nintendo does. Microsoft's timeline lists FY25 Q1 for launching the mid-gen consoles, which for Microsoft, starts in July 2024. Microsoft also aims to launch a new controller this summer, codenamed Sebile, which will incorporate superior platform switching features and better Bluetooth for multi-modal gaming. If things are all still going to plan, we'd also see Brooklin (X) and Ellewood (S) debut during that time too, with a September and October launch respectively, at $599 and $299 price points. I can't help but wonder if Microsoft might not just pivot towards focusing on next-gen at this point, though. 

The documents describe how Microsoft begun prototyping and researching what an Xbox with onboard AI processing might look like. Some of the ideas include improved AI NPCs in games, for example, but also things like improving cloud latency, generating frames, and improving graphics. In that timeline, Microsoft's "Gen 10" consoles would launch in 2028, and may even be based on ARM64 architecture instead of the AMD architecture we know today. The same documents describe how developing a "Thin OS" for $99 dollar handheld devices could also be on the cards. 

We'll find out for certain if some of, or all of these plans have remained in place this summer at Microsoft's Xbox Showcase 2024. If Ellewood and Brooklin do end up launching regardless, it stands to reason that the rest of the plans will remain in place, which would give us four more years of the current hardware cycle before Microsoft's big AI co-processing Xbox push in 2028. 

What do you want to see from Xbox in 2024?

(Image credit: Windows Central | Jez Corden)

There are other things likely on the horizon for 2024 as well. Microsoft has teased new Xbox achievements in an exclusive interview with us, as well as projects for franchises like Banjo Kazooie and StarCraft. Microsoft is also working on new Xbox accessories, including wireless headphones and new features for the Xbox Design Lab. 

Personally, I do want to see Microsoft create its own Xbox handheld, preferably natively. I think the Nintendo Switch 2 could become a huge threat when it drops in the near future, grabbing that portable factor enjoyed by the Steam Deck while also grabbing the power necessary to provide AAA games that have eluded the first Nintendo Switch. I think cloud will have a role to play, but cloud is incredibly expensive and energy intensive, when you could just provide local hardware and make use of those thousands of digital titles people have purchased instead. The fact I can't take my Xbox games to other platforms in the same way I can with Steam games is a real downer on the Xbox ecosystem, particularly when cross platform scalability was supposed to be Microsoft's wheelhouse. Right now, Steam is the only platform that gives me gaming on cloud, high-end local hardware, and mid-range local handheld hardware — I imagine this is exactly where Microsoft dreams it could be. And this is absolutely where Microsoft should aim to be, in my view. 

I'm not worried about content, though. Xbox Game Pass is absolutely the best deal in gaming, and will remain so in 2024. Microsoft's first party teams will absolutely hit their stride in 2024 and beyond, and the release cadence should pick up heavily in the coming years. The blips of yesteryear should become rarer, and the platform innovations and investments should ramp up, as subsidization from Activision's huge mobile arm picks up pace. 

2024 should be a great year for Xbox and its customers, and I'm here for it. But what do you want to see? Drop in the comments, let us know. 

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Bethesda is one of the most well known game developer out there. Best known for now classics like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4, it has made a big name for itself in the action RPG genre.

In 2018, Bethesda announced a new game called Starfield. Called as Skyrim in space by many, Starfield is one of the most courageous game developed by Bethesda in years. That, too, based on an entirely new universe.

The development of the game, however, wasn’t smooth. Its release got delayed several times. After years of waiting, it was finally released on the 6th of September 2023.

When Starfield got released, the professional reviewers were not fully impressed. This is reflected by the score of 83 on Metacritic. While any other game getting 83 on Metacritic would enjoy the treatment, more is expected from one of the top game developers in the world.

To put things into context, Bethesda’s other games, the original Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for example, enjoys a Metascore of 96. Even Fallout 4 is near 90.

However, the users on Steam are even less generous than the professional reviewers.

Starfield Keeps Getting Bad Reviews On Steam

Users on Steam have kept slamming Starfield. So much so that, while overall reviews remain mixed, the recent reviews show that the game has only 29% good reviews on the gaming platform by Valve. Which is way less than what we would usually see with any top games.

There are many reasons behind why people are complaining. We have seen two common complaints. First one is, “Starfield feels very mid”. That means that while the game is good, it’s not that as great as people had expected. The second reason is that people feel the game is vast, but quite empty.

Many say it’s boring, some say it lacks passion, some unfulfilling. Some complaints seem to be also about long loading screens. Some even say that while the game is good, it’s not worth the $70 that it’s priced at.

A lot of these reviewers are not quick players either, some have invested hundreds of hours into the game. So it’s not a case of review bombing, something which Valve usually reverts later.

Developer Blames Gamers

What doesn’t help the public opinion is that Starfield’s design director Emil Pagliarulo went on to complain against the gamers on a long Twitter thread (via PC Gamer) a month ago.

It starts with “how disconnected some players are from the realities of game development”. However, it also complains about how easy it’s to criticize but very hard to develop something. Fair enough. But this could rub the players the wrong way.

But that’s not enough, IGN had reported more than a month ago that when Starfield started getting bad reviews on Steam, Bethesda sent its representatives to reply to them. This is a rare move by any big gaming company.

However, that created more issues. The replies were not convincing. It said, “Some of Starfield’s planets are meant to be empty by design — but that’s not boring. When the astronauts went to the moon, there was nothing there. They certainly weren’t bored.” All other replies more or same are a repeat of it with more added stuff.

This is basically asking players why they are not having fun on empty planets. Empty planets are meant to have fun.

Future Of Starfield

Make no mistake. Starfield can be redeemed for sure. Some even ask if it’s that bad to be redeemed. Sure it isn’t. But it’s certainly not one of the game of the year, forget about game of the generation. It’s not better than Horizon Zero Dawn, either.

The reason we say it can improve itself is looking at recent years, many games which started out badly got massive updates which fixed major issues in them. There’s no reason Starfield cannot do that, either.

In fact, in a blog post, Bethesda has promised many big updates to Starfield this year. They claim to have heard the player feedback and promise new ways to travel, access city maps, customization, new gameplay options. Not to forget official mod support and new major expansion with new story content, new locations, new gear and more.

All’s not bad for Starfield on Steam, either. In The 2023 Steam Awards, Starfield won the Most Innovative Gameplay Award. For the record, it’s chosen by Steam players. So some do like the game after all, despite the ratings suggesting otherwise.

So, in other words, Starfield currently needs a lot of improvement. Players can surely go and buy and play it. But if they want something great, it’s best to wait and see if Bethesda delivers on it.

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It's not a huge shock to learn that Steam players voted for Larian's D&D based RPG Baldur's Gate 3 as Steam's 2023 Game of the Year. Valve stated of the winning game:

Maybe it was its immersive gameplay, or its gripping story... its well-crafted characters, immaculate design, or addictive multiplayer. Whatever the reason, the winner of this year's Game of the Year Award is an instant classic.

Baldur's Gate 3 also won a second category in the 2023 Steam Award for Outstanding Story-Rich Game.

Bethesda Game Studios and Microsoft's space-based RPG Starfield may have a "Mixed" gamer review rating on its Steam listing. However, Steam players still voted for it as the winner of the Most Innovative Gameplay category in the 2023 Steam Awards. Another interesting category, Best Game You Suck At, was won by the third-person brawler game Sifu, developed by Sloclap.

Here are all the winners in the 2023 Steam Awards:

• Game of the Year: Baldur's Gate 3
• VR Game of the Year: Labyrinthine
• Labor of Love: Red Dead Redemption 2
• Best Game on Steam Deck: Hogwarts Legacy
• Better With Friends: Lethal Company
• Outstanding Visual Style: Atomic Heart
• Most Innovative Gameplay: Starfield
• Best Game You Suck At: Sifu
• Best Soundtrack: The Last of Us Part I
• Outstanding Story-Rich Game: Baldur's Gate 3
• Sit Back and Relax: DAVE THE DIVER

Most of these games, and the vast majority of games on Steam, still have deep discounts at the moment as part of the annual Steam Winter Sale. You still have time to take advantage of these price cuts before the sale ends on January 4 at 1 pm Eastern time (10 am Pacific time).

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In case you need a refresher, NVIDIA introduced its "Super" branding with the 20-series where it bumped up the CUDA core count and VRAM amount (on some) of the existing SKUs. It was a mid-generation refresh instead of an architectural uplift but nonetheless, the new GPUs proved to be a hit among gamers.

The idea behind the upcoming RTX 40 series is similar. NVIDIA's 40-series, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, is more efficient than what AMD has to offer with its RX 7000 series (RDNA 3). However, AMD has it beat when it comes to VRAM capacity department.

Most of NVIDIA's 40 series has less VRAM than one would expect at that price point as the company has decided to stick to just using 8GB on its RTX 4060 and 4060 Ti series, which comes in at a rather expensive $300 and $400 respectively, and the 16GB 4060 Ti was priced $100 more at $500. The same was the case with the 4070 Ti as well as the $800 card had a meager 12GB frame buffer, compared to its competing AMD card, the 7900 XT, having 20GB, which is nearly 67% more memory.

Most of the tech press including Neowin criticized NVIDIA for this and the public too wasn't too happy. As a response, the company is rumored to be bumping up the memory capacity and interface on the RTX 5000 series. Meanwhile, an immediate upgrade is reportedly coming in the form of the RTX 4000 Super series. The 4070 Ti Super is expected to feature 16GB and the CUDA Core numbers are also apparently going up to 8448, up from 7680 on the non-Super.

The 4080 Super, meanwhile, is expected to still have 16GB. The GPU will purportedly have 10240 CUDA cores, up from 9728 on the vanilla non-Super. Finally, the 4070 Super is expected to see the biggest bump in terms of CUDA cores as it will seemingly pack 7168 cores. The non-Super 4070 has 5888.

In terms of availability, the cards could commence filling store shelves and online marketplaces starting January 17th.

Source and image: NVIDIA (Facebook)

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Although Steam is no longer supported on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, customers can still access their games. However, Valve warns that the service may break at any time, given its dependency on an embedded version of Google Chrome. As a reminder, Google dropped Windows 7 support in January 2023, with Chrome 109 being the final version available on old Windows versions.

Besides relying on Chrome, Steam for Windows will soon require specific OS features and security components unavailable on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.

With Valve being unable to guarantee continued functionality of its gaming platform on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, customers sticking to these operating systems can expect the service to go down at any moment. In addition, they will no longer receive any technical support.

As a reminder, using an outdated operating system on a computer connected to the internet is not a good idea. Without security updates, customers are susceptible to malware and cyberattacks that exploit unpatched vulnerabilities in abandoned operating systems and software that runs on them.

Sadly, Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users are in a sticky situation since upgrading to Windows 10 for free is no longer available. In September 2023, Microsoft closed the long-standing loophole that allowed upgrading old Windows versions to Windows 10 without purchasing a new key. A genuine Windows 10 or 11 license is now a must to install a supported Windows version.

You can read more about the end of support for Steam on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 on the official Steam Support website.

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In 2024, we are looking forward to playing a ton of great PC titles, some of which were supposed to be released last year. Our list includes quite a few strategy titles of many different styles, which is a genre that has proven itself highly successful on the PC platform.

We will mention that all of our games on the Xbox 2024 list are planned for a PC release as well. We didn't want to duplicate our Xbox list for our most anticipated PC games, so we picked some more upcoming titles, many of which will be released either exclusively for PC or will likely be the prime platform for that game.

Helldivers 2 - February 8, 2024

• Developer: Arrowhead Games
• Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
• What's it about: It's once again time to fight for Super Earth against a variety of alien threats.
• Why we want to play it: The first game in the Helldivers franchise was a top down sci-fi shooter but developer Arrowhead decided to make the sequel a third person shooter with ground-based gameplay. The visuals in the trailers already look pretty amazing and we hope the game will play as good as it looks.

Homeworld 3 - March 8, 2024

• Developer: Blackbird Interactive
• Publisher: Gearbox Publishing
• What's it about: The Hyperspace Gateway Network is falling apart and you and your fleet must find out what's causing it while also fighting off enemies
• Why we want to play it: The long-awaited third game in the space-based 3D RTS series is finally just a few months away from release. In addition to its single-player campaign, there will also be a roguelite War Games co-op mode, a skirmish mode, and support for mods out of the box.

Pre-order Homeworld 3 Collector's Edition at Amazon

Ara: History Untold - TBD 2024

• Developer: Oxide Games
• Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
• What's it about: You control your "civilization" from the beginning until the present, unlocking new tech, new challenges and more.
• Why we want to play it: Oxide Games has a number of people who worked on the Civilization strategy games, and they want to expand that 4x gameplay in new directions, including support for crafting and more.

Stormgate - TBD 2024 (Early Access)

• Developer: Frost Giant Studios
• Publisher: Frost Giant Studios
• What's it about: Earth has to fight demonic-like alien threats with big units like mechs and even robot dogs.
• Why we want to play it: Former Starcraft developers at Blizzard form Frost Giant Studios to make a three-faction RTS game that looks an awful lot like what we would imagine StarCraft III might be like. You can check out Stormgate's Kickstarter campaign now so you can play in the early beta tests.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024- TBD 2024

• Developer: Asobo Studio
• Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
• What's it about: It's time to get on board your plane and fly around the world, but this time you can participate in different aviation jobs.
• Why we want to play it: In addition to updated graphics and aviation physics, this update to the 2020 revival of Microsoft Flight Simulator will let you assume different roles, like air rescue, private charter flight and much more.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 - TBD 2024

• Developer: The Chinese Room
• Publisher: Paradox Interactive
• What's it about: Vampires are out and about in modern-day Seattle and you have to deal with the various clans of the Kindred
• Why we want to play it: Here's another game that's been a long time coming, but with new developer The Chinese Room this game looks like it's finally coming together to become the sequel to the Vampire: The Masquarade RPG title.

MechWarrior 5: Clans - TBD 2024

• Developer: Piranha Games
• Publisher: Piranha Games
• What's it about: The Smoke Jaguar clan is ready to go to war against the tyrants of the Inner Sphere with their big, big mechs to handle the job.
• Why we want to play it: After releasing MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries several years ago, Piranha Games will launch a more linear single player game, with some updated Unreal Engine 5 graphics.

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred - TBD 2024

• Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
• Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
• What's it about: Mephisto has some evil, demonic plans for Sanctuary and its up to you to stop them. It will require you to visit a previously unseen region called Nahantu.
• Why we want to play it: Blizzard had a big hit on its hands with Diablo IV in 2023, and it looks like it will continue to give players even more monsters to slay in the first expansion pack for the game in 2024.

That's our list of our most anticipated PC games of 2024. Again, we will be updating this list every so often as more games are announced, and other games get release dates.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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You're welcome.

Table of contents:

1. Windows 11 news
2. Updates are available
3. Gaming news

Windows 11

Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.

This week, Microsoft turned off the ms-appinstaller URI scheme to stop attackers from spreading malware and abusing the ability to install MSIX packages downloaded from the internet. However, it does not mean you can no longer install packaged apps. The change prevents automatic installations using the corresponding URI, and you can still save an MSIX file to a local drive and install it if necessary.

NTDEV, the maker of the tiny11 project, has released tiny11 core for ARM64 processors. It is now available for download with reduced disk footprint, improved performance, and other quirks. The developer recommends using it for testing inside a virtual machine.

CES 2024 is upon us, and early leaks are already spoiling the show, revealing what manufacturers have in store for the upcoming show. Lenovo, for one, is allegedly cooking an add Windows 11 laptop with a detachable display that can work as a standalone Android tablet. Like a Surface Book, but with the wrong operating system Android.

LG also pre-announced the latest additions to its Gram lineup.

On the first-party side, expect a new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop in the first half of 2024. According to a new report, Microsoft plans to release the Surface Pro "10" and Surface Laptop "6" somewhere in the spring, and the new generation will bring fresh processors from Intel and Qualcomm, better displays, and a big focus on AI. Rumors say the next Surface Pro and Surface Laptop will be the first "true AI computers" from Microsoft.

Windows Insider Program

Still nothing here—the team is having a rest, so come back for new preview builds in January 2024.

To finish the Windows section, here is a comprehensive list of each feature, service, and component Microsoft deprecated in 2023. It includes a total of 18 different features, some of which affect only commercial customers, while others apply to regular consumers as well.

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

Without much fanfare, Microsoft quietly launched a new Copilot app for Android. As the name implies, you can use it to access the company's AI-powered assistant and its features. You can download Copilot for Android from the Google Play Store. Just a few days later, the same app arrived on iOS.

Speaking of Copilot, but on the more theoretical side, here is how Dell envisions a new generation of AI-powered assistants interacting with modern operating systems. The published concept shows Copilot automatically changing Wi-Fi settings upon connecting to specific networks, optimizing performance when requested, changing visual settings, and more. Sadly, the current Copilot implementation, even though it is now out of the preview stage, is light years away from that concept.

2023 was a big year for Microsoft and its newly launched Copilot. According to the company, Edge users and other customers engaged in over 1.9 billion chats with Copilot. In a blog post, Microsoft shared other Edge-related stats, such as average savings via its shopping tools, time spent in built-in games, the number of prevented phishing attacks, and more.

However, not everyone is happy with what Microsoft and OpenAI are doing with their AI products. The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against the two companies, claiming that OpenAI trained ChatGPT on "millions of articles published by The Times" without consent. Microsoft is also under fire for generating "almost verbatim results" from the Wirecutter website and removing affiliate links.

Other notable updates and releases from this week include the following:

• WingetUI 2.2.0 with support for Windows Widgets and plenty of other changes and fixes.
• WhatsPC, a third-party app for checking what your old PC can do before you send it to the landfill.

Finally, here is the latest Microsoft 365 Roadmap Weekly covering the upcoming features of Microsoft's productivity apps. Soon, Microsoft Teams will receive collaborative notes support, invitation improvements, and translation enhancements on Mac. In January 2024, Microsoft Stream will let you share videos with a new "view, but not download" policy. Finally, Outlook for Mac will get Microsoft To Do support.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.

Another week, another leak. This time, someone wished Rockstar a Merry Christmas by leaking the entire source code of Grand Theft Auto V, revealing a lot of information about the outgoing game, its DLCs, and other projects, including unreleased ones, from Rockstar Games.

Shortly after letting gamers check out their year in review on Steam, Valve launched a new page where everyone can see the biggest money-printing games of the year. The Best of Steam 2023 is now live with different best-selling categories, such as total sales, new games, titles for Steam Deck, games for SteamVR, etc.

NVIDIA also made a recap of 2023 for its GeForce NOW streaming service. The total number of supported games is now over 1,800, which means those without consoles or powerful PCs can enjoy all sorts of small and large PC games powered by NVIDIA's latest hardware. In addition, NVIDIA added 46 new PC Game Pass titles.

Speaking of Game Pass, a new report says the service received over $8,700 worth of games in 2023 alone.

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10. Tiny11—a slimmed-down and bloat-free Windows 11

February 3, 2023, marked the first release of tiny11, a slimmed-down Windows 11 mod with lower hardware requirements, less bloat, and a notably smaller disk footprint. The project has received multiple updates since then, such as a Windows 11 live DVD, tiny11 core, and tiny11 version 2311.

You can even build your own tiny11 ISO if you do not trust pre-built third-party Windows images.

9. Incredibly realistic first-person shooter

Unrecord is an upcoming first-person shooter from Drama. You play as a cop and take down bad guys, witnessing everything from an unconventional point of view recorded on a body camera. What surprised the audience the most was how realistic and true-to-life the game looked. Developers even had to prove the game was not faked.

8. Reddit hack?

Reddit had a rough year. After the third-party app drama, someone hacked the service and took over 80GB of data, demanding the revocation of the new API policies and an extra $4.5 million.

7. Edge is taking screenshots of the websites you visit

In August 2023, users spotted an interesting feature coming to the Microsoft Edge browser. Called "Save screenshots of the site for History," it suggests taking pictures of the websites you visit so you can "quickly revisit" them from the browser history. Microsoft surely knows how to confuse its customers with odd feature names and descriptions.

6. A lot of excited Bing Chat users

2023 was full of Bing and AI news. At some point, the company increased daily turns to 120, resulting in many excited users and tons of views on Neowin. Okay.

5. Windows 11 upgrade prompt with two "yes" buttons

Here is a funny one: at the beginning of the year, Microsoft decided to experiment with a full-screen Windows 11 ad targeting Windows 10 users with compatible hardware. Intrusive ads are no strangers in the world of Microsoft. What made this one special was that there were two "yes" buttons and zero "no, thanks" buttons.

4. MSDT is dead

Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool is now deprecated. The company decided to retire it in favor of the new Get Help platform. However, the process is a gradual one, and Microsoft plans to remove MSDT from future Windows versions somewhere in 2025.

By the way, Microsoft deprecated a lot of Windows components in 2023. Check out our "Every Windows 10 and 11 feature Microsoft deprecated in 2023" article for more information.

3. Almost 700 fired Microsoft employees

2023 was a bad year for many employees in Big Tech. On March 7, 2023, a report emerged about Microsoft laying off almost 700 people from its Seattle-area offices. It was a part of the announced in January 2023 plan to let go of 10,000 workers as a part of broad cost-cutting measures.

2. Full-sized Microsoft banners on the Chrome website

Microsoft's attempts to get more users for Edge (or make existing ones stay) are often borderline offensive and outrageous. In February, we spotted a massive, nasty banner injected into the Chrome website trying to make you stay on Edge and not download Google Chrome. Although the story went viral, the banner is still there. Heck, Microsoft pressed on and even started nagging users to take a poll after downloading Chrome.

1. Edge sends pics you view online to Microsoft

The biggest story of the year was about Edge sending images you view online to Microsoft for enhancement. Again, without a clear explanation, the feature's description made a lot of people believe Microsoft can keep an eye on your memes and cat photos. However, the situation is as dark as it might look, but the company deserves a fair share of beating for failing to provide a proper feature description and privacy disclosure.

And that is it for the most popular articles published on Neowin in 2023. Thank you for sticking with us, and let's hope 2024 will bring more interesting stories!

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While it might not be as hard as playing League of Legends on the Steam Deck, getting the game installed on your Linux operating system is also pretty complicated. Therefore, we've got the main steps for you right here so you can enjoy some games of League. 

League of Legends For Linux: Follow These Simple Steps

There are a few simple steps you'll need to follow to have the game up and running on your PC. This isn't difficult though and if you're a Linux user, then you're probably familiar with the terms we're about to use anyways. 

• Update Your Linux System: Ensure your Linux distribution is up-to-date to avoid compatibility issues.

• Install Wine: Wine is a compatibility layer that allows you to run Windows applications on Linux. You can install Wine through your Linux distribution's package manager.

• Install a Helper Application (like Lutris or PlayOnLinux):

• Lutris: Lutris is a gaming client for Linux that simplifies installing and managing games. It has scripts for installing "League of Legends" that handle much of the setup process.

• PlayOnLinux: Similar to Lutris, PlayOnLinux provides a user-friendly interface to manage Wine configurations and installations.

• Install League of Legends:

• If using Lutris: Search for "League of Legends" in Lutris and follow the installation script.

• If using PlayOnLinux: Install "League of Legends" using the PlayOnLinux wizard, which guides you through downloading and setting up the game.

• Adjust Settings if Necessary: Depending on your system and the version of "League of Legends," you might need to tweak Wine settings or install additional libraries.

• Run the Game: Once installed, you can run "League of Legends" through Lutris or PlayOnLinux.

There you go, now the game should be running on Linux as well. It is important to note that Linux might not provide the same level of stability or performance as on supported operating systems like Windows. 

Keep an eye on patches and updates, since they could affect how well the game runs on your computer. Other than that though, the game should run perfectly fine on your Linux computer. 

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