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Genshin Impact is being review bombed following growing frustrations from the community over the game's treatment. It's been a rough few months for the gacha game, with increasing criticisms coming from fans regarding updates and events. The release of 5-star character Yoimiya was poorly received, with complaints of broken abilities and a feeling that minimal thought had been put into her overall gameplay design. Similar problems then arose with the game's next 5-star character, Baal. An anniversary livestream in August didn't make things much better. Apart from the English stream being over an hour late, the revealed rewards for its anniversary event were slammed for being pretty stingy. Gacha game fans will know anniversaries are often pretty sweet deals—developers tend to throw a ton of rewards at you, usually premium currency that could take a good month or two to grind out for. See more Players aren't pleased with the rewards being dished out though and, coupled with miHoYo's ongoing silence surrounding the recent problems, it's caused tensions to swell. Things seem to have finally come to a head, with angry fans taking to the game's mobile store pages in droves to leave 1-star reviews. It's not done much to the game's rating on the Apple Store, which is currently sat at a 4.5. For the Google Play Store though, it's seen the rating dip just below three stars. According to GamesRadar, it was even worse just a few hours ago, but things seem to have evened out somewhat. That might be due to the fact that, according to one reddit post, the 1-star reviews are being reported to Google as bot reviews and removed. Google does have a policy that doesn't allow "spam or fake reviews," which explicitly prohibits mani[CENSORED]ting app ratings. While it's not exactly the same as Steam's review bomb detection, something similar is likely happening to stop the rating from dipping too low. See more It hasn't stopped the anger though, with players also taking to Genshin's two official Discord servers, spamming its channels with a character emote that's become synonymous with community disappointment. Both servers currently sit on a pretty lengthy half-hour slow mode, up from the initially reported ten minutes. There's been no response from miHoYo yet. With how long the silence has already been, it's uncertain whether we'll be seeing an acknowledgement from the developer anytime soon. It's a shame because Genshin is a surprisingly fantastic experience, but poor practices will undoubtedly continue to drive players away.

Holding video calls with colleagues or contacts around the world may soon run a lot smoother thanks to a new update to Google Meet. The video conferencing platform has revealed it is now testing live translation captions for users, translating English into Spanish, French, Portuguese and German. The function is currently only available for meetings conducted in English, but Google hopes to widen this out to other languages soon. We've compiled a list of the best online collaboration tools These are the best video conferencing software solutions Also check out our roundup of the best business webcams Live captions "Live translated captions help video call participants communicate better by translating a spoken language to captions in another language," Google said in a Workspace Updates blog post announcing the news. "By helping users consume the content in a preferred language, you can help equalize information sharing, learning, and collaboration, and make sure your meetings are as effective as possible." (Image credit: Google) The company notes that the feature could be helpful for global businesses bringing all their employees together for all-hands meetings and training programs, meaning all attendees are able to get the most out of such a call. But it could also help students who speak a different language to their teacher or lecturer, enabling online learning to become more effective and useful for all. Translated captions are in beta testing now, and are available to interested customers for Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Teaching & Learning Upgrade. The news is the latest upgrade to come to Google Meet in recent weeks as the platform looks to keep pace with the likes of Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Perhaps most usefully, Google Meet upgraded its web platform with a new tweak which it hopes will lead to improved visibility, automatically detecting when a user appears underexposed on a call and enhancing the brightness of their feed in order to make them more visible. The service also recently added a new settings panel allowing users to quickly access effects such as background blur, background images and styles before and during a video call. Everything you need to work from home right now

Mechanical hard disk drives are the still the king of value when it comes to the amount of storage you get for your dollar. But they're also comparatively slow when up against solid state drives. Even SATA ones like Crucial's MX500 run circles around HDDs. If the prospect of faster secondary storage at a reasonable price appeals to you, then check out Amazon's discount on the 1TB version of the MX500—it's on sale for $81.99. That's $18 below its list price, equivalent to an 18% discount. It's not a ginormous saving, obviously, but the bang-for-buck was already high on this model, and this is the cheapest it has ever been, according to CamelCamelCamel's price tracking history. MAKES A GREAT SECONDARY STORAGE DRIVE Crucial MX500 1TB SSD | $99.99 $81.99 at Amazon (save $18) Give your primary storage some breathing room with this 1TB SSD, which makes a fine secondary drive. Or use it as your main drive, depending on your situation—it doesn't offer PCIe/NVMe-level speeds, but is still much faster than an HDD.VIEW DEAL We still include the MX500 in our roundup of the best SSDs for gaming, even though it is a 2.5-inch SATA model mingling with faster and more convenient M.2 NVMe SSDs. That may seem odd, but there are a few use-case scenarios. Like being out of available M.2 slots on your motherboard, but still wanting to expand your storage. The best application is to configure it as a secondary drive, which offers faster overflow (compared to an HDD) for your primary drive—your game catalogs aren't likely shrinking, after all. However, depending on your situation, you could still use this as your main drive and see benefits, even for gaming. For the most part, games don't benefit much in going from a SATA SSD to an NVMe SSD, despite the potentially massive speed differential. That may change when developers begin truly tapping into Microsoft's DirectStorage API, which allows them to better leverage faster storage. But we're not really there yet. And as far as Windows goes, it's zippy on any modern SSD. The other option is to wait and see what bargains Black Friday and Cyber Monday bring to the table. Those deals are still a couple months away, though, so if you need additional storage now and don't want to spend a whole lot, this is a decent option.

Reigns is a super-simple medieval management sim in which you, the monarch, make binary decisions based on a wide variety of scenarios that will either cement your place in history or, more likely, lead to your untimely and ugly demise. It's blend of simplicity, variety, and humor is quite good: "The enjoyment is in the journey," we said in our 82% review of the sequel Reigns: Her Majesty. NeuroNet: Mendax Proxy looks a very similar sort of experience, but one that takes place in a cyberpunk world. You play as an experimental AI owned by a megacorp (of course) who's been put in charge of running the city in all matters large and small, ranging from municipal approvals to aiding criminal investigations and (again, of course) harvesting data for advertisers. Developer Dream Harvest said NeuroNet "plays closely" to Reigns, but noted some big differences as well. It's more focused on telling a coherent story than Reigns, and ditches Reigns' resource bar in order to encourage more natural decision-making rather than resource hoarding. "We want players to make a range of decisions, from the challenging to the mundane, but we don’t want them to be influenced by a user interface but instead by their own, personal, moral compass," the studio explained. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingWhy The Sims 4 is great but hard to recommend | PC Gamer Top 100 2021 Chivalry 2 delivers the full medieval warfare... 15/09/21Chivalry 2 delivers the full medieval warfare experience | PC Gamer Top 100 2021 Loop Hero - simple to start, brutal to master | PC... 14/09/21Loop Hero - simple to start, brutal to master | PC Gamer Top 100 2021 Football Manager is the most important sim in... 14/09/21Football Manager is the most important sim in gaming history | PC Gamer Top 100 2021 Cyberpunk 2077 | PC Gamer Review 09/12/20Cyberpunk 2077 | PC Gamer Review The Top 100 Showcase: Super Mega Baseball 3 |... 14/09/20The Top 100 Showcase: Super Mega Baseball 3 | PC Gamer Dark humor is one of Reigns' big strengths, but NeuroNet looks more like it's played straight: Not surprising, perhaps, given that cyberpunk isn't the most light-hearted genre ever imagined, but I do wonder if it will come off as a bit heavy-handed by comparison. We will soon have the opportunity to find out, to some extent at least, as a demo will be available to one and all from October 1-7 as part of the upcoming Next Fest on Steam. Until then, you can find out more about what NeuroNet: Mendax Proxy has in mind at mendaxproxy.com. Andy Chalk Andy Chalk Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Apple kicked off its second annual all-virtual developer conference with a keynote that outlined new updates to its software for iPhones and other devices. The presentation highlighted more privacy options for paid iCloud accounts and a "Find My" service that helps find errant AirPods, but included no major product announcements. The latest renovations in Apple's $2 trillion empire come at a pivotal time for the Cupertino, California, company. Apple is facing legal and regulatory threats to its control over its App Store, a so-called "walled garden" that produces substantial profits for the company. Apple CEO Tim Cook, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, and other executives outlined updates to software for Apple's many devices including its MacBooks, iMacs, iPhone, iPad and Watch. Apple's new MacOS software, dubbed Monterey, supports what Apple calls "universal control," which lets people use one mouse and keyboard to control an iMac desktop computer, MacBook laptop and iPad at the same time. Forrester analyst Julie Ask said the improvements Apple showed off, like the "universal control," play to Apple's strengths in blending its products and services. "The news today was nothing 'new new,' like holy cow how did they make that happen," she said. "But each of us picks up our phone 100 or 200 times a day, and they're making 100 little moments a day better, more seamless, and easier." In this May 21, 2021, file photo, the Apple logo is displayed on a Mac Pro desktop computer in New York. At an event on Monday, June 7, 2021, Apple unveiled a variety of incremental improvements to the software that powers iPhones, iPads and Mac computers" would do. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File She pointed out Apple's plan to support digital IDs including drivers licenses and state IDs from "participating U.S. states" in its digital wallet, as another example. Apple did not identify which states that will include. "They have an army of people trying to get these deals signed," she said. "Apple gets a lot of criticism for being so controlling. But they can do things other big brands struggle to do." A "Live Text" feature in iOS 15 will let you highlight text in photos and copy and paste it or look it up online. It will also integrate Air Pods into its "Find My" service, which helps people find lost or misplaced Apple products. Apple is introducing more privacy features to its paid iCloud plans, including a way to hide your email address, encrypt video, and a "Private Relay" feature of Safari that encrypts data from the web browser similar to a VPN. In this May 21, 2021, file photo, iMac desktop computers are displayed in an Apple store in New York. At an event on Monday, June 7, 2021, Apple unveiled a variety of incremental improvements to the software that powers iPhones, iPads and Mac computers" would do. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File Paid plan pricing isn't changing. Users pay for any iCloud storage above the free 5GB storage users get for free. In the U.S., those plans start at $1 a month for 50GB of storage. Apple didn't announce when iOS 15 will be available, but the company traditionally releases the free updates to all compatible iPhones in September.

HP has revealed it has a new Envy 34-inch all-in-one PC on the way that can be kitted out with up to an RTX 3080 Super. It has since changed the reference to remove the Super prefix, but this being the internet, the original post has been saved forever—you can find a shot of the original on this Reddit post by the wonderfully named minty_hippo. As this is an all-in-one PC, it will use the cooler, mobile version of the GPU, not the full-fat desktop GPU. Still, it adds weight to the idea that we're going to get a Super refresh of Nvidia's 30-series GPUs, both on desktop and in mobile in the not-too-distant future. Of course, it could have just been an honest mistake—updating the text of a previous model and the Super slipped in. And indeed if this was a one-off it may just be put down to that, but the internet rumor mills are definitely in full effect at this stage, and the expectations for a complete line-up of 30-series Super cards have been gathering momentum for a while now. See more A tweet from the usually reliable kopite7kimi suggests a total of four new GPUs are on the way. We covered the rumors of a faster spin of the 3090 almost a month ago, and the 3090 Super does appear at the top of the list. Do we really need another expensive high-end card at this point? Probably not; the idea of a 3060 Super is a far more appealing idea. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playing This week in PC gaming: Left 4 Dead 2's first major... 19/09/20 See Nvidia RTX 3080 takes on "Can it run Crysis?"... 18/09/20 Has NVidia 3080 made it safe to turn on RTX? |... 17/09/20 The Top 100 Showcase: Super Mega Baseball 3 |... 14/09/20 This Week in PC Gaming: RTX 3080 releases,... 13/09/20 Looking at the proposed specs, there are some oddities here for sure. The RTX 3090 Super looks like a small jump up from the existing RTX 3090, while the RTX 3060 Super could be a phenomenal improvement over the original RTX 3060, and looks to be trading blows with the 3060 Ti. Maybe we'll see the first appearance of a Ti Super? Rumoured* RTX 30-series Super GPUs GPUCUDA CoresSMsRAM 3090 Super*10,7528424 GB GDDR6X 309010,4968224 GB GDDR6X 3080 Ti10,2408012 GB GDDR6X 3080 Super*8,9607012 GB GDDR6X 30808,7046810 GB GDDR6X 3070 Ti6,144488GB GDDR6X 3070 Super*5,888468GB GDDR6X 30705,888468GB GDDR6 3060 Super*5,6324412GB GDDR6 3060 Ti4,864388GB GDDR6 30603,5842812GB GDDR6 Whether these new cards will act as replacements for the existing cards, we're unsure. Cast your mind back to when Nvidia released the Super versions of the 20-series: that's exactly what happened back then. The original non-Super configurations ceased production and the Supers became the only available option. That switch may be even easier this time around, given stock of existing cards is largely non-existent anyway. TIPS AND ADVICE (Image credit: Future) How to buy a graphics card: tips on buying a graphics card in the barren silicon landscape that is 2021 Advertisement Nvidia hasn't said anything official about these Super renditions at this stage, but getting a whole range of new cards that are a bit more powerful compared to what is (or actually isn't) already out there seems like a good thing. The mooted time frame for these cards is January 2022, although once again that's not written in stone. Still, I can't help but get a bit excited about more GPUs being produced, whatever form they take. Alan Dexter Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.

Mega-toy brand Hasbro has, through its games division Wizards of the Coast, opened a videogame studio that is "led by industry veterans from WB Games and other AAA studios". That's according to the job description attached to several listings for new roles. The studio, just referred to as "New Raleigh-Durham Studio", will be making a G.I. Joe game as its first project. The job ads call it a "AAA 3rd Person Action/Adventure game", as well as confirming it will be multi-platform. Qualifications mentioned in the listings for four roles (technical director, art director, lead game designer, and lead animator) ask for experience with the Unreal engine, as well as knowledge of broad videogame elements like "progression" and "exploration mechanics". A third-person action game seems like a decent fit for G.I. Joe, though I think it would be perfect for a turn-based tactics game where you take over Cobra Island with a squad of specialists who, unlike XCOM grunts, all have established skills and personalities—wait, I think I just invented Jagged Alliance. During a Hasbro investor event earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast president Chris Cocks talked about "leveraging some perennial Hasbro favorites with an eye towards developing them digitally", saying, "We will bring these brands to digital life and develop experiences that resonate with the lifestyle gamer in ways that are new, fresh and provocative." The Hasbro brands he mentioned were G.I. Joe, Transformers, Micronauts, and Ouija—as in Ouija board, which, yes, is a brand and Hasbro has owned the trademark to it since 1948. Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was published in 2015, he edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and actually did play every Warhammer videogame.

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Alphabet’s CapitalG investment arm is generating hefty returns from a big bet on cloud software developer Freshworks. After Freshworks shares jumped 32% in their Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, CapitalG’s stake is worth $987 million. The group, which makes later-stage investments off Alphabet’s balance sheet, put in a total of about $87 million over multiple rounds, starting at a valuation of $150 million. Freshworks, whose software competes with Salesforce and Zendesk, marks CapitalG’s sixth IPO this year, following the debuts of UiPath, Duolingo, Robinhood and Oscar. “It’s hard not to feel great,” said Gene Frantz, the CapitalG partner who led the Freshworks investment, in an interview on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Google’s early-stage investment Group, GV, scored a win from Toast’s IPO. The restaurant-tech company is valued at $31 billion, though GV’s stake was not big enough to make it onto the prospectus. GV invested at a valuation of under $100 million. Frantz recalled the time he first approached Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubootham, who started the company in India in 2010. “We reached out to the CEO and invited him to our campus and introduced him to CapitalG to show not that he was working for us but the other way around,” Frantz said. “I didn’t want him to leave the room and tried to convince him we’d be a good partner going forward.” Frantz said the firm helped FreshWorks in a number of areas where Google’s history and expertise could be beneficial. For example, the company has provided some engineering support with machine learning and artificial intelligence and has helped Freshworks when it comes to workplace issues such as remote work and returning to the office. WATCH NOW VIDEO02:23 Toast and A.K.A. Brands make their NYSE debut Frantz said Freshworks designed products in a way that doesn’t require hours of training for the user, which is a common problem with competing enterprise software services. They tried to “focus maniacally on creating a good user experience and figure the rest will fall into place,” Frantz said. Frantz said the firm also helped Freshworks rebrand from its previous name, FreshDesk, in 2017. Freshworks joins a crop of cloud software companies to hit the public markets of late at a valuation north of $10 billion. Numerous others are in the pipeline. Frantz, though, said Freshworks would be valuable public market company regardless of the environment. Frantz said CapitalG will continue to play in areas where it’s had success like enterprise, cybersecurity and fin-tech, focusing on companies that can weather any economic condition. “Activity around startups continues to be robust,” he said. As for the high valuations, “certainly the times show the conditions will continue for some time,” he added. The Covid-19 pandemic has created challenges, Frantz said, but technology is meeting the moment. “The economy is a better world than before Covid-19 — not to take away from the suffering — but from the business perspective,” he said.

Some Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards may be built from larger GPUs, a new ID suggests, chips once intended for the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070. As it stands today you'll find a GA106 GPU under the hood of any non-TI RTX 3060 graphics card, along with the RTX A2000 and mobile RTX 3050 Ti. Above that GPU sits the GA104, which is used primarily for the RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, and mobile RTX 3080, among other workstation cards. But according to TechPowerUp's GPU database editor, we could soon see the GA104 GPU find its way within the RTX 3060 as well. See more It's not all that unusual for Nvidia to repurpose a chip this way. In fact, the RTX 2060 can be found with both TU106 and TU104 GPUs at its core. That was only within one manufacturer's card, the EVGA RTX 2060 KO, as far as we know. So GPU jostling is in the realms of possibility. That said, such a change shouldn't amount to much by way of specification for the RTX 3060, despite the larger GPU's greater potential core counts and ROPs. The GPU should be as much a match as the GA106 version, although there's the possibility of some fringe disparities between the two depending on how the larger chip is chopped up. Instead, what this move would likely achieve is handing Nvidia a little more freedom and flexibility in supply. YOUR NEXT MACHINE (Image credit: Future) Best gaming PC: the top pre-built machines from the pros Best gaming laptop: perfect notebooks for mobile gaming Ideally, for us lot, that would translate to greater availability of the cheaper card, but that really depends on how many GA104 GPUs end up filtering into the RTX 3060 production line, if any—Nvidia wouldn't just throw more expensive GPUs into a cheaper graphics card for the fun of it. No, these chips are likely to be up to the standard required by any of the current GA104 graphics cards, even the relatively slim core count of the RTX 3060 Ti, hence why they might find a home elsewhere. We've no word on availability yet though, and it's likely in the grand scale of graphics card supply most GA104 RTX 3060 cards will go unnoticed by their owners—if any are made, of course. It's worth mentioning that Nvidia may have a more substantial shake-up on the cards for next year. Perhaps even a Super one.

Yesterday's launch of Diablo 2: Resurrected was not the smoothest rollout ever. Shortly after it went live, reports of disappearing characters began rolling in. Blizzard took the game offline for a spot of "unscheduled maintenance," and a couple hours later it appeared that everything was sorted. Not quite, as it turns out. In an update posted today, Blizzard said that it intends to release a permanent fix for the bug on PC today and "shortly thereafter" for consoles. In the meantime, it recommended that players use different names for online and offline characters, as using the same name for both "is related to this bug." "Furthermore, our team is working to resolve the issue of character lockouts," Diablo 2 community manager Hooley explained. "Many of these characters are already in the process of being unlocked. We anticipate this process will take a few hours to complete." "For players unable to create or join game lobbies, we’ve been evaluating activities that have prevented them from being able to play in those sessions. We’re actively working to find a solution to these issues." Blizzard is also working on crash bugs and an AVX issue that's preventing players from starting Diablo 2: Resurrected, and is "observing" various other issues and bugs. An update on that front will be shared once the bigger issues above are taken care of. If you're new to Diablo 2 and not struggling with any of the above issues, we can help get you off to a strong start: We've got an in-depth guide to all the Resurrected classes, another on identifying items, and a third explaining what that "gem activated" business means. Andy Chalk Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Adding @Mohamed Nasser as the member / Welcome!

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While Apple has announced the iPhone 13, iPad (2021), iPad mini (2021), Apple Watch Series 7 and more, it also confirmed that both iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 are landing on September 20. That’s not all, you’ll also be able to grab watchOS 8, and tvOS 15 on the same day, so even if you’re not planning on pre-ordering any of Apple’s new hardware, you’ll at least be able to enjoy some new software. We've had sneak peeks and hands-on with the software, and you have may have too through the public beta program. Here's everything you need to know about the iPhone 13 Apple has also announced the New iPad mini (2021) 5 features that iOS 15 will bring to your iPhone 13 How to update your iPhone or iPad to the latest version The software updates this year are focused on productivity with widgets now able to be placed anywhere on the iPad home screen, while Focus redesigns how notifications show up for you at certain moments throughout the day. To make sure your device is ready to update to these latest versions, backup your data by going to Settings > AppleID name > iCloud > iCloud Backup > Backup Now. Once they're both available on September 20, go to Settings > General > Software Update and it should be ready to download and install. Sign up for our newsletter Daryl Baxter Daryl Baxter Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he's written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', alongside podcasting and usually found playing games old and new on his PC and iPad. If you have a story about a newly-updated app or one that's about to launch, drop him a line.

It took a minute to finally make it to market, but TP-Link's Archer GX90, an AX6600 tri-band Wi-Fi gaming router that was first announced at CES back in January 2020, has now officially arrived. It brings with it some notable upgrades over TP-Link's Archer C5400X, one of the best routers for gaming, and a potentially attractive $250 MSRP. I say "potentially" because I haven't spent any hands-on time with this model, though if it lives up to its billing as a high-end router for gaming, that would be a fair asking price. The spec sheet is encouraging, though not class-leading. Tri-band routers like this one offer up three separate bands and SSIDs that you can connect your devices to. They include a 2.4GHz band with a theoretical maximum throughput of 574Mbps, a 5GHz band rated to deliver up to 1,201Mbps of throughput, and another 5GHz band that expands into a 160MHz channel width, effectively opening the throughput pipe to 4,804Mbps. The fattest pipe is what TP-Link is billing as a "Game Band exclusive for your gaming rigs," the idea being you can keep your gaming traffic completely separated from everything else on your network. There's nothing that would prevent you from putting other types of devices on that band as well, if you wanted to. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playing Umurangi... 18/09/21 Football... 14/09/21 Far... 31/08/21 Resident... 02/05/21 Death... 31/12/20 TP-Link offers up a few other gaming amenities, like a Game Accelerator feature that automatically detects and optimizes gaming streams to ultimately reduce latency and boost speeds. There's also a game statistics section on the UI dashboard that serves up real-time latency and game duration details, which I suppose could be helpful if you feel like something is off when gaming. One feature that falls squarely into the marketing fluff category is "Game Protector." This essentially refers to TP-Link's HomeCare package, which itself is a combination of a built-in antivirus scanner, QoS triggers, and parental controls. That's all fine, though if there's anything about this that is specifically tuned for gaming, TP-Link doesn't make that clear. YOUR NEXT MACHINE (Image credit: Future) Best gaming PC: the top pre-built machines from the pros Best gaming laptop: perfect notebooks for mobile gaming For wired connections, the GX90 offers up a single 2.5Gbps LAN port and three 1Gbps LAN ports. It also has a USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port for sharing external storage or a printer over your network. In theory, the GX90 should cover a large area. Part of the gaudy design entails eight chunky external antennas. It reminds me of some of the Asus ROG Rapture models, none of which are inconspicuous. Hopefully it performs as aggressively as it looks. If so, this could be a viable option, especially considering that several models with similar specs cost quite a bit more, like Netgear's AX6600 ($330) and the Asus RT-AX88U ($290). And in the ultra-premium range with even more throughput on tap, some models like Netgear's Nighthawk AX1100 and Asus ROG's Rapture GT-AX11000 can command in the neighborhood of $450 to 500. TP-Link says the Archer GX90 is available now at Amazon and other retailers. I'm not seeing it listed quite yet, but I imagine stock will show up soon.

A small Doom Eternal update rolled out earlier this week revealing a new Halloween-themed Mancubus coming to the game as part of the Ghouls, Gourds, and Galleons event, and fixing precisely one bug. But it also made a change that I thought was far more interesting than any of that: It reset the main menu music back to "the same as it was when Doom Eternal launched in March 2020." It's a weird one, right? It turns out that when The Ancient Gods Part Two showed up in March, it brought with it new music for the main menu. And fans noticed: Users across multiple threads on Reddit and Steam ask what happened to the original music, and how they can get it back. Mod makers eventually took the matter into their own hands, with creations like "Old Main Menu Music" (now set to hidden, with a warning that "if ever the main menu music is changed again, you can count on me to make a new version of this mod") and "Mick Gordon Main Menu Theme." There's no mention of the change in the DLC release notes, and as far as I know Bethesda never explained why the theme was swapped, or even acknowledged that it happened. There is speculation, however, that Bethesda's "complicated" relationship with composer Mick Gordon is at the root of it. That first came to light in April 2020, about a month after the release of Doom Eternal, when Gordon said on social media that he hadn't mixed most of the official Doom Eternal soundtrack and expressed doubt that he'd work with Bethesda again in the future. Shortly after that, however, Doom Eternal executive producer Marty Stratton explained Bethesda's position, praising Gordon as a talented composer but adding that he was difficult to work with, "creating an unsustainable pattern of project uncertainty and risk" for the studio. Production issues forced the delay of the Doom Eternal soundtrack and eventually prompted Bethesda to have lead audio designer Chad Mossholder stitch together tracks from the game into "a comprehensive OST," which is why it was so compressed. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playing This week in PC gaming: Amnesia: Rebirth, Doom... 18/10/20 The PC Gamer Show 192: A spoiler-free Doom... 19/03/20 Doom Eternal - PC Gamer Review 17/03/20 The PC Gamer Show: Doom Eternal, Battle for... 16/08/18 The PC Gamer Show 112: Destiny 2's XP confusion,... 30/11/17 Tensions apparently increased after the soundtrack was released: Gordon wasn't happy with some of the content and edits, and also that Mossholder was credited as a co-composer, Stratton said, although he noted that Mossholder is actually listed as a "contributing artist." Even so, Stratton said at the time that he was surprised to hear Gordon express doubt about working with Bethesda again, but added that "for the immediate future, we are at the point of moving on and won’t be working with Mick on the DLC we currently have in production." It's not too much of a stretch to guess that swapping out some of Gordon's non-gameplay music might have been part of that "moving on" process. This is Mick Gordon's original main menu music: And this is the Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part Two menu tune, composed—along with the rest of the Ancient Gods soundtrack—by Andrew Hulshult and David Levy. It's a similar vibe, but very different: The bulk of the reactions to the switch seem pleased that Gordon's music has been returned, although there's definitely appreciation for the Hulshult/Levy take too. Quite a few fans want Bethesda to add a menu option enabling players to switch the menu music at will: "Real nice that the Mick Gordon menu music is back, kinda missed it," YaBoyTony wrote, capturing the mood of the moment. "Although I think I might start missing the David Levy menu theme now, thought it slapped pretty hard." What isn't clear is why the main menu music was changed in the first place, or why Bethesda elected to change it back six months later. I reached out to all involved earlier this week—Bethesda, Gordon, Hulshult, and Levy—to see if anyone is willing to clue me in, and I'll update if they do. Correction: The article originally stated that Bethesda's dispute with Mick Gordon came to light in April 2021, after the release of The Ancient Gods Part Two. It actually took place in April 2020, following the launch of the base game.

Adding @-Happy boy as the member / Welcome back !

The fastest SSDs all leverage the PCIe 4.0 bus, but not all are created equal—in terms of rated specifications, it largely boils down to when they were released. Timing matters, because the first crop of PCIe 4.0 SSDs topped out at around 5,000MB/s. Then came a new round of memory controller hardware, which pushes speeds north of 7,000MB/s. Corsair's new MP600 Pro XT falls into the latter category, while also boasting incredibly high IOPS. This is Corsair's fastest SSD to date. It's available in 4TB, 2TB, and 1TB capacities, and while specifications vary between the smallest and two biggest drives, all three are rated to deliver up to 7,100MB/s of sequential read performance. Here's a snapshot of the relevant speed metrics: 4TB—7,100MB/s seq. reads; 5,800MB/s seq. writes; 1.2 million random read IOPs; 900K random write IOPS 2TB—7,100MB/s seq. reads; 6,800MB/s seq. writes; 1.2 million random read IOPs; 1 million random write IOPS 1TB—7,100MB/s seq. reads; 5,800MB/s seq. writes; 1.2 million random read IOPs; 900K random write IOPS The rated IOPS is where the MP600 Pro XT separates itself from the competition. Take for example Sabrent's Rocket 4 Plus, one of the best SSDs for gaming. It offers up similar sequential read (7,100MB/s) and write (6,600MB/s) specs, but the random read and write IOPS check in at 650,000 and 700,000, respectively. WD's SN850, another speedy SSD, hits 1 million IOPs for reads, but ranges between 680,000 and 720,000 IOPS (depending on capacity) for writes. This won't always come into play—IOPS can affect performance when accessing a bunch of files that are scattered across the NAND flash memory chips. In terms of real-world usage, most users won't actually notice much of a difference, though it still speaks to the quality and capabilities of the NAND, controller, and firmware. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingThe PC Gamer Show 132: Battlefield 5, Black Ops 4, Fortnite's jetpack, and listener Q&A Persona 5 Strikers | PC Gamer Review 11/02/21Persona 5 Strikers | PC Gamer Review This week in PC gaming: Halo 4 hits PC, AMD... 15/11/20This week in PC gaming: Halo 4 hits PC, AMD Radeon RX 6800 + 6800 XT release The PC Gamer Show 199: 9 years of Terraria, GTA 5... 22/05/20The PC Gamer Show 199: 9 years of Terraria, GTA 5 mods for new players The PC Gamer Show 198: Halo 2 hits PC, 5... 14/05/20The PC Gamer Show 198: Halo 2 hits PC, 5 essential Stardew Valley mods The PC Gamer Show 180: Red Dead 2 on PC,... 07/11/19The PC Gamer Show 180: Red Dead 2 on PC, Diablo 4, Overwatch 2 PEAK STORAGE SATA, NVMe M.2, and PCIe SSDs on blue background (Image credit: Future) Best SSD for gaming: the best solid state drives around Best PCIe 4.0 SSD for gaming: the next gen has landed The best NVMe SSD: this slivers of SSD goodness Best external hard drives: expand your horizons Best external SSDs: plug in upgrades for gaming laptops and consoles In this case, Corsair pairs Micron's 176-layer 3D triple-level cell (TLC) NAND memory chips with the Phison's PS5018-E18 controller. It's the same controller as found on Corsair's MP600 Pro (non-XT) released earlier this year (and most of the fastest SSDs on the market), but the NAND is an upgrade over the 96-layer chips the non-XT models use. In those terms it's actually identical to the Seagate FireCuda 530 we recently reviewed, which uses the same NAND and controller, though is tweaked to deliver ever-so-slightly higher sequential performance in 2TB trim. The difference there is likely to come down to firmware. We're putting the Corsair MP600 Pro XT through it's paces right now, just to see how it compares with Seagate's finest. Corsair MP600 Pro XT SSD on a black mouse mat (Image credit: Future) Corsair also outfits its MP600 Pro XT with a "uniquely styled aluminum heatspreader" to keep toasty temps at bay. It's chonky for sure, though is actually rather cute in the flesh. Additionally, Corsair says its new drives are compatible with its Hydro X Series XM2 water block, if you want to incorporate one into your liquid cooling loop. The new drives are available now on Corsair's webstore, priced at $990 for the 4TB model, $400 for the 2TB drive, and $200 for the 1TB model. Not cheap, though generally in line with other SSDs in the same speed class. Paul Lilly Paul Lilly Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

If you had been watching the June 24 event where Windows 11 was announced, you would have heard about the system requirements for the upgrade, especially TPM 2.0. This is a small chip found on the motherboard of your PC, which encrypts crucial data, so if the machine is stolen, the data on your hard drive is safe - as long as TPM is enabled. From the perspective of security, it made sense for Microsoft to make it a requirement, but the messaging was handled in a way that confused power users and casual users alike. Many people hadn’t even considered that their PC would have TPM, and there were even suggestions that Windows 11 would have its system requirements changed amongst all the confusion. However, it looks as though Microsoft has finally acknowledged this through a tweet and a guide as we get closer to the October 5 launch. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingXiaomi Mi 11 | Everything you need to know Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know 26/01/21Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to... 26/01/21Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to know IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to... 24/12/20IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to know in 1 minute AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1... 24/12/20AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1 minute PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute 14/12/20PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute Find out where to buy Windows 10 How to download Windows 11 right now Soothing sounds are coming to themes in Windows 11 A messaging mess I had written in July that Windows 11 may repeat the same mistakes of Windows 8 and Windows Vista when it comes to communication. Microsoft kept saying it wouldn't compromise with Windows 8 when it came to the unpo[CENSORED]r decision to remove the Start menu, but user reaction reversed that policy in the end, which in-turn damaged the operating system's reputation for a long while. The TPM controversy could be a repeat of this. Luckily, after much discussion and confusion, and manufacturers such as Asus updating motherboards to support Windows 11, Microsoft is finally responding to the concerns. See more While the tweet leads you to a support post, the first paragraph showcases what should have been communicated the day after Windows 11 was announced. “This article is intended for users who are not able to upgrade to Windows 11 because their PC is not currently enabled with TPM 2.0 or their PC is capable of running TPM 2.0 but is not set up to do so. If you are unfamiliar with this level of technical detail, we recommend that you consult your PC manufacturer’s support information for more instructions specific to your device.” Trying not to repeat the mistakes of Windows 8 The wording of the tweet and that first paragraph of the support post leads you to believe that Microsoft doesn't want confusing messaging as we approach the October 5 release date for Windows 11. However, with Asus updating motherboards to support the upgrade, it could encourage other manufacturers to follow suit and allow other products to upgrade to Windows 11 without the TPM requirement. Windows 11: the WhyNotWin11 app (Image credit: Future) After the success of Windows 10, which made the Start menu front and center again, Microsoft won’t want the TPM confusion putting people off from upgrading to Windows 11. Here are our picks of the best laptops in 2021 Daryl Baxter Daryl Baxter Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he's written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', alongside podcasting and usually found playing games old and new on his PC and iPad. If you have a story about a newly-updated app or one that's about to launch, drop him a line.

Halo Infinite's next technical test is two weeks away—and to make sure it can properly test massive PVP matches, 343 Industries is inviting all Insiders along for the ride. With Infinite's last test focussing squarely on bot Slayer matches, Infinite's next flight will be our first proper look at PVP. There'll be a variety of gametypes to test in 4v4 arenas (featuring a new map) and, more excitingly, our first taste of 12v12 Big Team Battles in Halo Infinite. See more To that end, community director Brian Jarrard notes that 343 need as many players as possible hitting Infinite, and will be inviting every registered Halo Insider as of September 13 into the test. "We need everyone's help, let's see how hard we can push our services and infrastructure so things will fall down during the preview instead of in December," Jarrard tweeted. "We urgently need as many Insiders signed up and ready to go by Sept. 13 since it takes a fair amount of time to work through all the other steps on our side." RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingRomeo & Juliet test the Blue Yeti X World of Warcraft Mic | PC Gamer Theatre The PC Gamer Show 198: Halo 2 hits PC, 5... 14/05/20The PC Gamer Show 198: Halo 2 hits PC, 5 essential Stardew Valley mods Inside 343 Industries' Halo Museum 09/03/20Inside 343 Industries' Halo Museum The PC Gamer Show 190: Baldur's Gate 3, Halo: CE... 05/03/20The PC Gamer Show 190: Baldur's Gate 3, Halo: CE on PC, the best of PAX East The PC Gamer Show 165: The big E3 recap show,... 20/06/19The PC Gamer Show 165: The big E3 recap show, featuring Cyberpunk 2077 The PC Gamer Show 156: Halo on Steam, The... 13/03/19The PC Gamer Show 156: Halo on Steam, The Division 2 is good, and listener Q&A Wes and I quite enjoyed our time with the last technical test, and it's convinced me that Halo Infinite could very well be something special. The caveat was that Halo for me has always been best enjoyed as a chaotic sandbox that tosses vehicles, weapons, equipment and wonky physics together. Bot Slayer might have been fun, but I won't know how I truly feel about Infinite until I've got a few rounds of Big Team Battle under my belt. 343 has also shown it's very willing to take feedback from these tests to heart. Halo Infinite's radar has already been reverted back to its old self, shield effects are getting a clarification pass, and the Needler's audio will be retuned to sound more 'crystallised'. We'll be sure to post our thoughts on Halo Infinite's next test, and who knows, maybe I can get the Banshee some cheeky buffs before Halo Infinite launches on December 8. Natalie Clayton Natalie Clayton 20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time—and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and having herself developed critically acclaimed small games like Can Androids Pray, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She's also played for a competitive Splatoon team, and unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.

Mozilla has released the latest version of its po[CENSORED]r Firefox web browser with several important security and feature updates. Mozilla continues to chisel away and improve the open source browser’s handling of non-secure HTTP connections by upgrading them to secure HTTPS connections. After introducing a HTTPS by default policy in Private browsing in Firefox 91, the latest release adds “automatic switching to HTTPS browsing mode by using the HTTPS RR browser as Alt-Svc headers.” Check our collection of the best web browsers available today Here’s our list of the best VPN services These are the best business broadband plans currently on offer The feature is touted as a means to auto-update HTTP connection to HTTPS, whenever possible. However, the company hasn’t shared any details on how the arrangement would affect the end-user, especially when compared to the current arrangement. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... video playingXiaomi Mi 11 | Everything you need to know Galaxy... 26/01/21Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know Galaxy... 26/01/21Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to know IPhone... 24/12/20IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to know in 1 minute AirPods... 24/12/20AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1 minute PS5... 14/12/20PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute Mozilla is yet to reply to TechRadar Pro’s email seeking an explanation about this much-touted feature. Other upgrades One of the other marquee features in Firefox 92 is the official support for the AVIF image format. Based on the royalty-free AV1 video codec, AVIF offers significant bandwidth savings compared to the other image formats prevailing on the web, without compromising on features. The release also improves certain existing features. For starters, the certificate error pages have been redesigned to give a better user experience. For macOS users, the bookmark toolbar menus will nicely follow Firefox’s visual styles. For Android users, the headline feature in Firefox 92 is support for the Web Authentication API, or WebAuthn, which will enable the use of bluetooth or USB security keys to log into websites. Firefox releases for iOS don’t just use a different browser engine (WebKit instead of Gecko), but also follow a different version numbering. In this release cycle, iOS users move on to Firefox 37, which now offers the ability to manually add new accounts to the browser’s inbuilt password manager. In terms of security, Firefox 37 for iOS touts improvements to the enhanced tracking protection (ETP) feature, which is more verbose about the security mechanisms of the visited websites. Here’s our list of the best privacy tools for anonymous browsing Mayank Sharma Mayank Sharma With almost two decades f writing and reporting on Linux, Mayank Sharma would like everyone to think he’s TechRadar Pro’s expert on the topic. Of course, he’s just as interested in other computing topics, particularly cybersecurity, cloud, containers, and coding.

The 'world's thinnest vapor chamber' for chip cooling sure looks like it's made out of Lego. At just 200 microns thick, the new chiller is the result of a partnership between Cooler Master and Japanese manufacturer, Murata. Touted as a cooler for mobile products, such as smart phones, and VR headsets, the vapor chamber has also been speculated as being a great fit for future ultra-thin laptops and games consoles. And, if you're talking about both of those things, it's hard not to think about the kind of device category Valve's Steam Deck is hoping to generate. The Deck is a chonky boi in its current guise, but if this sort of vapor chamber was actually able to deliver high-end passive cooling for future efficient AMD APUs, then we may see the handheld gaming PCs of the future being thinner than the Nintendo Switch. That's a big 'if' right now, as neither Murata or Cooler Master have made any specific claims about the level of cooling the skinny Lego chip chiller can offer. Realistically this is more likely to be used in products that already benefit from passive cooling, such as smartphones, and those using low-power processors, such as the Oculus Quest 2. Those are devices which don't generate a lot of heat right now, and with internal hardware that absolutely has to be thin and light. According to our Wes, and his time with the Deck, that's not something that can necessarily be said of the beefy tech in Valve's new handheld PC. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingSteam Deck Hands-On Discussion | PC Gamer Steam Deck Hands-On Preview | PC Gamer 06/08/21Steam Deck Hands-On Preview | PC Gamer Steam Deck ... Can Valve deliver the perfect... 16/07/21Steam Deck ... Can Valve deliver the perfect handheld gaming PC? | Hardware Discussion World of Warcraft: Shadowlands | PC Gamer... 07/12/20World of Warcraft: Shadowlands | PC Gamer Review Romeo & Juliet test the Blue Yeti X World of... 21/10/20Romeo & Juliet test the Blue Yeti X World of Warcraft Mic | PC Gamer Theatre Exploring the world of Horizon Zero Dawn | PC... 15/09/20Exploring the world of Horizon Zero Dawn | PC Gamer Supported Content But a guy can dream, can't he? At 200 microns, or 0.2 mm, the vapor chamber is essentially a Lego-like structure of bumps separating two sheets of metal foil. Inside the space created by those bumps is the cooling liquid, which absorbs heat, evaporates and then disperses around the space, shifting the heat around before turning back into liquid and being channelled back towards the heat source. The world's thinnest vapor chamber cooler mounted inside a phone (Image credit: Murata, Cooler Master) CUT THE CORD... (Image credit: Steelseries) Best wireless gaming mouse: ideal cable-free rodents Best wireless gaming keyboard: no wires, no worries Best wireless gaming headset: top untethered audio The main problem with vapor chambers in passively cooled devices is the heat still has to go somewhere, and is often transferred into the air via a given product's case. And that's often not a particularly efficient process… meaning you'd still be better off having some fans in there venting the hot air. And then you're not passive, though you may still be pretty damned thin. The final chamber is going to be a Cooler Master branded product, so there may still be a chance that it could appear in ultra-portable laptops and maybe even handheld PCs of the future. But it's more likely to be high-performance smartphones, at least in the short term. Dave James Dave James Dave has been gaming since the days of Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, and code books for the Commodore Vic 20 (Death Race 2000!). He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later. When he dropped it out of the window. He first started writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World many decades ago, then moved onto PC Format full-time, then PC Gamer, TechRadar, and T3 among others. Now he's back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.