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This week's free games on the Epic Games Store are the disaster management game Sheltered, and Team Ninja's excellent slice-em-up Nioh: Complete Edition. Both are free for a week, as usual, and are accompanied by a bunch of other smaller discounts on the store. We didn't review Sheltered when it released, but other reviewers indicate it's very much what we in the business might call a solid 7. The game's about managing a shelter after the apocalypse and keeping everyone alive, so if the concept appeals then it might be worth a punt (or there's always Fallout...). Nioh: Complete Edition is the PC release of Nioh, a game which marked a new direction for Team Ninja after the Ninja Gaiden series. Adopting a more Soulslike approach to worldbuilding and combat pacing, the game successfully marries a hugely deep and precise combat system to, basically, a massive bunch of colourful monsters that need a good slicing. Lauren reviewed it for us at that time and found some issues with the port, awarding it a still-respectable 78%, though it's worth acknowledging that the developers subsequently fixed many of the issues it had at launch. Anyway: Can't argue with free. The big question with all of these, of course, is how many do you actually end up playing? The answer to that aside, Nioh should be one of them: if you like a bit of hot swordplay, this delivers and then some. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingThis week in PC gaming: Nioh 2 finally hits PC, a new squirrel surveillance sim arrives Epic Game Store | PC Gaming Show 2020 13/06/20Epic Game Store | PC Gaming Show 2020 Mass Effect Legendary Edition touches down ...... 09/05/21Mass Effect Legendary Edition touches down ... This Week in PC Gaming This week in PC gaming: Little Nightmares 2... 08/02/21This week in PC gaming: Little Nightmares 2 releases, Final Fantasy 12 on Game Pass This week in PC gaming: 3 more Yakuza games, The... 24/01/21This week in PC gaming: 3 more Yakuza games, The Medium releases This week in PC gaming: CES 2021, new indie... 10/01/21This week in PC gaming: CES 2021, new indie games kick off the year Rich Stanton Rich Stanton Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."

Google Chrome users will see a new update available in the form of version 93, bringing more refinements to tab groups while dropping support for Ubuntu 16.04. While there’s smaller features coming to Chrome in this update, there’s welcome changes that make it even easier to manage tabs, alongside a new context menu on iOS. However, with browsers such as Opera appearing on Google’s own Chrome OS operating system for Chromebooks, ready for students to use, it’s time for Google to see whether Chrome’s reputation for being a battery hog can finally be vanquished. Clock is redesigned in Windows 11 with new focus features Find out where to buy Windows 10 Dark mode is coming to Paint in Windows 11 What’s new in Google Chrome 93? A few features are hidden behind flags in this release, but they can be enabled by entering them into the address bar. When opening a new tab page, a new section will show off previous files you’ve accessed through Google Drive, making it easier to open these without going to your Drive. This can be enabled by entering: chrome://flags/#ntp-modules chrome://flags/#ntp-drive-module Another new feature allows you to open single web pages from previously closed tab groups, instead of restoring the whole group. This is one flag that can enable this if you’re a big user of tab groups: chrome://flags/#tab-restore-sub-menus Other than a new context menu in Chrome for iOS, version 93 is a relatively minor update, but it does raise the topic again of whether it's time to tackle Chrome’s heavy usage on memory and battery. Analysis: the elephant-sized battery in the room If you’re a regular user of Google Chrome, either on desktop or mobile, its reputation for draining battery life and eating up memory is second to none. Having been using the browser on a MacBook Air, there’s moments where you can count down the battery percentage while there’s more than six tabs open. Google has certainly made strides to please its users in recent years, with Android showcasing new features and a new look to better appease those who thought that the operating system was showing its age. While Chrome has seen new features and a refresh in its user interface, perhaps it’s time for Google to look at just why the browser depends on memory and battery so much more than its competitors do, rather than showcasing features hidden behind flags. Here are our picks of the best laptops in 2021 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.

Computer scientists from TU Dresden have shown it's possible to produce a Meltdown-like vulnerability in AMD's processors. In case you don't remember, AMD's chips were famously unaffected by the original Meltdown CPU exploits, while Intel's were, so this is maybe surprising news. The new exploit was demonstrated on a Ryzen 7 2700X CPU as well as with Epyc 7262 and Threadripper 2990WX silicon. Don't worry though, AMD has developed a technique to mitigate the problem and has recommendations as to how software vendors can analyse their code for such vulnerabilities. AMD also stated how newer, and future processors support additional security features to protect against such exploits. AMD was given time to get a solution in place, because the researchers, Saidgani Musaev and Christof Fetzer, originally shared the vulnerability with AMD back in October 2020 but have only just reported their findings. Thus giving AMD plenty of time to mitigate the problem. AMD referenced the vulnerability in a security bulletin, AMD-SB-1010. The original research paper, "Transient Execution of Non-Canonical Accesses", showed that Zen+ and Zen 2 processors were vulnerable to specific code sequences that may lead to data leakage. It has since been shown to affect all of AMD's CPUs. This is a different method to that used by Meltdown, which relied on fetching data from the L1 data cache, but the outcome is "very similar to Meltdown-type behaviour." YOUR NEXT UPGRADE (Image credit: Future) Best CPU for gaming: the top chips from Intel and AMD Best graphics card: your perfect pixel-pusher awaits Best SSD for gaming: get into the game ahead of the rest The paper does highlight that AMD's design decisions limit the exploitability of these flaws, especially when compared to Intel's CPUs, but that, "it may be possible to use them to amplify other microarchitectural attacks." So not all good news then. Since Spectre and Meltdown appeared on the scene, both Intel and AMD have been keen to beef up the security of their processors. And it looks like such exploits aren't about to disappear any time soon. 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.

A week after Destiny 2 received crossplay, you can now voice chat with friends on all supported platforms. Yup, including Stadia. Destiny 2's 3.3.0.1 update officially enabled voice chat on Friday, though some functionality is still hit-or-miss for Xbox players, so let your console friends know. The biggest issue appears to be that Xbox players will still hear anyone even if their chat settings are set to just friends, and muting a player in Fireteam chat won't fix it. Funnily enough, Bungie accidentally enabled crossplay on Destiny 2 back in May, a technical fluke that nonetheless got PC players excited to be able to chat with console players. Bungie noted at the time that it was a mistake and wasn't fully functional, but was cool with people partaking for about a week before it was deactivated. Bungie has a helpful crossplay guide if you want to take on Riven or Atheon with console friends. As you'd hope, competitive mode matchmaking will separate console and PC to keep things fair, while non-competitive modes will matchmake across platforms. If you turn off crossplay, you'll matchmake only with other players on the same platform who also have crossplay disabled. Clans can also be cross-platform now. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingWatch the PC Gamer Destiny 2 clan in action The PC Gamer Show: Destiny 2: Forsaken,... 13/09/18The PC Gamer Show: Destiny 2: Forsaken, Tomb Raider, Monster Hunter, the best of PAX West The PC Gamer Show 131: Destiny 2: Warmind,... 10/05/18The PC Gamer Show 131: Destiny 2: Warmind, Thanos in Fortnite, Two Point Hospital, and listener Q&A The PC Gamer Show 113: Destiny 2: Curse of... 07/12/17The PC Gamer Show 113: Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris, Overwatch League preseason, and listener Q&A The PC Gamer Show 112: Destiny 2's XP confusion,... 30/11/17The PC Gamer Show 112: Destiny 2's XP confusion, the best game music of 2017, and listener Q&A The PC Gamer Show - Battlefront 2's loot box... 17/11/17The PC Gamer Show - Battlefront 2's loot box problem, Destiny 2 expansion details, and listener Q&A Don't forget to check out everything we know about Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, which will take us to Savathun's homeworld early next year. Thanks, IGN.

Happy birthday!

Windows 11 has witnessed various changes to the functionality of the taskbar which haven’t been po[CENSORED]r, and in that vein, a fresh removal has been highlighted – namely the stripping back of the calendar flyout. The story here, as relayed by Windows Latest, is that the calendar flyout from the taskbar – the panel which pops up when you click on the time/date in the system tray, far-right – no longer has events integration at the bottom. In other words, there’s no agenda visible handily flagging up at-a-glance events and reminders anymore. Windows 11 features and everything you need to know We show you how to uninstall a Windows 10 update And here's how to speed up Windows 10 Similarly, at the top, there’s no longer a large version of the clock display which additionally shows the number of seconds (not just the hour and minutes). As Windows Latest points out, those testing Windows 11 had previously assumed that the missing events integration was just a bug in the calendar flyout, but it turns out that this isn’t the case, and Microsoft has actually removed the facility. Instead, the software giant wants people to use the widgets panel to access calendar events and reminders. Microsoft told one user who complained: “Thank you so much for giving us your feedback. While we’ll continue to use your feedback to guide the future of features like this, currently on Windows 11, there is a calendar option in the new widgets experience that you can use to quickly see your personal calendar and its events.” There’s no shortage of complaints about this issue on Microsoft’s Feedback Hub, and in other places like Reddit. One user posted in the Feedback Hub: “Widget does not have all your calendars and is full of news and unnecessary stuff. Please make it available as before, as it was PERFECT, and you had the option to create events for whatever accounts you have linked at the spot.” With Windows 11 seemingly poised on moving into the final stages of testing before release (possibly in October), things are unlikely to change, it seems, given Microsoft’s above comment. By the way, for those Windows 11 testers who are missing the large clock display at the top of the calendar flyout, the more positive news is that you can actually bring this back by heading to Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time > Additional clocks, where there’s the option to show up to two clocks. However, note that they won’t display the readout of seconds as seen in Windows 10, just the hour and minutes. Analysis: Forcing the issue? It’s a worrying theme that with certain bits of the Windows 11 interface, Microsoft seems to be stubbornly forcing through what are already unpo[CENSORED]r changes even going by tester feedback (a limited set of users, of course, compared to the wider general computing public who are eventually going to come face-to-face with all these missing bits of functionality). Why not have events integration with the taskbar’s calendar flyout? Or at least have it as a possible option? Well, we know why in this case, and it’s to funnel folks into using the widgets panel (which pushes MSN content, and opens stuff in the Edge browser to boot). Why not allow the clock on the flyout to display seconds? There’s no good answer for that we can think of, except it’s just a streamlining measure, and part of making the overall appearance of Windows 11 cleaner. But some folks like the option of seeing the exact seconds, so is there really any harm in allowing them a choice to switch that back on when adding a clock back to the calendar flyout? For that matter, what about the other baffling and unpo[CENSORED]r taskbar changes that we’ve highlighted in the past, like removing the ability to drag and drop app icons onto the taskbar to quickly and easily make a shortcut there, or to drop files onto taskbar app icons to open them? More choice is always good in the main, surely? But with Windows 11, it’s starting to feel like Microsoft is distancing itself more from the ‘we’re listening to feedback’ philosophy that came around with the launch of Windows 10, and is leaning more towards telling folks how things should be done – much more in the vein of Windows 8. And we don’t need to tell you how dangerous that stance is… Today’s best Windows 10 deals $89.49 VIEW $95 VIEW $109.98 VIEW $139 VIEW SHOW MORE DEALS We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices These are the best laptops of 2021 Darren Allan Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

Halo Infinite has a release date of December 8, almost as if Microsoft could be holding it back until the last possible second while still getting it out the door in 2021. Meanwhile, its Steam page has been updated, and the system requirements are in. They seem pretty high for a game whose graphics people were making fun of not that long ago, especially for one that will have free-to-play multiplayer and you'd expect to make accommodations for a wide spectrum of PC gaming. Got to get those player numbers up. The minimum requirements call for an AMD RX 570 or an Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti graphics card, while the recommended specs call for a Radeon RX 5700 XT or an Nvidia RTX 2070. Pretty hefty for a game that'll run on the base Xbox One. At least it only wants 50GB of space, which seems small by 2021 standards. Anyway, let's get right to the numbers. Halo Infinite minimum system requirements Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 RS3 x64 Processor: AMD FX-8370 or Intel i5-4440 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: AMD RX 570 or Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 50 GB available space Halo Infinite recommended system requirements Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 19H2 x64 Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or Intel i7-9700k Memory: 16 GB RAM Graphics: Radeon RX 5700 XT or Nvidia RTX 2070 DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 50 GB available space Jody Macgregor 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.

Windows 11 was unveiled at Microsoft's big event on June 24, with many features justifying the jump in numbering from 10 to 11. Showcasing the Fluent design language and more, the new upgrade can also be tried out on the Insider channels, ready to download and use on machines that meet the minimum requirements. There is also a huge redesign of the Microsoft Store, allowing Android apps from the Amazon App Store to be used, so you can download TikTok and other apps if you wish. Plenty of discoveries are still being made with the updated Insider build and from what Microsoft are confirming with other vendors and users, but we're making sure that we're updating this page with everything that's been confirmed so far. Since the Insider build was released, there's been three more updates for the dev channel, where it brings back the search bar to the start menu, more refinements to the new design across the menus, alongside better multi-monitor support for the taskbar, alongside many fixes. There's still some confusion as to the system requirements of what Windows 11 needs for your PC, mainly due to a component called TPM, but it looks as though Microsoft are looking into this. While we wait for more confirmation from the company, here's everything we know about the release date, the new features, and more for Windows 11. Cut to the chase What is it? Windows 11 is the successor to Windows 10 When is it out? Likely late October How much does it cost? Free Windows 11 release date It looks as though Microsoft is hinting at a release for Windows 11 in October. Countless screenshots have the date of October 20, alongside messages that state how many are looking forward to "turning it up to 11 in October!" Intel also recently made reference to Windows 11 being the 'October 2021' update, which again makes October the most likely date for the launch. However, this may be the date that new laptops and PCs are sold with Windows 11 pre-installed. For people running Windows 10 and want to upgrade, you may have to wait until 2022. See more As you can see in the Tweet above, the Windows 11 rollout looks set to begin next year. There is also going to be a yearly update of the new operating system, similar to Apple's efforts with macOS. While Microsoft released a tool that allowed you to see if your desktop PC or laptop will be able to run Windows 11, it was confirmed to be buggy, giving erroneous results for machines that would have no problem in running the update. However, another tool has been released which gives you much clearer detail for how eligible for PC is. (Image credit: TechRadar) How to download Windows 11 Microsoft have updated the Insider build named 22000.132 on the developer channel, so if you want to give it a try, we have a handy guide all about how to download Windows 11. The build is now widely available on the beta channel, showcasing more refinements across the board, including the Microsoft Store. Advertisement Before you do though, the best point of call would be to make sure that your PC is enrolled for Microsoft's Insider Program first, as long as it meets the requirements. But do be aware, we advise to only run it on a PC that's not your main machine, as there are plenty of small issues for now. (Image credit: TechRadar) In the meantime, vendors such as Lenovo have released some guidance to other users who have machines running Windows 7 and above, that it may be a free upgrade, but with a caveat. There's even an option to downgrade to Windows 10 if you are experiencing issues with Windows 11. This is available in the current Insider builds, but you can only do it within 10 days of upgrading your machine, otherwise a clean install has to be done in order to go to Windows 10. (Image credit: TechRadar) Minimum Specifications There's been a lot of discussion as to which devices are eligible for Windows 11. Regardless of the TPM requirement, others are simply wondering if they need to look to upgrade their PC or laptop soon. For now, Microsoft have published the requirements for the update, but they are subject to change as we near release and the company take feedback on board. Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with at least two cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or SoC RAM: 4GB Storage: 64GB System Firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot capable TPM: Trusted Platform Module 2.0 Graphics Card: DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver Display: 720p, 8-bit per color channel, at least 9-inch diagonal Internet Connection and Microsoft Account: Windows 11 Home requires an active internet connection and a Microsoft Account to complete initial, first-use setup of the operating system, or when switching a device out of Windows 11 Home in S-mode. Advertisement (Image credit: Future) How much is Windows 11? Windows 11 will be a free update for existing Windows users – you'll need to be online to download, install and activate Home versions, and you'll need to have a Microsoft account when installing it on or upgrading your PC or tablet. So far Microsoft have released the hardware requirements for Windows 11, but there's confusion over TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and whether the company are pushing hard over the minimum threshold for which devices are eligible to be updated to the new version. While we've got a handy explainer for you that goes into TPM, hardware vendors can still offer new machines with Windows 11 that won't need this requirement, albeit with good reason to. (Image credit: TechRadar) Windows 11 features There are improvements across the board in Windows 11, with Microsoft promising that updates will be 40% smaller, and touting Windows 11 as "the most secure release yet". The taskbar is optimized for touch as well as mouse peripherals, and is now renamed the dock. New multitasking features are also on offer thanks to a feature called Snap Layouts, which enables you to arrange multiple windows across the screen, not just side by side, but in columns, sections and more. There's now a much-improved health check app found in Settings, where Windows 11 will recommend you to turn down the brightness for example, change the power saving mode of the battery and much more. Advertisement (Image credit: TechRadar) Another feature is Snap Groups, where you can go back to previously snapped windows from the dock, so for example you can go to your email app, Edge browser windows or anything else without having to snap them back to the previous view again. There's also improved multi-monitor support, so when you reconnect an external monitor, Windows 11 remembers the previous positions of the windows that were on that monitor. There's even an estimated installation time for Windows Update, so you can see whether you need to hold off from updating your PC until later in the day. Teams is also integrated to the dock, so you can easily join in with meetings and family calls. This looks like the first inkling of Skype disappearing from Windows, especially with the Skype sounds being heard in the demo when a call was incoming. (Image credit: Microsoft) The Microsoft Store is finally seeing a redesign, with better-curated content, and a better options for managing your purchased shows, such as mirroring them to your television. Apps such as Disney+, Adobe Creative Cloud, Pinterest and more are already in this redesigned store for Windows 11, ready to go. WPA, EWP and Win32 apps are now all in the Microsoft Store, ready to go. If a developer has a commerce engine, they can keep 100% of the revenue brought from the Microsoft Store. Android apps are also ready for Windows 11, discoverable from the Microsoft Store, via the Amazon App Store, so you can download TikTok and more, ready to use on your PC or tablet. Advertisement We suspect that the reason why Amazon are allowing their version of the store instead of Google, may be to do with the .APK filename being replaced from August. The new store opens up possibilities for other applications to arrive in Windows 11, even Apple's iMessage, which could follow iTunes and Safari.

Intel has just unveiled the brand name for its high-performance graphics cards: Intel Arc. Not to be confused with Intel Ark, where you go if you want to check out the different specs for its processors. We'll see the first generation of these new GPUs launching in Q1 2022 under the code name, Alchemist. Formally the Intel DG2 discrete graphics card, Alchemist is based on the Intel Xe HPG microarchitecture, with performance rumoured to be capable of taking aim at the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070. Well, in terms of raw compute power, anyway. We had hoped that Intel's first gaming GPU would be launching this year, but it looks like we're going to have to wait a little longer to get our hands on the third way in PC graphics cards. Waiting for GPUs... how very 2021. As well as showing off its new brand name with some snazzy CG video, Intel has also announced the Arc range will cover multiple generations of graphics hardware, with Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid listed as the code names for future generations of Intel gaming GPUs. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Best CPU for gaming: the top chips from Intel and AMD Best graphics card: your perfect pixel-pusher awaits Best SSD for gaming: get into the game ahead of the rest In the short demo reel at the end of Intel's video introduction, it highlights the different features and techniques the new GPUs will offer. We've heard of its variable rate shading support, and the fact it's due to have hardware-based ray tracing, but the note about AI-powered super sampling is an interesting one. That looks to be a different take on super sampling than AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution and something more akin to Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling. Hopefully we'll get more details about that in the coming weeks and months as we build up to the Q1 2022 launch of Intel's Alchemist GPUs. 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.

It seems like Riot is considering taking Valorant down the same musical path as League of Legends following the huge success of in-game artists like Pentakill and K/DA. A new mini-documentary from IGN sees head of Riot Music Toa Dunn and Riot Games principal creative director Patrick Morales dive into the making of virtual K-Pop group K/DA. It's an interesting doc, especially if you're a fan of Riot's music or the strange intricacies of giving four video game characters chemistry and personalities. Riot's been experimenting with the fusion of gaming and music for a while now. 2013 saw Jinx receive her own song and music video with Get Jinxed. A set of heavy metal-themed skins eventually birthed Pentakill in 2014, a project with names from Nine Inch Nails and Dragonforce attached to it. More recent years have seen the formation of hip-hop group True Damage and, of course, K/DA themselves. But until now, all of Riot's musical efforts have laid firmly within the confines of League of Legends. That may not be for long, though, with Dunn hinting that the studio is thinking of giving Valorant the same treatment. "We're going to continue to look at opportunities for music around Valorant," Dunn said. "I think music is just core to us here at Riot. I'd be surprised if we did anything and music wasn't really thought of as part of that experience. We're going to continue to do that with pretty much everything, I would assume." RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playing The PC Gamer Show 117: Steam's strange sex... 01/02/18 The PC Gamer Show 112: Destiny 2's XP confusion,... 30/11/17 Death Stranding - Game of the Year 2020 | PC Gamer 31/12/20 Crusader Kings III - Best Strategy Game of the... 30/12/20 DOOM Eternal - Best FPS Game of the Year 2020 |... 29/12/20 It's surprising to see just how well League of Legends' music has done—hell, I've only touched the game a handful of times but every one of its virtual artists feature heavily in my music playlists. I'd be interested to see how they expand with Valorant—another game I don't particularly play—and see if their roster can conjure up the same magic. Mollie Taylor A fresh writer in the industry, Mollie has been taken under PC Gamer's RGB-laden wing, making sure she doesn't get up to too much mischief on the site. She's not quite sure what a Command & Conquer is, but she can rattle on for hours about all the obscure rhythm games and strange MMOs from the 2000s. She's been cooking up all manner of news, previews and features while she's been here, but especially enjoys when she gets to write about Final Fantasy, Persona, The Sims, and whatever other game she's currently hopelessly fixated on. There's a good chance she's boring another PC Gamer writer about her latest obsession as we speak.

Welcome!

Removing @Agent 47' From the team / Reason : retired!

Salesforce is moving beyond CRM software as the company has announced that it will launch its own streaming service which will feature live and on demand content for every role, industry and line of business, all in one place. The new streaming service, called Salesforce+, will arrive just in time for the company's annual four-day Dreamforce conference that will be held in-person at the Moscone Center in San Francisco in September though it will also be shown online as a virtual event. Just like with other streaming services, Salesforce+ will be packed with content including live experiences, original series, podcasts and other programming. We've put together a list of the best CRM software available These are the best small business software solutions on the market Also check out our roundup of the best productivity tools President and CMO of Salesforce, Sarah Franklin explained in a press release how the company's experiences during the pandemic led to the creation of its new streaming service, saying: RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... "Over the last 18 months, we've had to reimagine how to succeed in the new digital-first world. We reimagined our events, shifting them to all-digital brand experiences and introduced new, relevant, original content. We're not going back, we're creating the future now. Just as brands like Disney, Netflix and Peloton have done with streaming services for consumers, Salesforce+ is providing an always-on, business media platform that builds trusted relationships with customers and a sense of belonging for the business community." Salesforce+ Ahead of the launch of its new streaming service, Salesforce Studios has been busy putting together a team of writers, editors, directors and producers to bring new original programming to Salesforce+. So far the current Salesforce+ lineup includes a weekly program detailing how business leaders dealt with the pandemic called “Leading Through Change”, a series that showcases some of the world's most innovative marketers from IBM, Levi's and other companies called “Connections”, a program about CEOs and their backstories called “The Inflection Point”, a career advice series called “Boss Talks” and a short-form video series titled “Simply Put”. However, in the coming months, Salesforce+ will debut even more original content featuring leaders in fields such as sales and services as well as a new series on how Trailblazers are re-skilling to find new career opportunities. We'll likely hear more about Salesforce's new streaming service ahead of Dreamforce 2021 which is scheduled to take place from September 21-23. We've also featured the best online collaboration software Anthony Spadafora After living and working in South Korea for seven years, Anthony now resides in Houston, Texas where he writes about a variety of technology topics for ITProPortal and TechRadar. He has been a tech enthusiast for as long as he can remember and has spent countless hours researching and tinkering with PCs, mobile phones and game consoles.

If you're looking to build a PC around AMD's Ryzen processors—and many people have been, based on sales trends at multiple po[CENSORED]r retailers—MSI's B550M Pro-VDH WiFi is worth a look. It's a micro-ATX motherboard, so you could piece together a small form factor PC that doesn't take up a lot of space, and it's on sale at Amazon for just $83.99 right now. That's $56 below its list price, and a solid value for what it brings to the table (spec for spec, it hangs with some of the best motherboards for gaming). The timing is also great, with AMD's latest generation Ryzen 5000G APUs landing on retail shelves. These chips pair Zen 3 CPU cores with integrated Radeon graphics, the latter of which can tide you over until discrete graphics cards become more readily available at sane price points (read: anywhere close to MSRP). MICRO ATX MOTHERBOARD DEAL MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi Motherboard | $139.99 $83.99 at Amazon (save $56) This micro-ATX motherboard would be a great foundation for a small form factor gaming PC, and you could pair it with a Ryzen 5600G or 5700G APU to hold you over until you can get your hands on a discrete GPU.VIEW DEAL As the model name suggests, the B550M Pro-VDH WiFi is built around AMD's budget-friendly B550 chipset. This one doesn't normally sell for under $100, but it's priced that way now, making it a great candidate for a compact build focused on getting a lot of bang for your buck. Some notable features include four DIMM slots supporting up to 128GB of DDR4-4400 memory, two M.2 sockets for high-speed storage, four SATA 6Gbps ports, a PCI Express x16 slot for when you finally get your hands on a discrete GPU, and a decent selection of USB ports. It also includes some amenities normally reserved for pricier motherboards, like a built-in M.2 heat spreader, onboard Wi-Fi, and BIOS flash button that makes it easy to update the BIOS without a CPU installed. Speaking of the BIOS feature, you may need to update it if you plan to pair this board with a Ryzen 5000G series APU. It just depends on how long Newegg has been sitting on its inventory. A BIOS update released in late June (7C95v28) adds support for the 5000G series, and there is also a beta BIOS (7C95v291) released today that is supposed to improve stability.

It's almost time for a battle royale with blades, parkour, and grappling hooks. Sixty-player action game Naraka: Bladepoint releases on August 11, and it's poised to be big. The battle royale pulled in more than 120,000 concurrent players in a beta test earlier this year, and it's launching simultaneously across the world with full English and Chinese support, as well as translations into eight other languages. Here's exactly when you can play it. Naraka: Bladepoint release times According to publisher NetEase, Naraka: Bladepoint has a global unlock time, meaning there's no need to mess with your Steam region to start playing a few hours early. Naraka: Bladepoint unlocks at 7 pm PST on Wednesday, August 11. That's on both Steam and the Epic Games store. Here's how that release time breaks down across different time zones: RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Don't see your time zone listed? Just click this link for a handy converter. Naraka: Bladepoint is coming to consoles at some point, but this launch is only on PC. So far before release we've taken an early look at Naraka: Bladepoint's map and all the Naraka: Bladepoint heroes available at launch. And if you want to get a leg up with some tips for Naraka: Bladepoint, we have those, too. Wes Fenlon Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games. When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old RPG or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).

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Reddit user nixcraft noticed in Mozilla's own Public data Report that Firefox has lost 46 million users over the last three years. As PC Gamer reports, Firefox is still sitting pretty with 198 million active monthly users, but this number was much higher at the end of 2018 at around 244 million. The internet is an ever-evolving beast of course, so while Firefox accounted for around 30% of all browser usage back in 2008 (trailing behind Internet Explorer's impressive 60%), Mozilla's once-po[CENSORED]r browser now sits at under 3%. We currently have Firefox ranked in first place on our list of the best web browsers, but if it's so much better than the competition, why are people moving away from it? We pick the best VPNs How to install Firefox on a Chromebook The best Windows 10 deals Out-muscled by Google There are a few reasons why the migration is happening, and why Chrome is mostly benefitting. Many websites are best optimized for Google's web browser, with faster loading times and allows for easier access to other products within its ecosystem such as Google Sheets and Google Meet. Many businesses use G Suite too, which makes downloading Chrome preferable over other available browsers. Chrome also has the advantage of being the default browser across Android devices, and of course Google is happy to nag you to download Chrome if it catches you using its services on another browser like Edge. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playing Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know 26/01/21 Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to... 26/01/21 IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to... 24/12/20 AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1... 24/12/20 PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute 14/12/20 Speaking of which, Edge is now based on Chromium and offers more compelling benefits than Microsoft's now-retired Internet Explorer, with instant web compatibility and support for Chrome extensions. Firefox has its own Add-ons of course and long-time users will often reference its advantage in privacy protection, but recent updates have felt a tad lackluster and it's noticeably slower than Chromium-based browsers. Many users will also take the path of least resistance, and given Google and Microsoft's annoying ad campaigns that push you towards using their products it's understandable that folk will eventually concede to get some peace. The anti-competitive approach that Google has over browsers is cause for concern, but Firefox isn't going to disappear overnight, even with it being strangled by rivals based on Chromium. ItsFoss, who originally reported on nixcraft's Reddit thread recommends downloading Firefox for use as a secondary browser in a bid to try and fight back against Google's quest for domination, and it's hard to argue against but we doubt that this will work in practice. Mozilla needs to improve its performance to match that of Chromium if it wants to remain a viable alternative because all the enhanced security and customization in the world won't help if it takes forever to load your favorite websites.

In preparation for the pending release of Windows 11, Asus is pushing out updated motherboard firmware to help facilitate a problem-free upgrade to Microsoft's next operating system. The new BIOS files do this by enabling Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 support. TPM 2.0 is a key requirement of Windows 11, and one of the reasons why people initially ran into problems with Microsoft's PC Health Check app before it was yanked offline. The app was designed to scan systems for potential compatibility issues. If everything passed muster, you knew your PC was ready for Windows 11. Microsoft ended up pulling the app because it was "not fully prepared to share the level of detail or accuracy you expected from us on why a Windows 10 PC doesn't meet upgrade requirements." I strongly suspect this was to prevent people from freaking out after failing the compatibility check due to nothing more than a rather simple switch in the BIOS: TPM 2.0. This video file cannot be played.(Error Code: 102630) I initially ran into this myself on my main system with an Asus ROG Maximus XIII Hero motherboard based on Intel's Z590 chipset. It's a newer platform, but because TPM is typically disabled by default, as it was in my case, the app returned a message saying, "This PC can't run Windows 11," when in fact it could. I just needed to enable TPM support in the BIOS first. Here's the thing: on the vast majority of modern systems, TPM is built into the CPU. It can also be present as an actual chip on the motherboard. Either way, its job is to add a layer of protection by generating and storing encryption keys, and authenticate certain interactions. Microsoft has decided to require this extra layer of security in order to run Windows 11. However, on most consumer platforms, it's not enabled by default. Adding to the confusion, it can be labeled something else in the BIOS—PTT (Platform Trust Technology) on Intel boards, and PSP (Platform Security Processor) and/or fTPM (Firmware Trusted Platform Module) on AMD hardware. This brings us back to Asus and its newest round of BIOS updates. Asus is busying updating the firmware on a host of motherboards that, when applied, automatically enable TPM 2.0 without any user interaction. So for example if you own a TUF Gaming X570-Plus (AMD) or a Prime Z590-P (Intel) motherboard, all you need to do is apply the latest BIOS update and you are good to do, at least as it pertains to the TPM 2.0 requirement. (Image credit: Asus) BOARD WALK (Image credit: MSI) Best gaming motherboard: the best boards around Best AMD motherboard: your new Ryzen's new home Asus is in the process of pushing out updated firmware for dozens of AMD and Intel chipsets covering hundreds of motherboard models. Many of them are already available, while several others are currently being tested. If you own an Asus motherboard, head over to its Windows 11 BIOS microsite and look for your model to see if a new BIOS is available. Alternatively, you can enable TPM 2.0 yourself, without updating the BIOS. You may want to go this route if the latest BIOS does not add anything else to the mix (you can check the release notes). Updating the BIOS is generally safe and easy these days, but things can still go awry (like a power outage in the middle of an update), and you might have a bunch of custom settings to re-enter. On Intel motherboards from Asus, the setting can be found by navigating to Advanced > PCH-FW Configuration > PTT and selecting Enable from the pull-down menu. On AMD motherboards, head to Advanced > AMD fTPM configuration and select Firmware TPM from the pull-down menu.

Respawn Entertainment has doled out a bit about technical upgrades and quality-of-life changes coming to Apex Legends, but it's not the news you probably want to hear. In an AMA on Reddit this weekend, Respawn Director of Communications Ryan K. Rigney explained that cross-progression between platforms was currently scheduled to be released next year. Rigney also confirmed that a major graphical update to the game, with the goal of sending it to 120 FPS, was still in the works. Oh, and they'll probably be nerfing stealthy new legend Seer. So, I guess, whoop butt using our Seer guide before we have to update it. The delay on cross-progression has been caused by the technical complexity of it, a task Rigney described as "gnarly as hell." The diversion of resources to avoid the plague of hacking that has hit Apex Legends and the two Titanfall games hasn't helped. Oh, and there's also the cheaters that everyone has to deal with thanks to cross-play. Nonetheless, Rigney said of cross progression that "we're working on it, and we're committed to delivering it." RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playing The PC Gamer Show 152: Apex Legends, Anthem’s... 07/02/19 Apex Legends hits Season 10 ... This Week in PC... 01/08/21 Half Life: Alyx - Best VR Game of the Year 2020 |... 26/12/20 This week in PC gaming: Apex Legends on Steam,... 01/11/20 The PC Gamer Show 193: Half-Life: Alyx + Gears... 27/03/20 Respawn committed to a graphical upgrade to coincide with the release of the new generation of consoles, and detailed that 120 FPS goal earlier this year, but hasn't had much to say on it since. "I WISH I had an update to share," said Rigney of the upgrade, "but we can't say anything definitive at the moment—so can't spoil anything here. Trust us tho, it's in the works and we're excited about it too." You can wade into the full AMA on the Apex Legends Reddit. Jonathan Bolding Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.

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