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Between all the billion-dollar buyouts and streamer drama, it's sometimes easy to forget the simple pleasures of PC gaming. For one child in Wales, UK, however, it meant a whole lot more than that. Evan, a resident of Tonypandy in Wales, was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when he was 10. Unfortunately, a late diagnosis led to a rushed surgery and a month-long recovery in hospital, which likely saved Evan's life. Crohn's is an inflammation of the digestive system. It's a lifelong condition with no known cure, and it can cause severe flare-ups that can be really painful and damaging to the body. It can, and likely will, cause significant disruption to those that have it, and that's the reality facing Evan and his family since Evan was diagnosed. After his return from hospital, he "started pulling away and didn't want to talk to anyone," Evan's mother, Dawn, says. "It was very hard. I couldn't understand why he wouldn't talk to me." Evan would later return to hospital for another operation at age 13, and spent a further three weeks in hospital. This, along with trouble at school and frequent visits to medical professionals, led to feelings of depression. For his 14th birthday, Evan wished for an Alienware gaming PC. That would be an exciting prospect for just about any PC gamer, but for Evan it was a way to reconnect with friends and with his childhood, which had been abruptly ended with his diagnosis and treatment. The Make-A-Wish UK charity took notice and, when Evan received that PC, his mother says he was "honestly glowing." "I hadn’t seen him that happy for a very, very long time," Evan's mother, Dawn, says. "Evan himself called it the light at the end of the tunnel. It means he can stay connected with friends even when he misses school and helps take his mind off the pain when he has a Crohn’s flare up. It’s even helped him to read faster.” It's a story like Evan's that you have to stop and appreciate every once in a while. PC gaming might be a small part of your life, or perhaps a really big one, but it's something we can all get behind because we enjoy it and it brings us happiness. We're pretty lucky to be able to sit at our desktop and jump on a few games of Hunt: Showdown or Project Zomboid in the evening with our pals, and sometimes a story like Evan's makes you remember that. If you want to help support charities that do great things like this, there are plenty to choose from. Make-A-Wish UK helped Evan out, and I'm sure would really appreciate whatever you can donate. Others like SpecialEffect and Ablegamers help out a lot of people that would love to be more involved in videogames but can't due to their accessibility needs. There's also Crohn's and Colitis UK in dear ol' Albion, who offer up tons of information for anyone affected by Crohn's, including friends, family, and more. And over in the US, there's the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation with plenty of resources. You really can't go amiss when it comes to all the great charities out there supporting gamers from all backgrounds.

Hearthstone's next big update will arrive on February 15 with a brand-new mini-set called Onyxia's Lair. The 35-card expansion will be available via Alterac Valley card packs, or you can pick up the whole thing for $15 or 2000 gold—or, for the first time ever, get an all-Golden set for $70. That's not cheap, but the all-Golden set is clearly aimed at committed Hearthstone "whales" who'd rather spend money than time acquiring the best possible decks. Player numbers are sagging, but Activision Blizzard said in its most recent financial report that Hearthstone net bookings actually grew year-over-year in the quarter, suggesting that die-hard players remain willing to spend on the increasing number of cosmetics which have been added to the game's various modes. Giving those players the opportunity to do so is no doubt part of Blizzard's strategy to turn around (or at least slow) that bleed-off of players. Hearthstone streamer RegisKillbin recently posted an interesting response to this video from Hearthstone Mathematics analyzing the decline of the standard format, which he attributes to a few separate issues: Blizzard's reputational problems and a mediocre meta, which drive people away, and the high cost of coming back, which keeps them away. One aspect of Hearthstone that, as we noted in our January analysis of the state of Hearthstone, is definitely not struggling is the Battlegrounds autobattler mode, which unfortunately for Blizzard has proved trickier to monetize. To that end, this update will bring a pair of new Board cosmetics to the Battlegrounds, as well as new Finisher cosmetics, which replace the default attack animations whenever your hero wins a round of combat. Finishers are equipped globally, so they'll be used by any hero who wins around, and yes, both players will see the finisher when it plays.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, Galaxy Tab S8+, and the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra were launched at the Galaxy Unpacked 2022 virtual event on Wednesday — alongside the anticipated Galaxy S22 series. The Galaxy Tab S8 and Galaxy Tab S8+ come as successors to the company's Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7+, respectively, which were launched in 2020. However, the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is an all-new model in the lineup, aimed to deliver an upgraded experience. The new Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 series comes with optional 5G connectivity. Additionally, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ and Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra bundled with an improved S Pen. Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, Galaxy Tab S8+, Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra price, availability Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 price begins at $699.99 (roughly Rs. 52,400), while the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ carries a starting price of $899.99 (roughly Rs. 67,300) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra price starts at $1,099.99 (roughly Rs. 82,300). On the availability part, Samsung said that the Galaxy Tab S8 series will go on pre-orders starting Wednesday, February 9, 10pm, and its sale will begin in select markets including the US, Europe, and South Korea from February 25. Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ will be available in the base 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant as well as the 12GB + 256GB option. However, Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra wil come in 8GB + 128GB, 12GB + 256GB, and the top-of-the-line 16GB + 512GB model. The new Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 and Galaxy Tab S8+ come in Graphite, Pink Gold, and Silver colours, whereas the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra will be available in a single Graphite shade. Details about the pricing India price and availability of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, Galaxy Tab S8+, and Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra are yet to be announced. In August 2020, Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7+ were launched with a starting price of EUR 699 (roughly Rs. 59,800). Alongside the Galaxy Tab S8 series, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra as its new Android flagship phones. The South Korean company also brought the Book Cover Keyboard, Book Cover Keyboard Slim, Book Cover, Protective Standing Cover, Note View Cover, and Strap Cover for the Galaxy Tab S8 models. Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 specifications Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 runs on Android 12 with One UI Tab 4 on top. The tablet features an 11-inch WQXGA (2,560x1,600 pixels) LTPS TFT display with 276ppi of pixel density and up to 120Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, there is a 4nm octa-core SoC, which is likely to be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, if recent reports are to be believed. The SoC is paired with up to 12GB of RAM. For photos and videos, Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 has a dual rear camera setup that houses a 13-megapixel primary sensor, along with a 6-megapixel ultra-wide shooter. The camera setup is paired with an LED flash. Further, the tablet also comes with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide shooter at the front — for selfies and video chats. Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 comes with up to 256GB of onboard storage that supports expansion through a microSD card (up to 1TB). Connectivity options include 5G and 4G LTE (optional) as well as Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth v5.2, GPS/ A-GPS, and a USB Type-C port. Sensors on board include accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, magnetometer, and a hall sensor. The tablet also has a dedicated fingerprint sensor on the side. For multimedia experience, Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 comes with quad stereo speakers that are backed by AKG and Dolby Atmos. There are also three microphones on board. Additionally, the tablet includes an upgraded DeX mode that allows more apps to be resizable and have transparent windows. It can also be used as a second monitor with touchscreen and includes a screen and face dual recording feature for online classes. Samsung has packed the Galaxy Tab S8 with an 8,000mAh battery that supports Super Fast Charging 2.0 (up to 45W). The tablet measures 165.3x253.8x6.3mm. It weighs 503 grams (Wi-Fi only variant) and 507 grams (5G option). Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ specifications The new Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ comes with One UI Tab 4, based on Android 12. It features a 12.4-inch WQXGA+ (2,800x1,752 pixels) Super AMOLED display with 266ppi pixel density up to 120Hz refresh rate. The tablet is powered by an octa-core SoC, along with up to 12GB of RAM. It comes with the same dual rear camera setup as the Galaxy Tab S8, with a 13-megapixel primary sensor and a 6-megapixel ultra-wide shooter. There is also an LED flash. For video chats, Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ carries a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera at the front. Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ comes with up to 256GB of onboard storage that supports expansion via microSD card (up to 1TB). Connectivity options include 5G and 4G LTE (optional) as well as Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth v5.2, GPS/ A-GPS, and a USB Type-C port. Onboard sensors include accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, magnetometer, and a hall sensor. Unlike the regular Galaxy Tab S8, the Galaxy Tab S8+ comes with an under-display fingerprint sensor. The Galaxy Tab S8+ also includes quad stereo speakers and three microphones. It packs a 10,090mAh battery with Super Fast Charging 2.0 (up to 45W). Besides, the tablet measures 185x285x5.7mm and weighs 567 grams. Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra specifications Just like the Galaxy Tab S8 and Galaxy Tab S8+, Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra runs on Android 12 with One UI Tab 4 on top. The tablet, however, features a larger 14.6-inch WQXGA+ (2,960x1,848 pixels) Super AMOLED display with 240ppi of pixel density and up to 120Hz refresh rate. It includes the same 4nm octa-core SoC that is available on the other two models, along with up to 16GB of RAM. Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra comes with a dual rear camera setup that includes a 13-megapixel primary sensor and a 6-megapixel ultra-wide shooter. The camera setup is paired with an LED flash. Unlike the other two models in the series, Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra comes with a dual camera setup at the front that has 12-megapixel wide and ultra-wide shooters. The camera setup is available on a display notch. Samsung has given up to 512GB of internal storage on the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra that supports expansion via microSD card (up to 1TB). Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth v5.2, GPS/ A-GPS, and a USB Type-C port. There is also an option for 5G and 4G LTE connectivity. Further, the tablet includes an array of sensors that includes accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, magnetometer, and a hall sensor. Additionally, there is an under-display fingerprint sensor. The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra includes quad stereo speakers that are tuned by AKG and are supported by Dolby Atmos. There are three microphones. Also, the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra packs an 11,200mAh battery that supports Super Fast Charging 2.0. The tablet measures 208x6x326.4x5.5mm. It weighs 726 grams (Wi-Fi only variant) and 728 grams (5G model). Why is 5G taking so long? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Microsoft is preparing an update for OneDrive that will embed the cloud storage service more deeply into its ecosystem of productivity and collaboration apps. According to a new entry in the company’s product roadmap, Microsoft 365 users will soon benefit from a new synergy between OneDrive and Teams. “In OneDrive, we are adding a ‘Your Teams’ section to the ‘More Places’ page to allow you to easily find and work with your files in Teams,” Microsoft explained. The new feature is still under development for now, but is scheduled to roll out to all relevant customers in April. Although Microsoft remains the dominant brand in the office software space, Google stole the march when it came to bringing productivity tools into the cloud. In addition to the flexibility this afforded customers, the move also gave Google more freedom to build interactions between its apps. While Microsoft has long offered web-based versions of its famous software, the company is now focusing more closely on tightening up the relationship between each of its services, extending all the way out to the Windows OS on which most business computers run. The idea is to use this heightened level of interoperability to make it as inconvenient as possible to break away from the Microsoft ecosystem, even if a company or individual has adopted just a small selection of services. The upcoming Microsoft 365 update is a reflection of this strategy, improving the fluidity with which users can utilize the file-sharing and management functionalities available with both OneDrive and Teams. Other recent examples include the integration of Microsoft Teams and LinkedIn, the professional social network owned by Microsoft, and trade-in initiative designed to increase the volume of Microsoft hardware in office meeting rooms. In addition to improving the interoperability of its apps, Microsoft is also working to ensure it is able to reach as wide an audience as possible. For example, the company recently announced a host of features aimed at frontline workers, a previously underserved demographic, as well as new accessibility functionality. Although the latest Microsoft 365 announcement will have a comparatively small effect on the overall user experience, it’s one piece of a much larger puzzle Microsoft is attempting to assemble. Complete your remote working setup with the best video conferencing software and best business webcam

Nvidia is now a larger company than social media giant Meta. In a meteoric turn of events, Nvidia has surged to become the 7th largest company in the US, despite being nowhere close only a few years ago, and helped along by Meta's recent share price collapse. Meta's fall from stock market grace this past week saw 30% of its share value wiped out, leaving it with a total value in shares, or market cap, of just $615.70B (at time of writing). That's clearly still a lot of money, but it's notably less money than it was worth at the beginning of last week—around $260B less. Compare that to Nvidia's market cap of $657.06B, and the green team is out on top. Perhaps not for long, but we'll see. That's still a little shy of Berkshire Hathaway in 6th place at over $720B, but it's markedly higher up than Nvidia was only a few years ago, when its share value was a small fraction of what it is today. Nvidia has recently made a bit of a come-back in terms of share price, following a stint down the mountain in January 2022. And that's despite some bad news of its own this week. Nvidia officially terminated its attempt to buy Arm, the UK-based chip designer, for $40B, and that did see some value wiped off its share price in the following days. Though clearly that dark cloud hasn't stuck around Nvidia's Santa Clara HQ, as it's now back up to around $260. That's over 40% up on its lowest point this year, and just under 22% down on its all-time high of $334. So how has Nvidia done it? You'd think an ongoing silicon shortage, of which Nvidia is smack bang at the centre of, would have some negative impact on its share value. But that's not really been the case. In fact, Nvidia made a whole bunch of cash in its final quarter of 2021 (which it calls Q3 2022, because why the heck not). It's not yet filed its full-year report, though that's coming later this month, but the long and short of it is: Nvidia is raking in tons of cash. Up 50% year-on-year revenue, up 91% operating income, up 84% net income, massive margin gains, and so on and so fourth. People want GPUs, and Nvidia holds all the cards (or in this case, chips). There are worse positions to be in, though not for PC gamers who can't buy a graphics card at anywhere close to reasonable prices today. If all this highfalutin talk of billions of dollars makes you want to curl up into a ball, how about a brief history lesson to lighten the mood. Nvidia was founded in 1993 by three engineers. There's Jensen Huang, of course, leather-clad company CEO; Curtis Priem, who retired from Nvidia in 2003; and Chris Malachowsky, who still works at Nvidia as a senior technology executive. I think Malachowsky may have it all figured out. Let Jensen make the stressful decisions, produce movies in your spare time (and win an Emmy), and tinker with GPUs all day. I could certainly go for that. And of course a whole bunch of shares at the now 7th largest company in the US.

Apparently unphased by the backlash to recent NFT project announcements, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds studio Krafton has announced that it is getting into the NFT game. The company has signed a deal with Naver Z, the operator of the metaverse platform Zepeto, "to develop a new Web 3.0 and non-fungible token (NFT) project aimed at building an NFT metaverse platform." There's no indication that Krafton's NFT project will be tied to PUBG directly—instead, the company will use the experience it's earned developing and running PUBG to create a "user-generation content (UGC) creation tool," as well as a virtual world built in the Unreal Engine. Naver Z will "manage the metaverse service," according to the statement, and handle community and social services. "This partnership between Krafton and Naver Z is bolstered by each company's unique expertise and shared global focus as they look toward a future driven by NFTs and metaverses," Krafton Web 3.0 team lead HyungChul Park said. "By combining Krafton's existing technologies and research on how to build scalable Web 3.0 creator-driven ecosystems with Naver Z and Zepeto's experience and capabilities, we’re confident we can build a high-quality UGC-driven open metaverse that stands apart from other services and vitalizes the global creator economy through NFT technologies." It's an upbeat but almost entirely baffling statement that doesn't actually say anything about what Krafton has in mind—functionally, it's not much more than doing jazz hands and shouting "Metaverse!" repeatedly. That may be fine at this early juncture, since nobody's entirely clear on what the metaverse is anyway (except, you know, bullshit), but the risk for Krafton is that it overlooks the growing backlash against game-adjacent NFTs. A plan to incorporate NFTs directly into Stalker 2 was abandoned in the wake of extremely negative feedback, and more recently indie publisher Team17 scuttled its own NFT strategy in the face of pushback from both gamers and its own studios. An even more telling signal came from Electronic Arts last week: After declaring in 2021 that NFTs are "the future of our industry," CEO Anrdrew Wilson said during the company's Q3 earnings call that the role of NFTs and blockchain technology "remains to be seen," and that EA is currently not "driving hard" on them. It's possible that Krafton will dodge that bullet. Gamers may not care so much about the company's NFT ambitions if the project remains completely separate and distinct from PUBG. But the possibility of negative repercussions is an ever-present risk: The NFT space is still rife with malfeasance, and as voice actor Troy Baker recently learned, there is no patience for even the appearance of bad behavior right now. Krafton said that further details about its NFT partnership with Naver Z will be shared "in the future."

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition, a remastering of GTA3, Vice City, and San Andreas, was a mess at launch: "Rife with enough bugs and glitches to make Cyberpunk 2077 flinch," we said shortly after it arrived in November 2021. But, also like Cyberpunk 2077, which was a massive success despite being in a sorry state at launch, the dire condition of the GTA Trilogy didn't seem to hurt sales very much: In its most recent quarterly financial report, Take-Two cited it as one of the major contributors to revenues that exceeded the company's expectations. "Rockstar Games celebrated the 20th anniversary of the launch of Grand Theft Auto 3 with the release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition for current and prior-gen consoles and PC via the Rockstar Games Launcher, with the title significantly exceeding our commercial expectations," Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick said during the publisher's quarterly financial call. Later in the call, Zelnick addressed concerns that the GTA Trilogy QA failure could surface again in future releases, specifically the enhanced editions of GTA 5 coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in March, and the new Grand Theft Auto game that was finally confirmed last week. "We are totally focused on quality here, and we always want to deliver the best possible experience," he said. "Very occasionally we fall short, and I think the trilogy was an example of that. The title was launched with some issues, we've addressed many of them, there are more fixes to come. Going forward, we remain highly focused on quality, and we are exceedingly confident in all of our upcoming releases." Zelnick also said that despite the disastrous launch, Take-Two will not change its approach to development, which includes outsourcing work on some ports and remasters—the GTA Trilogy, for instance, was developed by Grove Street Games, which has previously worked primarily on mobile ports. "We've had precious few quality lapses at this company, so anytime that we've fallen short from a quality point of view, it has been an isolated case, and we aim to keep it that way," Zelnick said. "However, we're not changing our business model." Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition is expected to launch for mobile devices in the first half of 2022.

Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G will go on sale in India for the first time tonight. The new flagship smartphone from Oppo was launched in India last week along with the vanilla Oppo Reno 7 5G. The Pro version of Oppo's new smartphone series sports a 6.5-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate and up to 180Hz touch sampling rate. Under the hood, Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1200-Max SoC, paired with 12GB of RAM. Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G price in India, sale offers Launched last week, Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G (review) is priced at Rs. 39,999 for the sole 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. Oppo will offer the smartphone in Starlight Black and Startrails Blue colour options. It will go on sale in India tonight via Flipkart, starting at 12am IST (midnight), as confirmed by Oppo to Gadgets 360. The Indian e-commerce giant is offering the smartphone with no-cost EMIs starting at Rs. 6,667 along with 10 percent instant discount when purchased using Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Standard Chartered Bank cards. Flipkart is also bundling Oppo Enco M32 earphones for Rs. 1,399, down from its original price of Rs. 1,799. Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G is already available to purchase on Oppo's official website, which is offering up to 10 percent discount — from Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Standard Chartered Bank, and Yes Bank — as well as no-cost EMIs up to 6 months — from the aforementioned banks along with Bajaj Finserv. Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G specifications The dual-SIM (Nano) Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G runs Android 11-based ColorOS 12. It sports a 6.5-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,400 pixels) AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate, up to 180Hz touch sampling rate, and has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. The smartphone is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1200-Max SoC, paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. The triple rear camera setup on Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G gets a 50-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. At the front, it sports a 32-megapixel selfie sensor. Connectivity options include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.2, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. Onboard sensors include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, pedometer, and a proximity sensor. There is also an in-display fingerprint sensor. Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G packs a 4,500mAh dual-cell battery with 65W SuperVOOC fast charging support. It measures 158.2x73.2x7.5mm and weighs 180 grams. Are Oppo's new flagship phones any good? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Microsoft is looking to bring two of its most successful software offerings in recent months closer together with another significant update to its video conferencing platform. The company has announced it is working on a new feature that will allow LinkedIn profiles to be displayed in Microsoft Teams. The information will be displayed in personal chats, meaning colleagues can find out more about their co-workers, say when planning for a project or looking to help with onboarding. The official entry in the Microsoft 365 roadmap notes that the change will allow users to see LinkedIn profiles of their colleagues in 1:1 chats only to begin with. Users will be able to view information on a person's profile via the LinkedIn tab in the 1:1 chat panel. The update is still currently in development, with Microsoft projecting a March 2022 release date at the moment. The tool is also noted as being generally available to all global users across Microsoft Teams web and desktop versions. Microsoft bought LinkedIn back in 2016 for around $26.2 billion as it looked to get a foothold in the social media space. The move has so far proved successful, with Microsoft's most recent financial results showing that Productivity and Businesses Processes, which includes Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn, was up 19% YoY to $15.9 billion. However, the site has struggled to break into the potentially-lucrative Chinese market, with Microsoft forced to launch InCareer, a completely new app solely for Chinese users after being forced to withdraw its standard offering. Elsewhere, however, LinkedIn appears to be enjoying strong growth in other markets, with Microsoft recently announcing the launch of its worldwide Services Marketplace for freelancers and adding a Hindi option, opening the service up to over 600 million speakers globally. Microsoft Teams continues to go from strength to strength, with the latest figures from the company showing that the service now boasts over 270 million monthly active users (MAUs). Recent data collected by software firm StarLeaf found almost all (97%) businesses say that tools such as Zoom, Webex and Teams are now essential to their operations. More than half (57%) of the 2,000 UK-based respondents claim their company would not be able to operate for more than an hour without access to their communications tools, while 27% admitted they would struggle to function for even 30 minutes

According to Valve we can expect somewhere between 2-8 hours of battery life from the Steam Deck, depending on how demanding a particular game is on the hardware. Now early testing from several YouTube channels gives us some real data to measure up against that claim, and it's clear that 2 hours is not the absolute minimum for the Steam Deck's battery. It ran out of juice a full 33 minutes quicker in GamersNexus' testing. GamersNexus ran a range of battery tests, including Devil May Cry 5 with an uncapped framerate and Vsync disabled. With those settings the Steam Deck lasted 87 minutes—and that was with brightness set to 50%. For comparison, DMC 5 lasted a full two hours with Vsync enabled, slightly lower settings, and a 60 fps framerate cap. YouTuber The Phawx also ran intensive battery life tests to determine the worst case performance with the Steam Deck, and came to a very similar number using the game Control: 85-90 minutes. "If you turn Vsync off and have low settings and 90 fps when there's no reason to—you have a 60Hz display—you can inadvertently have terrible battery life," he says. Both channels tested one of the other games Valve made available for previews, Dead Cells, and got six hours of battery life with Vsync enabled. It's a sign that indie games and older, less graphically demanding PC games will likely be able to run for several hours on the Steam Deck, though neither test came close to Valve's stated upper limit. "For the life of me, I never managed to get to eight hours," The Phawx said. This testing highlights one of the key differences between the Steam Deck and traditional game consoles like the Nintendo Switch: configuring your games with the proper settings will be vital to getting the most juice out of the system. In Forza Horizon 5, The Phawx was able to get around four hours of battery life by locking the framerate to 30 fps and making a few settings adjustments. Shooting for 60 fps will broadly mean lower battery life in modern games—about two hours, judging by what we've seen so far—but older and lighter games should be more in the 4-6 hour range. Whichever target you shoot for, setting an fps limit will ensure you're not wasting processing power and battery life. One other bit of good news from GamersNexus's testing: the Steam Deck is fairly quick to charge. While turned on (and idle), the Steam Deck can charge to 80% battery in 100 minutes. It'll take another 80 minutes to reach a full charge—just like smartphones, the Steam Deck slows its charging rate after a certain point to preserve the longevity of the lithium-ion battery. Some early tests of the Steam Deck published today also revealed that micro SD card load times are surprisingly fast, often even matching the internal SSD.

Mike Booth, one of the founders of Turtle Rock and creator of Left 4 Dead, recently provided some insight into his creative process and his take on the current influx of co-op games in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun. The most surprising titbit for me was his assertion that there still aren't enough co-op games out there today, despite their recent rise in po[CENSORED]rity thanks to the pandemic. As Booth puts it, "It's hard to make a good co-op game. Because you have to build the game from the beginning assuming that it's co-op. To design a game assuming that you have to work together to win the game, and not in a punitive way, in a way that players want to do that, and it feels great, is a fundamentally different way of thinking and designing a game around that, and there just aren't enough yet. There still aren't enough." Booth concluded by reaffirming his commitment to making new co-op experiences in his work at Bad Robot Games and on the upcoming non-VR version of the digital tabletop RPG, Demeo. Discussion of Demeo formed the bulk of the interview, and the Tabletop Simulator-esque experience certainly looks like a good time. I was most intrigued by his discussion of the mechanics behind Demeo and the influence Left 4 Dead's AI 'Director' had on it: "You don't want to actually, behind the scenes, roll the die on individual things. You want to make a virtual deck of cards, shuffle it and deal it out. So that way it's not possible to get the terrible thing happening 17 times in a row - I know it's very unlikely, but it's possible [with dice]. If it's in a deck of cards, and it's only one card, it can only happen once." It's a fascinating peek behind the curtain so to speak, and a reminder that a developers often put their finger on the scale to make a seemingly "random" system feel fair. I don't know if I'm on board personally with the idea that we're starved for more co-op experiences. My problem is always finding enough people with the time to commit to regular gaming sessions, but that might just be a me problem. Either way, it's fascinating to get a better sense of an industry veteran's perspective. Demeo is currently available for VR headsets on Steam and the Oculus Store. The non-VR version, called Demeo: PC Edition, will be coming to Steam Early Access in April.

South Korea's telecommunications regulator wants better compliance plans from Apple and Alphabet's Google before finalising rules for a law banning app store operators from forcing software developers to use their payments systems, officials said on Thursday. South Korea passed the law, an amendment to the Telecommunication Business Act, last year. The rules, due to be drawn up by March 15 and called the enforcement ordinance, will lay out what constitutes compliance with the law. Although the ordinance has not been finalised, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) believes that a compliance plan Apple submitted "still lacks concrete detail", a KCC official told Reuters. The KCC was in contact with Apple representatives for a more detailed compliance plan that goes beyond the general intention of allowing alternative payment systems, the official said. As for Google's plan, the official said the KCC was aware of concern over Google's planned policy of only reducing its service charge to developers by 4 percentage points when users choose an alternative billing system, and the regulator is waiting for additional information from Google. "As a result of any policy, if app developers find it realistically difficult to use an alternative payment system and resort to using the dominant app store operator's payment system, it would not fit the law's purpose," the official said, adding that this stance would likely be reflected in the final ordinance. The official, who is not authorised to speak to media, declined to be identified. Apple and Google did not have an immediate response. Why is 5G taking so long? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Internet Explorer may soon be set for a passage to the graveyard, but developers will be able to feel like they are still using the iconic software thanks to a new launch from its successor, Microsoft Edge. Microsoft still offers an "Internet Explorer mode" in Chromium-based Edge, but has now released a new tool to allow developers to check whether their legacy websites will still work in the more recent browser. Internet Explorer Driver allows those organizations or developers that still require the use of Internet Explorer 11 for backward compatibility of business-critical legacy websites or apps to make sure everything is still running smoothly, for now at least. Run alongside (and maintained by) browser automation experts at the Selenium Project, Internet Explorer Driver can be a great help to developers looking to keep legacy websites or apps running that little bit longer, Microsoft says. "With just a few changes to an existing test that runs against Internet Explorer, you can get your tests running in Internet Explorer (IE) mode in Edge," Zoher Ghadyali, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Edge, wrote in a blog post. "By running your tests in IE mode, you will be able to verify that any legacy web content that runs in Internet Explorer will work as expected in IE mode in Microsoft Edge." Internet Explorer Driver supports C#, Python, Java, and JavaScript, and Microsoft says it will be supported until 2029, giving developers more than enough time to ensure their work is stable. Microsoft does note that support for Internet Explorer 11 is still set to begin expiring from June 15 2022, and developers and organizations that still depend on the browser should start to transition to Microsoft Edge as soon as possible. The company has already withdrawn Internet Explorer support for all Microsoft 365 apps, although some may still function via the browser, albeit with users seeing a severely diminished experience. Even Google Search pulled support for Internet Explorer in October 2021, leaving the browser reliant on its own in-house Bing search, with support for Docs, Sheets, Slides and other Google Workspace apps removed in March 2021

Nvidia's attempts to block cryptocurrency miners from making a profit with its GeForce RTX 30-series gaming GPUs may not have had the desired effect. In fact, mining platform NiceHash tells PCMag that it "did not discourage miners at all." The Lite Hash Rate (LHR) mining limiter was implemented by Nvidia as a deterrent to cryptocurrency miners gobbling up the limited GeForce graphics card stock available over the past few years—worsening the impact of the ongoing silicon shortage on PC gaming. It essentially put a brake on hash rate when the GPU detected it was being used for the purposes of Ethereum mining. Nvidia's first attempt to implement LHR was bungled by its own driver release, which circumvented the limiter in some cases. Miners swiftly figured that one out, so Nvidia tried again and in a large part succeeded to implement LHR on a large scale. Nowadays, all new RTX 30-series GPUs are fitted with the hash rate limited, even though they're not always denoted as LHR specifically. This, Nvidia believed, would result in "more GeForce cards at better prices into the hands of gamers." The current market wouldn't suggest this to be the case, though it's tough to discern actual sales figures and which cards go where after sale. At least according to miners speaking to PCMag, though, LHR hasn't been as great of a deterrent as we would have hoped. “Yes, I feel LHR was pointless,” Blake Teeter says. Teeter is a cryptocurrency miner based in Colorada, and has around 95 GPUs to mine with in total, around 20 of which are LHR cards. He says LHR "isn't a deal breaker for miners." Another miner, Tim Tarshis, who owns nearly 30 LHR GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, says that he bought these because there were more of them available at the time. He has since "unlocked" these cards to increased their mining capabilities to around 70–74%, which is one way the mining community has figured out to make these cards worthwhile. The same goes for Sev, another miner, who says he bought LHR cards because resellers had snapped up the non-LHR cards and there wasn't much selection. Sev actually mines another coin to turn a profit with the LHR cards, thus showing the reported futility of the limiter in preventing demand. Nvidia's LHR only limits Ethereum mining, and other alternative cryptocurrencies can still be mined with a high efficiency. “To be honest, mining with LHR versus non-LHR isn't much of a difference. At this point there's coin even better than ETH (Ethereum) to mine for my purposes of monthly withdrawals rather than holding,” Sev says. As Ethereum moves towards proof-of-stake, albeit slowly, it's possible that Nvidia's LHR will become entirely redundant, as miners move towards mining other alt-coins instead. Cryptocurrency platform NiceHash, which was subject to a multi-million dollar hack in 2017, believes LHR does little to deter miners already, however. It strongly suggests that LHR "did not discourage miners at all." None of which is good news for PC gamers. Though we're getting quite used to that by now. The shortage of GPUs may ease a little in 2022, though it's not yet expected to ease entirely until 2023 at the earliest. Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog from his hometown in Wales in 2017. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things at PCGamesN, where he would later win command of the kit cupboard as hardware editor. Nowadays, as senior hardware editor at PC Gamer, he spends his days reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industry. When he's not writing about GPUs and CPUs, you'll find him trying to get as far away from the modern world as possible by wild camping.

Polygon reports that a potential Dungeons & Dragons TV series is in the early stages of production. It’s headed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, writer and director of Red Notice, a staggeringly po[CENSORED]r Netflix film, allegedly. D&D has had a rich and successful history in video games. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for the moving image. A 2000 film featuring the great Jeremy Irons is infamous for its schlock, and I only just found out about D&D: Wrath of the Dragon God and D&D: The Book of Vile Darkness, which both look less like diamonds in the rough and rather like more rough in the rough. That hasn't stopped Wizards of the Coast from pressing forward to have another bite at the apple, this time in an environment where genre shows are a booming success. Previous statements from Wizards, also reported on by Polygon, indicated that the show may adapt the story of Drizzt Do'Urden, erstwhile Dark Elf ranger and protagonist of 34 years worth of Forgotten Realms tie-in novels. Now, I loved Drizzt when I was a kid, but in the year of our lord 2022, there's another moody, conflicted, two swords-wielding, cool leather armor-wearing, weird eyes-having World's Best Swordsman™ ruling the roost and he's a Polish monster hunter who loves taking baths. It's hard to imagine a Drizzt adaptation comparing favorably to Netflix's fantasy hit, and the Drizzt rumors also date back to when different talent was attached to the project. Aside from the Dark Elf, it's not really clear to me who a D&D adaptation could revolve around. Perhaps it could focus on Elminster, Ed Greenwood's alarmingly sexually active Gandalf-esque alter ego, or perhaps Gord the Rogue, Gary Gygax's very own master thief of Greyhawk. Whatever route Wizards and Thurber take, another adaptation of a beloved sci-fi/fantasy property is coming and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2022 on Tuesday announced that the required spectrum auctions for 5G telecommunication networks will be conducted in 2022. “Telecommunication in general, and 5G technology in particular, can enable growth and offer job opportunities,” the minister said in her speech. She also added that the spectrum auctions will enable rolling out of 5G services by private telcos within 2022–23 — aligning with the previously stated timeline where the next-generation cellular connectivity was expected to be rolled out in the coming months. The announcement made by Sitharaman has been considered as a positive move by smartphone manufacturers. “With 5G technology implementation within 2022–23 by private telecom providers, we foresee propelling growth and a huge opportunity presented for the demand of 5G enabled devices,” said Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, Vice President for India and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) of Nokia brand licensee HMD Global. He added that 5G would open new economic opportunities and benefits for India. A Xiaomi spokesperson also stated that the rollout of 5G services in the country would make the country future-ready. “We are excited about the government's commitment to roll out 5G by 2023, which will head into a new year of interconnected devices,” the spokesperson said. Venu Cheriyan, Chief Financial Officer at Sennheiser India, said that the arrival of 5G networks in the country would benefit not only smartphones but also other sectors including the ones catering to media and entertainment. “With the announcement of the 5G spectrum auctions to be held this year and the swift adoption of 5G mobile services, we are bound to see an increase in content consumption, which in turn will lead to a potential rise in the audio accessories industry,” Cheriyan underlined. He also added that the low latency and higher bandwidths that the 5G environment would bring a new experience for the wireless audio transmission of music. Foxconn-owned electronics manufacturing services (EMS) firm Bharat FIH believes that the announcement of the 5G spectrum auctions would result in a boost in the demand for 5G phones in the country. “The announcement will enable more consumers to be included in the next level of digital economy,” said Josh Foulger, Managing Director, Bharat FIH. However, Tarun Pathak, Research Director at research firm Counterpoint, believed that 5G rollouts would not bring any significant changes to the smartphone market. “We expect 5G smartphone sales to increase three times this year even without networks, and brands would still like to go aggressive on the same as 5G as a feature is the third preferred one as per Counterpoint consumer lens,” said Pathak. “So, I guess nothing much will change with respect to OEM strategy. But at least we now have clarity on auctions.” In addition to announcing the launch of 5G spectrum auctions, Sitharaman revealed that the government would launch a design-led manufacturing scheme to build an ecosystem for 5G. It will be available as a part of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme, she said. The minister also stated that the government would complete the long-standing optical fibre-based project called BharatNet by 2025. The project is promoted to offer high-speed Internet connectivity in villages and remote areas. Peeyush Vaish, Partner and Telecom Sector Leader at Deloitte India, noted that the planned moves would speed-up the rollout of 5G services across the country over previous cellular network generations. “The roll-out across the country will also happen much faster than other previous generation roll-outs considering the fact that the Finance Minister, in her speech, has also talked about fiberisation of all villages by 2025,” Vaish said. Nitin Bansal, Managing Director for India and Head of Networks for Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India, at Ericsson, stated that the telecom-focussed announcements made by the Finance Minister would bring the “required impetus” to create reliable Internet connectivity in the country. Telcos are also positive of the plans laid down in the Budget 2022 speech. However, telecom industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) expressed some disappointment over delayed government addressal of demands by the sector. “We are committed to fulfilling the Digital India Vision of our Honourable Prime Minister, however, we are a bit disappointed that our long-standing demands remain unaddressed,” said SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI. “We look forward to continued and constructive engagement with the Government for reduction of levies on the telecom sector.” Details about the price-band and exact timelines of the spectrum auctions for 5G airwaves are yet to be revealed. Given the ongoing losses impacting telcos including Vi, it is also unclear whether all players have the efficiency to properly bid for the next-generation network technology.

If you're still longing for the days of the Nintendo Wii's Shop Channel, or you have the iconic tune stored in your music app as you walk through a shopping mall, you can experience the same track and others in your web browser thanks to a web extension. Found on GitHub and compatible with the Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browsers, the extension plays one of the iconic tracks whenever you're on a shopping site such as Amazon. The extension, which adds a little shopping bag icon in the address bar, doesn't stop with Wii shop music - themes from Wii Home, Wii U eShop, DSi Shop, and 3DS eShop can all be selected instead. However, Nintendo will most likely be looking to take this down soon, as the music is the property of the company. If you want these music tracks to play as you browse Amazon, be quick. Even though the developer states that the extension will start playing music when you're on a shopping website, you can still enable a track to play on virtually any website. Go to the extension's shopping bag icon, and after a few seconds, the selected track will play as you're browsing Facebook or solving the latest Wordle puzzle. We should mention that the extension works in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, as they run from certain web engines that help to display websites and play media content. For Chrome it's Blink, while Firefox runs in a Gecko web engine. But other browsers such as Microsoft Edge and Opera run on the same engine as Google Chrome, which means the Wii Shop extension will be able to work on these web browsers, even if its' not officially supported by the developer 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 MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app or one that's about to launch, drop him a line.

Integrated support for AMD's spiffing FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling tech is coming to the Steam Deck for Linux users. It should deliver a decent performance boost for users sticking with SteamOS rather than Windows on the much anticipated handheld gaming device. That's regardless of whether the game has built in support for FSR or not, because it's now baked into the OS. Valve's developers have said from the start that FSR will be supported on the Steam Deck. "FSR is already available for some applications that support it. Games that already include FSR will work as is, but also FSR support will be included as part of an OS future release. Once that happens, games could potentially make use of FSR even if the games themselves don't natively support it," the Steam Deck FAQ notes. As highlighted by Phronix, Linux users have now been gifted that OS-integrated support for AMD FSR, thanks to an update to Valve's SteamOS compositor, Gamescope. That's essentially the thing you'll run games through on a Linux-based Steam Deck, and it means users won't be restricted to the 70+ games that currently support FSR. Theoretically, Steam Deck users will be able to upscale a game to the device's native 1280 x 800 resolution, while enjoying much higher frame rate than the projected 30fps for Shadow of the Tomb Raider on highest settings, for example. We'll have to wait to get our hands on a Deck again for testing, however, before we know for sure. There is the concern that at such a low native resolution to start with, dropping down even lower to provide the input res for FSR to then upscale, may end up with a less than ideal result. It's only relatively recently that its rival, Nvidia, has enabled its DLSS feature with an output of 1080p, after all. But FSR might just be the magic bullet to allow a docked Steam Deck to run a 1080p monitor without looking fuzzy as a VHS. When we've tested FSR on desktop Windows-based machines, we've been pleasantly surprised as to the image quality and performance increases it manages to deliver, and this kind of integrated support for devices makes the tool so much more versatile. Support has been growing for FSR of recent, too, so there will be more games coming for those choosing to run Windows on their Steam Deck. But, native FSR support is just one more reason to stick with SteamOS on the Deck. Screw sports, Katie would rather watch Intel, AMD and Nvidia go at it. She can often be found admiring AI advancements, sighing over semiconductors, or gawping at the latest GPU upgrades. She's been obsessed with computers and graphics since she was small, and took Game Art and Design up to Masters level at uni. Her thirst for absurd Raspberry Pi projects will never be sated, and she will stop at nothing to spread internet safety awareness—down with the hackers.

A Microsoft Store leak in January pointed to a March 1 release date for Shadow Warrior 3, the upcoming first-person tale of ninjas, demons, and really ridiculous guns. As it turns out, Microsoft got it right: March 1 is the day, and we've got a new trailer to prove it. The trailer leans into Shadow Warrior's by-now familiar blend of goofiness, oversized enemies, and extreme violence. It also appears more in line with Shadow Warrior 2 than the first game in the rebooted series, which is far from "serious" but more restrained than previous games. (Ironically, Devolver said in 2020 that Shadow Warrior 3 "is doing away with some of the excesses" of its predecessor, although that was more of a reference to stat management than explosions and gibs.) Sharp-eared fans may also notice that Lo Wang sounds a little different this time around. That's because Shadow Warrior 3 will feature a new trio of new voices: Mike Moh as Lo Wang, Andromeda Dunker as Motoko, and SungWon Cho as Zilla. Alex Dobrenko will return to the series as Hoji, Lo Wang's reluctant partner from the first game. "Since rebooting the Shadow Warrior franchise, Flying Wild Hog and Devolver Digital have aimed to modernize the series, and part of that is correcting our mistake of casting a voice actor inconsistent with the hero Lo Wang’s cultural background," Devolver's Robbie Patterson explained in an email sent to PC Gamer. "Both teams are excited to begin a new chapter with the amazing Mike Moh and are forever thankful to Jason Liebrecht for his work on the series. Mike also used to literally kill dragons as a small child, so we've used that sweet, sweet stock exchange money for some absolutely reckless katana purchases in case he ever wants to teach us how to do that." The difference was immediately noticeable but I hadn't picked up on it previously, so I went back through the previous half-dozen Shadow Warrior 3 trailers, and it turns out that Lo Wang hasn't spoken in any of them since the 2020 teaser trailer—and unless my ears deceive me (and I am quite sure they do not) the voice in that video is provided by Liebrecht, who voiced the character through the first two games. Devolver confirmed that today's release date trailer is in fact the first public reveal of Moh as Lo Wang. If you're curious about the first two games in the rebooted series, they're both on sale on Steam—Shadow Warrior, Shadow Warrior 2—as part of the Lunar New Year Sale. To find out more, hit up shadowarrior.com. 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.