I honestly hope Intel is successful with their future nodes, given TSMC's price shenanigans ($30,000 per wafer? Really).

Same for Rapidus's, well, rapid advances toward a 2nm node in Japan.

Expensive as hell, but as Phawx says, this should be treated as 5090 of handhelds

Love the PSP/PS Vita alike design...PS6P prototype in the nutshell?? :P

I think it's more of a "good enough" situation to avoid potentially crippling Trump tariffs (which would have been 50% iirc). Apple is also inquiring about their production capabilities, probably for the very same reason. Having a slightly inferior product in terms of thermals and boost clock is still better than having to pay several hundred bucks more for the more powerful variant.

However, this could also result in a situation similar to Samsung smartphones, which have their own chips in some markets and Snapdragon chips in others.

Latest Steam Hardware Survey Reveals 8 GB GPUs Are Declining – Here’s What Has Changed As Per September Report

https://wccftech.com/steam-hardware-survey-september-2025-report/

AI Firm Probed For Fraud Over a Massive €100M VAT Break; NVIDIA Chips Meant for AI Computing Allegedly Used in Crypto Mining

https://wccftech.com/ai-firm-probed-for-fraud-over-a-massive-vat-break/

‘Iconic’ Chip Expert Jim Keller Says Intel Is Being Considered For Cutting-Edge Chips, But They Have a Lot to Do to Deliver a Solid Product

https://wccftech.com/chip-expert-jim-keller-says-intel-is-being-considered-for-cutting-edge-chips/

Razer Expands Wireless 4000Hz HyperPolling To Three More Keyboards

https://wccftech.com/razer-expands-wireless-4000hz-hyperpolling-to-three-more-keyboards/

AI Sparks a ‘DRAM Supercycle’ After Years of Stagnation, Driven by Massive HBM Adoption as Big Tech Rushes to Build Custom ASICs

https://wccftech.com/ai-sparks-a-dram-supercycle-after-years-of-stagnation-driven-by-massive-hbm-adoption/

ASUS Germany extends laptop warrany to 3 years, but only for new purchases

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-germany-extends-laptop-warrany-to-3-years-but-only-for-new-purchases

AMD quietly introduces “Fast Motion Response” option to Fluid Motion Frames 2.1

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-quietly-introduces-fast-motion-response-option-to-fluid-motion-frames-2-1

Chinese company launches GeForce RTX 3080 card with 20GB memory and PNY RTX 4090 cooler

https://videocardz.com/newz/chinese-company-launches-geforce-rtx-3080-card-with-20gb-memory-and-pny-rtx-4090-cooler

Inside Intel, employees say the famous culture gradually fell apart—and worsened the chipmaker’s downward spiral

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-intel-employees-famous-culture-090000563.html

Aqua Computer presents AMPINEL, monitoring and power balancing device for 12V-2×6 connectors

https://videocardz.com/newz/aqua-computer-presents-ampinel-monitoring-and-power-balancing-device-for-12v-2x6-connectors

Here come the Friday gaming news;

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Vampire Survivors-like Megabonk makes megabucks, selling a million copies in 2 weeks, and currently has more daily players than Borderlands 4 on Steam: 'I'll be eating spaghetti with EXTRA sauce tonight'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/vampire-survivors-like-megabonk-makes-megabucks-selling-a-million-copies-in-2-weeks-and-currently-has-more-daily-players-than-borderlands-4-on-steam-ill-be-eating-spaghetti-with-extra-sauce-tonight/
Our appetite for games like Vampire Survivors—dropping you into reverse bullet hells where your very existence is enough to slaughter wave after wave of enemies—has so far been unquenchable.
We've slurped down Brotato, Halls of Torment, Soulstone Survivors, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, but it doesn't sound like we're even close to done. The good news is that there's always another one, ready to usher us into more maps where we can saunter around slaughtering everything with a face—and some things without—with our increasingly ridiculous screen-clearing attacks.
Right now that would be Megabonk, which launched a couple of weeks ago and has been bounding up Steam's top-selling games list. It's a goofy, 3D Vampire Survivors-like with sword-surfing (which seems to be having a moment, judging by Metaphor Re:Fantazio and Sword of the Sea), cool skeletons and wild builds.
This week saw it climb into the seventh spot in the global chart, significantly higher than last month's major releases: Borderlands 4, Dying Light: The Beast and Hollow Knight: Silksong. Its daily player count is not to be sniffed at, either. On Thursday it reached a new peak of 88,581, with only Silksong and the free-to-play stalwarts drawing in more players.
This coincided with another milestone, announced on X by Megabonk's developer Vedinad. In two weeks, Megabonk has sold a million copies.

Amazon's giving away one great Fallout game and one bad one this October
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/amazons-giving-away-one-great-fallout-game-and-one-bad-one-this-october/
In a moment of incredible strength earlier this year, I actually cancelled my Amazon Prime subscription. The incredible strength didn't lie in cancelling it—I can live without free delivery on my pantaloons and draining racks and whatever else it was I bought on there—but in remembering I had it in the first place.
Well, maybe now I regret that, because Big Jeff Bezos is taking some time away from making the Washington Post worse to dole out some very good games this October via Prime Gaming. Who says the capitalist class never does anything for you?
You can find the full list below, but the big-ticket items here as far as I'm concerned are Fallout: New Vegas (either the best or second-best Fallout game, depending on what day you catch me) and Fallout 3 (slightly worse than Fallout 4; come at me). The former will be available on October 16, the latter on October 23.
>> The full list has 14 games.

The Humble Store has the new Month of TERROR Kickoff Sale, with up to 94% discounts during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/month-of-terror-kickoff.

Fanatical’s new Star Deal is BLEACH Rebirth of Souls, 50% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/bleach-rebirth-of-souls.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

GeForce 581.47 Hotfix driver download
https://www.guru3d.com/download/geforce-58147-hotfix-driver-download
NVIDIA has pushed out an urgent 581.47 hotfix driver update after reports that the previous 581.42 release was causing certain games to crash. The issue turned up most clearly in Genshin Impact, where some players couldn’t even launch the game. Instead, the launcher or the game itself would crash immediately, making it unplayable. According to NVIDIA, the bug was tied to a very specific set of conditions. If the game’s folder path contained Chinese characters and AI interpolation was enabled, the driver could trigger a crash on startup. That combination was enough to break things for a large group of users, especially those playing MiHoYo’s Genshin Impact.

Unity has found a security vulnerability that has sat dormant for almost a decade: 'Take immediate action to protect your games & apps'
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/unity-has-found-a-security-vulnerability-that-has-sat-dormant-for-almost-a-decade-take-immediate-action-to-protect-your-games-and-apps/
Any games or applications using Unity will need to be patched, the game engine company says, following the discovery of a new vulnerability.
Unity is urging users to update their software as a new security vulnerability has been spotted in Unity versions 2017.1 and later. It's present across versions for Android, Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems.
Discovered back on June 4 this year, and patched on October 2, this vulnerability meant that users were "susceptible to an unsafe file loading and local file inclusion attack depending on the operating system." This means someone could enable local code execution or grab information at "the privilege level of the vulnerable application".
It was given a high severity score by Unity and a CVSS score of 8.4. With 10 being the most severe, this vulnerability is quite significant. Unity does clarify that "there is no evidence of any exploitation of the vulnerability nor has there been any impact on users or customers."

Holy cow, the Epic Games Store supports preloading now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/holy-cow-the-epic-games-store-supports-preloading-now/
It's hard to believe I'm writing this in the year 2025 CE, but I've double-checked and it sure seems to be right so here we go: The Epic Games Store now supports preloading.
"Preloading is now available for PC pre-purchase products on the Epic Games Store!" developer Local Bald wrote in the Epic Games Store forums (via Reddit). "This new feature allows players to download titles they have pre-purchased up to five days (120 hours) prior to release via an encrypted build. Preloading ensures that players can jump into the game quickly on day one, which is especially beneficial for titles with large downloads."

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

-Empty-

GAMING NEWS

One of the coolest rhythm games I've ever played—with distraction mechanics straight out of those fake mobile ads—is finally coming out of early access
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rhythm/one-of-the-coolest-rhythm-games-ive-ever-played-with-distraction-mechanics-straight-out-of-those-fake-mobile-ads-is-finally-coming-out-of-early-access/
I was having a scroll through my Steam library this week, hunting out games I hadn’t played in a hot sec to fill my night. I’m glad I did, because otherwise I would have missed a very exciting piece of news: one of the coolest, most innovative rhythm games on PC is finally coming out of early access.
Rhythm Doctor is unlike any rhythm game I’ve played before—while I’m used to four, five, or even eight-button spreads, Rhythm Doctor only requires one finger and the humble spacebar. Notes skirt along an EKG to different rhythms, sometimes throwing multiple notes for me to keep track of each beat.

Starbreeze lays off a bunch more people as it cancels its co-op D&D game and shifts focus to building Payday 3 into a 'modern live-engagement game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/starbreeze-lays-off-a-bunch-more-people-as-it-cancels-its-co-op-d-and-d-game-and-shifts-focus-to-building-payday-3-into-a-modern-live-engagement-game/
Starbreeze has cancelled the co-op Dungeons and Dragons game it announced in 2023 in order to focus its resources on the Payday franchise—and also reduce its resources, because yes, the cancellation of the game also means layoffs.

Capcom legend tackles Palworld-Nintendo battle and manages to annoy almost everyone: 'It's a game that transcends the boundaries of war'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/capcom-legend-tackles-palworld-nintendo-battle-and-manages-to-annoy-almost-everyone-its-a-game-that-transcends-the-boundaries-of-war/
Pocketpair’s Palworld has certainly found an audience since release: even if, unfortunately, those interested include Nintendo's lawyers. The ongoing copyright lawsuit between the indie studio and the most venerable company in gaming is the subject of great interest worldwide, but of particular fascination in Japan, where the suit is filed and where both companies are based.
A genuine Capcom legend has now waded into the debate with a strident take on the situation, and one that seems to have angered more people than it's won over. Yoshiki Okamoto is now the chairman of the Japan Game Culture Foundation, but had a stellar career in games including golden age arcade titles like 1942, Final Fight, and Street Fighter 2, alongside working on the original Resident Evil and later the mobile smash Monster Strike. There are dozens of other games to mention (and one in particular we'll flag later), but suffice to say Okamoto is the real deal.

'Now you've got no excuses': Palworld is teaming up with Core Keeper for a Steam Autumn sale bundle because the folks over at Pocketpair are 'just big fans'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/now-youve-got-no-excuses-palworld-is-teaming-up-with-core-keeper-for-a-steam-autumn-sale-bundle-because-the-folks-over-at-pocketpair-are-just-big-fans/
Palworld developer Pocketpair has proved time and again that it's no stranger to supporting other indie games, whether that be by setting up shop as a publisher to help struggling devs or by simply giving others the shout-out that they deserve.
This time, Palworld's devs are seeking to spread the good word of Core Keeper, another survival and crafting indie game that they think players should get to know. "Gamers, I’m worried many of you haven’t played Core Keeper yet," community manager Bucky says in a social media post (via GamesRadar). "It’s one of the best games on Steam, so we put it in a bundle with Palworld. Now you’ve got no excuses. Go play!"

Part two, and last, of the Friday gaming news:

After getting dumped by EA, FIFA's finally back with its own football game starring… animal mascots?
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/after-getting-dumped-by-ea-fifas-finally-back-with-its-own-football-game-starring-animal-mascots/
In early 2022 EA announced what many had expected for a while: it was ending its licensing deal with FIFA, the world football governing body, and re-branding its incredibly successful FIFA series as EA Sports FC. At the time EA was at least gracious towards its former partner, but FIFA wasn't in any mood to play nice.
"I can assure you that the only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans," thundered FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the time. "The FIFA name is the only global, original title. FIFA 23, FIFA 24, FIFA 25 and FIFA 26, and so on—the constant is the FIFA name and it will remain forever and remain THE BEST."
(...)
I always thought the most logical next step for FIFA would be partnering with Konami's eFootball, which remains the most likely competitor to EA Sports FC (even if it's currently in the doldrums). But an actual football game featuring actual 11-a-side matches with actual clubs and players? That's far too straightforward for FIFA, which has now announced its next game is called FIFA Heroes and stars a bunch of animal mascots.

With Xbox hiking prices and a newly private, $20-billion-in-the-hole EA looking ready to gut Baldur's Gate series creator BioWare, Larian boss Swen Vincke points out that 'making games faster and cheaper while charging more has never worked before'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/with-xbox-hiking-prices-and-a-newly-private-usd20-billion-in-the-hole-ea-looking-ready-to-gut-baldurs-gate-series-creator-bioware-larian-boss-swen-vincke-points-out-that-making-games-faster-and-cheaper-while-charging-more-has-never-worked-before/
As reported by GamesRadar, Larian studio head and Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke has taken to Twitter to remark on the state of the industry following Microsoft's Game Pass price hike and EA's purchase by private equity and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, a deal that seems destined to bury Baldur's Gate series creator BioWare.

Amnesia creator Frictional Games teases its next game, and it may be something new but it sure feels like SOMA
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/amnesia-creator-frictional-games-teases-its-next-game-and-it-may-be-something-new-but-it-sure-feels-like-soma/
Frictional Games, the videogame horrorsmiths responsible for the Penumbra, Amnesia, and SOMA games, is teasing something new—and yes, as you might expect, it looks creepy as hell.
The clip that appeared yesterday on YouTube, entitled Frictional_Next_Project.mp4, is actually the culmination of an ARG that, as laid out by Polygon, began last week with a small update to SOMA. Released on September 22, the patch "fixed faulty spam filters on Simon’s PC," according to the patch notes, which warned that "users may still receive suspicious correspondence due to treemail 0.1 filtering process issues."

One of my favorite survival city builders is leaving early access this month, so here's your chance to buy it before the price goes up
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/one-of-my-favorite-survival-city-builders-is-leaving-early-access-this-month-so-heres-your-chance-to-buy-it-before-the-price-goes-up/
September sure was chock full o' city builders, but wait, there's more! October has a treat in store for all you aspiring mayors, too: survival city builder Farthest Frontier is busting out of early access and going full version 1.0 later this month.

Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM unionizes in the UK: 'We like being here. We want to continue being here. So let's try and get a seat at the table in the big management meetings'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/disco-elysium-studio-za-um-unionizes-in-the-uk-we-like-being-here-we-want-to-continue-being-here-so-lets-try-and-get-a-seat-at-the-table-in-the-big-management-meetings/
Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM has unionized. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, representatives of the studio's new Workers' Alliance, as well as company president Ed Tomaszewski, announced the formation of the union and its voluntary recognition by studio management. The announcement comes as ZA/UM has finally started showing off its second game, the upcoming spy RPG Zero Parades, set to release in 2026.

The guy who says 'Toasty!' in Mortal Kombat has left NetherRealm after more than 30 years with the team
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/the-guy-who-says-toasty-in-mortal-kombat-has-left-netherrealm-after-more-than-30-years-with-the-team/
NetherRealm audio director Dan Forden has left the studio after 15 years, where he's worked since its founding in April 2010—although since NetherRealm was a rebadged Midway Chicago, it's perhaps more accurate to say that he's left after 36 years. Forden's first game credit, for sound, is on the 1989 Midway arcade basketball game Arch Rivals. He's most famous for being the voice (and face) of one of the most random but iconic soundbites in gaming history: yelling "Toasty!" when you uppercut someone in Mortal Kombat.

One of my most anticipated shooters, which looks like Demon's Souls in the Doom engine, finally has a release date right around the corner
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/one-of-my-most-anticipated-shooters-which-looks-like-demons-souls-in-the-doom-engine-finally-has-a-release-date-right-around-the-corner/
Mohrta is an incredibly cool, cryptic, sci-fi/fantasy FPS that once again proves there might just be no limit to what you can do on the venerable Doom (or GZDoom) engine. In a new trailer, developers Scumhead and Osiol have revealed that we don't have long to wait for the full game: Mohrta will release on Steam October 14.

'The industry isn't dying, it's splitting into two different models': What experts are saying about the EA buyout
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-industry-isnt-dying-its-splitting-into-two-different-models-what-experts-are-saying-about-the-ea-buyout/
The leveraged buyout of EA, which will see private equity firms and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund take control of the megapublisher for $55 billion (and saddle it with $20 billion in debt), has us all wondering what the new owners are going to do with it.
As games industry analyst Mat Piscatella said this week, no one really knows, but the speculation we're hearing from analysts and corporate finance experts is that EA's new owners aren't likely to shake things up in the immediate future, and will probably do what you'd expect: focus on its existing live service moneymakers as it pays off that $20 billion in debt.

The 43rd Golden Joystick Awards shortlist is out, and just looking at the indie list alone, I can tell it's going to be a tough year
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-43rd-golden-joystick-awards-shortlist-is-out-and-just-looking-at-the-indie-list-alone-i-can-tell-its-going-to-be-a-tough-year/
The 43rd Golden Joystick Awards' shortlist has just been revealed, and the voting is now open, but the hardest part has only just begun. This year, there are 21 categories, such as PC Game of the Year, Best Multiplayer Game, and Best Indie Game, all of which are completely stacked with stand-out games—it'll be almost impossible to pick between them.

Emperor of overpromising Peter Molyneux says he's done with games after Masters of Albion, which is also his 'redemption title'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/emperor-of-overpromising-peter-molyneux-says-hes-done-with-games-after-masters-of-albion-which-is-also-his-redemption-title/
Ah, Peter Molyneux. The games industry's premier promiser taught me a valuable lesson when I was young: never believe in anything. Ironically, he did that with Fable 2—generally recognised to be one of the best of his games. I had let him get me so hyped for it that when it came out and was merely 'pretty good,' I was crushed..
But future generations will have to learn this lesson from someone else. Probably in Roblox or something. Why? Because Molyneux recently sat down with Edge to reflect on a long career of making extravagant promises about acorns, and in the process he mentioned that, yeah, his upcoming game, Masters of Albion, is going to be his last.

With no new deals at GOG or Steam, there's only one more thing to say: I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

I can attest to this being a great city-builder. It's not doing anything fancy or special, but it's excellent at what it does. It's a bit slow-paced though, for better or worse.

Related to this some games have been purchased disabled presumably while they patch the issue.

A few games that have disabled from purchase:

- Wasteland Remastered
- Wasteland 3
- Pillars of Eternity
- The Bard's Tale Trilogy
- Pentiment
- Fallout Shelter

Other games were patched immediately, from my news feed I see Monster Sanctuary and Overcooked 2.

I've looked into the game, but I'd love to be able to try a demo of it. There are lots of city-builder games currently in the works, most set on those feudal/middle ages period that look very promising. 

Good to know! It's not often that we see developers or publishers caring about updating their games, more so if the games ae on the older side of things.

I wish more decs/pubs will do the same.