AYANEO suspends NEXT 2 sales, Ryzen AI Max+ 395 handheld cost now too high

https://videocardz.com/newz/ayaneo-suspends-next-2-sales-ryzen-ai-max-395-handheld-cost-now-too-high

ASUS Is Gearing Up for One of Its Biggest Ever PC Price Hikes, as Depleting Memory Stockpiles Start Biting Vendors Hard

https://wccftech.com/asus-is-gearing-up-for-one-of-its-biggest-ever-pc-price-hikes/

Xbox Full Screen Experience begins rebrand to “Xbox mode”

https://videocardz.com/225589/xbox-full-screen-experience-begins-rebrand-to-xbox-mode

AMD Ryzen 5 9600X hits $182 two days before Ultra 5 250K Plus launch

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-ryzen-5-9600x-hits-182-two-days-before-ultra-5-250k-plus-launch

User Pays $3200 For RTX 5090, Receives $2 Detergent Powder Inside The Box; Amazon Refuses Refund

https://wccftech.com/user-pays-3200-for-rtx-5090-receives-2-detergent-powder-inside-the-box-amazon-refuses-refund/

Three dead Ryzen 7 9800X3D cases reported on ASRock BIOS 4.10 despite new AM5 fix

https://videocardz.com/newz/three-dead-ryzen-7-9800x3d-cases-reported-on-asrock-bios-4-10-despite-new-am5-fix

Imagination demos DirectX 11 on PowerVR D-Series, says DirectX is essential for mainstream PC gaming

https://videocardz.com/newz/imagination-demos-directx-11-on-powervr-d-series-says-directx-is-essential-for-mainstream-pc-gaming

Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Ultra 5 250K Plus “Arrow Lake Refresh” Review Roundup

https://videocardz.com/225491/intel-core-ultra-7-270k-plus-and-ultra-5-250k-plus-arrow-lake-refresh-review-roundup

Crimson Desert now launches on Intel Arc, Pearl Abyss changes course

https://videocardz.com/newz/crimson-desert-now-launches-on-intel-arc-pearl-abyss-changes-course

Broadcom flags supply constraints, says TSMC capacity a bottleneck

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/broadcom-flags-supply-constraints-says-tsmc-capacity-bottleneck-2026-03-24/

Panther Lake XPS 16 is so efficient, it draws just 1.5 W when idling for insanely long battery life

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Panther-Lake-XPS-16-is-so-efficient-it-draws-just-1-5-W-when-idling-for-insanely-long-battery-life.1255734.0.html

Alibaba admits the nearly 500,000 chips it made are weaker than NVIDIA's

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/110566/alibaba-admits-the-nearly-500000-chips-it-made-are-weaker-than-nvidias/index.html

Nikkei says Nintendo is planning an EU Switch 2 with removable battery

https://videocardz.com/newz/nikkei-says-nintendo-is-planning-an-eu-switch-2-with-removable-battery

Microsoft promises faster Windows 11, fewer update restarts, movable taskbar, and less Copilot

https://videocardz.com/newz/microsoft-promises-faster-windows-11-fewer-update-restarts-movable-taskbar-and-less-copilot

Jensen Huang softens DLSS 5 response, says “I don’t love AI slop myself”

https://videocardz.com/newz/jensen-huang-softens-dlss-5-response-says-i-dont-love-ai-slop-myself

The Tuesday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(I’m partially responsible for that 10th spot of RE3, another 90% off title that I didn’t play back in the day. Anyway, click here for the Top 100)

There’s only Fanatical today, that has three new 24h Flash Deals:

• Stray is 54% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/stray
• Dredge Complete Edition has a 59% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/dredge-complete-edition
• Evil Genius 2: World Domination Deluxe Edition is 94% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/evil-genius-2-world-domination-deluxe-edition

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 595.97
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-595-97

HIGHLIGHTS
Game Ready
This new GeForce Game Ready Driver optimizes your experience in the latest titles featuring DLSS, ray tracing, path tracing, and NVIDIA Reflex, and ensures the best possible experience in your wider library of games and apps.

FIXED ISSUES
Fixed Gaming Bugs

• Halo Infinite: Texture corruption may occur on R595 drivers
• HITMAN World of Assassination: Game stability issues when NVIDIA Smooth Motion is enabled 
• Game stability issues after enabling DLSS FG when Instant Replay is enabled

>> It’s a bit weird that it doesn’t say which titles benefit from the new DLSS optimization, but ok.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

RE:Enhance Mod Version 2.0 Released for Resident Evil 1
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/reenhance-mod-version-2-0-released-for-resident-evil-1/
Modder ‘SonicB00M’ has released Version 2.0 of his RE:Enhance Mod for the first Resident Evil game. This is one of the best AI-powered upscaling mods for the classic RE game. So, make sure to download it if you plan to replay it.
For those who did not know, this mod enhances the pre-rendered backgrounds via AI tools. Moreover, the modder made thousands of manual edits to the backgrounds. The result is a game that can look crisper and more detailed than before.
Now, what’s interesting here is that this mod appears to offer better backgrounds than the Seamless HD Project. Or at least that’s what the modder claims. To prove his claims, SonicB00M had previously shared a couple of comparisons between SHDP and RE: Enhance. From what I can see, RE: Enhance does a better job at upscaling the pre-rendered backgrounds.
Version 2.0 reworks almost half of all backgrounds to significantly improve them. Some of these revisions go beyond typical upscaling. In the mid-90s, Capcom’s production processes were not yet as refined, and many backgrounds therefore suffered from a lack of detail and suboptimal lighting. RE-ENHANCE now breathes a bit more life into these problematic backgrounds and pushes the visual quality of Resident Evil 1 a little closer to its two sequels.
It’s also worth noting that the modder has reworked the textures of the character models. Furthermore, the inventory icons and documents have also been renewed and now closely match the design style of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3.
You can go ahead and download RE:Enhance Mod Version 2.0 for RE1 from this link. At the end of the article, you can also find some screenshots from it. These screenshots will give you a glimpse at the reworked textures.

The Witcher 3 modders are still discovering and restoring deleted scenes, including one that adds new texture to the game's best villain
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/the-witcher-3-modders-are-still-discovering-and-restoring-deleted-scenes-including-one-that-adds-new-texture-to-the-games-best-villain/
After about 200 hours in The Witcher 3 and its DLCs, I can't say I was left thinking "There should have been more", but as it turns out we did all play a somewhat slimmed down version of Geralt's adventures.
In addition to an enormous number of bug fixes, the Brothers in Arms mod by Nexus Mods user MerseyRockoff (as well as a long list of collaborators) aims to restore and rebuild as much cut or inaccessible content as humanly possible. For the most part, we're talking about relatively minor elements: books, journal entries, item descriptions, and especially lines of dialogue that could be found in the game files but were never properly implemented by CD Projekt Red (though they certainly add up!).
There are a few cases, however, of full cutscenes and even gameplay sequences that the mod slots back into the game—and YouTuber xLetalis has made a great video breaking down some pretty key omissions from the excellent Hearts of Stone expansion that players can now experience.
The big headliner here is a scene that was cut from the Von Everec Estate section of the DLC. As you might remember, during this part of the adventure Geralt is able to witness visions of the past that reveal villain Olgierd's descent into evil and the occult, and the deterioration of his relationship with his wife. As it turns out, there was originally an extra scene, now partly restored by the mod.
>> The article explains the restored scene, but I’ve decided to not share it to avoid spoilers. The article has the almost 10 minutes video.

GAMING NEWS

Here are over 4 hours from the canceled Highlander game
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-over-4-hours-from-the-canceled-highlander-game/
YouTube’s ‘Aeritha’ has shared a video, showcasing over 4 hours of gameplay from the canceled Highlander game that was announced in 2008, Highlander: The Game.
Highlander: The Game was a third-person action game that would be published by Square Enix for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. The game would feature a previously unknown Immortal, Owen MacLeod.

The second, and also last, part of the Tuesday gaming news:

Capcom says it 'will not implement assets generated by AI into our game content,' but still plans to use AI to 'enhance efficiency and boost productivity' in game development
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/capcom-says-it-will-not-implement-assets-generated-by-ai-into-our-game-content-but-still-plans-to-use-ai-to-enhance-efficiency-and-boost-productivity-in-game-development/
Earlier today, Capcom published its summary of a February 2026 online investor information session. Asked during the briefing to detail its plans for AI usage in game development, Capcom said it won't use game assets generated by AI, but intends to "actively" use generative AI to improve its game development workflows.
"We will not incorporate assets generated by AI into our game content," Capcom said in its investor Q&A summary (via machine translation). "However, we do intend to actively utilize such technologies to enhance efficiency and boost productivity within our game development processes."

Crimson Desert players demand bear domestication
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/crimson-desert-players-demand-bear-domestication/
Much like its design philosophy, Crimson Desert's marketing strategy was, essentially, "yes to all of it." Before release, its absurd density of seemingly mismatched features made for baffling yet fascinating trailer footage, particularly Kliff's apparent capability of turning bears, wolves, dodo birds, dinosaurs, and dragons into domesticated mounts.
Prospective players were understandably very excited about the menagerie of mountable monsters. Since Crimson Desert's launch last week, however, those countless Kliffs have realized with growing dismay that they don't get to keep all its more exotic mounts.
(...)
Given that a bear is universally cooler to ride than a horse, players are, understandably, pretty miffed to find that their dreams of riding around on things with crueler diets than oats have been denied. I've rarely seen such unified heartbreak from a new player base: I've currently got 7 tabs open collecting threads from the Crimson Desert subreddit where users are begging Pearl Abyss to rethink its fantasy mount tightfistedness.
>> Here’s a trick for those starting the game: there’s an early gold bar to open a bank account and make money (link).

'A firm announcement is dependent on this final stretch of work': Fans are spinning out over extraction shooter Sand's lack of a specific March release date
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/a-firm-announcement-is-dependent-on-this-final-stretch-of-work-fans-are-spinning-out-over-extraction-shooter-sands-lack-of-a-specific-march-release-date/
Somehow it's already the end of March, and as the growing stack of upcoming 2026 games climbs ever taller, we're rubbing our hands gleefully together at all the cool stuff we'll be playing over the next several months.
But hold up. We're not quite done with March, yet Sand: Raiders of Sophie, the cool-looking PvPvE extraction shooter where you build, customize, and drive a huge stompy mechanical base across an alien planet, is due out this month. "March 2026" is the release date listed on Steam, but as I noted a moment ago, we're running out of March, and a specific date has yet to be announced.

You can play Peter Molyneux's new god game, Masters of Albion, before it launches in early access
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/you-can-play-peter-molyneuxs-new-god-game-masters-of-albion-before-it-launches-in-early-access/
22cans is on the cusp of kicking Masters of Albion into early access, but if you need more convincing before you splash out on the latest game from legendary overpromiser Peter Molyneux, there's some good news, as the studio is hosting a closed beta.
You'll need to hurry if you want to participate, though. Registration for the closed beta ends at 6 pm GMT on March 25. To sign up, you'll need to hop on over to the Discord, hit up the closed beta channel, and answer a few questions.

And here are the short format ones:

Baldur's Gate 3 writer says its Dragon-Agey rep system is there to stop you totally breaking the NPCs, but it 'becomes a dice roll' at points to keep romance natural
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/baldurs-gate-3-writer-says-its-dragon-agey-rep-system-is-there-to-stop-you-totally-breaking-the-npcs-but-it-becomes-a-dice-roll-at-points-to-keep-romance-natural/
>> This comes from an Edge Magazine interview where he also said that Shadowheart and Lae'zel's romance came naturally (link).

'Golden goose' indie games get Gabe Newell's attention, says Steam expert: 'You're like a little goblin that has a magical power to turn straw into gold'
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/golden-goose-indie-games-get-gabe-newells-attention-says-steam-expert-youre-like-a-little-goblin-that-has-a-magical-power-to-turn-straw-into-gold/

'We are not going to pick one': Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 dev confirms there's no canon ending, instead opting for a more elusive 'Schrodinger's ending'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/we-are-not-going-to-pick-one-clair-obscur-expedition-33-dev-confirms-theres-no-canon-ending-instead-opting-for-a-more-elusive-schrodingers-ending/

Epic Games Cuts About 1,000 Jobs Across Company Amid ‘Fortnite’ Slump
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-24/fortnite-maker-epic-games-cuts-about-1-000-jobs-across-company
Epic Games Inc. is cutting more than 1,000 jobs across the company amid a downturn in engagement with the online video game Fortnite over the past year.

Horizon Chase Turbo is going to be delisted.

https://x.com/HorizonChase/status/2036451579453149266

I played the first COD games on PC back in the day, and CoD 3 on the Wii (a gift from my brother). I haven't played another one since then.

And yea, the always online thing is annoying, but I'm more worried about the Activision account part of it. I'll need to find out if I can play the game without one.

But well, I had to make an account over at Rockstar's thing to play GTA V, so it's not like something like this is new or anything.

**Edit** A quick search tels me that the Activision account is only necessary for online multiplayer. Single player campaign (and local multiplayer) should be accessible without one.

That loss of players would explain why the want to raise the price of V-bucks. If you don't have as many cows to milk, you'll have to milk your existing ones harder. A shame so many people had to loose their jobs.

The delisting of the game has a weird wording on it, at least on the Twitter post, because it says that you'll no longer be able to download it, not buy it. I have the game, it was one of the free games the EGS gave away, and I have downloaded it just in case.

Thanks for keeping us up to date with these things!

With Amazon saying that their CPU sales have fallen 50%, and that implying that mobos could have fallen the same amount if not more along with the rest of PC hardware (PSUs, cases, fans, etc), I'm not surprised to see this. They have staff to pay and shareholders to keep happy.

We'll see if all the known names survive this AI induced crash or not. Hopefully, they'll do.

A big improvement that doesn't fix all the problems Arrow Lake has. Shame that it's launching at one of the worst possible times and over a dead platform. I don't know who will buy these chips, other than OEMs.

And I hope the news/rumors that Intel's future sockets will last more than two launches are true. That gives AMD a big advantage over Intel that is very easy to see with the launch of these two processors.

Great news! Hopefully other countries adopt the same regulation.

MSoft has promised a lot of things with Win11, and failed to deliver. We'll see if this time they honour their word or not.

He may not like it, but he's more than happy to sell it to us.

Timmy certainly saw the fall of Fortnite quite a few years ago hence the attempt to shift markets and launch the epic games store while they were on top. Too bad they fumbled it hard by adding exclusives and lacking in basic features followed by double downing on anti-steam.

EGS could have been a third fairly competitive storefront if they only did the free games and less % imo. Instead them trying to shit on steam while they themselves was lacking in basic features like a shopping cart felt stupid to say the least.

Least they still have UE5. I hope that one crashes and dies though cause it has been a pleague to pc gaming.

I think Sweeney believed that they could ride the Fortnite train for a very long time, and that's why they fought so hard with Apple and Google to have it on their devices but not on their stores.
But trying to turn it into Roblox was, looking back, a sign that things needed to change to keep the money maker train going as strong as before.

The EGS could have been Steam's only alternative (GOG being no DRM scares some publishers), but the store wasn't and still isn't ready and they've done very little to convince gamers to switch to their store.
Having to rely on Discord or tthe Steam forums to let people talk among them about their EGS games didn't help.

And yeah, Stutter Engine 5 has been a headache for a lot of developers and users, but with Unity dropping the ball so hard as they have, there are no real alternatives for studios wanting to make AAA games but lacking the time, money and technial knowledge to build their own engines.
I hope we see a swing back to propietary engines next gen, somewhat akin to what happend.after UE 3 dominated during the PS360 era but studios then studios learned and did their own things during the X1/PS4 gen.
But with RT/PT and all the other techs that we have today, I don't think many will make the jump.

I think I was honestly ready to give EGS a chance despite the anti-consumer exclusives, if only it became good. Sadly Epic has fumbled way worse with EGS than I thought they could, if you can call doing almost nothing even fumbling. It's mindblowing how little they've done to improve the user experience considering how much money they are, well, were, making. I don't understand how they ever thought that strategy was going to work out - well, I guess I can, if they underestimated the value of actually treating your customers with respect. Instead they've been treating us like dumb cattle.

Look what I purchased for my PC. It arrived today.

It's a 8BitDO gaming controller. Green color, it works both wireless and wired. Works on mobile too.

It has two extra buttons (R4 and L4), for enhanced gaming. Although I was playing Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and haven't found any use for those. Maybe on other games they will show what they can do.

I'm not really into controller gaming for games that need fast camera movements, specially First Person Shooters, but I will gladly use it for any emulator or 2D games.