By error, over the weekend Canada Computers published prices of upcoming Raptor Lake Refresh desktop CPUs—a competing national store, PC-Canada, also prematurely leaked placeholder charges midway through September. Analysis of last month's figures revealed a 4% (on average) price hike over equivalent 13th Gen Core predecessors, although that information could be out-of-date by now. The numbers released by Canada Computers (now removed from their searchable database) are alleged to be closer to the final article, since we are nearing Intel's October 16th launch day of higher-end 14th Gen Core SKUs, comprised of K and KF variants.

A VideoCardz reader, Kithana, managed to log all of the gory details prior to Canada Computers removing all traces of embargo-busting data. Their news section has pored over the numbers: "A quick check reveals that new SKUs are expected to see an increase ranging from 0% to 7%. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the upcoming next-gen Core i5-14600KF is currently listed at the same price point as its predecessor, 13600KF, at $399 CAD. Notably, not present is the Core i9-14900K model on this list."
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(PR) Turtle Beach's REACT-R Controller Available in New Colors
Best-selling gaming headset and accessory maker Turtle Beach Corporation today announced three new colorways - Red, Nebula, and Pixel Green - are now available for its Designed for Xbox Turtle Beach REACT-R Controller. These exciting new REACT-R Controller colorways join the original Black and White/Lavender options, further expanding Turtle Beach's growing catalog of top-rated game controllers. Not only do the new Red, Nebula, and Pixel Green REACT-R Controller colorways offer gamers more options to suit their style, but they also improve upon the original by featuring two additional rumble motors for added vibration effects.

Since its release, the REACT-R Controller has impressed Xbox and PC gamers by providing them with premium wired controller performance at an affordable price. GamesRadar+ reviewed the REACT-R and affirmed it is, "Stunning value for the money." The Mirror awarded it 5/5 stars and called it, "An absolute steal and undoubtedly one of the best Xbox controllers on the market." Turtle Beach's new Red, Nebula, and Pixel Green REACT-R Controller colorways are available today from Turtle Beach and participating retailers worldwide for $39.99/€34.99/£29.99 MSRP.
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PlayStation Live Service Model Questioned
Sony has invested a boatload of cash into boosting research and development efforts at its growing games division—this financial year's 300 billion yen injection (roughly $2.13 billion) will help its business keep up with Microsoft's inevitable and forthcoming absorption of the mega-sized Activision Blizzard publishing group. Sony's Interactive Entertainment (SIE) division has already expanded around plans that anticipate the live service gaming market hitting a value of $19 billion by 2026—PlayStation/SIE CEO Jim Ryan has reportedly been leading these efforts. Many folks in the industry see him as the key figure behind Sony's highly ambitious strategy, but his recently announced retirement has cast doubt on this controversial direction.

The rumor mill has placed around ten ongoing first party titles being developed for live service launch in the future, including an always online Horizon spin-off—Bungie is believed to be the central hub of MMO expertise, with advice handed out to less multiplayer-adept first party studios. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reckons that this has become a point of contention under the outgoing chief's tenure: "Over the last two years, Ryan has overseen a PlayStation shift toward "games as a service," a popular industry buzzword referring to video games, usually multiplayer, that can be monetized over long periods of time. It's been an uncomfortable pivot for some of Sony's studios, which have spent the last decade building out teams of experienced developers to make big, cinematic adventure games that are played solo."
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(PR) EA Sports WRC Modes & Features Explored
Following up from the first EA SPORTS WRC deep dive that shared details on gameplay features, we're excited to share more information on what players can experience when the game releases on November 3 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via EA App, Epic Store, and Steam. Our second deep dive goes into detail on Career, Moments, Multiplayer, and more in EA SPORTS WRC. Breaking it down is Molly Pettit, broadcaster and journalist for WRC.

Career
Career is a core WRC experience, where players will aim to lead their team to victory against the world's best rally drivers, cars, and teams. The first choice will be in deciding where on the WRC ladder to start their first season from. Want to build up a legacy across multiple classes? Then begin a journey with Junior WRC, as the Rally3 cars are a great entry point for new players. Alternatively, players can start in WRC 2, or even jump straight in at the deep-end with the Rally1 cars in the top class of competition. Following the initial class selection, players will then begin the process of creating their very own rally team. This starts with the team branding, including name and colours, before meeting the Chief Engineer and Benefactor.
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Gigabyte AORUS Z790 Master X Reportedly Prepped for Intel 14th Gen Core
Gigabyte has reportedly requested that reviewers refrain from revealing too much about newly refreshed motherboards—TPU's Darksaber was invited to take a closer look at "next generation motherboards" in late August, but representatives were cautious to mutter anything too obvious or specific about Intel's oft-leaked Raptor Lake Refresh/14th Gen Core CPU lineup. Fast forward to recent happenings—VideoCardz believes that Gigabyte had prepped a bunch of new motherboard products to showcase in parallel with Team Blue's September Innovation event—many expected to see Raptor Lake Refresh unveiled to a great degree, but an official announcement was instead relegated to a 12-second long livestreamed segment.

The Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer/distributor has allegedly manoeuvred to avoid breaking its partner's embargoes—VideoCardz stated: "Consequently, Gigabyte had to request reviewers to conceal any details pertaining to the new CPU series on the packaging and motherboards they had received as initially intended." Their report includes various pieces of evidence (screenshots and video captures)—focusing on a slightly rejigged AORUS Z790 Master X motherboard, which seems to sport "Core 14th gen processors" livery.

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(PR) Starbreeze Declares Resolvement of Payday 3 Server Problems
The scheduled maintenance carried out last week has fixed the initial matchmaking issues that occurred during Payday 3's first few days after launch. Matchmaking has been stable and has had good performance after the completed maintenance. In the past five days, PAYDAY 3 had a peak concurrent players (CCU) of 124,254. In September 2023, the game had 3,167,938 unique players (MAU). Starbreeze Nebula has a total of 4,538,702 registered users across all titles.

Starbreeze will now intensify the commercial activities around Payday 3, after partially pausing these during the previous week. In early October, the first update to Payday 3 will launch, focusing on improving the game experience. The coming months include planned updates for PAYDAY 3 that address both content, Quality of Life-improvements, bug fixes and new functionality.
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