TechPowerUP NEWS

[NextPowerUP]

Cyan friends and family, we have some difficult news to share today. We would like to share with you some very unfortunate news. Despite our best efforts to avoid it, Cyan has made the difficult decision to reduce our overall staff size resulting in the layoff of twelve talented staff members, roughly half the team-effective at the end of March. Industry conditions have forced us into a tricky spot where we are having to weigh the future health of our studio against the month-to-month realities of game development in 2025.

Throughout the past year, we have been ultra-transparent with the entire Cyan team about the choppy waters we find ourselves in, as well as the dangers ahead. While the news of a layoff was not a surprise to the team, it was (and is) still deeply saddening for all of us. Although we have done our best to pad the landing for those affected with severance packages, we would implore any fellow developers looking for world-class talent to reach out. For now, our number one priority is to secure financing for our next project, and to restabilize the studio. We've been around for a very long time, and have been through tough times before. Our sincere hope is to continue to be around, and to provide the types of experiences that only Cyan can deliver.

As always, we are grateful for all the love and support from our amazing player community.
Sincerely, Cyan Leadership

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[NextPowerUP]

HP is expanding into the DIY gaming PC market with a new line of Omen-branded components, moving beyond its traditional prebuilt systems and laptops. The upcoming product lineup includes a single 120 mm RGB fan, a triple-pack of 120 mm modular RGB fans, a 1000 W modular power supply, a 240 mm LCD liquid cooling system, and a 360 mm aRGB liquid cooling system. HP confirms these components will work with non-Omen desktop systems, giving PC builders more flexibility.

The fans feature an annular design to help increase the airflow (up to 74 CFM) while reducing vibration through improved static pressure. Each fan includes aRGB LEDs that are customizable via HP's Omen Gaming Hub (OGH) software. They support HP's daisy chain system (up to 10 fans), or connect up to 16 fans through a single Omen Modular Hub. The AIO liquid cooling uses Asetek's 7th Gen pump with a built-in 2.1-inch IPS LCD (for the 240 mm model) and fans with aRGB Gen 2 lighting effects with OGH. HP is also offering the OMEN 1,000 W ATX 3.1 PSU with Cybernetics Platinum and 80 Plus Gold certification. The power supply is fully modular featuring 12 V-2×6 and 12VHPWR connectors with up to 600 W of power and a Zero RPM fan mode for quiet operation., While specific release dates and pricing haven't been announced, HP's website indicates these products are "coming soon."

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[NextPowerUP]

E-WIN is thrilled to announce the launch of its latest innovation, the E-WIN Breathable SoftWeave Fabric Flash XL Rev Edition (FLJ-XL-REV), poised to be the best gaming chair of 2025. This groundbreaking gaming chair redefines comfort, style, and performance for gamers and professionals alike. Inspired by the high-octane world of Formula 1, the FLJ-XL-REV combines advanced technology with a striking design, ensuring users experience both luxury and durability in their gaming setups.

The FLJ-XL-REV introduces cutting-edge features to elevate your seating experience. Equipped with magnetic headrests, magnetic side covers, and magnetic armrests, this chair allows for seamless customization, letting users adjust components effortlessly to suit their preferences. The 4D built-in lumbar support adapts to your spine, providing ergonomic support that promotes healthy posture during long gaming or work sessions. Crafted with breathable SoftWeave fabric, the chair ensures optimal airflow, keeping you cool and comfortable even during the most intense moments.
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[NextPowerUP]

Around RDNA 4's launch period, ASRock's web presences listed an intriguing Radeon RX 9070 XT Steel Legend Dark 16 GB model—seemingly not mentioned in official introductory press material. As covered on TechPowerUp earlier this month, this unusual darkened spin-off of the "traditional white" Steel Legend design received little fanfare—the obvious reason being that gray/black stock was not readied for AMD's March 6 rollout to market. Over the past weekend, VideoCardz put an investigative spotlight on a Hermitage AkiHabara/GDM Japan press release. It turns out that ASRock's Radeon RX 9070 XT Steel Legend Dark SKU will become available early next month, starting with the Japanese "domestic market."

The manufacturer's global website was not updated with a similar PR item, so an international/widespread launch is likely planned for a later date. The "expected market price" upon release is 133,800 yen (including tax), which converts to roughly US$891. Industry watchdogs believe that the Dark variant will roll out "globally" with the exact same price tag as the already launched pale sibling. The Taiwanese brand did not introduce a Radeon RX 9070 (non-XT) Steel Legend Dark overclocked model, to exist alongside their white-hued RX 9070 Steel Legend OC offering. The wallet-friendlier triple-fan ASRock RX 9070 Challenger SKU—in black, with a splash of ARGB—is their only other Navi 48 XT GPU-based option.

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[NextPowerUP]

Capcom Co., Ltd. today announced that worldwide sales of Monster Hunter Wilds, released on February 28, 2025, surpassed 10 million units.

Monster Hunter Wilds is the latest entry in the Monster Hunter series and is set in a dynamically changing world that is in one moment a severe wilderness, swarming with packs of attacking monsters, and in the next transforms into a rich natural environment teeming with life. The title features grand, beautiful visual depictions made possible by the RE ENGINE, Capcom's proprietary game development engine, and crossplay, allowing players to enjoy the game together regardless of their game platform.
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[NextPowerUP]

Ayar Labs, the leader in optical interconnect solutions for large-scale AI workloads, today announced the industry's first Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) optical interconnect chiplet to maximize AI infrastructure performance and efficiency while reducing latency and power consumption. By incorporating a UCIe electrical interface, this solution is designed to eliminate data bottlenecks and integrate easily into customer chip designs.

Capable of achieving 8 Tbps bandwidth, the TeraPHY optical I/O chiplet is powered by Ayar Labs' 16-wavelength SuperNova light source. The integration of a UCIe interface means this solution not only delivers high performance and efficiency but also enables interoperability among chiplets from different vendors. This compatibility with the UCIe standard creates a more accessible, cost-effective ecosystem, which streamlines the adoption of advanced optical technologies necessary for scaling AI workloads and overcoming the limitations of traditional copper interconnects.
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[NextPowerUP]

Acer today introduces two new QD-OLED gaming monitors, the Predator X32 X2 and Predator X27U X1, expanding its offering of cutting-edge displays with the latest panel technology. By integrating quantum dot and OLED display technologies, these monitors produce stunning images with high color reproduction and contrast ratios, while consuming less power compared with traditional LCD options.

Veteran and casual gamers alike would appreciate what these Predator monitors have to offer, with up to 4K resolution, rapid refresh rates of up to 240 Hz, and instantaneous response times of just 0.03 ms. Additionally, these displays are equipped with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro technology to ensure smooth viewing experiences without stuttering when playing HDR games, watching movies, or enjoying other content.
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[NextPowerUP]

Greetings, heroes! Tribute Games, Dotemu, and Marvel Games assemble today to announce MARVEL Cosmic Invasion, an arcade-style beat 'em up featuring an incredible roster of characters from Marvel's golden eras!

A Cosmic Battle awaits!
After Annihilus has launched an unprecedented attack across the galaxy, all life hangs in the balance. Nova, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Phyla-Vell, Captain America, and many more heroes, both earth-born and cosmic, will join forces in a star-spanning brawling adventure against the deadly Annihilation Wave. Get ready to brawl through the streets of New York City and all the way to the depths of the Negative Zone to foil Annihilus' plan to spread death across the cosmos!
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[NextPowerUP]

Today, AMD announced 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors power the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Compute E6 Standard shapes. 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors, the world's best server CPUs for enterprise, AI and cloud, enable OCI Compute E6 shapes to deliver up to a 2X increase in cost to performance, compared to the previous E5 instance generation based on testing by OCI.

The new OCI Compute E6 shapes build on the success of the previous E5 generation to deliver leadership performance and cost efficiency for general-purpose and compute-intensive workloads. These OCI shapes add to the selection of more than a thousand compute instances powered by AMD EPYC processors across all major cloud service providers.
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[NextPowerUP]

MAINGEAR, the leader in premium-quality, high-performance gaming PCs, today unveiled its new 2025 pre-configured MG-1 gaming systems, equipped with NVIDIA's cutting-edge GeForce RTX 50-Series GPUs and powered by the latest AMD Ryzen 9000 Series CPUs and Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors. This exciting lineup offers gamers a significant leap in power, performance, and value, reinforcing MAINGEAR's commitment to redefining the gaming experience across all levels of play.

"2025 is bound to be the best year yet for PC gamers, and the introduction of our newest MG-1 systems continues to drive MAINGEAR's mission to deliver the ultimate gaming experience," said Wallace Santos, CEO of MAINGEAR. "With NVIDIA's RTX 50-Series GPUs, and the latest AMD Ryzen and Intel Core Ultra processors, we've got more options than ever before, ensuring the perfect fit for gamers of all skill levels and budgets."
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[NextPowerUP]

AMD today announced the completion of its acquisition of ZT Systems, a leading provider of AI and general-purpose compute infrastructure for the world's largest hyperscale providers. The acquisition will enable a new class of end-to-end AI solutions based on the combination of AMD CPU, GPU and networking silicon, open-source AMD ROCm software and rack-scale systems capabilities. It will also accelerate the design and deployment of AMD-powered AI infrastructure at scale optimized for the cloud.

AMD expects the transaction to be accretive on a non-GAAP basis by the end of 2025. The world-class design teams will join the AMD Data Center Solutions business unit led by AMD Executive Vice President Forrest Norrod. AMD is actively engaged with multiple potential strategic partners to acquire ZT Systems' industry-leading U.S.-based data center infrastructure manufacturing business in 2025.
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[NextPowerUP]

RiVAI Technologies, a Shenzhen-based semiconductor firm founded in 2018, unveiled this first fully domestic high-performance RISC-V server processor designed for compute-intensive applications. The Lingyu CPU features 32 general-purpose computing cores working alongside eight specialized intelligent computing cores (LPUs) in a heterogeneous "one-core, dual architecture" design. It aims for performance comparable to current x86 server processors, with the chip implementing optimized data pathways and enhanced pipelining mechanisms to maintain high clock frequencies under computational load. The architecture specifically targets maximum throughput for parallel processing workloads typical in data center environments. The chip aims to serve HPC clusters, all-flash storage arrays, and AI large language model inference operations.

Since its inception, RiVAI has accumulated 37 RISC-V-related patents and established partnerships with over 50 industry collaborators, including academic research relationships. Professor David Patterson, a RISC-V architecture pioneer, provides technical guidance to the company's development efforts. The processor's dual-architecture approach enables dynamic workload distribution between conventional processing tasks and specialized computational operations, potentially improving performance-per-watt metrics compared to traditional single-architecture designs. The Lingyu launch significantly advances China's semiconductor self-sufficiency strategy, potentially accelerating RISC-V ecosystem development while providing Chinese data centers with domestically engineered high-performance computing solutions, ultimately bypassing x86 and Arm solutions.

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[NextPowerUP]

Global Unichip Corp. (GUC), the Advanced ASIC Leader, announced today that it has successfully taped-out the world's first HBM4 controller and PHY IP. This test chip was implemented using TSMC's cutting-edge N3P process technology and CoWoS -R advanced packaging technology.

The HBM4 IP supports data rates of up to 12 Gbps under all operating conditions. By leveraging a proprietary interposer layout, GUC has optimized signal integrity (SI) and power integrity (PI) to achieve these high speeds for all types of CoWoS technology. Comparing with HBM3, GUC's HBM4 PHY delivers 2.5x bandwidth while improving 1.5x power efficiency and 2x area efficiency. In line with previous GUC HBM, GLink, and UCIe IPs, this HBM4 IP integrates proteanTecs' interconnect monitoring solution to provide high visibility for testing and characterizing the PHY while improving in-field performance and reliability for end products.
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[NextPowerUP]

The Nintendo Switch 2, unveiled April 2, takes performance to the next level, powered by a custom NVIDIA processor featuring an NVIDIA GPU with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores for stunning visuals and AI-driven enhancements. With 1,000 engineer-years of effort across every element—from system and chip design to a custom GPU, APIs and world-class development tools—the Nintendo Switch 2 brings major upgrades. The new console enables up to 4K gaming in TV mode and up to 120 FPS at 1080p in handheld mode. Nintendo Switch 2 also supports HDR, and AI upscaling to sharpen visuals and smooth gameplay.

AI and Ray Tracing for Next-Level Visuals
The new RT Cores bring real-time ray tracing, delivering lifelike lighting, reflections and shadows for more immersive worlds. Tensor Cores power AI-driven features like Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), boosting resolution for sharper details without sacrificing image quality. Tensor Cores also enable AI-powered face tracking and background removal in video chat use cases, enhancing social gaming and streaming. With millions of players worldwide, the Nintendo Switch has become a gaming powerhouse and home to Nintendo's storied franchises. Its hybrid design redefined console gaming, bridging TV and handheld play.
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[NextPowerUP]

Rejoice, Gungeoneers! Kaliber has heard your prayers! Enter the Gungeon 2 is in active development and will be coming to PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026. You can wishlist it now, even if you don't own a PC. Enter the Gungeon 2 is a reloaded, high-caliber sequel, enhanced with a new 3D art style, new weapons, new enemies, and expanded gameplay. Battle through familiar and unknown areas of the ruined Gungeon, uncovering secrets and mastering powerful weapons while destroying legions of Gundead, previously confined to the 2D plane. Choose from an expanding roster of Gungeoneers, new and old, rescue marooned heroes, and grow stronger through powerful passive and active items, blessings, curses, and your mastery of a vast arsenal of weapons.

And seek to understand why you find yourself under assault in the Gungeon once again…We're thrilled to finally reveal Enter the Gungeon 2—you've been asking for it for so long! But please note we're still in the midst of development, so we can't share too much just yet. In the meantime, we've set up an official Discord server for Dodge Roll, and we'd love to hear your thoughts on the announcement. Join to share your feedback, get updates directly from the team, enjoy giveaways, and hang out with other Gungeoneers.
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