TechPowerUP NEWS

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Naughty Dog started development of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet back in 2020 and announced the game in late 2024, but the studio has yet to publish a launch date for the upcoming sci-fi action-adventure game. Now, a new report out of Bloomberg claims that Naughty Dog is planning to launch the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet in mid-2027. However, it also seems as though Naughty Dog has once again fallen into crunch in order to meet that planned launch date and "get production back on track after several missed deadlines." The gaming industry is no stranger to long work hours, with games like CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 famously requiring months of crunch time ahead of the game's launch.

According to Bloomberg's insider sources, employees across Naughty Dog have been forced to work at least eight hours of overtime per week for the last seven weeks, with a maximum of 60 hours weekly. This new policy also saw developers at the Santa Monica studio return to the office five days a week, and it has been reality for Naughty Dog employees throughout the last year. That crunch-time period has been attributed to extra work as a result of needing to complete an internal demo. Supposedly, the studio will announce a new work schedule in early 2026, returning to its standard three-day work-from-home policy through at least the end of January.

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When Mozilla's new CEO stepped in, and the company announced its pivot to becoming a "modern AI browser," many Firefox users took to the internet to vent both their frustrations and concerns. And rightfully so—Firefox has a history of questionable decisions when it comes to user privacy, having previously broken its users' trust by implementing opt-out data collection policies as recently as 2024. Clearly having seen the writing on the wall, a Firefox developer, Jake Archibald, has taken to Mastodon to try and mitigate the obvious backlash over the AI features. According to the developer, who posted from the official Firefox for Web Developers account, the AI features coming to Firefox will have a global kill-switch that will permanently deactivate all AI features across the browser and require them to be reactivated manually.

The dev's post reads: "All AI features will also be opt-in. I think there are some grey areas in what 'opt-in' means to different people (e.g. is a new toolbar button opt-in?), but the kill switch will absolutely remove all that stuff, and never show it in future. That's unambiguous." He goes on to urge users to give the development team a chance to "(re)gain your trust," likely referring to the aforementioned data collection policy that became controversial for being introduced as an opt-out feature that most users will likely never interact with. While it remains to be seen how the kill switch will be implemented, these reassurances address some of the concerns about AI in software tools like browsers—namely security and the environmental impact—although there are still those who bemoan the fact that these AI features will be using up valuable development resources that might be better spent working on features and tech that would improve performance or be of more use to those who use Firefox or one of its many derivatives as their main browser.
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[NextPowerUP]

It's been known for a while that Digital Extremes is working on an Android version of its free-to-play shooter, Warframe, with recruitment into the closed beta program having been ongoing since late November. Now, however, Digital Extremes has officially announced that the last wave of invitations for participants in the Warframe Android closed beta have been sent. According to the announcement, the closed beta will run until "early January 2026," although an exact end date has not yet been announced. There is no NDA required to take part in the closed beta, and DE encourages players to share content of their gameplay during the closed beta, suggesting that the development of the Android version of the game may be quite far along. Currently, DE has not published a full list of compatible devices, but it has confirmed that common flagships, like the Samsung Galaxy S22 and newer and Google Pixel 7 and newer, as well as mid-rangers, like the Samsung Galaxy A54 and newer, have all been tested to work by the development team, which means users with similar hardware specifications should be able to play the closed beta.

All progress achieved during the close beta will be lost when the closed beta ends, although Digital Extremes previously clarified that Warframe on mobile—both Android and iOS—will feature cross-platform saves and progression when the game eventually fully launches on the mobile platforms, but players taking part in the closed beta will start from the beginning of the game, and they will not carry over their progress. The closed beta will also omit cross-platform play, which means any multiplayer games will be played with other Android players exclusively. When Warframe initially received cross-platform progression support for consoles and PC, players could choose to merge or link their accounts, but both solutions seemed messy and likely created a fair bit of extra work for Warframe's support and development team. Critically, it should also be noted that the Android version of Warframe will feature all the same content as the PC and console versions, similarly to the Nintendo Switch version of the game.

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We have not heard much about Intel's still in-progress Arc Xe4 "Druid" graphics architecture in 2025—most recently, this futuristic IP was linked to an eventual "media and display" (not graphics rendering) deployment in "Nova Lake" SoCs. Earlier today, a curious shipping manifest—bearing an erroneous(?) September 12, 2023 publication date—indicates Xe4 hardware being readied for enterprise applications. X86 is dead&back's recent social media post highlights a CPU-less motherboard component/part that features an "INTEL DATA CENTER GPU XE4 SUBSYSTEM." Presently, Team Blue is attempting to release larger Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" desktop products, whilst moving onto the Xe3 "Battlemage-adjacent" generation.

Oddly, their next-gen Xe3P architecture is now identified as "Celestial." Around mid-October, Intel unveiled its "Crescent Island" data center AI accelerator design. This Xe3P-based platform is expected to launch later on in 2026, with wider availability opening up by 2027. Given that timeline, data center-grade Xe4 accelerators seem to be very distant prospects. One of Team Blue's latest "Battlemage"-centric GPU IP and products roadmap does not mention anything new beyond Xe3P. "Celestial" is simply described as being the "next Arc family."

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[NextPowerUP]

Earlier this year, we reported that Sony had filed a lawsuit against Tencent over Light of Motiram, its free-to-play, open-world survival game, and back in July, it seemed as though Sony had a strong case. Now, though, it seems as though Tencent and Sony have settled the matter behind closed doors, with court documents, courtesy of The Game Post, declaring the case dismissed by the judge at the request of both Sony and Tencent. The dismissal reads: "All pending motions are withdrawn and this action is hereby dismissed with prejudice. All parties shall bear their own fees and costs." This indicates that an agreement was reached between the two gaming giants behind closed doors, and it's likely that the details of the agreement will be kept confidential—or at least they have been so far.

Following the case's dismissal, Light of Motiram was silently de-listed from game storefronts where it was already listed, including Steam and Epic Games Store. It's unclear why it was de-listed, so it may be the end of the line for Light of Motiram, or Tencent Games may be planning to make some changes to the design, visuals, and gameplay in accordance with whatever agreement was reached with Sony. This isn't the first time that Tencent has pulled art that may have been too similar to Sony's IP. Back in August, Tencent changed the description and storefront screenshots of Light of Motiram in the midst of the lawsuit, and speculation back then was that Sony had made a strong enough case that Tencent had voluntarily tried to shake the "Horizon clone" label.

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[NextPowerUP]

Following leaked renders in November, Sapphire has now published near-complete specifications for its upcoming PURE X870A WIFI 7 motherboard on its official website. This is Sapphire's first AM5 board based on the AMD X870 chipset, after previously limiting its lineup to B650 and B850 designs, including the PURE B850A WIFI 7. The PURE X870A WIFI 7 (SKU: 52122-02-40G) follows the standard ATX layout, measuring 305 × 245 mm and supports AMD Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 series processors. It features a 16+2+1 phase VRM and dual 8-pin EPS connectors. For memory the motherboard offers four DDR5 DIMM slots with up to 256 GB capacity and overclocked speeds of up to DDR5-8400. For expansion, the board offers one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, a PCIe 4.0 x4 slot in a full-length connector, and a PCIe 3.0 x1 slot.

Storage options include one PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, and four SATA ports. Networking is handled by a Realtek 2.5 GbE controller, paired with a Wi-Fi 7 module supporting 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands, plus Bluetooth 5.4. Rear I/O is fairly loaded, featuring DisplayPort and HDMI outputs, USB4 Type-C (40 Gbps, DisplayPort Alt Mode, 15 W PD), multiple USB 3.2 Gen 1 and Gen 2 ports, a Flash BIOS button, and six audio jacks driven by a Realtek ALC897 codec. Front headers include USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 1, and USB 2.0. Sapphire is yet to officially announce exact availability and pricing. However, the company is at this moment promoting the PURE X870A WIFI 7 motherboard with an ongoing online contest alongside other items such as the Sapphire Pure Radeon RX 9070 graphics card.
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Acolyte. The predictions from your last report have been confirmed: we have received compelling evidence that Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy alpha testing is now active. It is taking place on Steam. Your duty is to address this matter of utmost importance as soon as you are able. All authorized agents in your region are to proceed immediately to deployment.

Join the alpha and be the first to try out our new investigation system, meet new characters and companions, and delve deeper into the story of Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy. But be careful, the mission ahead is full of threats. You are about to step into a world where your very faith will constantly be tested and where the truth is shrouded in heresy.
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Earlier in the month, Samsung's marketing team initiated their Exynos 2600 promotional campaign. At the time, official teaser material did not provide any substantial hints about the next-gen mobile chipset's technical underpinnings. Weeks later, a fresh leak has laid out the cutting-edge mobile processor's fundamentals. PhoneArt's social media post seems to confirm previous predictions about an overall 10-core design, and being based on an important in-house 2 nm node process. Today's prediction did not outline the Exynos 2600 SoC's cluster configuration, but previous outpourings have settled on a "1x Prime + 3x Performance + 6x Efficiency" internal setup. PhoneArt reckons that the prime core will reach a maximum clock frequency of 3.9 GHz. A commenter, Erencan Yılmaz, reckons that this figure should be reduced to 3.8 GHz, due to power consumption considerations when looking at a 2 nm GAA-based design.

Supposedly, max. performance core speed is 3.25 GHz, while efficiency-oriented units can only reach up to 2.75 GHz. In the past Samsung and AMD have co-developed various Xclipse integrated graphics solutions, for proprietary smartphone platforms. Industry observers expected this RDNA-based collaboration to continue into a new generation. The fresh mentioning of a mysterious "AMD JUNO" iGPU has caused some confusion—this new Team Red IP is said to be clocked at 985 MHz. Additionally, PhoneArt claims that "JUNO" supports modern APIs: OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0, and Vulkan 1.3. It is plausible that "JUNO" could be a codename for the speculated "Xclipse 960" integrated graphics processor.

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[NextPowerUP]

GungHo Online Entertainment America has announced Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, the next modern reimagining of Nihon Falcom's beloved Trails series. Featuring fully 3D visuals and refined gameplay, the second installment in the Trails in the Sky series picks up in the wake of the unrest that shook the Liberl Kingdom in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. The story continues as Estelle sets out to find Joshua after he disappears amid a growing continental conspiracy. The Standard Edition will be available Fall 2026 on Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter follows Estelle as she searches for Joshua and confronts the Enforcers of Ouroboros. Though the struggle centers on Liberl Kingdom, its implications touch the wider continent of Zemuria, drawing Estelle into ancient mysteries, political tensions, and the truth behind Joshua's past. With the fate of a legendary artifact at stake, Estelle must step up as a young leader, ready to face an enemy whose plans reach far beyond anything she imagined.
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Gamers rejoice! Valve has officially kicked off its Steam Winter Sale, running from December 18, 2025, to January 5, 2026. The company humorously noted that the sale spans two years, beginning in one calendar year and ending in the next. The event aims to combine massive discounts with some interactive features like completing your personalized Discovery Queue to earn three digital stickers, and checking the Steam Points Shop for new Winter Sale items. The Winter Sale includes a wide range of games, from recent indie releases to major studio titles, and Valve has released an event trailer showcasing some of the featured picks.

Additionally, during the promotional period, community voting for the 2025 Steam Awards is also open, with winners to be announced on January 3 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. So make sure to get your vote in so you make your voice heard. The storefront lists thousands of offers organized by genre, tag, release date, and developer, making it easier to find deals that match your interests. Usually, the holiday season is a good time for great offers, and Valve is making sure that gamers get some additional value at the end of the year. Waiting for a Steam Winter Sale is also a good opportunity for gamers to grab the title they have been waiting to play for a long time.
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[NextPowerUP]

Late last month, kopite7kimi imagined a short list of upcoming unlocked "Nova Lake-S" desktop processor SKUs. At the time, speculation pointed to Intel readying products that will (eventually) compete with AMD's popular and highly-praised 3D V-Cache-augmented gaming products. Recent leaks have suggested that only next-gen "Core Ultra 400K-series" variants will be blessed with large pools of Big Last Level Cache (bLLC), potentially going up to 288 MB for beefier dual-compute tile configurations.

A theorized sub-flagship model was said to feature a 2x 8+12 (40 Cores + 4 LPE Cores) setup, but another soothsayer has weighed in with a slightly adjusted spec outlay. Yesterday, Haze (aka Haze2K1) largely corroborated previously leaked information, but listed a low number of performance cores when describing the second-best unlocked "Nova Lake-S" chip—bringing its total down to 42 (consisting of P, E, & LPE units). In revised form, each tile apparently contains seven performance-oriented units, instead of eight. Apparently, only the truly flagship-level design will be bestowed with twin 8+16 compute tiles—granting a grand total core count of 52.
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More than 800 games and applications feature RTX technologies, and each week new games integrating NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and advanced ray-traced effects are released or announced, delivering the definitive PC experience for GeForce RTX players.

This week, GeForce RTX gamers can activate DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation in ARK: Lost Colony, Ashes of Creation, SPLITGATE: Arena Reloaded, and Yakuza Kiwami 2. Additionally, AION2 is adding DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation just in time for Christmas, Dying Light: The Beast has introduced ray-traced effects, and Lost Ark now includes support for DLSS Super Resolution. And finally, there are new RTX trailers from Phantom Blade Zero, Resident Evil Requiem and PRAGMATA to check out.
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Hey folks. Gary D. Tour here! Longtime Runagade enthusiast, and your go-to for everything you need to know about Sprint City. Now LISTEN! Before I say ANYTHING ELSE, you need to watch this trailer (below). Yes, right now. Yes, with sound. Yes, full screen. I've been following the scene for years, and today I'm super excited to get to share something groundbreaking: Sprint City is officially announced, and it's coming to Early Access in 2026. Okay. Are you breathing? Do you feel that tingling in your legs? Congratulations!! That's your sprint gene activating!

Now, what is Sprint City, you ask?
Sprint City is a competitive 2D platformer set in a solarpunk metropolis where wheels never caught on, but momentum absolutely did. People here grew up mastering movement itself; the rooftops, the rails, even the alleys are built with that in mind. Everything you see in the city is shaped to keep a run going or spark a new one. Every district you explore is designed for speed. The casual runners stick to the obvious routes. The competitive folks start finding shortcuts and the Runagades… well, they're the ones discovering paths nobody even realized were there. Sprint City is a shared world. You'll see other players show up naturally as you're running, each doing their own thing. Sometimes you'll race them intentionally. Sometimes one of you accidentally sets the other off. That's kind of the charm.
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Notorious Studios is excited to announce that its debut title, extraction-RPG Eldegarde, will be launching in 1.0 on 21 January 2026 on Steam. Originally titled Legacy: Steel & Sorcery, the PvEvE game launched into Steam Early Access in February 2025, garnering plenty of positive feedback and building a dedicated community. Picking from iconic fantasy classes including Warrior, Rogue or Wizard, Eldegarde players can dive into a world of magic and steel, battling monsters and knights, as well as other players, through verdant fields, deep woods, and sinister crypts in order to find incredible loot and extract safely.

Developer Notorious Studios, formed by Blizzard veteran Chris Kaleiki (World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, Mists of Pandaria), has worked closely with the game's community over the past eleven months, shaping and improving the core multiplayer experience, adding in brand new maps and new classes such as Paladin and Wizard. Eldegarde's 1.0 launch also introduces a PvE mode, allowing more casual players to jump into the classic pulp fantasy-inspired world of Eldegarde, learning its combat mechanics and map intricacies without the threat of other players.
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In a December 19 Steam client update, Valve has finally ended support for the 32-bit Steam application on Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating systems. According to the official release notes, updates for the 32-bit Steam client will continue to be provided for systems with 32-bit Windows versions until January 1, 2026. This marks the end of one of the last official 32-bit applications that actively supported the 32-bit versions of Windows. As the software industry continues to phase out 32-bit support, this decision is a natural progression, encouraging consumers to transition to 64-bit operating systems and compatible software.

Valve has been planning this change for some time to simplify software maintenance. However, only a very small number of users will be affected by this decision, as almost no one is still using the outdated 32-bit operating system. Those still on a 32-bit OS will need to upgrade their hardware or reinstall 64-bit OS versions, if their hardware permits, to continue using the official Steam Client. For those planning to stick with 32-bit builds, there is still hope. Enthusiasts frequently create unofficial backports of modern clients. For example, an earlier version of the Steam Client was unofficially backported to Windows 7 SP1 x64 and Windows 8.x x64.
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