TechPowerUP NEWS

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We recently reported on news that Sony will all but stop releasing PC ports of its single-player games on PC, and while those previous reports were from Jason Schreier, a journalist previously shown to have reputable insider sources, another insider has corroborated these claims, adding additional context in the process. According to NateTheHate2 on X, Sony made the decision in 2025 to shift its release strategy, with the result of launching fewer first-party single-player games on PC. The leaker adds that this means there will be "fewer single-player games" on PC from Sony, implying both that Sony may still port single-player games to PC—only significantly fewer of them—and that this new policy may not apply to live-service and multiplayer games.

He also mentioned that there are still single-player PC ports in development at Sony, which may eventually launch, depending on how far they are in the development process, but that these ports are no longer a priority for the Japanese gaming giant. Addressing questions about the justification for the strategy shift, NateTheHate2 commented that, while there have been a few commercially successful PC ports, they haven't been a huge revenue driver for Sony. Looking at the Steam charts data for Insomniac Games, one of Sony's most notable first-party studios, the data lends credence to these comments. The best-performing PC port from the studio is Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, which peaked at 66,436 players on Steam. Meanwhile, the next-best performer is Marvel's Spider-Man 2, which peaked at 28,189. Nixxes Software, the studio responsible for many Sony PC ports, has seen similar successes, with the likes of Ghost of Tsushima topping the charts at 77,154 peak concurrent players, ahead of the aforementioned Spider-Man Remastered, with Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part II Remastered bringing in peaks or 40,462 and 30,690 players, respectively.
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Minisforum is known for making powerful mini PCs, like the Core Ultra 9 285H-powered M1 Pro we recently reviewed, and the latest entry into the company's line-up is the MS-A2, an upgrade to 2024's MS-A1. The new mini workstation is marketed as a small form factor desktop server for programming, business, and home lab use cases, and it seems to have the specs to back that up. The whole package measures just 196×189×48 mm, or 1.78 L, making it seriously compact. Official US pricing for the MS-A2 with the Ryzen 9 9955HX starts at $799 with no RAM or storage or $1,199 with 32 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD. The mini PC with 96 GB of RAM and 2 a 2 TB SSD costs $1,919 on the Minisforum store.

The MS-A2 uses AMD's Ryzen 9 9955HX mobile CPU—with a claimed 100 W turbo TDP—paired with up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 memory and up to three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, for up to 12 TB total capacity, as well as support for U.2 NVMe 22110 drives, bringing total storage capacity up to 23 TB. Networking is also impressive, thanks to dual 10 Gb SFP+ ports and dual 2.5 Gb Ethernet ports. The MS-A2 also sports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity, and it has more than enough ports for proper workstation use. The front of the mini PC has dual USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 port, and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack, while the back has 2× USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports with DisplayPort 2.0 Alt mode support, 1× HDMI 2.1, 2× 2.5 Gb RJ45 ports, 2× 10 Gb SFP+ ports, 1× USB 3.1 Gen 2, and 1× USB 3.1 Gen 1 port. The Ryzen 9 9955HX has a pretty weak Radeon 610M iGPU, which will get the job done for most productivity tasks, but the MS-A2 also has a built-in full-length PCIe 4.0 ×8 slot for GPU or IO upgrades, and that slot supports can be split into two PCIe ×4 connections.

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Intel's flagship "Bartlett Lake-S" processor—Core 9 273 PQE—has reached enthusiasts who are testing whether any consumer motherboard can boot the CPU and utilize its 12 P-Core gaming performance. According to Overclock.net user "Talon2016," who managed to obtain a sample of the LGA-1700 flagship CPU SKU, the processor won't boot using a consumer ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Apex motherboard. These CPUs are designed for edge and embedded deployments with specialized platforms that lie outside the consumer sector. This high-TDP PQE variant has a base power of 125 W, powering a 12 P-Core variant with 24 threads and a base frequency of 3.4 GHz. This model can boost all 12 cores to 5.3 GHz, while a single thread can reach up to 5.9 GHz independently for tasks requiring intensive single-threaded performance. It is equipped with 36 MB of L3 cache and an integrated GPU with 32 EUs of Xe-LP graphics.

Unfortunately, regardless of the SKU or consumer motherboard choice, the platform will not work, and the CPU will not boot, as Intel has restricted "Bartlett Lake-S" to keep it away from consumers. Companies like ASRock have confirmed that the "Bartlett Lake-S" Core 200E will not be available for consumer motherboards and will only be used in the embedded and edge computer sector. This means you can technically buy and use this CPU for any Windows or Linux task, including gaming, but you will have to go through a process of acquiring an industrial-grade motherboard or a mini-PC that suits this platform. This means gaming support will be limited, as Intel explicitly will not bring any optimizations like APO/IPO to the platform for gaming. Instead, it will be treated as a generic x86-64 Intel CPU, just like any other processor. Extracting the maximum gaming performance could also be problematic, as there could be compatibility issues, given that Intel has envisioned other applications for this platform.

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If you were in or around the PC building space in 2020, you'd have at least heard about the fire risk related to the PCIe riser cable on the original NZXT H1 mini ITX case, which eventually resulted in a recall and replacement PCIe riser kits being sent out. Since NZXT has launched the newest iteration of the SFF case, the H2 Flow—which TechPowerUp has reviewed—the PC case maker has seen fit to publish a blog post explaining the engineering changes it has made to the new H2 Flow's riser cable to avoid the same issues from popping up again. NZXT starts things off by reminding us that the problem with the original H1's PCIe riser cable was that the mounting screw made contact with an internal power plane in the riser cable's PCB, resulting in a short circuit that could lead to a fire.

The brand goes on to explain that the issue has been avoided in the new PCIe riser cable with two safety measures. First, there is a physical boss, or "shoulder" that extends into the PCB through-hole to protect the PCB from the screw threads and to ensure that there is a consistent and guaranteed gap between the screw and the PCB. Secondly, NZXT has changed the design of the PCB such that there are no power planes or traces surrounding the screw hole—every trace around the screw is grounded, and that ground plane extends externally to a copper screw pad on the top and bottom of the PCB, adding another layer of protection. NZXT notes that the screw pad may be missing in some early review samples, which is something you can observe in our review of the H2 Flow, but it is included in the final mass production versions of the case. NZXT claims that these measures have eliminated the failure mode that caused issues with the original H1 chassis.

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Resident Evil Requiem just launched as the latest game in Capcom's long-standing horror game franchise, and almost immediately upon launching, it skyrocketed its way to the top of the Steam Top-Sellers chart and pulled impressive player counts. At its launch day peak, there were 320,056 concurrent players in the game, and, at least at the time of writing, the player count has not dropped below 230,000, according to SteamDB. Since its peak, player counts have been steadily fluctuating between 260,000 and 290,000 players.

With those player counts, it is by far the most successful Resident Evil game on Steam, surpassing the runner-up, Resident Evil 4, by almost 100% and scoring a 114,000-player lead on Resident Evil Village. It is also entirely possible that there will be another player-count spike over the weekend, since it is a game series that even many older gamers resonate with. It's worth noting that this massive player count is on Steam alone, and Requiem launched on just about every platform possible, from the PS5 and Xbox Series to the Nintendo Switch 2 and even Epic Games on PC. Requiem even reportedly runs at acceptable frame rates on the Steam Deck's humble internals, with some players even reporting as much as 60 FPS on low quality settings. In our in-depth handheld performance review of Resident Evil Requiem, we called it "one of the best AAA games in terms of PC handheld performance," thanks to its compatibility with a number of systems and its lack of visual compromises to achieve solid performance.

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The gaming mouse market is currently being flooded with lightweight wireless gaming mice with flagship sensors from Chinese manufacturers who have caught onto the forged carbon fiber and magnesium alloy construction trends. The latest installment in this recent trend is the newly announced WLMouse Ying Magnesium, which takes inspiration from the industry-leading Endgame Gear OP1. We have seen this shape from WLMouse before in the Ying Carbon Fiber gaming mouse that launched in 2025, but more than just the shell material has changed for the WLMouse Ying Magnesium series.

The Ying Magnesium Alloy offers the same Omron Optical switches as the carbon fiber Ying, but it also features the option of TTC Nihil Transparent Black Dot switches for a slightly heavier click feel. The Ying Magnesium series will also feature the Nordic 52840 MCU and PixArt PAW3950 sensor, with 8 kHz polling and wireless connectivity, as is to be expected from a modern gaming mouse. WLMouse cites the weight of the WLMouse Ying Magnesium mice as 47 g (±2), and the magnesium shell will apparently be available in seven colorways, ranging from regular silver, white, and black to a baby blue and bright red versions of its Nekko patterns, a white watercolor koi fish theme, and a deep purple colorway. No pricing has yet been announced, but that is expected to be revealed alongside the full launch on March 10, 2026.

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We recently reported on a Lenovo MWC leak that claimed Lenovo would show off a Legion Go Fold at Mobile World Conference in Barcelona in early March. Now, a new leak shared by evleaks on X has shown off what Lenovo will apparently call the "ThinkBook Modular AI PC Concept." The leaker didn't provide much information other than the name and two images of the device, but the combination of the word "modular" in the name and the clues from the images provide a pretty clear idea of what's going on.

From the looks of it, the ThinkBook concept will have a traditional clamshell design, but the space where the keyboard deck would usually be on a traditional laptop will instead be a space for modular accessories. The accessories shown off in the leaked renders of the device are a laptop keyboard and a display equal in size to the main display in the top of the clamshell. This looks to be an iteration of devices like the Lenovo ThinkBook Flip, although the ThinkBook Modular AI PC Concept could achieve a similar effect, especially in terms of screen real-estate and possibly ergonomics, although likely with significantly lower costs, thanks to a simpler design without a flexible OLED panel. The new concept would also offer users more flexibility—you could just leave the lower display at home or pack both displays and a mechanical keyboard and mouse for better ergonomics and all the other benefits better peripherals offer.

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The Orange Pi Neo is a Linux-powered gaming handheld that was announced way back in 2024 with the goal of launching sometime in 2026. It was to be powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U with 16 GB of RAM or 8840U with 32 GB of RAM, and it would run Manjaro Linux natively. Now, the developer behind the project has posted on the development log hosted on the Manjaro forum that the Orange Pi Neo-01 will be delayed due to high memory and storage prices. Originally, the handheld was meant to be priced at $450-550, depending on the CPU and memory, which is very competitive, given the 1080p, 120 Hz display, dual trackpads, and dual USB4 ports. The skyrocketing prices of DDR5 memory and storage would likely result in massive price increases or vanishingly thin margins for the Orange Pi Neo-01, so it makes sense to delay the project until things calm down. The developer does mention that FCC and CE compliances were complete and that a number of improvements had been made to Manjaro Gaming Edition in the meantime—although this means it will be challenging to update the internals if the launch is pushed back too far. Currently, it's unclear when the Orange Pi Neo-01 will launch, but it seems unlikely that the RAM crisis will end soon.

Due to high prices of DDR5 RAM and SSDs the project is currently on ice. Certifications for CE and FCC are now complete. Also a lot of improvements around the Manjaro Gaming Edition had happened. We are now waiting for a good time to launch the product.

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Corsair acquired Drop in December 2023 in an effort to expand its peripheral business beyond the basic gaming keyboards and audio gear it offered at the time, and it has since adopted some of Drop's keyboard expertise into its new Corsair MAKR 75 DIY keyboard kits. Now, Drop has announced that Corsair will be fully absorbing Drop, closing down the online storefront and turning Drop.com into a showcase for all of the collaborations Drop has done in its time making premium peripherals.

The announcement makes it clear that Drop.com will no longer be an operational storefront by March 31, and anyone looking to place an order on Drop will need to do so by March 25. The announcement states that "many Drop products will continue to be offered directly from Corsair and partner channels," and while Drop says that buyers can "expect exclusive announcements, limited runs, and products shaped by partnerships and creativity," it seems like Drop's operations will be scaled back as a result of the change—by how much is unclear, though.
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Razer, the leading global gaming lifestyle brand, today unveils the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 - Hello Kitty Edition, an elegant rose gold headset created in collaboration with Sanrio. Building on Razer's longstanding partnership with Sanrio, the new Target-exclusive introduces a new metallic finish to Razer's lineup of iconic Hello Kitty gaming headsets, continuing a series known for pairing character-led design with gaming-grade performance.

Style, Sound, and Sparkle
The Kraken Kitty V2 - Hello Kitty Edition features sleek metallic pink outer earcups with a soft rose gold shimmer, paired with plush pearlescent pink leatherette cushions and headband for all-day comfort. Hello Kitty's iconic ears and Razer Chroma RGB lighting complete the signature design, adding a subtle, whimsical glow that captures the timeless charm of Hello Kitty while delivering the performance and build quality synonymous with Razer.
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Nintendo has officially announced Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves as the latest installment in its never-ending creature-capture series. The two new games will introduce Generation 10 Pokémon and be available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 sometime in 2027. It will be the first Pokémon game exclusive to the Switch 2, and there's no word on whether it will launch for the original Switch or Switch OLED later down the line. An exact launch date was not revealed, although late 2027 seems likely based on previous launches.

The reveal trailer—which is not actual gameplay footage—shows a continuation of the 3D aesthetic, revealing the usual selection of biomes, including oceans, grasslands, rock outcroppings, dungeons, and forests. The trailer also gave us a glimpse at the three new starter Pokémon, Browt, the Grass type, Pombon, the Fire type, and Gecqua, the Water type. The trailer also teased underwater exploration, and what looks like an island resort or town sort of in the style of hut-over-water buildings typically found in calm tropical waters.
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It was revealed in January that the PlayStation 5 Pro would get an upgraded PSSR 2.0 scaler in Q1 2026, finally unlocking the full hardware potential of the PS5. It was announced in a recent PlayStation Blog post that the aforementioned PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) update would start rolling out to the PS5 Pro globally starting on February 27, with Resident Evil Requiem being the first game to use the more advanced PSSR version. Sony says that the upgraded PSSR scaler will soon also be usable with any of the over 50 games that have so far implemented the original PSSR games. A system update will be shipped in March that will let players enable an option titled "Enhance PSSR Image Quality," to apply the upgraded model to older games.

Sony says that the new PSSR "takes a very different approach to not only the neural network but also the overall algorithm," and Masaru Ijuin, Capcom's Senior Manager of Engine Development Support Section, R&D Foundational Technology Department, explained that "With Resident Evil Requiem, we focused on enhancing the presentation quality of the protagonist through an upgraded version of RE Engine to deepen the player's immersion in horror. For example, each individual strand of hair and beard is rendered as a polygon, allowing it to move realistically in response to body motion and wind," going on to explain that the level of fidelity Capcom was able to achieve was made possible by the upgraded PSSR features, since things like hair and similar fine textures are difficult to upscale.
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The hype for Marathon has been building leading up to the free server slam event on February 26-March 3, with all that excitement coming to a head at the start of the Marathon free test weekend, which kicked off with a sizeable peak player count of 143,621 players just under two hours after the start of the event. Given that the server slam event started on a Thursday, it seems likely that many of the players who have since stopped testing the new extraction shooter had real-world responsibilities to attend to. Those numbers also only represent the game's Steam market share. Accounting for players on Xbox and PlayStation 5 would likely lead to significantly higher player count figures.

Despite this success, online discussions surrounding the new shooter seem to be surprisingly divided, with players both praising and criticizing Marathon for everything from its art style and UI design to the gunplay, lack of tension and PvP action, and the NPC AI being challenging. Character balance was also a common topic that featured in critical reviews, with some players complaining that certain characters are too overpowered while others are not capable enough. While some of these complaints, like the UI being difficult to read and certain performance issues, seem to be somewhat more widespread and valid, the Marathon development team at Bungie has responded to and acknowledged almost all of the common complaints in a recent post on X, either offering some advice to improve the player experience or requesting more detailed feedback so that issues can be dealt with ahead of launch or in post-launch patches.

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Blaze Entertainment has today announced the next entry in the award-winning line of Super Pocket handheld retro gaming consoles from its brand, HyperMegaTech! - Rare!

This new handheld features 14 built-in games from the history of Rare, one of the UK's most prolific game developers, and responsible for globally renowned titles, many of which are included on this handheld console. The Rare Edition of the Super Pocket will feature titles from many different consoles and, for the first time on a Super Pocket - 64-bit console and home computer titles!
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