Ever since the launch of the Switch, Nintendo took a stance on censorship with games that was considerably different from their competition. While Microsoft and Sony required games with nudity, bare breasts specifically, to censor that imagery, Nintendo allowed for that same content to be uncensored. Now it seems Nintendo may have nixed that approach.
Gamuzumi, the developer behind Hot Tentacles Shooter, claims that they’re game was shot down for release on Switch due to this new policy. When they submitted the game for release, Nintendo said it wouldn’t be allowed due to uncensored bare breasts. The same goes for Elves Christmas Hentai Puzzle, another game with nudity that Gamuzumi was planning to bring to Switch.
According to Gamuzumi, Nintendo is making this move because they believe “obscene content could damage the brand,” and it also infringes on their policies. Nintendo has given no reason as to why this change was made recently, nor have they shared a public statement on the decision.
This is just one developer so far, but we’re going to try and get comment on this matter to verify the news.
An admin on the official Discord servers for Kinetic Games’ extremely popular indie horror game Phasmophobia was recently removed after a Twitter user issued a public condemnation of the studio for not keeping its community safe from sexual harassment and racism.
Last week, Twitter user @CrownedCollider posted a thread in which they alleged problematic behavior by one of Phasmophobia’s Discord admins, “Charcoal Salamander.” The accusations, backed with Discord screenshot receipts, concern inappropriately shared nudes and outright racist behavior. While the developer’s lead artist, CJ, initially responded skeptically in a private DM and seemed reluctant to act, two days later they issued an apology tweet stating that Charcoal Salamander had been removed from the server. Yesterday, Kinetic Games tweeted its own statement detailing issues with the admin in question, which go back to the beginning of the year.
Kotaku has reached out to Kinetic Games for comment.
According to Kinetic Games’ statement, Charcoal Salamander had been accused of sexual harassment on January 25 of this year, specifically sharing nude images and broaching several “on-the-line” topics. At the time, Kinetic Games was content with Charcoal Salamander’s response, believing that the images had been shared publicly elsewhere on Discord.
@CrownedCoIIider’s initial call-out tweet last week was met with dismissal by Kinetic Games lead artist CJ via Twitter DMs. In shared screenshots of the conversation, CJ disagreed with the nature of sharing nude images, dismissed it as essentially boys being boys, and claimed that this alone wasn’t a punishable offense.
A day later, @CrownedCoIIider shared videos of a private conversation with Charcoal Salamander, in which the former Discord admin can be seen making racist comments. Following this, CJ issued their apology, suggesting that their dismissal of the inappropriateness of what is arguably revenge porn was taken out of context.
Per their statements, the artist CJ pledged to “not let a situation like this happen again,” and Kinetic Games said it “will do better.”
Google’s Pixel Watch is set to cost $349 as we’ve reported, but what about its bands? According to a new early hands-on, the Pixel Watch “Active” band will cost around $50.
The folks over at Droid-Life obtained two “Active” bands for the Google Pixel Watch ahead of launch from an unnamed “mega-retailer” who briefly had the product available for sale recently.
While there’s obviously not a ton we can gather from looking at bands without their accompanying smartwatch, there are some interesting details here.
For one, the price of these Pixel Watch bands apparently landed at $49 a piece. The “Active” band is expected to be Google’s default band choice for the Pixel Watch, which means $49 is likely the lowest price we’ll see for an official band. That’s certainly a hefty cost, as Fitbit charges $29 for its “Infinity” bands on Sense and Versa smartwatches. But it’s in line with Apple’s cost, with a “Sport” band for the Apple Watch also running $49.
According to this early hands-on, the bands are in small and large sizes, with the small size going from 130mm to 175mm adjustments, and the larger at 165mm to 210mm.
We also get a good look at Google’s proprietary connector in this leak as well as a look at the manual, which explains how the band connects to Google’s watch. A “band secure button” helps you remove and lock the band into place, with a sliding move to get the band into the right position.
Droid-Life describes the band as “very premium rubber” and “quite soft” to the touch. In terms of how they connect, it looks virtually identical to Fitbit’s “Infinity” system, which is also similar to recent bands from Apple.
The Pixel Watch goes official on October 6.
More on Pixel Watch:
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
A new report from YouTuber Sean W suggests that Halo Infinite’s battle royale codenamed ‘Tatanka’ is switching to the Unreal Engine, and perhaps even Halo itself.
We revealed Tatanka exclusively earlier in the year as a “battle royale-lite” Halo game designed to appeal to a new audience.
Since the departure of Halo leader Bonnie Ross, many fans have been wondering what, if any, change in direction may be on the way for Microsoft’s flagship shooter franchise.
We’ve been investigating Sean W’s rumors for the past week, and can tentatively corroborate some aspects of it.
Halo Infinite may be set for a large change in direction, according to new reports which we can tentatively corroborate at least in part.
Last year, we exclusively revealed that Halo Infinite was slated to get its very own battle royale-like codenamed Tatanka, in development between 343i and partner team Certain Affinity. After the leak, CA released a statement confirming its deeper commitment to the Halo franchise, and as recently as last week, stated that the team is doing “major work” on Halo Infinite.
Halo Infinite is in a bit of turmoil as of late. The live service has left a lot to be desired, and 343i has struggled to return to the necessary pace of updates live service shooters generally enjoy across competitors like Fortnite, Valorant, and Apex Legends. Blizzard is launching Overwatch 2 this week as well, piling further pressure on Halo Infinite to keep up.
The game’s much-awaited Forge mode is coming later this year, but its third season of content has been delayed out to Spring 2023, with season four naturally coming even later. In conversations with 343i staff past and present who wished to remain anonymous, Halo Infinite’s internal Slipspace Engine has been blamed for much of the problems with the game’s on-going development. Two separate sources described the launch state of Slipspace’s developer tools as “non-existent.” Descriptions paint a bleak picture for contractors and new 343i staff, who had to work with a “difficult” engine which was light on documentation and pipeline maturity. To that end, these recent rumors may not come as much of a surprise.
Report: A change in direction for Halo
Last week, YouTuber Sean W shared a video detailing some rumors he’s heard about Halo Infinite, alongside some speculation about what may be going on moving forward. At its core, Sean W reported that Halo’s Tatanka battle royale-like mode may be moving over to the Unreal Engine. If it wasn’t there already, this would potentially mean dropping much of the work already done on Slipspace.
Initially, I wrote off the report. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to drop 2+ years of work on Tatanka to move it all across to a new engine, but after speaking with Sean W and doing some digging of my own, it’s certainly looking increasingly as though Tatanka is either ditching Slipspace, or was never on Slipspace from the outset.
Information I received during the original Tatanka leak earlier in the year suggested that the game was supposed to incorporate Halo Infinite’s Forge user generated content systems, alongside progression from Halo Infinite itself. On the face of it, switching it out to a new engine would potentially be incongruous with the design goal of incorporating Halo Infinite content, which would continue to exist on a separate engine entirely. But information we’ve received could suggest a wider change in direction for the Halo franchise.
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
It seems that indeed, Halo may be gearing up for a wider switch to the Unreal Engine, known for games like Gears of War, Fortnite, and many others. Sean W’s report was also corroborated by ACG’s Jeremy Penter, as well as some of our own sources. I wanted to gather more details in an attempt to paint a more complete picture of what’s going on with Halo right now before creating a report, but here’s what we know so far.
Some details on the concrete plan remain vague, we have some tentative indication that this change potentially extends across the whole franchise too, not just Tatanka, with 343i getting ready to explore the future of the franchise. With 343i founder Bonnie Ross and Slipspace architect David Berger no longer with the company, it seems the studio is eager to explore new ways to adapt to the fast pace of development in the shooter service game world. Moving to a more popular engine that has mature tools, and perhaps more crucially, high levels of experience from the game developer workforce, may be key to figuring out Halo’s future.
Right now, it doesn’t seem like there’s any real indication that Halo Infinite itself is winding down, though. Development on Forge isn’t stopping, and neither is development on Season 3 or 4.
Speculation: Why this could be a good thing
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
Halo Infinite’s live service simply wasn’t ready when the game launched to critical acclaim both from fans and media alike last year. While there were reservations about the relatively anaemic offering of maps, modes, and progression, everyone seemed eager to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt — surely the company that pioneered the idea of a console service game would have Halo Infinite nailed? Right?
Fast forward to now, and we know that Halo Infinite’s live service simply wasn’t ready. Six-month seasons are an outlier in an industry where service games frequently do one-month seasons, with new battle passes filled with cosmetics providing a sense of progression and reward, while keeping competitive balance in-tact. Halo Infinite’s seasonal updates have been a bit lacking too, adding minimal amounts of maps and new features compared to other competing games.
Right now, it doesn’t seem like there’s any real indication that Halo Infinite itself is winding down, though. Development on Forge isn’t stopping, and neither is development on Season 3 or 4.
Locking down a singular narrative on why this is has been tough, to say the least. Some of the people I’ve spoken to lay blame at former game director Chris Lee, while others lay blame at studio head Bonnie Ross. The one consistent area of irritation falls on the Slipspace Engine, however, which has become somewhat notorious in commentary surrounding Halo Infinite for its difficult implementation.
I know from information and conversations that I’ve had about Tatanka that the game was supposed to incorporate Halo Infinite, and Certain Affinity received Halo Infinite’s source code to build out its implementation. We know from leaks in the Halo API some fragments about how Tatanka is meant to play, although if the game is indeed switching engine as rumored, it’s essentially anyone’s guess just how much of the original plan will be retained.
Instead of representing the continuation of Halo Infinite, it’s possible that Tatanka could eventually grow to represent the next phase of Halo itself as a completely separate, standalone experience. On a different engine, it may scupper Microsoft’s original plan to incorporate the Forge mapping tools, but they could still bring across Halo Infinite’s cosmetics potentially by leveraging Halo’s social APIs.
Microsoft registered “The Endless” trademark a few months ago, which seemed could indicate some kind of campaign DLC for Halo Infinite. There have been some potential suggestions that The Endless may shift to Unreal Engine as well and become a standalone experience in its own right, although we’re unable to corroborate anything about The Endless at this time.
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
Unreal Engine is widely used in the games industry at large, and Microsoft’s internal teams from The Coalition to Undead Labs have a huge wealth of experience with the tools. Microsoft and Certain Affinity both also have internal tools and pipelines for working with the Unreal Engine established already, at a time when Slipspace is widely rumored to be problematic to work with at best. Microsoft’s use of contractors also potentially compounds the issues with Slipspace, since training new staff to use the tools used by literally nobody else in the games industry doubtless creates a deficit on speed — and speed is absolutely key in today’s live service game world.
Of course, I would caution to take all of this with a pinch of salt until we get some kind of official statement from Microsoft, or some form of concrete physical evidence. But as the saying goes, there’s no smoke without fire, and right now, there’s a lot of smoke.
Hackers have been circling the PS5 for almost a year now, and it appears they may have finally managed to jailbreak the 2020 hardware with a new kernel-level exploit first discovered on the PS4. While it doesn’t allow access to execute certain types of code, the exploit has made it possible for at least one person to reportedly run Kojima’s Silent Hill demo prequel, P.T., on their PS5, and will likely have massive implications as more people explore the jailbreak.
The PS5 IPV6 Kernel exploit, discovered by “PlayStation hacking god” Andy “TheFloW” Nguyen last month, now has a way to be implemented, as tweeted over the weekend by hacker SpecterDev. It relies on a previously known vulnerability in Webkit, the PS5’s web browser technology, that works on PS5s running firmware 4.03, and possibly earlier versions as well.
The exploit works by having the PS5 access a web server housed on a local PC that contains SpecterDev’s implementation of the hack. It apparently works around 30 percent of the time, giving users access to the console’s debug mode, and thus letting them run software outside of what was originally intended by Sony.
Here’s a demonstration of the new exploit that was tweeted yesterday:
“This exploit gives us read/write access, but no execute,” reports console hacking blog Wololo.net. “This means no possibility to load and run binaries at the moment, everything is constrained within the scope of the ROP chain. The current implementation does however enable debug settings.”
Even so, the early exploit was still enough to let Dark Souls archeologist Lance McDonald install abandoned PS4 micro-horror game P.T., which isn’t officially backward compatible on the PS5:
The IPV6 webkit exploit was discovered by TheFloW two years ago on the PS4. He found it again on the PS5 and reported it to Sony in January 2022. “It seems like their patch somehow got reverted when doing FreeBSD9 to FreeBSD11 migration,” he recently told Motherboard. TheFloW subsequently received a $10,000 bounty from Sony and the vulnerability was disclosed on the site HackerOne on September 20, 2021.
Ever since, others in the PlayStation hacking community have been working on ways to exploit the vulnerability to jailbreak both the disc-based PS5 and its all-digital counterpart. Console manufacturers try to keep their systems locked down in part to ward off piracy, and today’s jailbreak is likely just the beginning of hackers poking holes in that security. Sony didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
A new app called BeReal is bringing authenticity back into the social media landscape — and it’s seriously taking off. (Even “SNL” referenced it in a skit this past weekend.)
BeReal was originally launched in December 2019 by French founder and former GoPro employee Alexis Barreyat, according to TechCrunch.
SOCIAL MEDIA USERS’ COMPETITION FOR ONLINE CLOUT IS HAVING REAL-WORLD RAMIFICATIONS
App intelligence firm Apptopia reported in August that BeReal has been downloaded more than 43 million times since its launch, and to date, has grown its user base an amazing 315%.
BeReal on the App Store is displayed on a phone screen in Poland, in a photo taken on August 7, 2022. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The photo-sharing app prompts users once a day to post a photo of whatever they’re doing at that exact moment — and the timing is, seemingly, completely random.
The camera will capture a photo from your smartphone’s front and back camera, switching from the two within seconds.
STUDY SUGGESTS POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA MAKES USERS OVERCONFIDENT
Users have two minutes to post on time, which will unlock the ability to view their friends’ posts; but users are given the option to post late, too.
The purpose of all this? To show your friends what you’re up to … and “be real” about it.
Zach Bowers snaps a BeReal photo while walking his dog, Ruby, in Boston’s North End on Sept. 23, 2022. (Zach Bowers)
Fox News Digital reached out to BeReal for comment.
Open Influence CEO Eric Dahan, who is based in California, talked about BeReal’s emergence in an interview with Fox News Digital, explaining why the app has taken a position as the “anti-social social platform.”
“The interactions are limited,” he said. “The feature is really designed to force authenticity from the user — not giving [people] the ability to create overly curated content,” he said.
BeReal addresses the more authentic social needs of Gen Z, suggested Dahan, whereas millennials have valued a fuller experience of content curation and shareability.
BeReal’s push notification alerts users on when it’s time to post for the day. (Angelica Stabile/Fox News Digital)
“Authenticity is really important,” he said. “We even see it with ad content, where content that just looks more real and under-produced ends up performing better.”
The social media expert also assumed that users are attracted to the app’s super-simple call to action.
IPHONES, ANDROIDS, TABLETS AND MORE ARE THE GRIMIEST, GERMIEST TECH DEVICES IN YOUR HOME – HOW TO CLEAN THEM
“Posting what you’re doing in any given moment is a pretty easy task to follow,” he said. “It’s a really focused product.”
“It’s not something broad where users have to poke around and figure out what they need to create. It’s pretty well packaged, making it easy for people.”
Shane Swanson and Alana Karpovich snap a BeReal while enjoying a sushi dinner in the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Sept. 30, 2022. (Alana Karpovich)
But Dahan explained that the app is so appealing more broadly because it’s pulling people away from fabricated influencer media.
And as the public settles into a more digitally immersed world, especially since the coronavirus pandemic, Dahan said people are craving real human connection “more and more.”
HOW TO GET FOX NEWS HEADLINES ON YOUR IPHONE LOCK SCREEN
“When you look at social media, people put their ‘best foot forward’ by overly curating their content or editing it,” he said.
Yet “people don’t want that,” he said. “They want to feel connected.”
Dahan applauded BeReal for addressing this part of the market that’s been lacking attention and predicted that its “unique” function will allow the platform to last.
A screenshot of social media apps on an iPhone including new photo sharing app BeReal. (Angelica Stabile/Fox News Digital)
TikTok has already integrated a new feature called “Now,” which directly mimics BeReal’s functionality.
Dahan suggested it would be a “good strategy” for other social media platforms with “engaging communities,” like TikTok and Instagram, to follow suit and learn from BeReal’s one-of-a-kind features.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“There’s a lot of opportunity for existing platforms to build this in and be successful with it.”
Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle writer for Fox News Digital. Follow her on Twitter at @atstabile.
B650 motherboard guide: ROG Strix, TUF Gaming, ProArt, and Prime bring PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 to everyone
The latest X670E motherboard platform introduced a wealth of cutting-edge features to accompany AMD’s latest 7-series CPUs. Headlined by PCIe 5.0 connectivity and across-the-board DDR5 support, our X670E motherboards cater to enthusiasts ready to extract every ounce of performance they can get out of their new AMD processor. Now, mainstream PC builds can get in on the action, too. Our B650E and B650 boards offer tremendous value for anyone assembling a next-gen machine. This B650 motherboard guide walks you through our different product families to help you find the model that best fits your needs and budget.
Shopping for a gaming-first motherboard that delivers exceptional performance and exudes confident style? Start with our ROG Strix lineup. From the flagship ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi to the compact-yet-mighty ROG Strix B650E-I Gaming WiFi, these boards bring high-end features and sizzling good looks. Perhaps you’d prefer a straightforward gaming board that delivers essential features in a no-frills design? Check out our TUF Gaming family. Available in either ATX or micro-ATX form factors, these products deliver everything you need for a reliable gaming build and nothing that you don’t.
Gamers aren’t the only folks out there looking at everything that AMD’s new chips have to offer. For the creative professionals out there—and anyone who aspires to take their talents in CGI, filmmaking, engineering, or design to the next level—the ProArt B650-Creator offers great connectivity and sophisticated style. Last but not least, our wide range of ASUS Prime motherboards offer everything you need for an all-around-excellent PC.
Raised to the power of five
Our B650E and B650 motherboards bring a wealth of next-gen features. Even the CPU socket received an upgrade for the occasion. The all-new AM5 socket is an LGA-style socket, so the pins are on the motherboard, not the CPU, making any accidental bending or damage to the pins less likely. AM5 supports up to a 170W TDP, enabling exceptional compute performance for high-core-count CPUs in heavy workloads.
But it’s not just the CPU socket that’s enjoying a next-gen upgrade. B650E and B650 motherboards support the latest DDR5 RAM. With data rates 50% faster than previous-generation DDR4 memory, DDR5 unleashes a new tier of performance, and our motherboards offer a host of hardware and firmware optimizations that enable users to overclock capable kits to the absolute limit.
B650E and B650 motherboards also boast PCIe 5.0 connectivity. Every option in our lineup includes at least one onboard PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot ready for the fastest storage drives on the market. To prep your PC to take full advantage of next-gen PCIe 5.0 graphics cards, pick up one of our B650E motherboards. These higher-end options boast at least one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot. And with double the link speeds of PCIe 4.0, the new standard provides us with the bandwidth to deck out our B650E and B650 motherboards with a comprehensive selection of high-speed ports. Every ROG Strix, TUF Gaming, and ProArt B650 motherboard offers an onboard high-speed USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port.
Go big on performance and style with ROG Strix
The ROG Strix line takes the high-end ROG DNA and distills it into gaming-first motherboards that are ready for anything. Whether you’re building a decked-out ATX gaming rig or a compact Mini-ITX machine, you’ll find the motherboard you need right here. Whichever ROG Strix board you choose, you’ll find high-end circuitry, convenient design elements, and features built to boost your gaming experience. Integrated I/O shields ease the installation process and look gorgeous behind your case’s side window. High-end VRMs stand ready to drive the entire swath of today’s Ryzen chips, while Intel-powered 2.5Gb Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6E offer cutting-edge networking. And our industry-leading gaming audio immerses you like never before with an ALC4080 codec and a Savitech SV3H712 amplifier.
Interested in tuning and tweaking your new AMD Ryzen CPU for maximum performance? Out of all our B650E and B650 motherboards, the ROG Strix models are best equipped for overclocking. A quick trip into their UEFI BIOS is all it takes to boost light-load clocks through Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO)—a move that enhances overall system responsiveness for most builders. Looking for more manual control over your CPU’s performance? We primed the ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi and ROG Strix B650E-I Gaming WiFi to satisfy your thirst for pushing your processor to its limits. Both offer particularly robust power solutions and access to our Dynamic OC Switcher and Core Flex tools.
ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi
Atop the stack sits the flagship ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi. The premium option for any builder intending to take the B650E platform to its limits, this decked-out motherboard offers a premium selection of features. Its optimized power solution readies you to overclock your Ryzen CPU with 16+2 teamed power stages with 8+8 ProCool power connectors. Two PCIe 5.0 x16 slots stand ready for next-gen add-on cards. Four onboard M.2 slots—two of which are wired for PCIe 5.0—make it a breeze to install a lightning-quick storage array for your gaming library. To keep it all cool, each M.2 slot has its own high-performance heatsink, and massive VRM heatsinks with high-conductivity thermal pads silently use the cooling air moving through your case to keep the circuitry operating comfortably.
The ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi goes above and beyond to make your build process easy and intuitive. The dedicated PCIe Slot Q-Release button makes it a breeze to release your graphics card from the primary PCIe 5.0 x16 slot. Our M.2 Q-Latch system ensures that you’ll never again lose a tiny M.2 screw while installing a drive. BIOS FlashBack™ support gets your new build up and running without a hitch by letting you update your board’s firmware with nothing more than a power supply and a USB flash drive. And with a premium connectivity selection including 19 USB ports, DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 ports, and a Thunderbolt 4 header, you’ll have no trouble assembling your full battlestation.
We also took advantage of this new platform to augment the audio solution that we offer in our mainstream ROG Strix motherboards. We’ve upgraded to the USB-based ALC4080 audio codec—and we’ve included a high-performance Savitech SV3H712 AMP to drive audiophile-grade sound to your headset. DTS Sound Unbound serves up immersive spatial audio, and our Sonic Studio III+ suite gives you precise control over the output.
ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi
Size
ATX
Memory
4 x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR5
PCIe
2 x PCIe 5.0 x16 (@x16 or x8/x4) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x4)
Storage
1 x 22110 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 1 x 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 2 x 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4)
Networking
1 x 2.5Gb Ethernet WiFi 6E
Audio
Realtek ALC 4080 Savitech SV3H712 AMP
USB4® Support
1 x Thunderbolt™ (USB4®) header
Rear I/O
3.2 Gen 2×2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 2: 6 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Front I/O
3.2 Gen 2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Aura
3 x Addressable Gen 2 headers 1 x Aura RGB header
Cooling
8 x fan headers
ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WiFi
Perhaps you love the aesthetics and overall feature set of the ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi, but you don’t have an immediate need for two PCIe 5.0 X16 slots and two PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots. Check out the ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WiFi. In many ways, this motherboard is a mirror image of its elder sibling, but it offers one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot and one slot for a next-gen PCIe 5.0 M.2 drive—just the ticket for many a mainstream gaming PC.
Otherwise, you’ll find a broadly similar feature set between the two motherboards. The same stealthy black finish adorns their massive VRMs, shrouds, and heatsinks, similar Aura Sync RGB LED accents provide a bold flourish of color, and they offer the same suite of DIY-friendly design features.
ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi
Size
ATX
Memory
4 x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR5
PCIe
1 x PCIe 5.0 x16 (@x16) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (@x4)
Storage
1 x 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 2 x 22110 (PCIe 4.0 x4)
Networking
1 x 2.5Gb Ethernet WiFi 6E
Audio
Realtek ALC 4080 Savitech SV3H712 AMP
Rear I/O
3.2 Gen 2×2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 2: 2 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 1: 4 x USB Type-A 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Front I/O
3.2 Gen 2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Aura
3 x Addressable Gen 2 headers 1 x Aura RGB header
Cooling
7 x fan headers
ROG Strix B650E-I Gaming WiFi
If you’re building a PC for your home entertainment center or dorm room—or anywhere that space is a primary limiting factor—an ATX system might just be too large for your needs. To support the Mini-ITX build of your dreams, we offer the ROG Strix B650E-I Gaming WiFi. This compact motherboard might fit easily into one hand, but it offers a high-end set of gaming features.
As a B650E board, it boasts both a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot and a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, making it ready for the fastest graphics cards of today and tomorrow. Its versatile and high-end connectivity selection, including a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port with DisplayPort ALT mode, gives you everything you need for your build. And conveniences like the pre-mounted I/O shield simplify the process of building in the tight confines of a Mini-ITX case.
ROG Strix B650E-I Gaming WiFi
Size
Mini-ITX
Memory
2 x DIMM, up to 64GB, DDR5
PCIe
1 x PCIe 5.0 x16 (@x16)
Storage
1 x 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 1 x 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4)
Networking
1 x 2.5Gb Ethernet WiFi 6E
Audio
Realtek ALC 4080 Savitech SV3H712 AMP
USB4® Support
1 x Thunderbolt™ (USB4®) header
Rear I/O
3.2 Gen 2×2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 2: 4 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 2.0: 2 x USB Type-A
Front I/O
3.2 Gen 2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A 2.0: 2 x USB Type-A
Aura
1 x Addressable Gen 2 headers 1 x Aura RGB header
Cooling
3 x fan headers
ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi
No offense to those who prefer the classic black aesthetic for their gaming PCs, but there’s something special about a white-themed build. White finishes focus and amplify the RGB LED illumination of your build—or provide a clean, cohesive aesthetic on their own merits. For the foundation of your next white build, look no further than the ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi.
As with all our B650E and B650 motherboards, the ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi boasts an onboard PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot and DDR5 support. If a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot strikes you as more of a nice-to-have than a need-to-have feature for your next PC, this motherboard might be a better fit for you than the higher-end ROG Strix B650E motherboards. Its PCIe 4.0 x16 slot is more than capable of getting you in the game with a high-end graphics card.
ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WiFi
Size
ATX
Memory
4 x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR5
PCIe
1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (@x16) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (@x4)
Storage
1 x 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 1 x 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4) 1 x 22110 (PCIe 4.0 x4)
Networking
1 x 2.5Gb Ethernet WiFi 6E
Audio
Realtek ALC 4080 Savitech SV3H712 AMP
USB4® Support
1 x Thunderbolt™ (USB4®) header
Rear I/O
3.2 Gen 2×2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 2: 3 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Front I/O
3.2 Gen 2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Aura
3 x Addressable Gen 2 headers 1 x Aura RGB header
Cooling
7 x fan headers
Get ready for action with battle-forged TUF Gaming motherboards
If your top priorities for a motherboard are reliable operation, sensible good looks, and essential gaming performance, then our TUF Gaming lineup was built for you. We designed these boards to give gamers high-quality options ready to go the distance.
Our TUF Gaming B650 motherboards offer a powerful value proposition for a next-gen AMD Ryzen gaming build. Available in either ATX or micro-ATX form factors, these boards offer DDR5 support, a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot for blazing-fast storage, and an onboard USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 USB Type-C® port for fast, versatile connectivity. High-bandwidth 2.5Gb Ethernet comes standard, and WiFi 6 is available for those who need it.
Looking to complement your TUF Gaming motherboard with an array of components and peripherals with the same aesthetic? The TUF GAMING Alliance is a collaboration between ASUS and trusted PC component brands to ensure compatibility across a wide range of parts, such as PC cases, power supplies, CPU coolers, memory kits and more. With new partnerships and components being added regularly, the TUF Gaming Alliance will continue to grow even stronger.
TUF Gaming B650-Plus WiFi
TUF Gaming B650-Plus
TUF Gaming B650M-Plus WiFi
TUF Gaming B650M-Plus
Size
ATX
Micro-ATX
Memory
4 x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR5
PCIe
1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (@x16) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (max @x4)
Storage
1 x 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 1 x 22110 (PCIe 4.0 x4) 1 x 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4)
1 x 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 1 x 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4)
Networking
1 x 2.5Gb Ethernet WiFi 6
1 x 2.5Gb Ethernet
1 x 2.5Gb Ethernet WiFi 6
1 x 2.5Gb Ethernet
Audio
Realtek ALC S1200A
Realtek ALC897
USB4® Support
1 x Thunderbolt™ (USB4®) header
Rear I/O
3.2 Gen 2×2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 2: 2 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
3.2 Gen 2×2: 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 2: 2 x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1: 1 x USB Type-A 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Front I/O
3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Aura
3 x Addressable Gen 2 headers 1 x Aura RGB header
Cooling
7 x fan headers
6 x fan headers
ProArt empowers creators with powerful performance and sophisticated style
Gamers aren’t the only ones planning new builds around AMD’s latest Ryzen CPUs. Creative professionals like engineers, designers, videographers, animators, and game developers all tend to have workflows ready to take full advantage of multicore CPUs, high-bandwidth DDR5 RAM, and speedy PCIe 5.0 storage. For these creators and more, ProArt motherboards provide superb connectivity, plentiful high-speed storage options, and professional style.
The ProArt B650-Creator carries on that tradition with a feature set that provides incredible value for a budget-conscious creative build. DDR5 support lets you take advantage of the raw bandwidth provided by the latest high-end kits, and a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot allows you to enjoy the dizzying transfer rates of a cutting-edge drive.
Looking for a motherboard that can harness more than one graphics card? The ProArt B650-Creator has what you need. Its twin PCIe 4.0 x16 slots can operate in an x8/x8 configuration so that you can take full advantage of a pair of graphics cards.
Versatile connectivity is a must for any creative workstation, so the ProArt B650-Creator includes a connector for a front-panel USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port—and it’s wired for Quick Charge 4+ so that you can use it to conveniently and speedily recharge your other devices. We’ve also wired one of the USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports on the rear I/O panel to support an alternate mode that provides DisplayPort 1.4 output up to 8K/60Hz.* Whether you want to use the port for high-speed 10Gbps file transfers or connecting an additional high-resolution display, the choice is yours.
ProArt B650-Creator
Size
ATX
Memory
4 x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR5
PCIe
2 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (@x16 or x8/x8) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (max at X4)
Storage
1 x 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 1 x 22110 (PCIe 4.0 x4) 1 x 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4)
Networking
1 x Realtek 2.5Gb 1 x Realtek 1Gb
Audio
Realtek ALC 897
USB4® Support
1 x Thunderbolt™ (USB4®) header
Rear I/O
3.2 Gen 2 with DP Alt Mode: 1 x USB Type-C ® 3.2 Gen 2: 3 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 2.0: 2 x USB Type-A
Front I/O
3.2 Gen 2×2: 1 x USB Type-C® with Quick Charge 4+ 3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Aura
3 x Addressable Gen 2 headers 1 x Aura RGB header
Cooling
7 x fan headers
ASUS Prime covers all the bases
Our ROG Strix, TUF Gaming, and ProArt families serve gamers and power users ready to extract every last drop of performance from their systems. While our Prime boards offer many of the same enthusiast-grade features, they’re also quite content to serve as reliable platforms for your work and everyday computing. For anyone building a budget-friendly PC that melds all-around capability and subtle style, a Prime board is the ideal choice.
For B650, we’re offering Prime motherboards in four variations. Pick between the ATX and micro-ATX form factors, make a judgment call on whether you need wireless networking, and you’re ready to go. Regardless of your choice, you’ll enjoy high-speed wired networking through a Realtek 2.5Gb Ethernet controller, a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, and DDR5 support.
Our Prime B650 motherboards will also make it easy for you to upgrade your processor down the road. Through BIOS FlashBack™, you’ll be able to quickly update your board’s firmware with nothing more than a power supply and a USB flash drive. This will pave the way for you to stay up to date with AMD’s subsequent generations of Ryzen CPUs for as long as AMD maintains backward compatibility, all the while using the same Prime B650 motherboard.
Prime B650 Plus
Prime B650M-A AX
Prime B650M-A WiFi
Prime B650M-A
Size
ATX
Micro-ATX
Memory
4 x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR5
PCIe
1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (@x16) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (max @x4)
1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (@x16)
Storage
1 x 22110 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 1 x 22110 (PCIe 4.0 x4)
1 x 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4) 1 x 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4)
Networking
1 x Realtek 2.5Gb
1 x Realtek 2.5Gb WiFi 6
1 x Realtek 2.5Gb
Audio
Realtek ALC 897
USB4® Support
1 x Thunderbolt™ (USB4®) header
N/A
Rear I/O
3.2 Gen 2: 3 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A 2.0: 2 x USB Type-A
3.2 Gen 2: 2 x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
Front I/O
3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
3.2 Gen 1: 2 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C® 2.0: 4 x USB Type-A
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is assumed to be the top model of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S23 range, and the rumors we’ve heard so far seem to confirm this.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra offered a huge upgrade compared to previous Galaxy S Ultra phones, by combining the camera array of previous models with the built-in stylus of the Galaxy Note series. The Galaxy S23 Ultra seems like it’ll be building on this in a few ways, most notably with a main camera somehow stuffed with a rumored 200 megapixels and the traditional yearly chipset update for more performance and power efficiency.
There’s still several months to go until the new Samsung flagship phone takes to the stage, but below we’ve collected all the rumors (and one official statement) about the Galaxy S23 Ultra so far.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra possible release date and price
To get the basics out of the way first, we know that the Galaxy S Ultra model will return, as stated by Samsung boss T.M. Roh when talking about the end of the Galaxy Note series. Now the only question is when it’ll appear.
The smart guess would be January or February, the two months that Samsung’s unveiled its new Galaxy S phones each year for the past several years. Since we’ve already seen a new Samsung model receive certification in Korea, it seems like Samsung’s keeping to that timing.
It may be sooner than that though, as market sources think Samsung will move its launch date forward a few weeks to mid-January. This would hopefully stop users from buying new phones from other brands like Apple or Google, so Samsung’s thinking apparently goes.
As for the cost of this Ultra phone, we’d anticipate it’ll cost at least $1,200 again, as the current S22 Ultra does. We’d be happy to see a price drop though, especially since its closest rival, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, starts a little cheaper at $1,100.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra design and display
If the Galaxy S23 Ultra is changing as little as the rumors say, then we’ll likely see a near-identical design to the Galaxy S22 Ultra, with squared-off corners, a curved display and individually-embedded cameras on the back. That would also mean another embedded S Pen for your doodling needs, one of the most unique features of the S22 Ultra.
(Image credit: OnLeaks/SmartPrix)
That’s not to say there are no possible changes. We’ve heard that the S23 Ultra may be slightly longer and wider than the S22 Ultra, although only by hundredths of millimeters, so you’re unlikely to notice.
Also, leaker Ice Universe has claimed that there will be a new display for the S23 Ultra. While it would be hard to improve on the super-bright, 6.8-inch QHD AMOLED panel and its fully variable LTPO 120Hz refresh rate, perhaps Samsung has an even brighter, or a more efficient, display ready to swap in as a welcome update.
(Image credit: Future)
Also, it’s possible that this model will also suffer from the thicker bezels (but no display size increase) rumored for the S23 regular.This could perhaps explain the slight body size increase, although since the normal S23 and S23 Plus have flat displays rather than curved ones, maybe it won’t apply to the Ultra.
(Image credit: OnLeaks/SmartPrix)
But now the first leaked renders have appeared (as well as a matching case). OnLeaks working with SmartPrix put out a 360-degree video of the Galaxy S23 Ultra in black. Based on leaked CAD designs, the renders don’t look all that much different from the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
From all appearances, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will have some slightly more square edges than the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It looks like Samsung might keep the tried-and-true Galaxy Note-like design.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra cameras
We should still see four cameras on the back of the S23 Ultra, except with one major change. There will allegedly be a 200MP main camera, (claimed by multiple sources) even higher-res than the already high-res 108MP main camera on the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
(Image credit: Future)
What’s not rumored to change are the telephoto cameras, which will both have 10MP sensors like before according to one source, and presumably have the same 3x and 10x optical magnification, too.
Topping that off, we’d expect to see a 40MP selfie camera once again, embedded in the top center of the display. While only one of five total cameras seem to be getting a major upgrade, hopefully Samsung will have some new software enhancements or camera modes to show off at the launch that will help the S23 series claim a spot on our best camera phones page.
Galaxy S23 Ultra performance and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Samsung usually powers its Galaxy S phones with Qualcomm chips in the U.S., but its own Exynos chips elsewhere in the world. That would mean we’ll see what’s assumed to be called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Exynos 2300 at the heart of the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
(Image credit: Future)
The rumors can’t seem to decide on what’s happening though. Some have said we’ll see this mix of chips continue for the time being, while others have said Qualcomm will be suppling Snapdragon chips for S23 models all around the world.
We hope for the second scenario because Snapdragon Galaxy S phones have tended to offer superior performance to their Exynos-powered siblings, but chances are Samsung won’t want to give up on using its own silicon where it can.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: battery and charging
To power the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung is supposedly using the same 5,000 mAh battery as we saw in the Galaxy S22 Ultra. While some extra capacity would have been nice, this size of battery is par for the course when it comes to large Android phones, so let’s just hope Samsung can squeeze a bit more battery life out of the S23 Ultra. While the S22 Ultra had a decent result on our custom battery test, the iPhone 14 Pro Max lasted longer.
The rumors have forecast no charging speed change, at least for the standard S23. That will translate to at least 25W charging for the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and likely up to 45W if you buy the appropriate charger. The 45W charger was able to power up the S22 Ultra to 67% in half an hour, which is again good but not outstanding compared to the 65W and higher charging standards used by rivals like OnePlus.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: outlook
The Galaxy S23 series as a whole looks like a year of refinement rather than major developments, but the Galaxy S23 Ultra appears to be getting a bit more than its smaller brethren. We’re particularly interested in the rumored 200MP camera and how it could shake up the photo quality of Samsung’s most photography-focused phone, but we’ll also be curious as to how the new chipset will perform and impact things like battery life.
(Image credit: Future)
If Samsung’s serious about taking on the iPhone 14 Pro and other flagship smartphones, it needs to wring out every drop of performance and efficiency from the Galaxy S23 Ultra, while also making sure it justifies the Ultra premium. Stay tuned for more Galaxy S23 rumors and leaks as we get closer to launch.
The long-awaited sequel to Beyond Good & Evil has overtaken Duke Nukem Forever as the game with the longest-ever development period.
Duke Nukem Forever, which finally released in 2011, previously held the Guinness World Record for the longest development period for a video game project, at just over 14 years.
But Beyond Good & Evil 2 has now beaten that, as noted on Twitter by GamesIndustry.biz’s Brendan Sinclair.
A Beyond Good & Evil 2 trailer from 2018.
“Duke Nukem Forever went 5156 days from its announcement in 1997 to its release in 2011,” Sinclair wrote on Twitter over the weekend. “It has been 5234 days since the first Beyond Good & Evil 2 trailer was released,” he added. That’s 5237 now.
Both projects saw work put on hold during their times in development, as teams changed and console hardware shifted.
Duke Nukem Forever went 5,156 days from its announcement in 1997 to its release in 2011.
It has been 5,234 days since the first Beyond Good & Evil 2 trailer was released.
— Brendan Sinclair (@BrendanSinclair) September 28, 2022
To see this content please enable targeting cookies.
Ubisoft first began officially discussing Beyond Good & Evil 2 back in 2008, when a CGI trailer for the project was released – though at the time, series creator Michel Ancel had already been working on the project for at least a year.
Work continued on the game over the years, off and on, and Ubisoft repeatedly maintained that the project was still in the works to some extent – though it eventually began to be thought of as vapourware.
In 2016, Ubisoft publicly recommitted to the project once more, with a big E3 announcement and the launch of a series of regular development updates dubbed the Space Monkey Program. But as the years went on, things seemed to go quiet once again.
In 2020, Ancel left Ubisoft amidst reports of trouble at the game’s development studio. Ubisoft stated that work on the game would continue, but did not give any expectation on when to actually expect it to arrive.
Still, we know things are continuing. In August this year, narrative designer Sarah Arellano, formerly of Blizzard, announced she had joined the project as Beyond Good & Evil 2’s new lead writer.
A limited but working jailbreak for the PlayStation 5 [3,739 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ps5/”>PlayStation 5 hardware has reportedly been released, potentially enabling players to install unsigned or unofficial software.
The news was reported on Twitter by modder Lance McDonald, who previously made a name for himself by releasing an unofficial patch that made Bloodborne run at 60 frames per second on PlayStation 4 [5,458 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ps4/”>PS4.
Although McDonald doesn’t appear to have discovered the PS5 jailbreak himself, he does show footage of it in action.
As well as showing that the jailbreak gives him access to a debug menu, he also shows that it enables him to install a PS4 PKG file (i.e. a backup of a game), proving this by installing the now-delisted PT demo.
Introducing the all-new PlayStation Plus
At this stage the jailbreak is allegedly extremely limited – it‘s only said to work on PS5 consoles with firmware version 4.03, which was released in October 2021 and replaced with version 4.50 in December 2021.
According to the exploit’s creator, it may be possible to apply the jailbreak to PS5 consoles with earlier firmware versions than 4.03, but later firmware versions won’t work at the moment.
Even if a player does have a console with the 4.03 firmware, the exploit’s creator warns that it will still only work around 30% of the time, usually requiring multiple attempts to execute.
Notice: To display this embed please allow the use of Functional Cookies in Cookie Preferences.
Even once the player does this, they’ll be strictly limited in what they can do at this stage, it’s claimed. While the exploit is said to give read/write access, it doesn’t give execute access. This means that although McDonald was allegedly able to install the PT teaser on his PS5, he won’t actually be able to run it yet.
Given the limitations of the alleged exploit and the fact it only works on a specific, year-old firmware version, it will currently likely only be of use to other hackers curious to see how it works and whether they can use it at a starting point for something more effective.
It will nevertheless be a concern for Sony Interactive Entertainment [2,550 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/sony/”>Sony to see some progress being made, albeit minor, on attempts to bypass the PS5’s security.
