Intel Launches Alder Lake-HX Series Core Processors: 55W and PCIe 5.0 For High-End Mobile

Intel today is announcing a new range of mobile 12th Gen Core family processors designed for enthusiast and desktop-replacement class laptops, the Alder Lake-HX series. Focusing on the more performance-driven high-end models, the Alder Lake HX series transfers its hybrid desktop design (ADL-S) into a thinner BGA package with up 16 cores (8P+8E) that’s more suitable for mobile devices. And since it’s based on that desktop hardware, Alder Lake-HX also brings with it some additional features that were previously limited to the desktop, such as support for PCIe 5.0, as well as a more desktop-like base TDP of 55 Watts.

In January of this year, Intel launched its first Alder Lake 12th Gen Core mobile processor, the Alder Lake-H family. In February, it then announced more for the lower-powered market through its Alder Lake-P and Alder Lake-U series with up to 14 cores with a mixture of its Performance (P) and Efficiency (E) cores. Intel has now officially launched the more premium of its 12th Gen Core series for mobile, the Alder Lake-HX series with up to 16 cores (8P+8E), and its new memory and core overclocking technology.

The latest in Intel’s arsenal is designed for premium and enthusiast laptops, with seven new chips ranging from sixteen cores and twenty-four threads, all the way down to an eight-core and twelve thread SKU. According to Intel, the Alder Lake-HX series completes its Alder Lake mobile family, with options spanning many different markets using its hybrid 12th Gen Core architecture to deliver a significant range in mobile performance for enthusiasts, gamers, and workstation use cases.

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Bayonetta 3 Still Coming In 2022, Nintendo Confirms

As part of its financial report that was published this week, Nintendo has confirmed that Bayonetta 3 is still scheduled for launch in 2022. Development on the third game in the series was originally announced at the Game Awards in 2017, but it’d be several years before a hint of gameplay footage was shown off.

That content finally–and briefly–arrived as part of the September 2021 Nintendo Direct presentation, which also confirmed the 2022 release date. When Bayonetta 3 does arrive, it’ll be in a year that’s stacked with high-profile Nintendo first-party releases.

The next game from the company will be its chaotic soccer simulator Mario Strikers: Battle League in June, which will be followed by Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes later in the month.

Further ahead, there’s still Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in July, Splatoon 3 in September, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The notable exception here is Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, which was pulled back from its April launch due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Elsewhere at Nintendo, the company is doing great business. The company has reported that it has now sold more than 107 million Switch consoles and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains the best-selling game on that system with over 45 million units sold. On May 11, a Nintendo Direct Indie World Showcase will be broadcast online.

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Gotham Knights Will Only Be Available On PC, PS5, And Xbox Series X|S

Gotham Knights developer Warner Bros. Montreal has revealed new gameplay footage for its upcoming superhero co-op game, as well as details on which platforms it’ll be landing on.

Much like Rocksteady’s upcoming Suicide Squad game, Gotham Knights will only be available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. There will be no PS4 or Xbox One version of the game, as Warner Bros. Montreal explained in a press release that it’s aiming to provide the “best possible” gameplay experience using the more powerful hardware available.

The game’s PlayStation store page was updated yesterday and mentioned online support for up to “4 network players” but Warner Bros. Games confirmed to PCGamesN that Gotham Knights only has two-player co-op for its campaign. Whether the game also features some other mode that supports up to four players remains to be seen.

In case you missed it, the latest gameplay trailer for Gotham Knights has gone live and showcases Red Hood and Nightwing in action. Nightwing can fight crime with his unique acrobatic offense and can move around the city with an aerial glider, while Red Hood sticks to his guns and has a powerful leap ability.

Set in a Gotham City where Batman is definitely dead and the Court of Owls has begun moving out of the shadows, it’ll be up to players to restore law and order as one of four playable characters, with the roster also including Batgirl and Tim Drake’s incarnation of Robin.

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Intel: Desktop Arc A-Series Launch Now Staggers in to Q3’22

Ahead of Intel’s Vision event this morning, the company has published a short update on the status of the ongoing launch of their Arc family of GPUs. Penned by VP and GM of Intel’s Visual Compute Group, Lisa Pearce, the blog post addresses a few questions around the Arc launch, and particularly when we should expect to see the launch of Intel’s first desktop cards.

Starting there first, Pearce has announced that the desktop Arc launch has for all practical purposes slipped, with Intel now outlining a more staggered approach to their desktop launch. The first Arc desktop products were previously slated to launch later in Q2, and while this technically remains true, Intel’s Q2 launch plans are now limited to the Chinese market. The worldwide launch of the first desktop Arc products will then follow that in Q3 of this year.

Furthermore, that initial launch is going to be limited to the low end (3-series) parts of the Arc product stack, all of which are based around the ACM-G11 GPU. This is the same GPU that’s being used in Intel’s first wave of mobile Arc products, as well, so like in mobile, Intel is starting small and working their way up on the desktop. The desktop launch of the rest of Intel’s stack, the mid-range Arc 5 and high-end Arc Arc 7 products, will then follow in late summer. This will be a worldwide launch, however Pearce is very careful to note that it’s initially for “OEMs and system integrators”, with a retail release to follow later.

Given Intel’s slow, regional-focused rollout of their first Arc mobile products, these developments are not entirely unexpected. As Pearce accurately notes in her blog post, Intel tends to launch low-end (and low-volume) parts in China first, which is something we saw last year with the release of Intel’s Iris Xe (DG1) products. Compared in particular to the North American and European markets, the Chinese market is far more weighted towards entry-level parts, and logistically it makes for an easier launch since this is where many boards and board components are made to begin with.

Intel Arc Launch Decoder
 
Arc 3 Mobile
Arc 5 & 7 Mobile
Arc 3 Desktop
Arc 5 & 7 Desktop
China: OEM
Launched
Early Summer
Q2
Later This Summer
China; Retail
–
–
After OEMs
After OEMs
Rest of World: OEM
Shipping Now
Early Summer
Q3
Later This Summer
Rest of World: Retail
–
–
After OEMs
After OEMs

Meanwhile, Pearce’s blog post also offers an update on the ongoing rollout of Intel’s Arc mobile products. Acknowledging that Arc 3 laptop shipments are behind schedule, according to Pearce Intel has been hamstrung by a combination of unspecified software issues and China’s significant COVID lockdowns. As a result, Arc 3 laptops are only now finally becoming available on a worldwide level.

With the kinks apparently worked out, Intel is now preparing for the launch of the first mobile Arc 5 and Arc 7 products. Like Arc 3, the mobile parts will debut first. According to Pearce, the first Arc 5 and Arc 7 laptops will be available early this summer, hinting at a post-Computex (and likely Q3) release.

Overall, Intel has been planning a relatively modest launch from the start, with just a bit over 4 million GPUs slated for 2022. So the silver lining to their multiple schedule delays, at least, is that the company is getting some of the kinks worked out of the process while they’re still dealing with what’s ultimately small potatoes.  With future generations the stakes will go up – and so will the expectations.

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Spooky Unreal Engine 5 Train Station Looks Way Too Realistic

Japan’s borders might be closed to foreign visitors for a few more weeks, but one artist has managed to create a stunning replica of that country’s Etchu-Daimon train station inside of Unreal Engine 5 that’s well worth visiting.

With some added effects from the Lumen lighting software, 3D artist Lorenzo Drago did all the modeling, texturing, and animation in the video that’s embedded below. The end result is an astonishingly realistic recreation of the train station that was built entirely from reference material and by hand, minus the foliage that was provided by Quixel Megascans.

“For this project, I wanted to get as close to photorealism as possible,” Drago explained on his ArtStation account. “I used camera matching to get accurate proportions and made careful use of reference. I adjusted the measurements afterwards to help with modularity. Aside from detail textures and alphas created from photographs, I created all textures from scratch in Painter and made custom materials in Unreal for use with vertex painting or masks to break up repetition.”

To get the video feeling like it had been shot on a handheld camera, Drago said that he used real-time VR tracking to emulate the effect. While you shouldn’t expect future games built in the Unreal Engine 5 to boast this level of fidelity yet, Drago’s project is a great example of what Epic’s new software is capable of.

Since it officially launched last month, Unreal 5 has been adopted by a number of studios that are using it to develop their next games. The next Witcher game has switched from CD Projekt Red’s internal engine to Unreal, Crystal Dynamics has begun work on a new Tomb Raider with the software, and Gears of War developer The Coalition recently showed off some of its latest Unreal Engine 5 projects.

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Review Roundup For Salt And Sacrifice

Salt and Sacrifice, the sequel to acclaimed 2016 indie Souls-like Salt and Sanctuary, released this week for the PC, PS4, and PS5, and reviews are starting to come out. Salt and Sacrifice retains many of the same features as its predecessor, featuring hand-drawn visuals and side-scrolling action, as well as adding new elements like a new multiplayer hub area.

Early reviews are mixed to positive, with many reviewers saying the sequel unfortunately doesn’t live up to the promise of its predecessor. Salt and Sacrifice currently sports an aggregated score of 73 on GameSpot sister site Metacritic, while the original Salt and Sanctuary has a “generally favorable” score of 84. Here’s what critics are saying about the sequel.

Game: Salt And SacrificePlatforms: PC, PS4, PS5Developer: Ska StudiosRelease Date: March 10Price: $20

TheGamer – 4.5/5

“It cannot be understated how compelling this game feels. It takes all the best things from its inspirations and blends them together in a way that works. It’s a game with the combat of a Soulslike, the gameplay loop of a Monster Hunter, and the exploration of a Metroidvania, all set against a beautiful backdrop – conflicting flavours that come together to form a delicious experience. It’s greater than the sum of its parts, and it’s a game I won’t be putting down for a very long time.” — Ryan Thomas Bamsey [Full review]

Twinfinite – 4/5

“While Salt and Sacrifice does bring a few new things to the table, for better or for worse, it’s still largely the same 2D side-scrolling RPG experience that we’ve played all those years ago.” — Zhiquing Wan [Full review]

Screen Rant – 3/5

“Salt & Sacrifice has the potential to be a great game, but it badly needs balancing fixes to allow it to live up to its potential, especially in regard to its battle system. A few tweaks to the stamina meter, the dodge roll and blocking mechanics, and the enemy attack patterns would do wonders for the game, as would a way to skip the chasing sequences and jump straight to the Mage bosses. As it stands, Salt & Sacrifice is a game full of frustrating moments that bog down the rest of the experience.” — Scott Baird [Full review]

WellPlayed – 6.5/10

“I’m a little disappointed in Salt and Sacrifice. It’s certainly not a bad game, but it makes a lot of changes that remove the charm and heart of the original, favouring more standardised mechanics instead. One of the more egregious design choices is definitely the new hunt system for named and nameless mages, which creates an arbitrary progression block and breaks the flow of the game. I’m not sure what happened between this game and its predecessor, but the graceful understanding of Metroidavanias as a whole is lost in this game, and what remains is not as compelling as the original.” — Jordan Garcia [Full review]

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Pokemon Go’s Water Festival Returns This Week

Pokemon Go‘s Water Festival is back again for 2022, bringing with it a handful of new Pokemon debuts, a new Legendary raid, event bonuses, and more. The event will include the debut of Dewpider and its evolution, Araquanid, as well as a new version of Lapras sporting a festive blue scarf, with the Water Festival running from 10 AM on Thursday May 12 to 8 PM on Friday May 20 in players’ local time.

New Pokemon Dewpider can be caught from wild encounters, appearing more frequently for the duration of the event. Dewpider can also be caught from field research encounters, and players can use 50 Dewpider candy to evolve Araquanid.

As well as the new debut, two new variants of existing Pokemon are being added into the game. The first is a new version of Lapras, all dressed up in a blue scarf for the Water Festival. The scarf-wearing Lapras will be available from three-star raids, and rarely will show up in Field Research encounters. Players will also be able to buy their avatar a matching Water Festival scarf from the in-game shop.

Pokemon Go has also added a new shiny version of barnacle Pokemon Binacle for the first time, with chances to encounter both regular and shiny Binacle from wild encounters, hatching from eggs, and showing up in Field Research encounters.

A new five-star raid has also been added, giving players the chance to catch Legendary Pokemon Tapu Fini, the guardian deity of Poni Island.

As well as all the water-themed Pokemon that will be showing up more often for the duration of the event, which you can check out on the Pokemon Go blog, a handful of bonuses will also be in play. During the Water Festival, Rainy Lure Modules will last for two hours, and players will get double Candy and increased Candy XL when they hatch eggs. Trainers will also be able to unlock a special Global Challenge bonuse reward of double Candy for catching Pokemon, which will be unlocked when 600,000,000 Water-type Pokemon have been caught globally during the event.

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Epic Games Defeats Fortnite Cheater In Court, Donates Settlement To Charity

Epic Games took a Fortnite cheater to court in Australia, with the end result being the cheater apologizing publicly, closing down his business of selling cheated and compromised accounts, and paying Epic for damages, which the company will donate to charity.

According to documents obtained by GameSpot, the Federal Court of Australia determined Brandon Despotakis–better known online as BlazeFN–violated the Fortnite end user license agreement (EULA) and terms of service, infringed on Epic’s copyright, and unlawfully sold in-game accounts and cheats to other players. The ruling comes a year after the proceedings began in April 2021.

Listings for the illegal BlazeFN shop items include aimbots, limited-time “Full Access V-Bucks accounts” and “inactive” accounts that included rare or popular skins and pre-completed battle passes, among other illegal offerings. Artwork for BlazeFN’s various shop items were made to resemble Fortnite’s Item Shop.

It’s unclear how many cheats and accounts were actually sold or whether other similar legal proceedings are underway, following the ruling in favor of Epic and against the illegal BlazeFN shop. It can be surmised that those who bought BlazeFN accounts will also be subject to penalties in-game, at the very least–though it’s not known whether Epic is pursuing those buyers specifically. Selling or buying accounts in Fortnite is a breach of the game’s terms even when cheats aren’t involved.

Epic offered a statement on the subject as a whole: “Selling compromised player accounts and cheat technologies puts people’s information at risk and ruins the experience for people who are playing fairly. We take the illegal sale of these items seriously and we’ll pursue all available options to make sure our games remain fun, fair and never pay-to-win.”

Despotakis released his own statement on Twitter on May 9, one week after the settlement was reached, according to the Consent Order. In it, he explicitly told would-be buyers to not ask him about Fortnite cheats or player accounts anymore. “I’d like to apologize to the Fortnite community. What I did was illegal and gave players an unfair advantage over other people who play by the rules. I won’t do this ever again.”

As part of the settlement, Despotakis must also pay damages to Epic in an amount agreed to by both parties. The total of those damages, while not shared with GameSpot, will be donated to Child’s Play, a charity which is dedicated to improving the lives of children and teens in children’s hospitals around the world.

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Pokemon Nintendo Switch Games Get Big Discounts At Amazon

If you’re new to the Nintendo Switch or missed out on some of the Pokemon games that have released over the past few years, now’s your chance to snag them for low prices at Amazon. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Pokemon Sword and Shield are on sale for $40 each. These are brand-new copies with free Prime shipping, so you’ll be playing within a couple of days. It’s rare to see Pokemon games on sale for $40–even during the holidays–so it’s possible that these deals will sell out quickly.

The deal on Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is particularly notable considering the remakes of the Gen 4 Pokemon games just came out last holiday. While we’ve seen some $10 discounts here and there, this is the first time we can recall brand-new copies going for $40–which is often the lowest price you’ll find Switch exclusives for when on sale.

The adorable remakes earned a 7/10 in our Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl review. For fans of the traditional Pokemon journey, the remakes are charmingly nostalgic. Meanwhile, Pokemon Sword and Shield moved the franchise forward in interesting ways with a world that offers more freedom than its predecessors as well as live-service elements and DLC campaigns that gave trainers a reason to keep coming back for more adventures.

It’s a busy year for Pokemon thanks to the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus earlier a few months back and the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the next pair of mainline Pokemon games that will usher in a new generation for the series. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet preorders are available now, and if you’re interested in Arceus, you can save 10% on your order at Walmart right now.

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CoD: Warzone Operation Monarch Event Start Times And Details

Call of Duty Season 3 is set to introduce one of the biggest events yet to Warzone, with the Operation Monarch event bringing Godzilla and King Kong to battle across Caldera. Here is everything you need to know about this monster-sized event.

Operation Monarch event start time

Warzone’s Operation Monarch is scheduled to begin on May 11 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET, and while the end date is uncertain, players can likely expect the event to run for at least a full week.

Event details

Season 3 launched on April 27 with thematic map updates to Caldera to prepare for the arrival of Godzilla and King Kong. Players can already find monster bones unearthed at the newly added Dig Site point of interest, King Kong’s giant axe sticking out of the ground near the Resort, and many small references and symbols can be found related to Monarch, the mysterious scientific organization featured in 2014’s Godzilla.

Activision is mostly keeping the details of the Monsterverse event under wraps, but the publisher did reveal that Operation Monarch will introduce a new game mode for Warzone. The limited-time mode will be played in a quads playlist, which will be based on several classic battle royale experiences with a “titan-sized twist.”

Godzilla and King Kong-themed operator bundles

Players looking to spend some cash can purchase fancy operator bundles featuring Godzilla and King Kong-themed skins.

The Tracer Pack: Godzilla Reactive Mastercraft bundle is already available ahead of the Operation Monarch event. The 9-item bundle is available for 2,400 CoD Points ($20). It comes with a “Godzilla Ghillie” skin, the Breath of Godzilla assault rifle, and the Awakened Alpha light machine gun, the Gojira Stomp finishing move, and more.

With the launch of Operation Monarch, King Kong will get a bundle of his own. The Tracer Pack: Kong bundle is a 9-item pack that includes three Legendary rarity weapon blueprints: the “Temple of Kong” sniper rifle and “Skull Island Shaker” submachine gun which shoot jungle green tracers, as well as a variant of the “Skål Crusher” melee weapon. The rest of Kong’s bundle includes a finishing move, a spray, weapon charm, animated emblem, and a Vanguard-exclusive Highlight Intro.

Gallery

Finally, the third bundle is the 9-item Tracer Pack: Mechagodzilla bundle featuring the Mechagodzilla operator skin for Constanze. The Mechagodzilla bundle comes with eight other items, including an MVP Highlight and the Highlight intro as Vanguard exclusive items.

The Kong and Mechagodzilla bundles should also be priced the same as Godzilla’s bundle at 2,400 CoD Points ($20) per pack.

In other news, Modern Warfare 2’s logo was recently revealed, and here is everything we know about Infinity Ward’s upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 release. Warzone 2 has already been announced to be in development alongside this year’s Call of Duty.

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