Nvidia confirmed the GeForce RTX 40 Super series, and they’re out this month

Nvidia have resurrected their Super refresh branding for a new trio of GeForce graphics cards: the RTX 4070 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4080 Super. The announcement, part of the GPU giant’s CES 2024 showcase, was light on specifics about gaming performance – but all three promise marked improvements on their 40 series predecessors. And, in the RTX 4080 Super’s case, even a big ol’ price drop.

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Screenshot Saturday Mondays: Space, mechs, and photographing draculas

Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter’s #screenshotsaturday tag. And every Monday, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. This week, my eye has been caught by games with mechs, games set in space, games with aerial action, a game where you take photographs of draculas, and many more. Check out these attractive and interesting indie games!

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Former Activision exec sues Call of Duty publisher for discrimination against “old white guys”

An unnamed former Activision executive is taking the Call of Duty publisher to court in California, accusing the company of age discrimination and violating the state’s whistleblower protection law. Said executive is a 57-year-old who worked at the company from 2014; apparently, he and six other men aged 47 or older were cut from a team of 200, as part of broader Activision Blizzard restructuring efforts last August.

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HP Omen Transcend 16 review: a slim and proper gaming laptop

Even with the rising power of integrated graphics, the prospects of getting high-quality, high-rez gaming capability in a laptop of ultrabook proportions is still years from becoming a feasible reality. Until then, slimmer gaming laptops like the HP Omen Transcend 16 remain the closest approximation of that dream, cramming discrete GPUs – the Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060, in this case – into lighter, narrower chassis designs.

The usual catch with such devices, sadly, is an overeagerness to appear aspirational. Which is, to be clear, the nicest thing I can say about a Razer Blade 16 costing £2500 for its own RTX 4060 model. Despite the name, however, the Omen Transcend 16 is much more down to earth – it still offers enough premium trappings to feel like a step up from chunkier laptops, but at its current pricing of £1199 / $1429, it’s a fair trade as well. And it supports Nvidia DLSS 3, dash of futureproofing tech that might just soothe any worries about buying a 2023-spec PC in 2024.

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The Maw – 8th-13th January 2024

Welcome to another instalment of the Maw, our weekly live round-up of all things New and videogame-flavoured, as we continue our eternal efforts to appease the festering dark god of gossip and reportage. I asked the Maw if it had any 2024 resolutions last Friday, and it responded with the brain-splitting clamour of a million fell voices crying out in anguish. I have run this through our Chthonic Translator and the short version is that it wants to get down the gym now and then.

Some new game releases we are tip-toeing towards with our shields raised this week, in case they turn out to be Mimics: Allison Road-inspired horror Supernormal (8th Jan), free turn-based dungeon crawler Buriedbornes2 (10th Jan), medical management sim War Hospital (11th Jan), feudal Chinese spin-off Reigns: Three Kingdoms (11th Jan), pleasingly nonsensically-named retro RPG Crystal Story: Dawn of Dusk (13th Jan).

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Reigns: Three Kingdoms arrives on PC next week

Reigns is a kingdom management game which boils narrative choice down to its simplest form, by presenting the player with a long series of binary choices they swipe left or right on. From that basic interaction, it spins enjoyable yarns with some strategic underpinnings.

It’s had several followups and spin-offs since, and it’s about to get another. Reigns: Three Kingdoms, which lets you swipe your way through anccient China, will launch on January 11th.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 has a touching tribute to a fan’s dad – and CRPG fan – living with Alzheimer’s

Baldur’s Gate 3 is crammed full of memorable, moving stories. At least one of those stories extends far beyond the Forgotten Realms into the real world too, as a fan has revealed the heartfelt tribute that developers Larian included to their father – a long-time CRPG player – diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

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