Diablo IV's new Codex of Power mechanic will bring massive replayability and customization to the game.

Diablo IV has a new game-changing feature called the Codex of Power, which will allow gamers to specifically target buffs and passive bonuses to augment their builds. Blizzard has found a way to effectively turn in-game environments into something that is better than a legendary item; the dungeons themselves are like the prefixes and suffixes from Diablo II. Imagine being able to find some of the best buffs and stats from one item and affix them to other items.

Here's how it works: Every dungeon in Diablo IV has specific loot called an "aspect". This aspect is kind of like a gem from D3 that augments skills and abilities. The aspects are equivalent to the special buffs and powers on legendary items.

PowerColor has already unleashed a bunch of Radeon RX 7900 series Hellhound graphics cards, but it looks like there's a very special edition version of the card hitting the market.

PowerColor's new Radeon RX 7900 XTX Hellhound Special Edition (source: Zhongzheng Evaluation)

PowerColor's new Radeon RX 7900 XTX Hellhound Special Edition graphics card is something a little different, with a beautiful "amethyst purple" lighting design that the company mentions in their press release. But inside of the retail packaging, owners of the new PowerColor Radeon RX 7900 XTX Hellhound Special Edition graphics card are in for a treat.

Inside the retail packaging, you'll get an awesome bundle of gear that will include a sweet PowerColor Hellhound coin, which Zhongzheng Evaluation has compared against the AMD 50th Anniversary coin that packs an AMD Zen 2 CPU die.

YESTON has just unveiled its new Radeon RX 7900 series SAKURA graphics cards, with a truly interesting -- and rather, very, very unique -- design. Check it out:

The new YESTON Radeon RX 7900 series SAKURA graphics cards feature an interestingly-styled "SUGAR" cooling system, with Chinese media reporting that YESTON is using the latest manufacturing techniques for the new graphics cards, which makes the durability of the design higher than other designs on the market.

YESTON is using a combination of injection molding, hot stamping, and laser etching... with some rather wicked results. The company is moving forward with a triple-fan thermal design, with each of the fans rocking a separate color -- purple, blue/green, and pink by looks of things -- with YESTON donning this the "SUGAR" heat dissipation technology.

MSI is preparing a monster new gaming laptop, according to the folks at Notebookcheck, with the next-gen TITAN GT77 gaming laptop rocking a delicious Mini-LED display and monster next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU.

The next-gen MSI TITAN GT77 gaming laptop will reportedly feature a huge 17.3-inch Mini-LED display with a native 3840 x 2160 resolution (4K) and a gloriously smooth 144Hz refresh rate. We're looking at MSI's new TITAN GT77 gaming laptop having DisplayHDR 1000 certification with up to 1000 nits of peak brightness, 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and factory color calibration out of the box.

Inside, MSI's new TITAN GT77 gaming laptop will reportedly feature Intel's new 13th Gen Core-HX series CPUs with up to the 24-core model (8 Performance cores followed by 16 Efficient cores), while on the GPU side of things, we can expect NVIDIA's new monster flagship GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU which should feature 16GB of GDDR6X memory and some truly next-gen mobile GPU power inside. You'll need that to drive the 4K resolution at the huge 144Hz refresh rate.

Sony could release a new PlayStation 5 model in 2023, but it may not be a PS5 Pro with improved performance and power.

In a recent interview with Japanese gaming site Famitsu, Sony Interactive Entertainment Vice President Hideaki Nishino may have teased a new PS5 model that could be announced and/or released in 2023.

Famitsu mentioned that the PS5 was entering its third year, and that the PS4 Pro released in the PS4's third year--would a new revamped PS5 come in 2023 to continue this mid-cycle trend?

Beloved creative director Chris Metzen is returning to Blizzard to help lead the studio during a big transitional period.

Blizzard is changing. On a cultural level, the studio has struggled with sexual harassment allegations, leading to multiple lawsuits and shocking testimony of worker treatment and abuse. Blizzard has also struggled with production: Before Diablo 2 Resurrected's launch in 2021, Blizzard had not released a new product for many years. Now Blizzard management is trying to solve both issues and has recruited studio vets to help make it happen.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, former Blizzard creative Chris Metzen is returning to the studio to help kickstart these new initiatives. Management hopes that Metzen's return will embolden morale and lead to better culture while offering inspiration to workers who are developing new games and content. Metzen could help get Blizzard back on track with culture and production.

Square Enix is bundling all six classic Final Fantasy games from the NES and SNES eras in one collectible package.

It's official: The Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection is coming to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in a physical and collectible format. The all-in-one bundle includes Final Fantasy I - VI but the asking price is a bit steep at $75, which is the same price as the full collection on Steam. The physical editions are exclusive to the Square Enix Store so you'll want to pre-order ASAP to get a copy.

The games are due to ship in May 2023, which is really close to the planned June release date for Final Fantasy 16.

Microsoft could introduce a lower-cost Xbox Game Pass subscription tier that requires users to watch advertisements before they play.

An Xbox user survey may hint at a new cheaper Xbox Game Pass subscription plan in exchange for ads, not unlike the cheaper ad-supported plans that Netflix, Disney, and Paramount+ currently offer. The survey, which is in Spanish and was uploaded to ResetEra, gives an interesting look at what Microsoft could be planning.

According to the questionnaire, Microsoft could offer a tremendously low-cost Game Pass tier for just 3 Euros a month with lots of restrictions. Right now Xbox Game Pass is the most value-oriented video games subscription on the market, and Microsoft could improve subscriber counts by cutting up this value and offering separately-priced pieces.

Microsoft executive Brad Smith makes the case that Xbox needs more first-party content in order to stay competitive, but that isn't exactly true--Microsoft just needs more games.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Technology, Microsoft President Brad Smith laid out more reasons why the company should be able to buy Activision for $68.7 billion. Smith argues that Xbox needs more first-party IPs so that they can adequately compete against Sony's PlayStation brand,

"We're the small entrant. They have 286 exclusive titles. We have 59. We need some more first-party games in order to be a healthier and stronger competitor, and we need to do it in course in a way that doesn't impede competition along the way," Smith said.

Valve confirms it is concepting new SteamOS hardware for all kinds of spaces, including couch gaming in the living room.

Valve has had a push and pull relationship with hardware. Its Steam Machines initiative, which created low-cost (and low-powered) PC "consoles" from multiple OEMs largely failed to gain traction. The VR and handheld gaming fronts are very different stories. The Steam Deck is incredibly popular, and Valve's Index VR is largely seen as the best way to experience dedicated, PC-powered virtual reality.

The PC game store operator has no plans of stopping its hardware ambitions any time soon. Valve is currently focusing heavily on its Steam Deck platform, including new model revisions, as well as VR...but it still isn't giving up on some sort of console-like system for the living room.