After a brief hiccup on Friday (May 30), Void War has finally launched! Command an ancient starship and fight your way to the heart of a dying Empire. Fend off attacks from demented cultists, craven space pirates, and xenophobic Imperial soldiers. Discover powerful artifacts and use them to build your ship into a fearsome war engine.

In Void War, you take on the role of an outcast starship commander seeking the fabled Vault of Souls. Journey through 6 sectors that test your decision-making skills in a dark, techno-gothic galaxy. Put your ship and crew to the test against one of the multiple available bosses. Void War features a streamlined map interface that focuses on strategic decision-making. Say goodbye to the days of having your run tanked by forgetting to double-check pathing decisions on the star map. Points of interest such as merchants and repair points are telegraphed in advance, so you can always plan your route with maximum tactical awareness.

Acer was late with its contribution of custom RDNA 4 graphics card; introductory press material was issued after the fact, and potential buyers have waited a while for retail stock to reach end destinations. The Taiwanese manufacturer's opening salvo consisted of premium "Predator BiFrost" and sub-flagship "Nitro" overclocked Radeon RX 9070 XT models, but non-XT options did not launch at the same time. This morning, VideoCardz noted the availability of Predator BiFrost RX 9070 OC 16 GB cards in Japan. The company's regional office has opened its direct-to-customer order book; to the tune of 128,800 yen (including sales tax) per unit—converting to roughly ~$902 (USD).

Unlike XT equivalents, Acer's Predator BiFrost OC and Nitro OC RX 9070 models feature two 8-pin power connectors (instead of three units). Currently, the Geizhals/Skinflint price aggregator denotes stock—of both SKUs—being present at e-tailers in Germany and Austria. According to comparisons, the best Predator BiFrost RX 9070 OC deal comes in at €709 (inc. VAT), at GALAXUS. PLAYOX and Office-Partner.de offer the lowest Nitro RX 9070 OC price tags: €669 (inc. VAT), plus €4.99 processing fees. Acer has not publicly disclosed the reasons behind subsequent sluggish launches of its RDNA 4 portfolio. Curiously enough, Yeston—best known for dealing in eccentric card designs—foresaw a post-April stabilization of Radeon RX 9070 series shipments.

We wanted to give you a quick update on the estimated shipping schedule for our upcoming CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller. Over the past few weeks, we've run into some inbound component delays with our manufacturing partner—largely due to ongoing uncertainty around international tariffs and broader supply chain challenges. As a result, we're making a slight adjustment to our estimated shipping windows to finalize production and better navigate the current logistics environment.

While we've taken steps to mitigate the impact of tariffs, a portion of these costs must be passed on. All U.S. pre-orders placed before June 1 will be honored at their original price. International pricing remains unchanged at this time. All pre-orders placed before June 1 on crkd.gg—U.S. and international—will also receive a complimentary CRKD Gradient Guitar Strap and Collector's Pin.

Around mid-February, South Korean sources alleged that NVIDIA was in the process of developing an innovative new memory form factor. The System on Chip Advanced Memory Module (SOCAMM) design is reportedly a collaborative effort. Team Green's usual set of memory partners—SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron—were mentioned in early 2025 news articles. Just over a month later, official press material revealed a key forthcoming deployment—Micron stated: "(our) SOCAMM (product), a modular LPDDR5X memory solution, was developed in collaboration with NVIDIA to support the NVIDIA GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Superchip. In a (rumored) blow to all involved parties, ZDNet Korea posits that Team Green has postponed the commercialization of their "next-generation low-power DRAM module" IP. According to industry moles, the SOCAMM standard will not debut with this generation of enterprise-focused "Grace-Blackwell" chips. Instead, fresher theories indicate a postponement into next-gen territories—possibly rescheduled to arrive alongside the firm's "Rubin" GPU architecture.

NVIDIA has reportedly sent out notices to major memory partners—(alleged) May 14 updates were received by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix (in South Korea) and Micron (USA). As a result, SOCAMM supply timelines are (apparently) adjusted. A newer "Cordelia" board design—acting as a substrate for GB300 chips, and compatible with SOCAMM—was in the picture. The latest whispers suggest a return to an existing "Bianca" board configuration, that supports current-gen LPDDR memory modules. ZDNet believes that company engineers have run into several obstacles: "Blackwell chips have been continuously experiencing difficulties in securing design and packaging yields. In fact, the 'Cordelia' board is known to have reliability issues, such as data loss, and SOCAMM has reliability issues, such as heat dissipation characteristics." NVIDIA briefly previewed its futuristic "Rubin Ultra" AI GPU design during GTC 2025—on-stage, a "second half of 2027" release window was teased.

Today, Grimlore Games and THQ Nordic shared another update on the development of Titan Quest II, revealing both community insights from the recent playtest and a revised Early Access timeline.

Originally slated for a Winter 2024/2025 release, Titan Quest II will now launch in Early Access in Summer 2025. The decision comes in response to a crowded ARPG release window and a desire to give the game the spotlight it deserves.

Taiwan's electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers are accelerating their North American production plans in response to tariff threats, but component shortages and capacity constraints at US chip plants could hamper the AI server market for years, according to industry sources.

"Since Trump's election, Taiwanese manufacturers have been strategically expanding their US presence," said Yen Chou, an analyst at DIGITIMES Research. "Most server manufacturers are concentrating in Texas, with Foxconn's FII already operating there and planning expansions."

Rockstar has just announced that Grand Theft Auto VI will be delayed to May 26th, 2026, and will not be coming this Fall, as announced earlier. While no precise details were given, Rockstar has released a brief statement saying that the interest and excitement around the next Grand Theft Auto has been truly humbling for the entire team, and hope that Grand Theft Auto VI will live up to, and exceed those expectations.

Grand Theft Auto VI is now set to release on May 26, 2026.
We are very sorry that this is later than you expected. The interest and excitement surrounding a new Grand Theft Auto has been truly humbling for our entire team. We want to thank you for your support and your patience as we work to finish the game.
With every game we have released, the goal has always been to try and exceed your expectations, and Grand Theft Auto VI is no exception. We hope you understand that we need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve.
We look forward to sharing more information with you soon.

La Quimera—a sci-fi first-person shooter—was revealed two months ago. At the time, introductory press material placed emphasis on the title's development team being staffed by Metro series veterans. Days later, 4A Games stepped in and provided much-needed clarification about this confusing announcement. Fast-forward to the end of last week; Reburn—formerly 4A Games Ukraine—did not launch their debut title on time. An April 25 (Friday) release date was announced earlier in the month, as well as the start of a closed beta program (April 12). Review outlets did receive evaluation copies, prior to last Friday's intended launch—early impressions were mixed, and significant performance issues were noted on cutting-edge PC platforms. Aditionally, according to PC Gamer: "(Reburn's) closed beta planned for April 12 was delayed until April 19—less than a week before the scheduled launch—and then, according to multiple users on Steam, ran for less than 24 hours before being taken down. The reaction to the beta among those who were able to get in was also not universally positive."

Currently, La Quimera's release status on Steam is listed as "coming soon." Reburn will issue more details about adjusted plans in the near future. Dmytro Lymar—the studio's CEO and co-founder—provided a short explanation via an official Discord channel. He mentioned that the team ran into "some unforeseen challenges"—going into further detail: "we'd like to apologize for the unexpected delay in getting La Quimera out to you, our fans and supporters...Our team here at Reburn has been working hard on the game, and it being our first title as an independent game developer has led to some unforeseen challenges. We are trying our best to address the matters as quickly as possible, while also navigating the circumstances we're faced with here; in the Ukraine." PC Gamer reckons that La Quimera's gestation period could be extended until late 2025.

A part of AMD's enthusiast fanbase scoffed at the prospect of a rumored Radeon RX 9070 GRE 12 GB model arriving ahead of—officially teased—lower end RDNA 4 options. This new generation's "Great Radeon Edition" seemed to be heading into mass production; according to insider track information. Last week, fairly legitimate specifications leaked out and TechPowerUp's GPU-Z utility was updated with support for this slightly mysterious Navi 48 GPU-based gaming card. Members of the Board Channels forum have heard fresh whispers from industry moles—most likely from AIBs—regarding a possible delay of Team Red's Radeon RX 9070 GRE design. Alleged initial plans suggested an original release at retail; on May 8. Further conjecture points to a revised Q4 2025 launch window—perhaps just before November 11. The same Board Channel report also mentioned an expedited rollout of AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT cards—earlier theories signalled an early June (aka post-Computex 2025) arrival, but insiders now posit May 18.

Dear Sleepers, These are exciting times, we're closing in on launch, and we've just initiated a major preview beta where hundreds of journalists and content creators are playing the early parts of the game and will be releasing their coverage on April 25th. These past few weeks we've been steadily gearing up, releasing the Character Creator & Benchmark Mode back in February, starting pre-orders in March, and continuing to release new livestreams, videos, and details to keep you informed.

We want to thank everyone who has shared in our excitement. It's been a joy reading all your comments across the various community channels. Our ongoing Persistent Closed Beta is also continuing in full force, with regular updates, and the feedback we've been collecting from beta testers has been invaluable in making sure we can launch a quality game. We have a very active Discord going with our beta testers where our developers can interact directly with them to ensure we collaboratively make Dune: Awakening a better game.

Not too long after delivering its in-depth Switch 2 showcase, Nintendo of America and retail partners postponed pre-launch reservations for the forthcoming hybrid gaming console. An official announcement stated: "pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged." The vast majority of industry watchdogs reckon that company will be assessing an adjustment of launch day product MSRPs. Last week's North American presentation outlined price points of $449.99 and $499.99; for a standard package and a Mario Kart World Pack (respectively). Theorized adjustments could extend to physical copies of games, as well as accessories; e.g. the Switch 2 Pro Controller.

Gamers further north—in the neighboring nation of Canada—were relieved about last week's alert being non-applicable to their market region. Up until yesterday, pre-orders were on track at CA$629.99 (base console) and CA$699.99 (with Mario Kart World). Unfortunately, the House of Mario's Canuck branch has confirmed that recent events have had a knock-on effect for local customers. As disclosed in a statement to MobileSyrup, Nintendo of Canada explained: "pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in Canada will not start on April 9, 2025 in order to align with the timing of pre-orders to be determined in the U.S....Nintendo will provide updated information at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged." MobileSyrup's report was updated yesterday evening; with links to social media bulletins posted by the regional arms of Walmart and GameStop. Both retail outlets repeated Nintendo of Canada's disappointing message.

Thank you for all your amazing feedback! It's incredible that 60,000 of you played our demo and helped us test Descenders Next. It's been incredible watching everyone play, and reading through your feedback has blown us away, so a massive thank you from all of us at RageSquid and No More Robots! We're driven to make Descenders Next the best it can be, and reading through your feedback you made some great calls. We understand you feel the game needs some tweaks to make it feel like the ultimate Descenders experience, and we agree!

You hit on a few bits in your feedback that we want to iron out before we launch into early access. The team are already on it, adding in some highly requested features like key bindings, the first-person camera and the return of Enemy, Kinetic and Arboreal, but others will be a bigger undertaking. This means getting Descenders Next ready for early access launch will take a little bit longer than we were anticipating, so we're going to give the game a little bit more time in the oven, and push the launch date back. We don't have a date for you just yet, as we're making sure that we've taken all your feedback on board and got our changes just right, but we're not going to keep you waiting too long.

Hello Kindred, we would like to share an update on the development and release window of Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. As Marco explained in the video (view it below), Bloodlines 2 will not be ready for release in the first half of 2025. Paradox Interactive and The Chinese Room are committed to delivering this game, and we believe that ensuring great technical quality is more important than sticking to a specific date.

The game is currently in a late development stage, and feedback from the community has been taken into account during this time. TCR is working hard on quality assurance to ensure it is stable and free of bugs that could disrupt the player experience. Bloodlines 2 will launch in October 2025 when the game meets the technical quality standards that you, our fans, rightfully expect and deserve. Please stay tuned for the game's exact launch date. We want to ensure that the content we share with you is high-quality and showcases exciting game features. With this updated release timeline, we will pause our development diaries so that the team can concentrate on refining the game.

The launch of Grand Theft Auto VI is such a hotly anticipated game launch that Corsair seems to think the game's PC launch will have a noticeable effect on the sales of gaming hardware and peripherals. Some fans have even speculated that 2K was planning the launch of Borderlands 4—itself a sequel to a massively popular franchise—around the expected launch of GTA VI. While this was previously mere speculation, comments from publishers lend credence to this theory. According to The Game Business, as many as three major game publishers have said that they are preparing to shift their game launches so that they don't get completely overshadowed by the launch of GTA VI.

The unnamed studios specifically called out GTA VI in their comments, with concerns ranging from gamers spending all their time and money on GTA VI to the new GTA title simply dominating the news cycle and making other games fall through the cracks. Several live-service game developers also commented that they would be delaying any updates to their games, with one suggesting a three-to-four week window would be the expected safe zone for most developers. It should be noted that this "safe zone" is both before and after the expected release of GTA VI, so there may be a wave of games and updates just before and just after GTA VI. While GTA VI wasn't directly mentioned, EA CEO, Andrew Wilson, has previously stated that "some things happening in the year that may cause us to think differently about our launch timing," specifically talking about the launch of Battlefield 6, which is currently slated for release before the end of Q1 2026.

Analogue's modern reimagining of Nintendo's N64 home console has hit another pre-release obstacle. Their Analogue 3D model was first revealed in 2023, with a projected 2024 launch on the cards. The system has experienced a series of setbacks—prior to the latest official announcement, customers were expecting to receive finalized hardware by now (first quarter of 2025). Once again, the company has revised release timeframes for its $249.99 FPGA-powered console—according to an official "3D Preorder FAQ": "Analogue 3D was originally available for pre-order at the end of 2024, (and) scheduled to ship Q1 2025. Shipping is delayed (as of March 18th, 2025) and is now shipping by July 2025. We are working hard to get your 3D order in hands ASAP, and appreciate your patience. If you have an open pre-order no action is needed. As always, if you'd like to cancel your pre-order at any time, Analogue has always had a no questions asked, 100% refund policy for pre-orders."

Analogue's promotional materials showcase a very slick-looking premium reinterpretation (in black or white) of the classic N64 system. The R&D team spent: "nearly four years engineering it in FPGA. No more incompatibilities found in software emulation like input lag, graphic/audio inaccuracies, timing/frame rate issues and more. For the first time, you can re-experience the N64 exactly as it was meant to be, without compromise." According to product pages, a controller is not bundled in with the Analogue 3D package. Authentic front panel connectors indicate customers having to reuse original "trident-shaped" N64 (NUS-005) controllers, or third-party equivalents. Certain promo shots show off 8BitDo's recently introduced 64 Bluetooth Controller. Given Analogue's revised schedule, this wireless gamepad is expected to arrive weeks ahead of its natural partner piece.

Inet AB—one of the largest Swedish e-tail stores—has alerted its customer base with foreboding information. NVIDIA and its board partners are expected to launch GeForce RTX 5070 graphics cards tomorrow (March 5)—reviews have started to trickle out; including TechPowerUp's freshly-published evaluation of the Founders Edition. According to the Scandinavian shop's blog, they anticipate major supply problems: "unfortunately it looks like we won't be able to release the cards then. This is simply because we don't seem to be getting any cards in stock. Just like with other models in the RTX 50 series, we will release new cards one by one as they land in stock, and only make a fuss in cases where we might receive large deliveries." A week and a half ago, supply chain insiders alluded to significant problems that have reportedly affected GeForce RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 production pipelines.

Like many other global PC hardware retail outlets involved in the sale of "Blackwell" GPUs, Inet has offered helpful guidelines in anticipation of limited shipments: "we hope to start releasing cards and (pre-built) computers with GeForce RTX 5070 in the coming weeks. If you want to buy RTX 5070, we recommend that you keep an eye on inet.se and use 'Notify me' on each product page, then you will receive an email when we release them for order. Keep in mind, however, that many people use this function, so the cards may run out quickly after the email goes out." VideoCardz and Australia's Hardware Unboxed have both predicted a grand battle between GeForce RTX 5070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT cards. Team Green tends to stick to its intended release schedules—according to industry watchdogs—even in the face of mounting problems. The tides could be turning again; recent events have allegedly pushed the global launch of GeForce RTX 5060 cards into April.

Xbox has pushed back the launch of its awaited Fable remake, instead of coming out in 2025, it's now set to hit shelves in 2026. Craig Duncan, who took charge of Xbox Game Studios, broke this news on the latest episode of the Official Xbox Podcast. Playground Games, the team behind Forza Horizon, has the job of making the new Fable game as they told us about it back in 2020.

"We previously announced the date for Fable as 2025. We are actually going to give Fable more time, and it's going to ship in 2026 now," Duncan explained. "While I know that's not maybe the news people want to hear, what I want to assure people of is that it's definitely worth the wait." On the podcast, Duncan showed us some early game footage. He said it's "the prettiest version of Albion you've ever laid eyes on". Even though it's taking longer for Fable to be released, Microsoft's game branch looks strong with big games coming soon such as South of Midnight Doom: The Dark Ages (out in May), The Outer Worlds 2, and Ninja Gaiden 4.Xbox podcast follows:

Dear Fellow Hobbits, a good Hobbit feast takes time, and so does Tales of the Shire! We're taking a little longer to ensure that every Hobbit, on every platform, can enjoy the same cozy experience. The game will now launch on July 29, 2025. We want this game to feel like a warm hug from Middle-earth, and we are making sure that no matter where you play, you'll feel right at home in The Shire. From foot-hair styles to the fluffiest cakes, every detail will be just right.

We appreciate your patience and cannot wait for you to experience life in The Shire this summer. In the meantime, arrange the table, polish your silver and get ready for a feast fit for a Hobbit! Looking forward to welcoming you to Bywater.

• From the folks at Weta Workshop Game Studio

FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time is set to release on Wed, May 21st (GMT) for Nintendo Switch, PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X|S and Steam! Check the new trailer (below) showcasing all the things you can do in this Slow-Life RPG, such as the new Treasure Groves. Step into this Slow-Life RPG where you can freely switch between 14 unique jobs, so-called "Lives," and enjoy a carefree life in a fantasy world. Fish, cook, shape the island to your liking, or team up with friends to battle monsters across the vast world.

Initially planned for an April launch, LEVEL5 Inc. has set a new release date to ensure a high-quality product for fans. Due to platform expansion and accompanying graphical improvements, we have reviewed and adjusted the initial sales price to reflect a new price point. We appreciate your continued support and understanding.

Retailers are set to open up pre-order floodgates for upcoming GeForce RTX 50-series laptops on February 25, as we learned earlier this week. According to a new DigiTimes report, the launch of mobile devices—sporting Team Green "Blackwell" GPUs—is expected to be "significantly delayed." A loose March launch window was teased during Jensen Huang's keynote presentation at CES 2025, but supply chain insiders have claimed that high-end RTX 50 laptops were "originally planned to be launched in January 2025." Additionally, they surmise that mid-range and low-end offerings are postponed to April. DigiTimes believes that the rumored postponements have surprised supply chain moles; Team Green is not known to delay product launches. Extenuating circumstances are cited as the reason behind alleged deferred release windows, but insiders have not yet determined the extent of lengthened launch parameters.

An anonymous source stated: "NVIDIA, which has never been late in the past, also encountered this situation. It is probably related to NVIDIA's full sprint to AI servers. Even though there are differences in server and PC chip design and manufacturing processes, the company's resource allocation may still affect the debugging efficiency of new products." Other insiders have murmured about GeForce RTX 50-series mobile GPU performance not meeting expectations. Rumors have swirled about problems with early sample units; most notably the encountering of major screen issues when the "hardware is turned on." Laptop/notebook supply chain insiders reckon that manufacturers have anticipated a healthy level of growth in 2025—thanks to the emergence of new NVIDIA graphics cards—but targets have been reduced, due to anticipated delays. Optimistic industry chatter predicts higher education students and esport enthusiasts driving unit sales upward, following a stagnant 2024 market.

Austrian PC cooling staple Noctua has revealed substantial timeline adjustments across its 2025 product portfolio, with several highly anticipated launches now facing multi-month delays. The company's flagship NH-D15 G2 CPU cooler in chromax.black variant has been pushed from Q2 to Q3 2025, while the next-generation 120 mm fan series has shifted from Q1 to Q2 2025. The comprehensive roadmap revision, with the next-generation dual-tower CPU cooler notably absent from the 2025 lineup, suggests a potential 2026 release window. The chromax.black version of the NF-A14x25 G2 fan has been rescheduled from Q1 to Q3, and the chromax.The black variant of the next-gen 120 mm fan is now slated for Q4, which represents a significant delay from its initial Q1 target. Despite these setbacks, Noctua has introduced new elements to its roadmap, including an LGA1851 offset mounting kit for the NH-D15 G2, designed to optimize thermal performance for Intel's latest socket configuration.

The company cites quality optimization as a factor in the timeline adjustments, though specific causes remain undisclosed. One bright spot in the announcement is the confirmation that the Seasonic PRIME TX-1600 Noctua Edition power supply will maintain its original restock schedule for Q1 2025. This collaboration product, which launched in late 2024, features Titanium efficiency certification and ATX 3.1 compliance, catering to high-performance systems utilizing current-generation graphics cards like the RTX 5090 and 4090. Noctua plans to showcase its upcoming product lineup at Computex Taipei, where additional details about the revised release schedule and hints of specifications are expected to be revealed. Now, just a few months away, the Computex 2025 looks like one of the most enjoyable shows ever, with the TechPowerUp crew roaming halls looking for interesting products.

According to a fresh leak doing the rounds on the internet, NVIDIA has pushed the launch of its GeForce RTX 5070 GPU all the way to March - suspiciously close to AMD's RDNA 4 launch. The RTX 5070 Ti is still on track for a launch later this month, which can already be seen taking shape going by all the leaked retailer listings. The RTX 5070, has yet to witness any leaked listings, which adds credibility to the claim for sure. MEGAsizeGPU, the source, has further claimed that the GeForce RTX 5070 will "hit shelves" early next month.

Going by some of the rumored performance improvements, that the GeForce RTX 5070 family is poised to bring to the table, it can be said that there is a very real chance that the RDNA 4-based AMD Radeon RX 9070 family will have the upper hand in not just affordability, but also raster performance. Considering the abysmal supply that the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 recently witnessed, it is not unfathomable that the RTX 5070 family will face similarly dire circumstances. Of course, things may change, but the rumored delay surely does not inspire confidence. AMD has a real opportunity to do right by gamers by appropriately pricing its RDNA 4 cards and somehow sorting out its supply chain, although that is yet to be seen.

Earlier this week, MSI's China office admitted that it had only a limited supply of GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards available for launch day. A VideoCardz report from last night points out similar problems affecting retail channels in North America. MSI's official US store has delayed shipments of GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 cards. This announcement was extracted from a conversation conducted via Discord—between a company representative (MSI Spence) and a VideoCardz staffer (WhyCry). In full, MSI stated: "we are going to allow GeForce RTX 5090 pre-orders on January 30, at 6 AM PST—with a ship date of February 6. The GeForce RTX 5080 will be available for purchase on January 30 at 6 AM PST, with an immediate ship date of (same day) January 30. GeForce RTX 5090 pre-orders will open on January 30 at 6 AM PST, with a ship date of February 6."

Additionally, StinceBuilt has corroborated reports of newly adjusted timeframes—the custom PC builder publicly disclosed its own dealings with the NVIDIA board partner: "we're being told by the MSI Team that the MSI RTX 5090 Variants are now being pushed back until February 6th for launch. RTX 5090 Day of Launch is going to be very rough, both on the consumer retail/ecommerce side, and to all system integrators. Stock is minimal at best. Please be patient. We've confirmed this with other shops like ourselves."

We're happy to give you a bit more info about the launch of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage! First, the price of the game will be 39,99€/$39.99/£35.89 when Tape 1 "Bloom" launches on February 18, 2025. This price includes both Tapes, so when Tape 2 launches on April 15 it will simply become an update that you can download which will allow you to play through the rest of the girls' story at your convenience. The game will also be launching with a limited-time discount of 10% until March 4!

You also might have noticed we've changed the date of Tape 2's launch - while Tape 1 is still on schedule, we're postponing the release of Tape 2 by four weeks, from March 18 to April 15, 2025. This game is very special to us, and we want to ensure that you get the experience you deserve while playing, with the extra time going towards additional optimization for a truly immersive continuation of the journey.

MSI's Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ handheld gaming PCs were unveiled late last year—these new models have been rolled out quite quickly; launching within a year of first-generation Claws. The successors feature many improvements—across hardware (Intel Lunar Lake), software and physical properties—when compared to the Meteor Lake-powered originals. MSI appeared ready to not repeat past mistakes—the Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ were showcased at CES 2025 earlier this month, with press material pointing to a North American market launch on January 15. VideoCardz was in the process of preparing a special launch article for the 8-inch model, but many customers have reportedly not received their orders.

Hands-on impressions started to appear on the internet earlier this year, possibly only emerging via Chinese press outlets—today's article claims that international publications have not yet received review samples. According to VideoCardz, MSI had lined up the Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ for an Asian market launch on December 26. Several retailers in the USA have revised shipping dates for the Claw 8 AI+—the likes of Amazon, Newegg and B&H are expecting first shipments next month, somewhere around the 4th to the 12th. MSI's official online store has removed release date information from product pages, and Best Buy has followed suit. Activity on the MSI Claw subreddit provides evidence of lucky customers getting their mitts on first wave units—early impressions (post-unboxing) are promising, but one customer was left puzzled by the absence of extra items. Many handheld enthusiasts have expressed anger about finding it difficult to obtain the basic hardware, but BigShotBosh took issue with MSI's aftermarket extras: "...looks like the travel case, screen protector and dock for the Claw 8 won't be available until March of this year. Talk about a botched rollout."