Team Cherry first introduced Hollow Knight: Silksong back in February 2019, as a mainline sequel to the first entry (2017) in the series. Since then, the independent Australian development studio and publisher has produced a minimal amount of preview material. The last significant chunk was delivered during an Xbox 2022 presentation. Fast-forward to June (2025); many Metroidvania genre enthusiasts were hoping for some newer signs of life—potentially amid a flurry of special preview events. Pre-event SteamDB updates seemed to point to an imminent announcement of sorts. Days later, Sony's State of Play and Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest did not harbor any fresh Hollow Knight series updates.

Thankfully, yesterday's Xbox Games Showcase provided a hint of things to come. Sarah Bond (President of Xbox) discussed the status of Team Cherry's magnum opus during Microsoft's public unveiling of ASUS ROG's Xbox Ally and Ally X gaming handhelds: "the highly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong will be available at launch, and on Game Pass, when the Ally releases later this year." Unsurprisingly, Team Cherry did not launch a parallel promotion/hype campaign. Instead, Matthew Griffin—the team's resident PR and marketing expert—headed over to the official Hollow Knight Discord community channel, and disclosed some pleasing news: "I confirmed BEFORE Holiday—we are not tied to a console release." When pressed about a specific launch window, Griffin envisioned a pre-Christmas arrival.

Developer and publisher Tripwire Interactive today announced that the highly anticipated next chapter in the studio's legendary Killing Floor franchise, Killing Floor 3, will launch worldwide on July 24 for PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), the PlayStation 5 system, and the Xbox Series X|S console systems. Following a delay from the game's original March 25 release date, the development team has been focused on using the additional time to address feedback from the player community. Since the delay, the studio has shared updates directly with fans showing progress in everything from design, artwork, UI and animations. Additional development updates will be shared via the game's official forums and social channels, further demonstrating the team's commitment to evaluating player feedback and being transparent with their progress. Digital pre-orders for the Standard, Deluxe and Elite Nightfall Editions have been reinstated and are currently live on the respective platform store pages.

"Since delaying the launch of Killing Floor 3, we've dedicated the additional development time to responding to the community's feedback, ensuring the next chapter in the much-loved cult action/horror franchise lives up to our shared vision," said Bryan Wynia, Creative Director at Tripwire Interactive. "The support from our fans has been incredible, and with the new July 24th release date in sight, we're thrilled to bring that vision to players not just at launch, but through the continued support of new features and content that is a hallmark of our studio."

Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. is heating up springtime in Boston with can't miss activations at PAX East, including a brand-new demo for FromSoftware, Inc.'s hotly anticipated next game, ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN. The demo will feature large in an immersive theater on the show floor, where popular content creators will enlist players to take on the game's challenging three-player co-op action, and if successful win prizes for everyone the audience. SHADOW LABYRINTH, the 2D action platformer with a surprising Sci-Fi take on the iconic PAC-MAN, will also be at the show as part of the panel "A Platform for Adventure: Metroidvania Game Makers Roundtable." Organized by Bandai Namco, the panel brings together developers, and (subject matter expert) Jeremy Parish as moderator to discuss the resurgence of the genre.

PAX East 2025 takes place May 8 - 11 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN is located at the Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. booth (#16055). SHADOW LABYRINTH will be on the panel "A Platform for Adventure: Metroidvania Game Makers Roundtable" taking place at 2:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 10, at the Albatross Theater. For show information, visit: www.bandainamcoent.com/events/pax-east.

Hollow Knight: Silksong's long gestation period has frustrated many Team Cherry fans. The Adelaide, Australia-based independent development and publishing house has only released one title: Hollow Knight (2017). The much-anticipated sequel was officially delayed two years ago; a "planned" H1 2023 launch window was scuppered. Since then, Metroidvania genre fanatics have pored over the slightest of new details or external insights. Team Cherry has maintained a very low profile the ensuing years, but hopes were elevated in March. At the time, Microsoft's ID@Xbox initiative boasted about their empowering (aka supplementary funding) of development on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Descenders Next, FBC: Firebreak, and "of course Hollow Knight: Silksong." Early last month, Team Cherry's PR and marketing chief—Matthew Griffin—confirmed that the team was working on versions of Silksong for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 consoles. Aditionally, two new in-game screenshots emerged via Nintendo of Japan's official website.

Fresh signs of activity were welcomed and celebrated by the upcoming game's intended audience. More good news has turned up this week—eagle-eyed observers noticed that The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) will be previewing a playable build later this year. As disclosed within a new exhibit description: "Game Worlds transports you inside the levels of 30 unforgettable video games, from global blockbusters like World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) to pioneer of the life simulation genre The Sims (Electronic Arts), Neopets (World of Neopia) and highly anticipated Australian title Hollow Knight: Silksong, plus more to be announced." The Melbourne-based museum could attract an unprecedented number of paying gamer tourists; playable titles will be showcased until February of next year.

Netmarble and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announce the launch date for the highly anticipated action-adventure RPG title Game of Thrones: Kingsroad - currently scheduled for May 21. A new trailer was released today to celebrate the upcoming release across all mobile platforms, as well as on PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Windows Launcher. Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is set to launch across various territories in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Oceania and the Middle East. Launch timing for Asia will be announced this year.

Steam players who would like to start their journey now can purchase a Founder's Pack that offers Early Access and other exclusive in-game content. Details about the Founder's Packs can be found on the official game page on Steam. Mobile players can pre-register through the App Store and Google Play Store on iOS and Android devices ahead of the grand launch.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the highly-anticipated debut by French independent studio Sandfall Interactive, and published by Kepler Interactive (Tchia, Sifu, Pacific Drive), is now available to purchase worldwide on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S (available now with Xbox Game Pass) and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.

Featuring an original, fantasy world inspired by Belle Époque France, Expedition 33 delivers an emotional, cinematic story brought to life by an incredible voice cast of both video game and cinematic talent in both English and French, including Charlie Cox, Jennifer English, Ben Starr and Andy Serkis. Featuring innovative reactive turn-based battles and deep character build customization, players will embark on a journey across a world of wonder filled with stunning locations, secrets and challenging side content, connected by a fully navigable explorable world map.

Players will get to fight epic battles in SUPER ROBOT WARS Y, slated to release on 28 of August 2025. Part of the SUPER ROBOT WARS series, the title will bring this grid-based tactical JRPG to PC via Steam. Also, digital pre-orders are now opened for PC via Steam. In SUPER ROBOT WARS Y, players will compete in turn-based tactical combat on grid-based maps while controlling a team of pilots with various abilities. They will get to enjoy fan-favorite units from past games, as well brand-new ones to the franchise, including some appearing on console for the very first time.

Conquer fate and embark on a journey into the new saga in SUPER ROBOT WARS Y. Published by Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. and developed by Bandai Namco Forge Digitals Inc. SUPER ROBOT WARS Y is a grid-based tactical combat RPG that brings mechs and pilots from beloved series like Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury Season 1, Code Geass Lelouch of the Re;surrection, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, SSSS.DYNAZENON, Getter Robo Arc, Macross Delta: Passionate Walküre and more to battle mutual foes. The game will be available on consoles and PC beginning August 28.

Up until very recently, the microSD Express format was viewed as a commercial disappointment for involved manufacturers and suppliers. Potential buyers were not attracted to premium price points; as demanded by designs that can leverage (up to) 900 MB/s read speeds. Hermitage Akihabara—a Japanese electronics and computer hardware chain—has tracked an alarmingly sharp climb in demand for microSD Express products. The popular retailer documented this recent trend across several articles, with last week's investigation diving deep into units selling: "at a rate of 337.62 cards per hour!" The upcoming launch of a highly-anticipated mainstream gaming device has seemingly sharply driven up sales of a largely forgotten storage format. Hermitage Akihabara explored this unprecedented turnaround in fortunes: "Nintendo's influence is amazing. The 'microSD Express card,' which had hardly any sales due to lack of use, sold out in an instant as soon as it was announced that it would be used in the Nintendo Switch 2. It was sold out not only in (our) Akihabara shops but also on EC sites nationwide, and it caused such a stir that it was even covered in the general news."

Hermitage Akihabara expects to replenish its stock within a non-specific timeframe—but prices could remain "quite high," due to manufacturers (reportedly) being fairly conservative with production output. The store's "behind the scenes of the microSD Express card sellout" news piece outlined some compelling data points: "our mail order service received a large number of orders. According to the calculations made by the mail order staff, they were selling at a rate of 5.63 units per minute, or 337.62 units per hour, which was also a surprise. Of course, we didn't have that much stock, but it seems that we were selling as much as we had. One interesting thing is that most of the buyers ordered only one copy. At most, three copies were purchased, and more than 80% of people ordered one copy. Most of the buyers were pure users who wanted to save one to use with the Switch 2." As reported earlier in the month, Lexar has readied the world's first 1 TB microSD Express card. Their $199.99 (MSRP) 1 TB PLAY PRO microSDXC Express model is already available to purchase, months in advance of Switch 2's global launch date (June 5). Industry insiders believe that Samsung is collaborating with Nintendo on an "official" range of microSD Express cards.

Are you ready to set sail on an adventure like no other? Following an incredible reception at February's Steam Next Fest and becoming one of the top played demos during the event, Lost Skies, the highly anticipated cooperative open-world survival adventure from Bossa Games, launches into Early Access on April 18th. Whether teaming up with friends or braving the skies alone, get ready to explore an extraordinary universe filled with breathtaking floating islands, rich mysteries, and ever-present dangers high above the clouds.

In Lost Skies, team up with up to five friends to explore four vast, unique floating islands teeming with ancient ruins, intricate puzzles, and hidden secrets. Design and build your own custom skyship that will serve as your home and warship, as you take on colossal enemies in the sky. Master the grappling hook for seamless navigation, harness advanced technology to manipulate gravity, and shape your path through the open skies full of endless possibilities.

NVIDIA and its laptop/notebook manufacturing partners have just about managed a very last minute launch of GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, RTX 5080 Mobile, RTX 5070 Ti Mobile GPU-powered devices at retail. According to the latest reports, yesterday's—March 31—small trickle out of high-end portable "Blackwell" hardware qualified as a launch within the first quarter of 2025. Due to Team Green's GeForce RTX 50 series being affected by ROPs anomalies—across desktop and mobile platforms—involved firms anticipated deliveries being delayed into April. As stated early last month, unnamed industry sources divulged details about official instructions: "manufacturers (must) inspect already-produced notebooks with new mobile GeForce RTX 5000 graphics chips." Going further back in time, supply chain moles predicted that the entire product stack—starting at the top with GeForce RTX 5090 M, going down to RTX 5070 M—would be subject to postponements.

PC gaming hardware watchdogs noticed a very limited supply of GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile-based laptops on "day one," at least in North America. VideoCardz spent some time combing through Newegg listings, after hearing about the Q1 launch via official social media announcements. The likes of ASUS, GIGABYTE, HP, Lenovo, MSI and Razer opened up direct pre-orders on February 25, but yesterday's embargo lift seemed to extend to general retails outlets. VideoCardz noted that the cheapest—at $4299—GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop options were already sold out. MSI's North American store lists an "out of stock" Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Norse Myth 18-inch model with an eye-watering price tag of $6199.99. Additionally, the publication pointed out the best GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop starting price: $2499.99. GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptops start at $1899.99 on Newegg, but RTX 5070 Mobile-based options seemed to be absent. The online retailer's stock notification system predicts late April or early May replenishments of higher-end stock.

Global fab equipment spending for front-end facilities in 2025 is anticipated to increase by 2% year-over-year (YoY) to $110 billion, marking the sixth consecutive year of growth since 2020, SEMI announced today in its latest quarterly World Fab Forecast report.

Fab equipment spending is projected to rise by 18% in the following year, reaching $130 billion. This growth in investment is driven not only by demand in the high-performance computing (HPC) and memory sectors to support data center expansions, but also by the increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI), which is driving up the silicon content required for edge devices.

The highly anticipated remaster of a classic quadrilogy has finally arrived! FATE: Reawakened is now available for $24.99 on Steam! To celebrate the origins of FATE on PC, we're offering a special 20% launch discount for all PC players until March 19th! Are you up to the task? Your FATE awaits! Download today and start your epic adventure!

Choose your FATE
Reawaken the critically acclaimed FATE games like never before! Play all four classic dungeon crawler titles with enhanced graphics as you battle through challenging procedurally generated dungeons, learn powerful spells, and fish to your heart's content. Are you up to the task? Your FATE awaits! Re-experience the iconic FATE series like never before! Re-visit the quaint town of Grove and the realms beyond as you prepare to enter the Dungeon Gate once again! The award-winning FATE series has gotten a modern facelift while remaining true to the nostalgic dungeon crawler classic. Will you tempt fate on your journey to fame and fortune?

Get ready to add Rockbeasts, the narrative band-management RPG, to your most anticipated albums of 2025. Welcome to a world that puts you in the shoes of a manager in the age of MTV, rock anthems, and bad haircuts. Featuring the iconic Iggy Pop, with a story written by Jakub Szamałek (senior writer of The Witcher 3, Principal Writer of Cyberpunk 2077, and upcoming The Blood of Dawnwalker), prepare for a tragicomic tale of the highs and lows of an up-and-coming band in the 90s.

As the manager of "one of the most controversial bands" of the era, you'll help a group of rising stars as they navigate the highs and lows of the music industry in pursuit of fame and fortune. Along the way, you'll meet a colorful cast of anthropomorphic animals, some inspired by real world rock legends. Pick the venue, prep the set and make sure it all goes according to plan. Pull it off and the band might just finally take those first steps to fame and glory. Sure, this one was in a grimy basement, but even the rock legends had to start somewhere, right?

The wait is finally over—Avowed, Obsidian Entertainment's highly anticipated fantasy RPG has officially launched! Step into the breathtaking Living Lands, a wild and mysterious island located in the Pillars of Eternity world of Eora, and embark on a journey filled with danger, discovery, and adventure. Play today on Xbox Series X|S, the Xbox app for Windows PC, Battle.net, Steam, and cloud, to experience Obsidian's latest RPG adventure. Also available on Game Pass!

A Land in Turmoil
The Living Lands is a frontier unlike any other. This rugged and untamed island has become a haven for exiles, dreamers, and adventurers seeking a fresh start. Its vibrant regions and scattered settlements pulse with life, each hiding untold stories and ancient secrets waiting to be uncovered. But this land of promise is fraught with peril. The Dreamscourge, a devastating soul-plague, is driving settlers to madness and turning them against one another. The very land itself resists colonization, haunted by echoes of lives long past. As an envoy chosen by a foreign emperor and blessed by a mysterious god, you are thrust into the heart of this chaos. With divine powers at your fingertips and the will to shape your own destiny, you'll confront ancient threats, unravel mysteries, and decide the fate of the Living Lands. Will you unite its people or watch as their struggles tear them apart? The choices you make will define the future of the Living Lands—and the person you become.

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.

David McAfee—AMD's corporate vice president and general manager of client channel business—has highlighted February 28 as a highly important date for next-gen graphics technology. The much-anticipated (and teased) Radeon RX 9000 series unveiling event has a confirmed time slot on that day: 8 AM EST. The overseer of Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPUs has warded off curious queries from journalists and members of the PC hardware for several weeks, since the conclusion of CES 2025. A confusing early January presentation did not include a segment dedicated to upcoming RDNA 4 products. Online conjecture pointed to Team Red delaying and restrategizing the launch of Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 models.

AMD enthusiasts will breathe a collective sigh of relief, after reading McAfee's announcement: "the wait is almost over. Join us on February 28 at 8 AM EST for the reveal of the next-gen AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series. Get ready to make it yours when it hits shelves in early March. RSVP by subscribing to the AMD YouTube channel." Insider sources reckon that retailers will have stock on shelves by the rumored March 6 launch day. Mid-to-late January leaks suggested a fairly comprehensive distribution of board partner custom cards across European retail channels. Alleged specifications and performance results have leaked out over the past month and a half—will AMD (and AIBs) have any surprises lined up for the February 28 event?

It's a match made in heaven—GeForce NOW and Warner Bros. Games are collaborating to bring the beloved Batman: Arkham series to the cloud as part of GeForce NOW's fifth-anniversary celebration. Just in time for Valentine's Day, gamers can fall in love all over again with Gotham City's Dark Knight, streaming his epic adventures from anywhere, on nearly any device. The sweet treats don't end there. GeForce NOW also brings the launch of the highly anticipated Sid Meier's Civilization VII. It's all part of the lovable lineup of seven games joining the cloud this week.

A Match Made in Gotham City
GeForce NOW is welcoming Warner Bros. Games to the cloud with the Batman: Arkham series, including Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition, Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition and Batman: Arkham Knight Premium. Don the cape and cowl of the world's greatest detective, bringing justice to the streets of Gotham City with bone-crushing combat and ingenious gadgets.

Unannounced Intel processor families have emerged online over the past week—one source, Jaykihn, has unearthed a treasure trove of speculative mobile SKUs. Today's discovery pushes into the enterprise market segment; focusing on Team Blue's "Granite Rapids-W" (GNR-W) platform, likely equipped with Redwood Cove cores. The latest leak suggests an upcoming emergence of "Mainstream" and "Expert" workstation-oriented product tiers, allegedly prepared with the company's rumored W890 motherboard chipset. Past generations of "Xeon W" HEDT processor families have rolled out with entry-level and high-end offerings.

The leaker reckons that the mainstream Intel Granite Rapids-W "Xeon W" lineup will arrive with 4-channel memory support and 80 PCIe Gen 5 Lanes. Team Blue's higher-end "Expert" tier is anticipated with 128 PCIe Gen 5 lanes and 8-channel memory support. In addition to leaking processor information, Jaykihn outlined basic details regarding the W890 chipset—they believe that board designs will have access to 24 PCIe Gen 4 lanes, as well as 8 Gen 4 lanes for Intel's proprietary link (DMI) between northbridge and southbridge. The leaker did not divulge details of upcoming socket types—Team Blue is notorious for its elaborate rollout out of multiple LGA platforms.

Endless Legend is back! We are thrilled to return to turn-based strategy in our beloved Endless Universe, where rich lore intertwines with strategic depth and unique factions. For those who have eagerly anticipated this long-awaited sequel to our acclaimed science-fantasy strategy game, we promise you, we have great things (and a few surprises) in store.

A New World to Explore
Welcome to Saiadha, a world of wondrous beauty and harsh seasons, of great riches and greater risks. Once a part of the galaxy-spanning empire of the Endless, remnants of their power are scattered across the world, and with them the secrets of Dust, the magical substance they used to defy nature itself. Venture into the untamed wilds of Saiadha and face its dangers, and you just might uncover its mysteries.

Global sales of total semiconductor manufacturing equipment by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are forecast to set a new industry record, reaching $113 billion in 2024, growing 6.5% year-on-year, SEMI announced today in its Year-End Total Semiconductor Equipment Forecast - OEM Perspective at SEMICON Japan 2024. Semiconductor manufacturing equipment growth is expected to continue in the following years, reaching new records of $121 billion in 2025 and $139 billion in 2026, supported by both the front-end and back-end segments.

"Three consecutive years of projected growth in investments in semiconductor manufacturing reflect the vital role our industry plays in underpinning the global economy and advancing technology innovation," said Ajit Manocha, SEMI president and CEO. "Since our July 2024 forecast, the outlook for 2024 semiconductor equipment sales has brightened, especially with stronger-than-expected investments from China and in AI-related sectors. Together with our forecast extension through 2026, it highlights the robust growth drivers across segments, applications, and regions."

The PC (desktops, notebooks, and workstations) market in Mainland China is forecast to contract by 1% in 2024 according to the latest Canalys data. The first quarter of the year already saw a sharp decline, with shipments down 12%, in contrast to the global market which returned to growth. Desktop shipments are expected to perform well in 2024, growing 10% annually as they benefit from commercial sector refresh demand, especially from large state-held enterprises and local governments. Notebook shipments are set to drop 5%, as demand from consumers and the private sector is anticipated to remain cautious on short-term expenditure such as PCs.

China's PC market trajectory is diverging from global trends in its recovery journey. In Q1 2024, the commercial sector bore the brunt of the market downturn, undergoing a 19% decline due to weak IT spending by large enterprises. The decline in consumer shipments was milder, with shipments dropping 8%. However, despite the muted performance in 2024, significant local developments point to a stronger market in 2025, in which PC shipments are expected to grow 12%.

During the Vision 2024 event, Intel announced that its upcoming Xeon processors will be branded under the new "Xeon 6" moniker. This rebranding effort aims to simplify the company's product stack and align with the recent changes made to its consumer CPU naming scheme. In contrast to the previous "x Generation Xeon Scalable", the new branding aims to simplify the product family. The highly anticipated Sierra Forest and Granite Ridge chips will be the first processors to bear the Xeon 6 branding, and they are set to launch in the coming months. Intel has confirmed that Sierra Forest, designed entirely with efficiency cores (E-cores), remains on track for release this quarter. Supermicro has already announced early availability and remote testing programs for these chips. Intel's Sierra Forest is set to deliver a substantial leap in performance. According to the company, it will offer a 2.4X improvement in performance per watt and a staggering 2.7X better performance per rack compared to the previous generation. This means that 72 Sierra Forest server racks will provide the same performance as 200 racks equipped with older second-gen Xeon CPUs, leading to significant power savings and a boost in overall efficiency for data centers upgrading their system.

Intel has also teased an exciting feature in its forthcoming Granite Ridge processors-support for the MXFP4 data format. This new precision format, backed by the Open Compute Project (OCP) and major industry players like NVIDIA, AMD, and Arm, promises to revolutionize performance. It could reduce next-token latency by up to 6.5X compared to fourth-gen Xeons using FP16. Additionally, Intel stated that Granite Ridge will be capable of running 70 billion parameter Llama-2 models, a capability that could open up new possibilities in data processing. Intel claims that 70 billion 4-bit models run entirely on Xeon in just 86 milliseconds. While Sierra Forest is slated for this quarter, Intel has not provided a specific launch timeline for Granite Ridge, stating only that it will arrive "soon after" its E-core counterpart. The Xeon 6 branding aims to simplify the product stack and clarify customer performance tiers as the company gears up for these major releases.

In response to persistent softening in demand, Samsung has taken a decisive step: a sweeping 50% production cut from September, with the focus mainly on processes under 128 layers. According to TrendForce's research, other suppliers are also expected to follow suit and increase their production cutbacks in the fourth quarter to accelerate inventory reduction. With this maneuver in play, Q4 NAND Flash average prices are projected to either hold firm or witness a mild surge, possibly in the ballpark of 0~5%.

Aligning with TrendForce's early-year forecasts, NAND Flash prices are poised to rally ahead of DRAM. With mounting losses for NAND Flash vendors and sales prices nearing production costs, suppliers are opting to amplify production cuts to help stabilize and potentially increase prices. Notably, NAND Flash Wafer contract prices kickstarted their revival in August. Given expanding production curtailments, there's optimism around the resurgence of customer stockpiling, further amplifying price dynamics in September. Yet, for this positive price trajectory to sail smoothly into 2024, a sustained curtailing in production and a robust rebound in enterprise SSD purchase orders are pivotal.

As we enter the month of August, July still has a couple of new gaming titles to offer of which both obviously are launching on the same day. That said, August starts with a bang and brings a highly anticipated AAA title. The rest of this week's releases is as always a mix of games that will hopefully appeal to at least one of you, since the past polls suggest that the TPU readership is a picky crowd to please when it comes to games.

Baldur's Gate 3 / This week's AAA title / Thursday 3 August
Gather your party and return to the Forgotten Realms in a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Mysterious abilities are awakening inside you, drawn from a mind flayer parasite planted in your brain. Resist, and turn darkness against itself. Or embrace corruption, and become ultimate evil. From the creators of Divinity: Original Sin 2 comes a next-generation RPG, set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

Lucky number 13 is also the last week of March and this time around there are a lot of new releases, some of which are highly anticipated console ports, least not courtesy of an HBO TV show, but it doesn't stop there. We also have a WWI strategy game, a slow pace environmental strategy game, a game where you fight bugs and a rather different fishing game in this week's lineup. In fact, it's such a busy week of releases that we've thrown in a few extra games, just because we can.

The Last of Us Part I / This week's AAA title / Tuesday 28 March
Experience the emotional storytelling and unforgettable characters in The Last of Us, winner of over 200 Game of the Year awards. In a ravaged civilization, where infected and hardened survivors run rampant, Joel, a weary protagonist, is hired to smuggle 14-year-old Ellie out of a military quarantine zone. However, what starts as a small job soon transforms into a brutal cross-country journey.