The jazzy soundtrack of the cult classic adventure game Grim Fandango has received a new vinyl release just in time for the game’s 25th anniversary.

Announced by video game merchandise company iam8bit, who also manufacture a range of gaming goodies like posters and limited edition physical copies of popular games, the vinyl soundtrack is available now via their website for $42.99.

Containing two black LP records that were first released five years ago in celebration of the game’s 20th anniversary, this rerun is the perfect chance for fans to get their hands on a vinyl soundtrack if they missed out the first time around.

For those not in the know, Grim Fandango is a classic point-and-click adventure game first released back in 1998. You play as protagonist Manny Calavera, a charismatic skeleton working as a “travel agent” (or Grim Reaper) that has to help souls navigate between the land of the living and the underworld.

Developed by LucasArts, Grim Fandango sold poorly at the time of its release but has since come to be considered one of the very best PC games, especially if you’re a fan of classic adventure titles. The game has helped cement the now-defunct studio’s legendary status thanks in no small part to its superb environmental design, jazzy music, and brilliant dry humor.

It received a PlayStation 4 remaster in 2015, which subsequently made its way to Nintendo Switch and Xbox. In addition to polishing up the visuals, this remastered version included a new orchestrated score, which replaced the original digitally-made soundtrack. 

This is the version of the score included on the vinyl soundtrack, allowing players the opportunity to fully appreciate the remastered music in all of its glory. In addition to the LP records, you also net yourself a nifty paper sleeve with album art by artist Holly Rothrock.

For more gaming recommendations, check out our list of the best Nintendo Switch games and our picks for the best single-player titles.

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A new report from the Carbon Trust (a UK not-for-profit company that provides energy-saving and carbon-cutting advice to businesses) has highlighted challenges that the games industry faces when it comes to cutting down on carbon emissions and is urging gamers and those in the industry to do their part to hit climate targets. 

The report is also encouraging further research into next-gen console development, and what can be done there to reduce environmental impact. 

According to a press release, the report - titled Untangling the carbon complexities of the video gaming industry - was commissioned in support of the Playing for the Planet alliance and supported by UK trade body UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie - which helped scope out the project and bring in engagement with the games industry). 

The report aims to provide “practical advice” to businesses within the industry when it comes to knowing the scale of the ‘scope three’ emissions (indirect emissions that are a consequence of a company’s activities) they produce. Using this advice, they can get an accurate picture of their total emissions, enabling them to set targets in order to align with climate goals set by the Paris Agreement - an international treaty that aims to limit the increase in mean global temperature 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels.

Elsewhere, the report encourages further research into the design of the next generation of consoles in order to encourage developers, manufacturers, and publishers to consider decarbonization goals and environmental performance in the production of future hardware. It also provides a list of steps that gamers can take to do their own bit, such as checking out their system settings and enabling energy-saving modes.

“Video games are unique in that they combine interactive storytelling, artistic expression, and the latest technologies to create fun, challenging, and engaging experiences,” the report’s lead author, Matt Anderson, said in a statement. “All of this combines to make a complex landscape for video game businesses to understand and apply carbon accounting frameworks in a critical first step towards taking climate action. 

“We hope that this report serves as a helpful way for businesses to level up to hit speed and scale in their climate action goals with players also engaged on this agenda.”

If you’re looking for some fantastic new game recommendations, look no further than our lists of the best PC games, best PS5 games, and best Xbox Series X games.

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Winter is coming, and for tech fans that's brilliant news – because winter is the season of tech deals, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and weeks of brilliant bargains. And with Klarna, you can ensure that you get the tech you want for a great price. Not only that, but when you've found the tech you want for the price you want, Klarna means you can pay the way you want too*. It's the ultimate in financial flexibility for any kind of tech: laptops, consoles, accessories, games and more.

Pay In 3 from Klarna is a great way to spread out the costs of your spending, without incurring additional charges when you make the payments on time.

That's because with Pay In 3 from Klarna, you don't need to pay for your whole purchase in one big lump – and you don't get charged interest on top, which would add to the total price you’d pay. Instead, you can split the cost over three monthly payments, each of which is exactly one-third of the total, provided you meet your payments when they are due – so the price you see is the price you get.

* Klarna's Pay in 3/Pay in 30 days are unregulated credit agreements. Borrowing more than you can afford or paying late may negatively impact your financial status and ability to obtain credit. 18+, UK residents only. Subject to status. Ts&Cs and late fees apply

The ultimate in financial flexibility

Wherever you see the Klarna logo, you know you're benefiting from financial flexibility: whether it's the latest console game or a brand new laptop, you can split the cost into three monthly payments without paying any extra for the privilege. Simply pay the first third at the checkout and you can then pay the second and third bits one month apart – or more quickly if you prefer. And that's it. 

The Klarna app also includes Klarna Search & Compare. This enables you to ensure that you're getting the best possible price on all of your tech purchases. Simply tell the app what you're looking for by item or brand name, add any crucial options such as colours or specifications, and it'll check thousands of retailers to find the best price – helping you to narrow down the options with results that include shipping costs and user reviews too.

The app has another brilliant feature: discount code tracking. If there's a discount code available for your chosen retailer, Klarna will automatically apply it at the checkout to make your deal even better. 

(Image credit: Klarna)

Get the gear you want at the best possible time

That's not all. If you install the Klarna app it can help you save money by finding great tech deals – and because it has a price drop feature it can also tell you when the tech you want is on special offer. 

One of our favourite features of Klarna Search and Compare is that it knows price histories too, so it can tell you whether a product has typically been offered for more or less money in recent weeks and months. That's something we find particularly useful in the weeks leading up to big sales events such as Black Friday- with Klarna Search & Compare you can ensure that the deal you get is a genuinely good one.

A better way to pay

With Klarna Search and Compare, Klarna Deals and Klarna Pay In 3, you can get the tech you want for a great price and the most flexible way to pay for it – no interest and no fees when you make your payments on time. If you're looking for great tech deals this winter, look for the Klarna logo – or better still, look for it in the Klarna app.

Click here to find out more about Klarna's amazing app and Pay in 3 service. Or shop the top trending tech and gaming accessories with Klarna here.

* Klarna's Pay in 3/Pay in 30 days are unregulated credit agreements. Borrowing more than you can afford or paying late may negatively impact your financial status and ability to obtain credit. 18+, UK residents only. Subject to status. Ts&Cs and late fees apply

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Organizations of all sizes must strive for the highest level of security maturity, but the approach must be aligned with their unique set of security needs.

With businesses handling more data than ever, cybercriminals are doubling down on efforts to strike them. An alarming 83% of organizations experienced more than one data breach in 2022.

The threats are evolving, and scams are becoming more sophisticated, using mediums such as virtual meeting platforms to persuade employees to transfer money or data. Now’s the time to take cybersecurity measures to the next level, but the size of a business should influence its approach.

Size matters

The largest organizations have unique and specific security and compliance needs. As such, their cybersecurity strategy must be aligned with their unique risks. Large businesses have the most to lose, with successful hacks resulting in huge gains for cybercriminals – and often making headlines in the process if a high-profile brand is involved.

Small businesses, on the other hand, are unlikely to have the time and resources for, or specialist knowledge of, cybersecurity. Cybercrime is expected to cost the world $10.5tn by 2025, with small businesses absorbing much of the impact. While small businesses may feel that cybercriminals will not target them due to their size, the exact opposite is true.

The prevalence of software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the criminal underground makes targeting thousands of small businesses as easy as the click of a mouse button. Nobody is “too small” for today’s cybercriminals.

Assessing security maturity

Security maturity is an organization’s security position relative to its risk environment and tolerances. An organization’s level of maturity is determined by how efficiently it implements security controls, reporting and processes. 

There are five levels of security maturity:

• Level one: Information security processes are unstructured, policies are undocumented, and controls are not automated or reported to the business. They can be limited to foundational controls, such as scanning.
• Level two: Information security processes are established, and policy is informally defined, but only partially applied.
• Level three: At this level there is more attention to policy documentation, implementation, and automation of controls, as well as greater levels of reporting.
• Level four: Achieved once the organization controls its information security processes with comprehensive policies, widespread implementation, a high degree of automation and business reporting.
• Level five: At the highest level of security maturity, the policy is comprehensive and formally adopted. Full deployment and automation of controls have been achieved and business reporting occurs across all systems. Information security processes are constantly monitored and optimized.

Generally, the lower the revenue, the lower the maturity. One reason is larger businesses tend to have more established business processes and organizational structure than their smaller counterparts. But a common characteristic of companies with mature cybersecurity programs is ensuring the entire organization is aware of cybersecurity practices.

Creating a security-first culture and implementing best practices to ensure security controls are effective and comply with data privacy regulations are the first steps to raising your maturity level. Both large and small companies can develop a robust security-first culture with the right guidance.

Part of this is making cybersecurity a board issue; involving directors in security discussions will encourage a proactive stance that trickles down and enhances the security approach of your whole organization. For smaller companies, the owners need to buy-in on the importance of maturing their security stance – and for that mindset to trickle down the rest of the company.

Automation is also a critical part of achieving a high level of security maturity. Implementing automated solutions means higher reliability, greater efficiency and provides better reporting for a quicker response time. But the process of raising maturity levels starts with adopting a cybersecurity framework that will help identify risks, protect company assets and detect, respond to and recover from a cybersecurity attack.

Understanding security frameworks

The US Department of Energy’s Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (C2M2) is one of the leading security controls framework that helps organizations measure information security processes and identify how to improve them.

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) is another comprehensive policy, controls, automation and reporting model that provides organizations with confidence that they are managing cybersecurity effectively and protecting themselves from a full spectrum of threats. This framework, originally developed by the U.S. Department of Defense, provides a guide to assess the security maturity of an organization according to its efficiency in meeting a number of controls.

But all frameworks tend to be based on NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) standards, which help federal agencies comply with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and other regulations.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is one of the most adopted NIST standards; it is a voluntary framework for businesses of all sizes and in all sectors, created through collaboration between the US Government and organizations to promote the protection of critical infrastructure.

Finding the right partner

As the criminal landscape changes, organizations of all sizes find themselves looking for help. It’s important for all businesses to be clear on the skill sets they need to be able to choose and partner with the right security vendor. The best partners will support and guide the organization from any stage in its security and compliance journey. While much of the partnership will be driven by skilled people, it’s also vital for the partner to have a platform that ties security and compliance together.

It is impossible to ignore the global increase in security threats. Today, it is not a matter of if an organization will be attacked but when and how often. Combined with increasingly complex compliance mandates, organizations of all sizes should prioritize assessing, and raising, their level of security maturity – before it’s too late.

Find the best identity management software.

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Daredevil: Born Again has a new head writer and directors – and their hiring has restored my faith in the forthcoming Marvel TV show.

According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Marvel has handed the reins of the Disney Plus series to Dario Scardapane – the journalist-turned-screenwriter taking over from departing duo Chris Ord and Matt Corman.

The Disney subsidiary has also drafted in Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead to film the rest of the show. The filmmakers' names will be familiar to established Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans, with the pair previously helming two Moon Knight episodes. The duo are also the main directors on Loki season 2, which is currently airing on Disney Plus.

Daredevil: Born Again's creative team has been overhauled amid its ongoing problems. (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)

The trio's hiring comes as a big relief for fans who have waited a long time for a standalone Daredevil series set in the MCU. 

In early October, we reported that Daredevil: Born Again's development was in serious trouble as Marvel looked to completely rework the live-action show. At the time, THR suggested Marvel was unhappy with the direction that the series was going in, so it decided to overhaul the project before it was too late. That led to Ord and Corman's departure alongside those who had helmed its first four episodes.

It's believed that Marvel will retain scenes from the show's first few weeks of production – principal photography that began in March, but was shut down amid the now-resolved writers strike and ongoing actors strike. Once a resolution is found for the latter, filming will resume on the Marvel Phase 5 TV show. Rewrites are also expected, with Scardapane penning extra content to fit into the already shot footage, and new episodes to build out the rest of Daredevil: Born Again's plot.

Jack Ryan and Marvel's The Punisher :oOctober 27, 2023

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Scardapane's involvement in Daredevil's MCU project is certainly intriguing. With writing and producing credits on shows including Prime Video's Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Scardapane has already made a name for himself in Hollywood circles.

It's his previous work on Netflix's The Punisher – the John Bernthal-starring spin-off from Netflix's Daredevil TV show – that makes his hiring so exciting, though. Scardapane wrote four of The Punisher's best episodes, including 'Home' (season 1 episode 12), which, according to IMDb users, is the show's best entry. In a producing capacity, Scardapane will have overseen The Punisher's gritty tone and gory action. MCU fans hoping that Daredevil: Born Again will follow a similar R-rated trajectory to its Netflix counterpart and The Punisher, then, should welcome Scardapane's involvement with open arms.

Benson and Moorhead's recruitment is equally fascinating. The duo made their names on acclaimed indie movies, including sci-fi flick Something in the Dirt and horror-infused projects The Endless and Synchronic. 

It's their work on Moon Knight and Loki season 2, though, that's catapulted them into the limelight – and with good reason. Their kinetic camerawork helps the Marvel episodes they've directed to feel more alive, which bodes well for Born Again's various action sequences. Their ability to draw the top-tier emotional performances from each show's stars, as well as imbue certain scenes with dread-inducing and gruesome horror, mind-bending sci-fi, unexpected comedy, and thrilling drama make them ideal for the MCU's multi-genre approach. 

Here's hoping they and Scardapane can give Born Again the much-needed injection of weighty drama, ultraviolence, and superpowered legal tonality it needs. Fans shouldn't expect Daredevil: Born Again to debut on Disney Plus until 2025, though with the series joining many of its TV peers in being delayed into 2024 and beyond.

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We’d forgive you for thinking the dash cam market had matured to the point of no longer being exciting – but hold on, because the AI-powered Nextbase iQ could be about to prove us all wrong.

Announced way back in January 2022, it would be fair to say the iQ has endured a lengthy gestation period. But it’s finally here and it’s safe to say we’re pretty excited about the technology on offer.

This is a 4G-connected dash cam system that records up to three different views at once (forwards, rearwards and into the cabin), at up to 4K resolution. It also promises artificial intelligence and radar for some seriously smart surveillance features, such as the ability to spot someone loitering near your car, and even estimate the speed and trajectory of nearby vehicles.

Nextbase wants consumers to see this as a dash cam crossed with a smart security camera, a video doorbell and a GPS-equipped, 4G-connected vehicle monitor, driver assistant and theft deterrent, all rolled into one. It's also pitching the iQ as a platform, onto which the company can add new features via future over-the-air updates. 

From what we've seen of it so far, it looks like a strong contender for our best dash cams buying guide. Here's everything you need to know about it.

Nextbase iQ: models and pricing

(Image credit: Nextbase)

Let’s tackle the hardware first. There are three versions of the Nextbase iQ, with their only difference being the resolution of the front-facing camera. The range begins with the 1K version, which records at 1080 x 1920p, also known as full HD, and which is priced at $499.99 / £349. The mid-range iQ is called the 2K; this records at 2560 x 1440p and costs $599.99 / £399. Finally, the flagship 4K version of the iQ shoots at a resolution of 3840 x 2160p and is priced at $699.99 / £449.

All three have the same 140-degree field-of-view and the same interior-facing camera. This records the cabin of your vehicle at full HD through a 180-degree lens with infrared night vision. Nextbase will also offer a rear-facing camera. This attaches to the main unit with a cable, records at 2K resolution through a 140-degree lens and is priced at $199.99 / £149.

A dash cam with 4G

As well as GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the Nextbase iQ is one of only a handful of dash cams to have its own 4G connection. This is provided by Vodafone in the UK and Europe and T-Mobile in the US, and is used to connect the dashcam to its own smartphone app and to Nextbase’s cloud storage service.

This connection means you can view a live stream from the dash cam on your phone, anywhere in the world, and footage is automatically uploaded to the cloud when a collision is detected.

Both of these features also work when the car is switched off, because unlike some other dash cams, the Nextbase iQ is powered by your vehicle’s OBD II socket. This is a feature of almost every vehicle and is usually found in one of the front footwells. Unlike USB ports or the 12-volt lighter socket, the OBD II port provides constant power from the car’s 12v battery, even when the vehicle is switched off.

This means the iQ’s G-force sensor and radar remain active, and the system is ready to boot up and fire a notification to your phone when a parking prang is felt, or when movement is detected nearby. It also means you can check in on your car remotely from anywhere.

Nextbase says the iQ keeps an eye on the voltage of your car’s battery, and if this falls below a certain level the system will shut down to prevent your car being unable to start. So long as the car is driven every few days, the battery should retain enough power to keep the iQ active between drives, Nextbase says.

(Image credit: Nextbase)

Another trick up the iQ’s sleeve is called Witness Mode. When activated by voice command, this sends a text message and email to two of your emergency contacts, containing a link giving them live access to the iQ’s cameras and microphone. 

Nextbase says this could be useful in incidents where the driver feels nervous or vulnerable and would benefit from having both video evidence and a live witness. As well as providing a live stream, Witness Mode automatically uploads video to the cloud and, like all other recordings made by the iQ, saves a copy onto the included microSD card too.

Lastly, an Emergency SOS feature can be configured to alert local emergency services when a heavy impact is detected and the driver does not respond to prompts from the dash cam.

The iQ’s connected features are available via two subscription tiers. These are called Protect and Protect Plus, and are respectively priced at $9.99 / £6.99 and $19.99 / £9.99 a month. The iQ also works as a traditional, unconnected dash cam without a subscription in place.

Over-the-air updates

Nextbase says it plans to add extra features to the iQ via future over-the-air updates. These include Guardian Mode, which can be used to keep a vehicle owner informed of its location when driven by other people, such as a valet, a mechanic or their children.

Push-to-talk will also be added after launch, and will enable the app to be used to speak directly to the driver (or potentially a thief) using the iQ’s 4G connection, speaker and microphone.

Finally, the company plans to roll out a feature called Roadwatch AI, where the dash cam’s computer vision chipset is used to track the speed and trajectory of surrounding vehicles, as well as pedestrians, cyclists and scooters. This will add their speed to video recordings, and also help issue warnings to the driver in real-time.

There's a lot to digest here, and while the iQ certainly isn't cheap, we're excited to see what such a feature-packed dash cam can deliver once it's installed and used in the real world.

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When you buy car insurance, you do so on the promise that you will demonstrate good behavior. You would not expect your car insurer to pay out if you broke the speed limit, never had your brakes or tyres checked, or left your pride and joy unlocked overnight. There is a mutual pact between you and your insurer. You take responsibility for your car’s safety and your own actions, and they pay out when bad things happen that you could not have foreseen, prevented, or mitigated against.

The same principle applies with cyber insurance. As an organization, you are 100% responsible for your own cybersecurity, and the insurance providers are there in the event of the unthinkable and unpreventable. For some businesses, especially small and medium-sized, having cyber insurance could mean the difference between staying open and going bust. That is reflected in the market’s growth, with Munich Re estimating cyber premiums will reach a value of $22bn by 2025.

However, as the volume of cyberattacks increases, insurance cover is now harder to get. That is because the financial losses from a breach have become disproportionate to the premiums that insurers charge. According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023, the global average cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million, 15% more than in 2020, while blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis found that ransomware actors will make nearly $900 million from victims this year. 

This is evident from recent high-profile incidents including a ransomware attack on MGM Resorts, which took multiple systems offline at some of its major locations in Las Vegas and is expected to cost millions in remediation. Some have even suggested that there may be a causal link between ransomware and cyber insurance, with attackers using exfiltrated cyber insurance policies to dictate their ransom demands.

With cyberattacks on the rise, the importance of cyber insurance has never been more critical, in addition to ensuring a strong cybersecurity posture. However, insurance premiums continue to soar, and insurers have become increasingly cautious about the risks they undertake.

Navigating the harsh insurance market

In the first quarter of 2023, insurance premiums have increased by 11%. This surge in costs is compounded by the fact that insurers are beginning to question whether their existing premiums adequately cover the risks associated with cyber threats. In response to this growing concern, insurers are tightening their underwriting standards and raising the bar for minimum cybersecurity requirements for policyholders.

To offset pay-outs, some insurers have taken steps to exclude certain costs. For example, Lloyds of London announced last year that they would no longer include nation-state attacks in its cyber insurance policies because it “exposes the market to systemic risks that syndicates could struggle to manage”. Meanwhile, in Australia, insurance giant Chubb won its case against automotive services firm Inchcape who was trying to claim for costs incurred in the clean-up and recovery of a ransomware attack. The court deemed it to be an indirect financial loss, and therefore not covered by the policy.

You may wonder then what your cyber insurance covers. Would you get compensation for losses as the result of an employee clicking on a phishing email? Would your provider honor a pay-out if you voluntarily pay a ransomware demand? This issue could become problematic when countries such as Australia and the United States are considering a ban on ransomware payments.

It is common that a cyber insurance policy would mostly cover the Incident Response (IR), forensic investigation and recovery costs associated with an attack. Most businesses are happy to insure on this basis, as the cost of that investigation could adversely impact cash flow, knowing that the cost of a data breach would be even more. However, many have not considered the actual financial impact, like loss of market share and the influence that has against share price.

When a cyber insurance company covers the investigation and recovery following an attack, they may bring in their approved legal and IR teams, who are specifically there to determine if any of the risks can be covered, and the cost of that. They are not seeking to perform the IR in a way that encompasses all the potential business risks mentioned above.

There are also increased penalties for data breaches, which may make some organizations look immediately to cyber insurance to try and help cover those costs. However, it is unlikely any underwriters would include these fines. This will be in the realm of legal counsel and law firms, which means the IR and investigation will need to be prompt and accurate, and the findings be defensible in a legal hearing.

Avoid a claim with preventative cybersecurity measures

The details of what is and is not covered by a policy will largely depend on the insurance provider, but across the board you should expect underwriters to take a thorough look into your security practices. They need confirmation that you have implemented preventative measures to mitigate risk and stop an attack from happening in the first place. They will check everything from email security, multi-factor authentication status and cloud backup procedures to endpoints, encryption, firewalls, and user awareness.

I am reminded of a case with a customer in the financial services space who was faced with huge insurance premiums and only two renewal offers on the table. After implementing preventative measures, the institution received six competitive offers and managed to reduce premiums up to 80% compared to the previous year. This was down to their ability to activate incident response and conduct comprehensive investigations before resorting to insurance claims. This level of control allowed them to make informed decisions, reducing unnecessary insurance activations and the associated costs.

Cyber insurance and cyber security working in harmony

The long-term viability of cyber insurance is still up for debate, but we know that prevention is the most effective way to demonstrate how seriously you take security when it comes to warding off cyberattacks. Businesses need to augment their stable of defense options to supplement rather than rely on cyber insurance to survive these incidents. In reality, the best insurance you have is to be more proactive in putting the tools, processes and people in place to do everything you can to avoid a breach.

Find the best identity management software.

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AMD will rely on advancements in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in its bid to unseat Nvidia as the industry leader for making the components that power generative AI systems.

Building on the theme of processor-in-memory (PIM), Xilinx, which is owned by AMD, showcased its Virtex XCVU7P card, in which each FPGA had eight accelerator-in-memory (AiM) modules. The firm showcased this at OCP Summit 2023, alongside SK Hynix’s HBM3E memory unit, according to Serve the Home.

Essentially, by performing compute operations directly in memory, data won’t need to move between components on systems, meaning performance increases and the overall system becomes more energy efficient. Using PIM, with SK Hynix’s AiM, led to ten times shorter server latency, five times lower energy consumption, and half the costs in AI inference workloads.  

The latest twist in the ongoing AI arms race

Nvidia and AMD make most of the best GPUs between them, and one may assume that efforts to improve the quality of these components are key to improving AI performance. But it’s actually by tinkering with the relationship between compute and memory do these firms see there are huge advantages to be made in power and efficiency.

Nvidia is also racing ahead with its own plans to incorporate HBM technology into its line of GPUs, including the A100, H100 and GH200, which are among the best graphics cards out there. It struck a deal with Samsung last month for incorporate its HBM3 memory technology into its GPUs, for example, and will likely extend this to include the new HBM3e units.

PIM has been something several companies have pursued in recent months. Samsung, for example, showcased its processing-near-memory (PNM) in September. The CXL-PNM module is a 512GB card with up to 1.1TB/s of bandwidth. 

This follows a prototype for an HBM-PIM card, which was made in collaboration with AMD. The addition of such a card boosted performance by 2.6% while boosting energy efficiency by 2.7% against existing GPU accelerators. 

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Generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Bing Chat and Google Bard continue to iterate and improve, and Google's smart assistant is the latest to get a feature update – it can now respond to you in real time, if you want it to.

Before now, Bard has always taken the time to compose its responses in full, before putting them on screen. That's in contrast to ChatGPT and Bing Chat, which output text in real time while the answer is still being worked on.

Now, Google Bard will do that as well, by default. The update was spotted by 9to5Google, and we've seen it for ourselves too, though Bard's changelog hasn't yet been updated to reflect the different approach.

You should see a message on screen when you load up Bard on the web after the change has been applied. If you want to go back to the old way of working, you need to click the cog icon in the top right-hand corner, then choose Respond once complete.

Still the same bot

This change is really just a cosmetic one: there's no difference when it comes to the answers you're actually getting out of the AI behind Google Bard. However, the real time response does have more of a human feel to it – even if it's still the same bot.

With Bard now working in this way, it also means you can cut off the response before it's finished – maybe if you've phrased the prompt or question wrong for example, or if you can see that Bard isn't answering in the right way.

It's interesting that Bard is now copying the way that ChatGPT and Bing Chat (powered by ChatGPT) have always worked, though ultimately these AI engines are going to be judged based on the quality of their responses rather than how they answer.

As before, when Google Bard has finished responding, you can view alternative responses via the View other drafts link to the top right. You can also click the sliders button at the bottom to tweak the response (making it shorter or simpler, for example).

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There had been “thousands” of hyper-volumetric HTTP distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in the time since the HTTP/2 Rapid Reset vulnerability was disclosed, a new report from Cloudflare has claimed, adding that 89 of those exceeded 100 million requests per second (rps). 

Thanks to these attacks, the total amount of HTTP DDoS attacks for the third quarter of the year, compared to Q2, was up 65%, the company added. "Similarly, L3/4 DDoS attacks also increased by 14%,” it added.

In raw numbers, there were 8.9 trillion HTTP DDoS attack requests in the quarter, up from 5.4 trillion in Q2 and 4.7 trillion in Q1.

Rapid reset

HTTP/2 Rapid Reset is a vulnerability that was discovered earlier this month when security researchers from Google (and others) observed DDoS attacks of previously unseen powers. In the first week of October Google said it blocked an attack 7.5 times larger than the largest-ever recorded DDoS incident - 398 million rps.

“The most recent wave of attacks started in late August and continues to this day, targeting major infrastructure providers including Google services, Google Cloud infrastructure, and our customers,” Google noted at the time.

Cloud computing service provider Fastly also said it blocked an attack counting 250 million rps.

"Botnets that leverage cloud computing platforms and exploit HTTP/2 are able to generate up to x5,000 more force per botnet node," Cloudflare said. "This allowed them to launch hyper-volumetric DDoS attacks with a small botnet ranging 5-20 thousand nodes alone."

The attackers behind these campaigns usually target firms in the gaming industry, IT, cryptocurrencies, computer software, and telecommunications industries. The attackers are usually located in the U.S., China, Brazil, Germany, and Indonesia, while the victims reside mostly in the U.S., Singapore, China, Vietnam, and Canada

"For the second consecutive quarter, DNS-based DDoS attacks were the most common," the company said. "Almost 47% of all attacks were DNS-based. This represents a 44% increase compared to the previous quarter. SYN floods remain in second place, followed by RST floods, UDP floods, and Mirai attacks."

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The Samsung Galaxy S23 phones were unveiled on February 1, 2023, but it looks increasingly likely that the Samsung Galaxy S24 series is going to show up earlier in 2024 – probably before the end of January.

As per seasoned tipster @UniverseIce on Chinese social media site Weibo (via @Tech_Reve and Google Translate), the Galaxy S24 has now entered mass production, which puts it on course for a "mid-to-late January" launch.

That said, sources speaking to SamMobile suggest an "early-to-mid January" launch is still a possibility, though "things could go either way". Everyone seems to be agreed that January is the month, though the exact date is yet to be fixed.

It's certainly plausible that there's still some uncertainty even inside Samsung, and that a specific date for the launch has yet to be decided on. No doubt there will be another Samsung Unpacked event attached, and we will of course cover it all live.

The Galaxy S24 has entered production and is scheduled to be unveiled in mid to late January.Source:@UniverseIce https://t.co/HRHWc2VXVm pic.twitter.com/Ayw8XsXwDPOctober 28, 2023

See more

Starting early

Samsung Galaxy S24 launch date rumors have been rather thin on the ground up to this point, but January has previously been mentioned by one tipster, so it's almost certain that Samsung wants to get its flagship phones out earlier than it did this year.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 series launched on February 9, 2022, while the Samsung Galaxy S21 lineup was unveiled on January 14, 2021. These launch dates aren't quite as consistent as they are for, say, the iPhone, but they're always early in the year.

Even with a potential launch date several months away, the Galaxy S24 rumors and leaks are continuing to appear on a regular basis. In recent days we've heard updates about more RAM, better screens, and satellite connectivity for these phones.

Another rumor we've heard is that Samsung will go back to using both its own Exynos chip as well as the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 inside the Galaxy S24, so the performance you get from it might depend on where in the world you happen to buy it form.

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Cybersecurity researchers from Dr.Web discovered a handful of Android apps that were pushing ads and stealthily subscribing people to premium services. 

The reserachers reported that these trojan apps, all found on Google’s official Play Store app repository, were cumulatively installed roughly two million times.

The apps were pretending to be games, messengers, and wallpaper apps, among others, and were mostly distributing three known malware families - FakeApp, Joker, and HiddenAds.

A million downloads

Upon installing one of these apps, they would immediately change their icon on the device, to something the user would reluctantly remove, such as the Chrome browser. In some cases, the researchers added, the trojans would simply remove their icons altogether, to seem as if there is an empty space in the app drawer.

The apps would then launch in the background, and deliver ads to the victim via their browser. That way, they would generate significant profits for the developers. The ads included things like casino websites, fake investments, and similar - all of which are in violation of Google’s policies.

The biggest trojan that managed to move past Google’s defenses and into the Play Store is Super Skibydi Killer, a game app with a million downloads. Other notable mentions include Agent Shooter (500,000 downloads), Rubber Punch 3D (500,000 downloads), and Rainbow Stretch (50,000 downloads).

There are also apps that subscribe the victim to premium services without their knowledge, including Love Emoji Messenger (Korsinka Vimoipan) with 50,000 downloads, and Beauty Wallpaper HD (fm0989184) with 1,000 downloads.

While Google removed all of the apps from the Play Store before this article was published, that only protects future potential victims. Those that have already downloaded the apps can only be safe if they remove them from their endpoints. If you suspect your device was compromised, besides the abovementioned apps, look for these:

Eternal Maze (Yana Pospyelova)

Jungle Jewels (Vaibhav Wable)

Stellar Secrets (Pepperstocks)

Fire Fruits (Sandr Sevill)

Cowboy's Frontier (Precipice Game Studios)

Enchanted Elixir (Acomadyi) 

Via BleepingComputer

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Nvidia’s RTX 4080 Super graphics card has been spotted listed in a popular system monitoring tool, ahead of a potential release in the not too distant future (we hope).

The entry for the GeForce RTX 4080 Super was spotted in HWiNFO. The graphics card is listed under the upcoming changes section, as follows: “Added Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super.”

This is another chunky hint that this refreshed RTX 4080 is inbound from Team Green, on top of a good deal of others we’ve seen in recent times.

As Tom’s Hardware reports, it follows another similar sighting of the RTX 4080 Super in a PCI ID repository earlier this week. Also, as you’ve doubtless noticed, a ton of rumors have been swirling about Nvidia’s Super refreshes which are supposedly in the works, with a couple of revamped RTX 4070s expected too.

In theory, the RTX 4080 Super will be joined by an RTX 4070 Super, and an RTX 4070 Ti Super (the latter would be a first for Nvidia, combining both these suffixes in what, in our opinion, is a somewhat confusing naming scheme).

---

Analysis: Taking on AMD’s RX 7900 big-style – and sooner than we thought?

This is far from concrete evidence that the RTX 4080 Super graphics card is indeed inbound, but as noted, on top of all the other buzz that has abounded in recent times, it is at this point seeming very likely that Nvidia does have Super variants planned.

The likelihood of this happening is also reinforced by the current GPU situation Nvidia finds itself in. Namely the RTX 4080 flopping pretty badly – with terrible sales, in fact, if chatter from retailers is to be believed – and AMD making hay with its RX 7900 models as a result.

Therefore it makes sense that Nvidia will want to change this situation – what’s happened with the RTX 4080 is pretty embarrassing, after all (especially when you remember the ‘unlaunched’ version with 12GB VRAM that made Team Green look pretty foolish). So, in order to compete in the upper mid-range to high-end space, Nvidia does need these spins on the RTX 4080 and 4070, we’d argue.

The latest rumors on the cost front indicate that Nvidia could go for a pricing scheme that’ll really worry AMD, with the possibility of an RTX 4080 Super priced at $999 (the RTX 4080 would be retired effectively in this case, in theory), and RTX 4070 Super at $599. That’s a best-case scenario, mind, and Nvidia hasn’t yet decided on pricing, or even exact specs yet we’re told – but the possibility of going super-competitive (ahem) with the value proposition is apparently alive.

The specs purportedly being up in the air still may hint that these refreshed Lovelace graphics cards are some way off yet, but we have heard buzz around a relatively early 2024 launch – and these Super references cropping up here and there are a tantalizing hint that the products might arrive sooner than expected. Fingers crossed for that, and the best-case scenario pricing to boot, the latter of which could mean these offerings rank high on our best graphics card list.

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Considering the amount of rumors and leaks we've seen about it, it seems likely that Apple is thinking about launching a smart display based on the HomePod speaker – and that display could well end up being an iPad mini.

The team at 9to5Mac has been digging into the code for tvOS 17.2 beta, and found something rather interesting: the software has been updated to add support for the iPad mini 6 that Apple launched back in 2021.

Bearing in mind that the HomePod and the HomePod mini run on a modified version of tvOS, it's then fair to make the assumption that Apple wants to explore the idea of launching a HomePod smart display with a decent-sized screen attached.

What adds even more credence to the idea is that rumors about a HomePod-plus-iPad have been appearing for more than a year now, and have come from some of the most reliable Apple tipsters in the business.

Form factors

At this stage it's worth remembering that even if Apple is testing out the iPad mini as a HomePod attachment, there's no guarantee that we'll end up with an actual product along these lines – company plans and market conditions change all the time.

In recent days we've also seen what is apparently a prototype HomePod with a small integrated display on the top. It's possible that Apple is experimenting with more than one different form factor for the upcoming smart display.

It does make sense that tvOS would be the software running on this smart display, as it's already used on the HomePod. If rumors from the start of the year are to be believed, smart home functions would be front and center.

Apple may take the approach used by the Google Pixel Tablet and its dock, and make a smart display that you can dock to a speaker or carry around with you; or, it could copy the Amazon Echo Show 10 with a display that can rotate. Time will tell.

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It's never too late in the year for tech surprises – and that's what we got this week when Apple announced a final launch event of the year with the tantalizing tagline 'Scary Fast'.

The rest of our week involved second-guessing exactly what Apple has in store at that event on October 30. New M3 MacBooks? A 24-inch iMac refresh? Tim Cook taking his acting skills to the next level with a Dracula remake?

No-one is exactly sure, but Apple didn't completely enshroud the rest of this week's news with its mysterious cape. We also saw the DJI Pocket 3 arrive and charm us once again with its video tricks, while Google Maps edged closer to becoming a photo-realistic clone of the real world with a big AI update.

Oh, and if you're already thinking about Christmas shopping (we apologize in advance) we also announced all of our favorite tech of 2023 in the TechRadar Choice Awards. So if you need a quick catch up on this week's and this year's tech news, you've come to the right place... 

8. We announced all of our favorite tech of the year

(Image credit: Future)

Wow, that went fast – another year of tech is coming to a close. But on the plus side, that means it's time for the TechRadar Choice Awards 2023, where we run through the completely definitive, indisputable list of the best tech of the year, as chosen by you.

We had more categories than ever this year, including Streaming service of the year (spoiler: it's Max) and a Sustainability award (deservedly picked up by the Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition). Our Reader's Choice Award, which was 100% voted for by you, was also handed out to a familiar but fully deserving recipient.

So whether you're looking to buy a smart kettle or a soundbar, check out our full list of winners at the link below.

• Read more: TechRadar Choice Awards 2023 winners: meet the best tech of the year

7. Apple TV Plus trolled us with a major price hike

(Image credit: SOPA Images)

If you were hoping that Apple TV Plus would continue to be the last bastion for cheap, non-ad supported subscriptions, think again. That’s right, Apple TV Plus has just got more expensive, and we're struggling to contain our frustration at this major price hike. 

For US readers, that means you’ll have to pay an extra $3 a month (or $30 per year) to watch the best Apple TV Plus shows and best Apple TV Plus movies. Apple didn’t respond to our request for comment about price increases in the UK and Australia, but you should expect them there, too. Sad faces all round.

• Read more: Apple TV Plus is getting a major price hike, and I couldn't be more annoyed

6. Squid Game squared up to James Bond for a reality show duel

(Image credit: Netflix)

With the world’s best streaming services continuing to vie for your attention, the streaming wars are showing no signs of abating. What does that mean for you? A never-ending *ahem* stream of films and shows to watch, including plenty of reality TV-based projects. 

Ordinarily, the term ‘reality TV’ would have us running for the hills (sorry, we’re not fans of The Kardashians. Or Love Is Blind. Or any other piecemeal reality-based TV series). Soon, though, a head-to-head reality game show contest between Netflix and Prime Video might make us re-evaluate our stance.

Indeed, next month (that’s November, for those wondering), Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge takes on Prime Video’s James Bond-inspired 007: Road to a Million in a showdown for the ages. Who’ll win this engrossing showdown? That’s up to you, dear reader.

• Read more: It's Squid Game versus James Bond as Netflix and Prime Video prepare for a reality game-show duel

5. We got an exclusive peek at Qualcomm’s concept smart glasses

(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)

Sometimes you have to fly all the way to Hawaii to see the really cool stuff. Seriously, it was the only way to see up-close Qualcomm’s exciting Snapdragon AR2 smart glasses at this year’s Snapdragon Summit.

Sure, it was a reference design and Qualcomm refused to let us wear them, but we think we finally understand Qualcomm’s endgame when it comes to wearable AR technology.

As Qualcomm sees it, such wearable technology won’t look like the bulky mixed reality headgear we’re used to. Instead, it will look very much like regular glasses but with tons of smarts to sense and see your world and give you real-time information and feedback about it.

Perhaps most interesting is Qualcomm is finally opening up on why it’s taking so long for us to see these as consumer products and, surprisingly, battery life is not the big holdup.

• Read more: Exclusive – Up close with Qualcomm Snapdragon AR2 smart glasses and why it's taking so long to perfect them

4. Google Maps got a massive AI update

(Image credit: Future)

Google Maps is so comfortably familiar that most of us can use it in our sleep, but that doesn't mean it isn't quietly getting some big AI upgrades – and this week saw some of the biggest new features so far.

The long-awaited Immersive View for Routes, first announced back in May, is finally rolling out from this week in 15 cities on Android and iOS. That means photo-real flyovers of routes you have planned in supported cities (including San Francisco, London and New York), complete with information like the weather and traffic.

Google is also bringing its machine learning algorithms to Maps in a few other ways, including making 'Lens in Maps' more widely available and letting electric car owners know when chargers on their route were last used. Yes, chatbots are fun, but we're liking the boost that AI is giving to the likes of Google Maps…

• Read more: Google Maps just got a big AI update – here are the 5 best new features

3. Qualcomm solved the biggest problem with your Bluetooth headphones

(Image credit: Qualcomm )

Bluetooth's improved a lot over the years, but one thing that still holds it back (quite literally) is its limited range. Fortunately, Qualcomm has a potential answer with its new S7 and S7 Pro Gen 1 sound platforms. Their trick? Letting headphones switch from Bluetooth to your Wi-Fi network when you're at home, so you can be released from the latter's usual 10 meter (30ft) limit.

With the chips also promising boosts to active noise cancellation, battery life and AI-powered sound personalization, they could take headphones up a notch or two when they arrive. We'll definitely be keeping our eyes peeled for headphones with the S7 Pro Gen 1 badge when they arrive in 2024.

2. The DJI Pocket 3 became our new favorite TikTok camera

(Image credit: DJI )

It's been a long three-year wait, but the DJI Pocket 3 has finally landed – and it's now our favorite little camera for shooting social media videos.

What's so good about the Pocket series? Unusually, they're compact cameras that have three-axis gimbals, which means they're great for shooting super-smooth videos and also pulling off creative camera moves that aren't possible on your smartphone.

And now, with the Pocket 3, the series finally has the modern tech to fix our frustrations with its predecessor, including a new 1-inch sensor, larger 2-inch screen and support for 4K/120p video. If you shoot a lot of TikTok videos, it's one to put on your Christmas list.

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1. Apple treated us to a big Halloween surprise

(Image credit: Apple)

This week Apple announced its next product showcase, which will take place on October 30, and has the strapline of “Scary fast”. Not only is that an unsubtle reference to Halloween taking place on the day after, we also think it’s a hint that we’ll see the launch of the rumored Apple M3 chip.

Going by the tips and rumors so far, that slice of silicon could be accompanied by new Macs, including a redesigned iMac, a refreshed MacBook Air and potentially new MacBook Pros with supercharged version of the M3 chip.

And as Apple has been pushing more into gaming lately, we’d not be surprised if we see a bit of a gaming thrust to show off the power of its chip and next-gen computers. For a detailed look at what to expect check out our Apple event hub.

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It’s that time of the year again when companies across the world begin to announce their quarterly figures, and Amazon’s numbers don’t disappoint - largely thanks to its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud division.

Amazon confirmed that total net sales had climbed 11% year-over-year to $143.1 billion in the three months that led up to September 30, 2023, and 13% over the previous three months.

AWS, which in Q3 2023 was worth $23.1 billion to the company, also saw a similar rise of 12% year-over-year.

AWS revenue likely attributable to AI

Speaking about the company’s positive growth, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy noted: “...our AWS growth continued to stabilize.” Its operating income climbed to $7.0 billion, up from $5.4 billion during the same time last year.

AWS attributes much of its success to a new strategic partnership with Anthropic, designed to advance generative AI, and a handful of new and renewed high-status customers, including BMW Group, UK bank NatWest, and international energy company Occidental.

The company also launched the AWS Israel (Tel Aviv) Region and a new AWS Local Zone in Phoenix, Arizona, helping to support its growth and better serve customers.

Another noteworthy statistic in Amazon’s report are the AWS operating expenses, which, despite huge investment in AI over the past year, hadn’t grown excessively. Q3 2022 saw the company spend $16.1 billion, up from $15.1 billion in Q3 2022, representing a 6.6% increase.

Despite signs of growth, Amazon’s cloud company did not measure the same successes as Google Cloud (up 22%) and Microsoft Azure (up 29%), two major rivals that have also gone in big on AI.

Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky hinted to reporters on a call that this could be a result of a continued degree of economic uncertainty combined with a slowdown in the company’s cost-cutting measures, which so far have led to more than 27,000 redundancies across its entire portfolio.

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The recent announcement of Google’s Cross-Cloud Interconnect service represents a major shift in how hyperscale cloud providers are helping businesses navigate the complex world of the multi-cloud.

In addition to offering a high-speed private connection between its public cloud and customers’ on-site networks, Google’s latest offering also provides a dedicated link to its four big rivals – Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Oracle, and Alibaba.

This is something new. In fact, it’s the first time a hyperscale cloud computing provider is not only thinking differently about how these mega-firms can play nicely with each other, but also how customers can break away from their vendor lock-in arrangements.

It's no secret that many organizations view cloud vendor lock-in contracts as a major barrier to cost savings and they have adopted a multi-cloud approach, in part, to reduce their dependency on a single provider.

But with more clouds comes more problems.

According to a recent IDC study, 64% of companies were using multiple cloud providers and yet almost 80% indicated a need to simplify the cloud management process. In other words, while businesses are boarding the rocketship to the multi-cloud troposphere, most are finding themselves locked in geostationary orbit where the complexities of interconnectivity continue to exist.

The truth is, while Google’s new service is a welcome step in the right direction, the multi-cloud universe is already populated with third party interconnection platforms which have been providing this type of service for some time now – and are much further ahead in terms of integration, flexibility, and ease of service.

Navigating the multi-cloud network

As the digital landscape evolves, companies increasingly require the ability to transfer sensitive data between multiple clouds and multiple regions in a safe and seamless manner. Yet provisioning direct connections to multiple clouds is no easy feat, and often comes with unforeseen costs.

The reason is a lack of clarity. Each of the hyperscale cloud providers has its own interpretation of direct connectivity – be it AWS Direct Connect or Azure ExpressRoute – and each is slightly different in its approach to cross-region data transfer. It also doesn’t help matters that Microsoft, Google, and Amazon use their own specific lexicon and definitions regarding their direct connectivity offerings.

This is where third-party interconnection providers are changing the game. They can seamlessly transition unwieldy network connectivity with incredible agility and speed, making it easier for businesses to connect to and in-between different cloud providers. Effectively, it’s like having your own private network at your fingertips.

If your business is embarking on its own multi-cloud journey, here are five important factors you should consider that will make your life a lot easier:

1. Agility

Unlike a dedicated physical port-to-port service, a third-party interconnection platform provides a fully automated service with seamless network integration to a host of global cloud providers. This saves you a lot of heavy lifting because there is no need to install, manage or maintain equipment.

Better still, you can manage your global network connections using a single, centralized management portal (as opposed to the multiple interfaces required for cloud ports and hubs). It also means you offload all the technical risk and software maintenance so that you can focus on your core business. In short: no paperwork, no multi-year contracts, and no waiting time for trucks to roll to a data center.

2. Reach

Another significant advantage of third-party interconnection providers is that many of us already have existing on-demand access to the world’s largest cloud providers, thereby removing the pain and complexity of network configuration and management.

This gives you high-performance connectivity and private data transfer to everything and everywhere at the same time, plus automated switching and routing across a global network of both major cloud providers and Software as a Service (SaaS) partners – all with a single click.

3. Infrastructure

Every business wants to connect directly and securely to multiple cloud applications and data centers with speed, security, and peace of mind, so it’s important to choose a third-party interconnection platform that owns the underlying core network infrastructure.

By owning an underlying global MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) network, a third-party provider can guarantee an assured quality of service which is fully resilient, compliant, and stringent with your security requirements.

4. Costs

The ever-changing pricing models for multi-cloud applications are a fundamental pain point for almost every business today. However, if you choose to go with a third-party interconnection partner, then you will automatically have access to more competitive pricing.

Think of it as a move to a consumption-based model. You only pay for the bandwidth and cloud network connections you need, ensuring your cloud usage fits your economics. What’s more, contract lengths can literally be as little as a day (using the PAYG method) and you can change, upgrade, or terminate at any time.

Additionally, third-party interconnection partners offer comprehensive Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and 24/7 support covering activation, availability, transit delay, packet loss, jitter, and mean time to restoration – all resulting in less in-house technical maintenance and more cost savings.

5. Reliability

As we all know, unpredictable disasters happen from time to time. Although multi-cloud is often championed as offering the ‘best-of-breed’ it can often increase the amount of resource and IT infrastructure overheads needed to support from a redundancy perspective.

However, in the event of such failures, a third-party interconnection partner allows you to migrate large volumes of data between multiple cloud providers, data centers, and other network locations without the headache that comes with the one cloud ‘hub and spoke’ approach.

Even if your IT team has limited technical knowledge, you can automate your data backup and recovery between clouds with reliable and redundant connectivity by simply spinning up your private connection for as long as you need, thereby reducing latency. Your traffic will dynamically flow between all your network endpoints over a private global network infrastructure which means better security, better performance, and ultimately a better experience for your customers.

Google’s new Cross-Cloud Interconnect service will likely trigger the other major cloud providers into following suit before too long, but the key question is whether businesses will want to remain in a direct relationship with these partners, or whether they prefer to play the field of the entire multi-cloud ecosystem.

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After months of silence, fans finally get a first look at the new open-world survival RPG Ark: Survival Ascended remake in its launch trailer. 

In a surprise release, Ark: Survival Ascended launched on PC today (October 26). Many fans had previously worried about never seeing this survival RPG after it was initially delayed, but thankfully, Studio Wildcard, the developers behind Ark: Survival Ascended, managed to pull through and successfully get this fantastic title into the hands of players. Ark: Survival Evolved is already on our best survival games list, so the developer's track record is strong.

In this online multiplayer game, you can form a tribe with whom you can explore this dangerous world, craft crucial supplies, and build a settlement to call home. There are also various prehistoric creatures and unique dinosaurs to hunt, tame, and breed, if you're brave enough, meaning there's never a dull moment in this survival game. 

Ark: Survival Ascended has also been revitalized thanks to Unreal Engine 5, which brings it into the next generation of game technology. Providing beautiful settings and fluid in-game fights. This updated version also offers improved physics and dynamic water, additional creatures, and public multiplayer for up to 70 players, as well as private sessions for up to eight players, just to name a few. 

If you're waiting to play this open-world RPG on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S, then unfortunately, you'll have to wait a bit longer, as the release window for consoles is in November.

Thankfully, even if you're not playing on PC, this launch has provided something for everyone to enjoy. Alongside its release on PC, Studio Wildcard also released its first-ever in-game footage for Ark: Survival Ascended. In this, it shows off its fully remastered UE5 forests and dinosaurs. Ark has never looked so good. 

If you're in the market for more multiplayer fun, be sure to check out our best MMO games as well as the best co-op games for you to enjoy and play right now. 

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