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Even though Valve only just recently put SteamOS 3.5 into preview for Steam Deck, they're not done with improvements elsewhere with a new Beta Client release doing a bit of a Gyro overhaul to the Mouse mode.

Patch Notes

The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 is setting out to be a rather disappointing collection on PC, as resolution and framerate will be locked at low values in all games.

A recent update of the collection's official website confirmed the output resolutions and maximum framerates of all included games. On PC, all games will have a maximum resolution of 1080p, a 30 FPS cap for the original Metal Gear Solid, and a 60 FPS cap for the second and third entry in the series. Needless to say, this is extremely disappointing and a missed opportunity to update some of the best games ever released.

The European Commission has re-imposed a fine of around €376.36 million on Intel for a previously established abuse of dominant position in the market for computer chips called x86 central processing units ('CPUs'). Intel engaged in a series of anticompetitive practices aimed at excluding competitors from the relevant market in breach of EU antitrust rules.

With today's decision, we are re-imposing a €376.36 million fine on Intel for having abused its dominant position in the computer chips market. Intel paid its customers to limit, delay or cancel the sale of products containing computer chips of its main rival. This is illegal under our competition rules. Our decision shows the Commission's commitment to ensure that very serious antitrust breaches do not go unsanctioned. - Commissioner Didier Reynders, in charge of competition policy

It's been a clear decade since the last entry in this co-op crimeathon FPS series, so I was interested to play Payday 3. Payday is exactly the sort of online multiplayer I can get behind: PvE with clear but theoretically malleable goals (theft!). But although compared to Crime Boss: Rockay City it's a crushing 60st monster truck tyre, Payday 3 isn't really reinventing the Payday 2 wheel. In some respects you might think it's rolling backwards, and while dedicated Payday 2 players may well switch over to the current gen iteration, you get the sense they'll be complaining about things the whole time.

If you enjoy tower defence, video games presented as fake PC desktop environments, and big sexy mouths in Hell, cast your innumerable unblinking eyes over Heretic's Fork. The deck-building tower defence game casts you as an employee of Hell tasked with punishing sinners by building towers and deploying troops using a demonic computer system. I've played a few hours since Heretic's Fork launched yesterday and while it hasn't quite enraptured my hellbound heart, I am enjoying figuring it out—and seeing what my paperclip helper will do next.

Launch Trailer
Steam Page

At 22.5 x 9 x 3 cm, the Ayaneo Air 1S is more like a Nintendo Switch than a Steam Deck. In fact, it's a touch smaller than the Switch. Or slightly bigger than a medium-large banana. The retro model I've got in for review weighs only ~405g on my scales, which is a little heavier than my Switch at around ~400g but far lighter than my Steam Deck at ~650g. There's even a thinner and lighter model, the Air 1S Thin, though that's a limited edition.

Point is, it's a handheld gaming PC that feels more like a handheld gaming device of old than any other I've used. It's a powerful GameBoy Advance, and boy, is it powerful.

The Ayaneo Air 1S may look like it needs a downgrade to stuff all its parts into that tiny shell. But, no. It comes with the same AMD Ryzen 7 7840U chip found within the AOKZOE A1 Pro or the OneXPlayer OneXFly. That's a full eight-core, 16-thread Zen 4 processor. I still can't really believe that sort of spec comes in a compact PC at all. It's paired up with a Radeon 780M integrated graphics, powered by 12 RDNA 3 CUs—four more CUs than the Steam Deck's RDNA 2 chip.

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A cosy new hobbit-based Lord of the Rings spinoff game has been teased by Wētā Workshop and Private Division. Yes, it is actually happening.

Tales of the Shire was announced to celebrate Hobbit Day, and promises to provide a snuggly "heart-warming" experience set in Tolkein's Middle-earth universe. It's coming from Wētā Workshop and Private Division and will arrive sometime next year. Needless to say, I am more than a little bit excited.

To accompany this announcement, a small teaser was also released. It is short and suitably charming, showing a young person humming as she sits at a table strewn with flora and art supplies. There are also modern bits and pieces, such as headphones. She is painting in a book, and while I have nothing to base this on other than my hunch, she looks to be painting herself as a hobbit. Could this be Tales of the Shire's soon to be pint-sized protagonist?
Reveal Trailer with no gameplay

The third major patch for Baldur's Gate 3 is now being rolled out, and it includes the long-awaited Magic Mirror feature.

Players can now change their character's appearance by finding the Magic Mirror in camp. Everything other than race and subrace of your character can be altered - though it also can't be used to get rid of any "cosmetic modifications that are a consequence of your gameplay choices". Also, origin characters, hirelings and full illithids can't use the Magic Mirror.

Patch three has also added full support for the game on Mac, with Larian Studios recommending any players on Mac remove any mods and reinstall the game fresh before playing.

Recently at the Tokyo Game Show Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais spoke to CNBC about PC gaming and Steam Deck, here's what was said during the interview.

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• When talking about the power of SteamOS - "we would like to work with other hardware manufacturers, so they can adopt SteamOS in the future".
• On VR: "for Steam Deck we don't really have a VR story to it, but it's definitely something we want to explore more in the future".
• For the future: "we're not really seeing growth stop after COVID, so for us it's really important to keep working on the current version of the Steam Deck, put together software updates we just released a big SteamOS 3.5 update that's added new features we're going to keep doing that - but also work on the hardware side supply chain, retail presence, work with distributors to get the Deck available worldwide and expand its audience so we're going to be focusing on that short term - in the future we're looking at the PC market and where technology is going and see if there's any interesting opportunities there".
• When asked about console cycles, games being higher-end and Steam Deck upgrades: "right now we're looking at this performance target that we have as a stable target for a couple years, we think that it's a pretty sweet spot in terms of being able to play all the experiences from this new generation and so far the new releases coming out have been great experiences on Steam Deck. We're working with developers on future releases and we're monitoring the feedback there but so far it's been pretty good on the horsepower front".

Twitter Thread

Just around 24 hours after Musk made his comments, more than 42,000 new users joined Bluesky, making it the biggest signup day yet for the currently invite-only platform that launched earlier this year.

Bluesky saw a total of 53,585 new signups by the end of Tuesday, September 19. The new users gained in that single day make up 5 percent of the platform's entire user base of 1,125,499 total accounts.

The new user signups are tracked via the third-party website "Bluesky Stats." Looking over Bluesky signup numbers on the tracker for the past month, it appears that the platform usually sees from 10,000 to 20,000 new signups per day. Bluesky has doubled its usual daily new user numbers already, with many more hours left in the day still to go.

It's impossible to know whether Musk's comments about charging users to post on X really played a role in this, but it almost certainly had some effect.

The same day Taylor Swift posted a message encouraging her followers to register to vote, over 35,000 people reportedly made a “Run (Taylor’s Version)” to do so on Vote.org.

“Vote.org saw record-breaking traffic to our site this week as we celebrated National Voter Registration Day, a highly encouraging sign of voter enthusiasm especially among newly eligible voters. Time and time again young people are showing up and demonstrating they care about their rights and access to the ballot box,” Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org said in a release.

The American multi-genre singer-songwriter’s post also linked to the organization’s website, according to the release. In the Instagram post, Swift called on her army of fans, also known as “Swifties” to “[r]egister to vote in less than 2 minutes” via the nonprofit’s site.

Owners of the FreeStyle Libre 3, one of Abbott Laboratories’ flagship glucose monitors, received an email this week warning them to “disable automatic system updates on your iPhone” because the new operating system’s StandBy Mode and Assistive Access Mode “may impact your ability to receive time-sensitive notifications including glucose alarms and notifications indicating that alarms are unavailable.”

“Key Steps to Optimize your FreeStyle Libre System on iOS 17,” the email reads. “While our teams are working quickly to verify and confirm compatibility, we recommend that you disable automatic operating system updates on the smartphone using the mentioned apps. Please check the compatibility guide on myfreestyle.com before the new operating system is installed.”

Abbott is telling customers who have already upgraded to disable StandBy Mode, which activates the iPhone’s Lock Screen while it’s charging and placed on its side. They are also being advised to turn off “Assistive Access” mode, an accessibility mode for people with disabilities. Abbott says that this mode “will impact your ability to activate a sensor, modify your alarm settings, or receive glucose alarm notifications from our apps.”

Abbott writes on its website that failure to take action when users get an alarm, or failure to use the device “as instructed in labeling may result in missing a severe low or high glucose event and/or making a treatment decision, resulting in injury.”