Author: Computer Tech

This week, IBM and Tokyo Electron (TEL) announced an extension of their agreement for the joint research and development of advanced semiconductor technologies. The new 5-year agreement will focus on the continued advancement of technology for next-generation semiconductor nodes and architectures to power the age of generative AI. This agreement builds on a more than two-decade partnership between IBM and TEL for joint research and development. Previously, the two companies have achieved several breakthroughs, including the development of a new laser debonding process for producing 300 mm silicon chip wafers for 3D chip stacking technology.

Now, bringing together IBM’s expertise in semiconductor process integration and TEL’s leading-edge equipment, they will explore technology for smaller nodes and chiplet architectures to achieve the performance and energy efficiency requirements for the future of generative AI. “The work IBM and TEL have done together over the last 20 years has helped to push the semiconductor technology innovation to provide many generations of chip performance and energy efficiency to the semiconductor industry,” said Mukesh Khare, GM of IBM Semiconductors and VP of Hybrid Cloud, IBM. “We are thrilled to be continuing our work together at this critical time to accelerate chip innovations that can fuel the era of generative AI.”

“IBM and Tokyo Electron have built a strong relationship of trust and innovation through years of joint development. We are excited to continue to build on our long-standing partnership with IBM for another five years. This renewed agreement underscores our mutual commitment to advancing semiconductor technologies, including patterning processes with High NA EUV.” said Toshiki Kawai, Representative Director, President & CEO Tokyo Electron Limited. “Our collaboration at the has been instrumental in driving innovation, and we look forward to continuing this journey together.”

IBM and TEL are members of the Albany NanoTech Complex, the world’s leading ecosystem for semiconductor research, owned and operated by NY CREATES. For years, IBM, TEL, and others have worked together to build the most advanced public-private semiconductor research facility to accelerate chip innovation. As a result, last year, the site was selected as America’s first National Semiconductor Technology Center, the NSTC EUV Accelerator. As part of this new agreement, IBM and TEL researchers will continue to work together in Albany utilizing its unique ecosystem and R&D capabilities.

It seems as though the high pricing and shortages surrounding NVIDIA’s latest GeForce RTX 5000 series GPUs has resulted in gamers turning to previous GPU generations for salvation. According to the latest Newegg GPU bestseller charts, the $459.98 MSI Ventus NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB graphics card is currently the best-selling GPU. Curiously, the Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT OC 16 GB is close on its heels, with the Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT on its heels in third place. The first NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5000 series GPU on the Newegg bestseller list is the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 5070 OC, which is in eighth place, behind several AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, RX 9070 XT, and RX 6600 models. It’s unclear whether this is due to high pricing or simply a lack of stock to sell, although the RTX 5070 OC is currently available on Newegg for $739.99. Curiously, this is also the only in-stock RTX 5000 series card amongst the top 20 best-selling GPUs on Newegg. Granted, this is only one vendor, but the majority of the GPUs on the list are either AMD Radeon RX 7000 series or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4000 series GPUs.

The most recent Steam Hardware & Software Survey, updated for March 2025, however, tells a more confusing story. While adoption rates for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5000 series GPUs is certainly slow, with the RTX 5080 being the only 5000 series GPU to even feature on the chart, with 0.19% growth over the last month, gamers seem to be moving away from the RTX 4000 series even faster. The GPU that showed the most growth during the last Steam Survey is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which is already six years old. It’s also interesting to note that most of the AMD GPUs in the Steam Survey results also saw minor upticks in adoption. Recent reports out of Japan show that AMD has garnered massive interest since the launch of the RX 9070 series GPUs, with claims of 45% market share coming as a surprise after NVIDIA reached 90% GPU market share in December last year. While NVIDIA’s supply issues are likely at least partially to blame for AMD’s increased popularity, there is also a growing sentiment amongst gamers, backed by some of our own testing, that NVIDIA is more interested in AI and simply isn’t equipping its gaming graphics cards with enough VRAM for high-resolution and high-refresh rate gaming.

As part of the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds Title 1 update, Capcom plans to introduce a new Arena Quests mode, a ranked, timed multiplayer mode with a competitive leaderboard and in-game cosmetic prizes. In anticipation of the new game mode, Capcom has issued a stern warning to would-be cheaters, and it will be following that up with punitive measures. According to a post on X and a recent blog post about the new game mode, any confirmed cheaters may face repercussions like removal of rewards, disqualification from further participation in Arena Quests, or even account restriction or outright suspension.

Curiously, Capcom seems to be relying on community reporting for its cheater detection, since Monster Hunter Wilds notably does not feature an anti-cheat system. While this means the AAA game runs well on Linux and the Steam Deck alike, it also makes it more difficult to catch cheating players. It also presents the unfortunate side effect of innocent players being caught in the cross fire. Addressing the latter, Capcom says the following: “Individuals who are mistakenly deemed to have committed a prohibited act will not be compensated later with participation and ranking rewards,” and it encourages any players who suspect that they have been teamed up with a cheater to leave the quest immediately and report the offending player.

Hunters, TU1 brings with it quest types where you can compete for the fastest time for both leaderboard position and cosmetic pendant rewards.

To ensure a fun and fair experience for our players, we will take action against accounts participating in fraudulent ranking activity, such as the use of cheating or external tools.

Accounts deemed to be in breach of this may be suspended, or have restrictions placed on them, such as being unable to receive rewards from these quests.

Also, if cheating is confirmed in a multiplayer hunt by any member(s) of a team, the completion time for the quest will be deemed invalid and the right to rewards can be revoked for the whole party.

Please take caution to avoid playing multiplayer with those who are engaging in prohibited activity, or those you suspect of such.

If you find yourself in a quest where one or more of the players is exhibiting prohibited behaviour, please report them. This can be done by navigating to their Hunter Profile screen and selecting report.

Players can earn the rewards from these quests solo, or with Support Hunters too!

Reward pendants may be made available separately at a later date.

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Welcome to the first week of April and the month kicks off on the slow side. This week’s major release is a remaster of a game that launched on the PS4 in 2020, which is why we decided to avoid calling it a AAA release, even though the original console game was. This is followed by some parkour, going on adventures with a puppy, some mechs, running a roman outpost and finally being in charge of some police officers.

The Last of Us Part II Remastered / This week’s major release / Thursday 3 April
Five years after their dangerous journey across the post-pandemic United States, Ellie and Joel have settled down in Jackson, Wyoming. Living amongst a thriving community of survivors has allowed them peace and stability, despite the constant threat of the infected and other, more desperate survivors. When a violent event disrupts that peace, Ellie embarks on a relentless journey to carry out justice and find closure. Steam link

Storror Parkour Pro / Monday 31 March / Early access
Escape Reality. The ultimate multiplayer parkour experience. Escape, race, and explore the streets and rooftops of London’s Isle of Dogs. Join team Storror to save your estate, or challenge your friends to test their skills.Storror Parkour Pro is complete control and freedom of movement.
Steam link Koira / Tuesday 1 April
Save a puppy and embark on a heartwarming, hand-drawn adventure together. Journey to the heart of an enchanted forest, solving puzzles and avoiding hunters to protect your newfound friend. Steam link Steel Hunters / Wednesday 2 April / Early access
After a cataclysmic event, Hunters were created by mankind to safeguard the collection of an extraterrestrial resource crucial to human survival, known as Starfall. Driven by ruthless factions, these fearsome mechanical giants have now become the key to dominate the scarce resource across the ruins of a green but abandoned Earth. Steam link Roman Triumph: Survival City Builder / Thursday 3 April / Early access
Roman Triumph is a survival city-builder / colony-sim set in Roman times where you must lead your people, build a city from the ground up and fortify it with walls, ballistae, archer towers and other Roman defenses to survive against the hordes of Barbarians, ferocious Hydra, Minotaur, Cerberus, and other mythological beasts. Steam link SWAT Commander: Prologue / Friday 4 April
In the prologue, you face the challenges of our second mission – Hot Reception. Team up with your friends in a SWAT squad or go in solo to investigate an auto shop where a violent shootout between rival gangs took place. Secure any evidence of criminal activity, bring the perpetrators to justice, and restore order. Steam link