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Diablo 4’s Season 9 finally lets us fight Astaroth in the endgame, but the rest of what it brings feels like a re-skin of old systems

by admin May 24, 2025

Right on schedule, Blizzard delivered a long and detailed livestream covering Diablo 4’s upcoming patch 2.3.0 PTR (Public Test Realm). The developer revealed when the PTR will be going online, and what it’s actually going to include.

The PTR will, as previously revealed, only be available on PC through Battlenet. It will go live next week, on Tuesday, May 27, ending one week later on June 3.

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As you may recall from the Diablo 4 roadmap, Season 9 is titled Sins of the Horadrim. The structure of the next season will be similar to recent ones: there’s going to be a new activity or two, with the new gameplay revolving mainly around powers you can acquire as you play said activities.

For Sins of the Horadrim, the new endgame activity is called Escalating Nightmares (previously Dungeon Escalation), and the powers will be Horadric Spellcraft. Astaroth will also return as part of the season.

The highlight of the new season is the ability to create Horadric Spells, a new system that relies on three elements to function: Catalysts, Infusions, and Arcana. Catalysts are the base, unmodified powers, which you can then alter with Infusions. This changes the elemental damage type of the spell, but you can also change the baseline power of it using Arcana.

The system, in essence, is a refresh of Season 7’s Witchcraft Powers, and is similar to Season 8’s Boss Powers in the way it works, too.

Look familiar? | Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment.

Something else being introduced with Sins of the Horadrim is Horadric Strongrooms. These are micro-dungeons that can be found within larger Nightmare Dungeons. Your goal is to claim some lost Horadric knowledge within, and fight your way out in time, as a timer kicks in after you trigger a Strongroom.

Doing so will earn you Horadric Attunement, which can later be exchanged for rewards. The chances of Horadric Strongrooms spawning increase the higher your Torment level, but you can also use Horadric Phials (a new seasonal currency) to increase your chance of finding them further. Some Nightmare Dungeon Sigils will also guarantee a Horadric Strongroom can be found within.

Horadric Strongrooms follow a similar dungeon design where you get to choose what sort of challenge you want to take on by interacting with one of the different Horadric Pillars. Once the ritual is performed and the pillar is satiated, you’ll get Horadric Attunement. At the end of it, there’s a boss you’ll need to fight to complete the run. Before you leave, you’ll get to use your Horadric Attunement to acquire a Horadric cache.

He’s back! | Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment.

The big new activity in Season 9 is Escalating Nightmares, which is a fancy name for a new chain of three Nightmare Dungeons, with nightmares escalating as you go through each. The main hook here is that each dungeon’s affixes stack with the next one, meaning the third in the chain will have affixes from all three. If you manage to go through all three, you’ll get to fight an Exalted version of Astaroth.

Triggering an instance of Escalating Nightmare requires an Escalation Sigil, which can be found in Horadric caches from the aforementioned Strongrooms (starting from Torment 1). The Astaroth fight itself is one of the most impressive and memorable fights from Diablo 4’s campaign, and players have been asking Blizzard since launch to bring it into the endgame.

This version has something of a mechanical twist, too. Astaroth will jump off his mount, essentially forcing you to fight both him and Amalgam. This isn’t just a visual trick, either, because slaying Amalgam before Astaroth sends the hound into a resurrection state that will put it back in the fight after some time.

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As you might have guessed, there’s a major focus on dungeons in Season 9. Blizzard is turning its gaze to dungeons across both the Seasonal, and Eternal Realms. This will encompass a few tweaks, as well as some new quality of life changes. You’ll soon be able to activate a Nightmare Sigil from within the Nightmare Dungeon itself once it’s complete, meaning you’ll be able to re-run the same one without having to leave and re-enter to create a new instance. The pool of Nightmare Dungeon affixes is also being bolstered with a set of new ones, available across both realms.

Then there’s Horadric Jewels, which will be available in Torment 1 and beyond. Completing a Strongroom has a chance to spawn Horadric Tomes, which, when consumed, let you craft Horadric Jewels. These are effectively gems, just with some powerful effects that play nicely with your Horadric Spells. You’ll also need Horadric Phials and Gem Fragments to craft them, and they can only be socketed into Amulets and Rings.

Catch up on the full change log on the Diablo 4 blog, which also includes PTR-specific boosts those taking part will need to rely on if they want to get into endgame content quickly.

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May 24, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

BlockTrust IRA Brings Quant Trading Tools to Crypto Retirement Accounts

by admin May 22, 2025

As spot bitcoin

exchange-traded funds continue to grow and Wall Street wades deeper into crypto, more and more people are able to gain exposure to digital assets through their individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

IRAs offer tax advantages and a range of investment options, including stocks, real estate, commodities and, increasingly, cryptocurrencies. But when it comes to crypto, there’s usually only one investment strategy available: to buy and hold.

It’s a strategy that might work well for assets like the S&P 500, which have long track records of steadily appreciating over longer time frames, but bitcoin is still an extremely volatile asset and other coins even more so.

The idea behind BlockTrust IRA, then, is simple: to manage the crypto positions of its customers in order to take advantage of that volatility and maximize their returns.

“We’re the only company that has an AI tool meshed with traders that put people automatically in cash [when need be]. Then we wait for the right signals, and we buy back in,” Jonathan Rose, the firm’s CEO, told CoinDesk in an interview.

“Where people are scared of volatility and scared of risk, we actually want the volatility and the risk associated with that, because that’s how we actually make our clients money,” Rose said. “We are right a lot more than we are wrong, and that’s how we’re able to beat the benchmark.”

BlockTrust’s secret sauce? Animus Technologies, a fund that provides intelligent asset management solutions for crypto. Animus has servers around the world and quantifies humongous amounts of data — to the point that a European government body has reached out to inquire what exactly they’re quantifying data for, according to Rose.

Animus typically only shares its signals with high net-worth individuals and fund clients, Rose said. In other words, crypto retail participants may now benefit, through their BlockTrust accounts, from the kind of trading mechanisms that previously were only available to quant funds.

The sophisticated strategies are currently only available for bitcoin

and ether , but BlockTrust offers exposure to 60 different cryptocurrencies, Rose said. Users of the platform can invest as little as $1,000 for non-managed accounts, or $25,000 if they want a managed account — and trading fees can go as low as 0.4% for the former and 0.14% for the latter.

BlockTrust IRA went live officially in February. In March, the firm had accrued $10 million in assets, and Rose expects it to bring in roughly $100 million before the end of the year.

The company’s early success may also be due to the fact that it’s not just open to U.S. residents, but to people all around the world, as long as they can pass its Know-Your-Customer (KYC) checks. Americans do have the added advantage of being able to use their tax-deferred retirement savings to gain exposure.

Crypto markets are ever changing, and trading strategies that function perfectly for a long time may suddenly become outdated due to shifts in the economic environment or crypto-intrinsic changes — potentially threatening to render Animus’ approach obsolete someday. But Rose isn’t concerned.

“When [the people at] Animus Technologies go to these hedge fund conferences and speak, they always come back with a big grin on their faces, because they’re like, ‘We are so light-years ahead of anyone remotely doing what we’re doing,’” Rose said. “It’s going to take like four to six years for people to even kind of catch up to us.”

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May 22, 2025 0 comments

Esports

New Game of the Week: Rooftops & Alleys brings back the joy of Mirror’s Edge-style parkour

by admin May 22, 2025

Parkour-focused games like Mirror’s Edge and Free Running have all but vanished – but solo indie developer Michel Losch wants to bring them back. His upcoming title, Rooftops & Alleys, aims to revive the genre, handing players full control to flow through urban landscapes with style and freedom.

Parkour once had a real moment in pop culture. From Jason Bourne and James Bond thrilling moviegoers with high-octane on-foot pursuits, to the likes of Assassin’s Creed and Mirror’s Edge bringing the experience to the comfort of your couch, it was everywhere. In recent years though, it’s been pushed to the background. Instead of being the core of the experience, it’s often tacked on, buried in larger creations.

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On the gaming front, Assassin’s Creed or Dying Light come to mind, as games where movement is important, but it’s mostly automated: just hold a direction and tap a button. It’s been a long time since players had real agency – and consequences – for how they move.

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Finally bringing it back into the spotlight, Michel Losch is hoping to reinvigorate that sense of joy when flowing through construction yards and modern metropolises, tricking your way from one surface to the next as quickly as possible. Here’s how Rooftops & Alleys is restoring the fun.

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What is Rooftops & Alleys?

Parkour is ostensibly about getting from Point A to Point B in as little time as possible. That could mean vaulting over a ledge, jumping across a gap, or sliding down a slanted surface to get there. Meanwhile, freerunning is about adding some flair to the movement. Flipping, spinning, and generally tricking along a path to really show off.

Rooftops & Alleys mixes them both. You’ll be sprinting through maps in the most stylish ways possible for extra points in a bid to outclass your friends. It’s not just about the destination, but the fun of the journey.

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Some challenges are on a timer, demanding you reach an area as quickly as possible, passing through all the right checkpoints along the way. An on-foot race with only your technical skill standing in the way of a gold medal.

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Others will ask for high scores on tricky lines, forcing you and your crew to think outside the box on how you’re going to approach a certain obstacle. Is flipping over it the coolest way to make it past? Or would latching onto it and then flipping off give you a bigger multiplier? Much like how you mastered levels in Tony Hawk’s games, you’ll need to put some work in to master the stages here as well.

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There’s even a tag mode that’s non-stop fun as you chase and evade friends with all the dazzling tricks you’ve learned thus far.

ML Media / Radical TheoryThe world is your freerunning oyster in Rooftops & Alleys.

What the devs say about it

What were your inspirations?

“As far as the idea goes, I can’t really say I’ve been practicing parkour professionally! But I always found it cool whenever I saw it in movies. Mostly, I took a lot of inspiration from games like Mirror’s Edge, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Skate, as well as Freerunning on PS2. So many games that fell into it.

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“I like freedom, and I like creative expression in games. I always like getting into a flow state with a game. I was missing something where I could just jump and be able to frontflip, trick, I felt something so satisfying in that. I always wanted to make something like that.

“I have inhaled parkour for the last two years. Just tried to fill my brain with reference footage basically.

“I’ve never talked about this, but I tried to take an approach where I looked at other sports too. I found out about Death Diving, which has nothing to do with parkour. I wanted to add more tricks, so I’ve added some from the sport of Death Diving, diving in general, seeing how I can merge something in what I call a parkour and freerunning game.”

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How realistic is it?

“I never forgot Jet Set Radio Future. There’s a choice of how realistic vs how arcadey, usually people tend to go a bit more realistic. I just wanted something really snappy and responsive, which I knew from the get-go I wouldn’t be able to make this fully momentum or physics-based. I took heavy inspiration from Jet Set and more arcadey games for that reason.”

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ML Media / Radical TheoryWhile not veering completely into the unreal, Rooftops & Alleys harkens back to an old-school arcade game feel.

“Whether you practice parkour or you see it on TV, you just want to do cool stuff. I tried to maintain a somewhat realistic fall distance. I’m trying to get the measurements sort of right.”

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What do people want from a Parkour game?

“Usually, the shortcomings are the lack of control. I think what people need to understand, I often got comments like ‘this is what Assassin’s Creed should be,’ it proved to me there was an urge for more control and expression.

“But also, I think I have an easier time giving players more control because I do not have to hand them a gun or have them drive a car. I have more buttons to play with. There have been requests to add a grappling hook, but I had to stay strong.”

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What’s on the horizon?

“Photo Mode is coming. There are some things I’ve teased. There’s definitely more to it than meets the eye. There are some very fun and goofy achievements that people may not see coming. I’ve also put references to some community members in the 1.0 build.

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“Thus far [through Early Access] I’ve had 30 updates. I plan to continue doing that. I’m already working on post-launch content. I don’t want to spoil it, but there are some really cool and exciting things. Some of which people have been asking for, but some that will come out of nowhere. I’m trying to keep it fresh.”

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Rooftops & Alleys is set to launch in full across PS5, Xbox Series X | S, and PC (through Steam) on June 17, 2025.

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May 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

UPDATE: “All eyes now turn to Liberty’s Heart” Helldivers 2’s big battle for Super Earth is here, as the Heart of Democracy update brings an Illuminate “Great Host” invasion

by admin May 21, 2025

UPDATE (20/05/25, 10:00 AM BST): Arrowhead has just dropped the Heart of Democracy update that leaks had previously hinted at, meaning missions on Super Earth itself have arrived.

“Fight among the towering skyscrapers and crowded streets of our home turf as the Illuminate rain down destruction all around you,” the studio wrote in a PlayStation Blog post, “Inside the city biomes, you will tackle operations and work to liberate cities together, having a significant impact on planetary campaigns.

Your mission is repel the invasion and arm some killer cannons, with Arrowhead explaining: “The might of Super Earth’s arsenal lies hidden beneath our peaceful, democratic streets. With your help, we must activate our Planetary Defense Cannons and take down the Illuminate fleet in a grand show of power.”

You’ll have help from some commandable squads of SEAF troops and have to avoid killing any of the Super Earth citizens you find running around the streets.

Original story follows:

It’s been clear since last week that Helldivers 2’s Galactic War is headed to Super Earth, with a renewed Illuminate offensive pushing towards the home planet of the Helldivers. With the conclusion of the latest major order seeing three planets fall in one fell swoop, that battle’s now imminent.

We’ll still have to see whether this fight for the ball that gifted the galaxy a militaristic force that acts quite fascisty comes with its own fresh update to the game, as leaks have suggested. Either way, though, it’s shaping up to be just as key a point in the war as you’d think.

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To set up this inevitable next step in the way, the game’s latest major order has just ended with players losing three planets to The Illuminate “Great Host” at once. Widow’s Harbor, Pilen V, and New Haven – all Altus Sector worlds which are right on Super Earth’s doorstep – are now occupied by the squids.

The Helldivers just couldn’t hold them, despite what looks to have been a very valiant effort. Especially so in the case of New Haven, which looks to have fallen at the order’s climax, leaving folks either watching on in horror from orbit or planting the Super Earth flag in defiance before exfiltrating one final time with a declaration that they’ll be back.

As I was writing this, Arrowhead’s just announced a further blow – The Illuminate have “razed” Mars, forcing Helldiver training facilities to be moved to another planet.

Mars has been razed by the Illuminate. All Helldiver Training Sites across the planet, where rigorous, thorough, and safe training of the Galaxy’s Elite has long occured, have been destroyed. The expert and seasoned facility PA operators who facilitated the training died… pic.twitter.com/16yEhLK0MM

— HELLDIVERS™ 2 (@helldivers2) May 20, 2025

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All these losses have got them pretty amped up to defend Super Earth too. “Super Earth’s hyper-urbanized landscapes once grew bountiful wheat. Soon, Illuminate blood shall make it fertile again,” a user with the handle Efficient_Menu_9965 wrote in one of those threads, while Diamondeye12 busted out the caps lock to bellow: “WE WILL HOLD SUPER EARTH TILL THE LAST MAN WOMAN AND CHILD.”

Arrowhead’s briefing for the order’s conclusion is every bit the ra-ra speech you’d expect with such an important clash in the offing. “Millions of Helldivers—paragons of valor, fortitude, and unshakable obedience—undaunted by a knowingly unwinnable fight, formed Democracy’s first line of defense,” the studio wrote making it clear this had not been “in vain”.

“Firstly, this heroic stand impeded the unforeseen Illuminate offensive and, in a testament to our martial superiority, reduced their estimated fleet strength by 21.5%,” it continued, “Additionally, the time secured by their sacrifice has been fully utilized: Mega Cities are now heavily fortified, garrisons reinforced by SEAF battalions recalled from distant sectors.

“The fight for our Freedom is upon us. There is no fallback. All eyes now turn to Liberty’s Heart, as the Helldivers prepare to fight for the very survival of Managed Democracy.”

So, get ready to lock and load. There’s a planet to defend, and you can’t just drop a crap tonne of mechs on your foes anymore.

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Google’s new Flow tool brings AI magic to video creation

by admin May 21, 2025

Google’s latest I/O event, which took place on Tuesday, showcased a striking expansion of AI across its growing range of products, with new generative tools like Imagen 4 for images, Veo 3 for video, and Flow for AI-driven filmmaking, taking center stage alongside a revamped AI-powered search experience and the premium Google AI Ultra subscription.

The all-new Flow editing tool enables AI-powered movie creation and — at least at first glance — marks a significant leap in Google’s creative AI capabilities.

Flow incorporates Veo, Imagen, and Gemini AI models, and the new editing tool is designed to help storytellers develop their ideas and create cinematic clips and scenes for their stories.

Notably, the AI tool lets you easily produce video content by combining generated visuals and audio, which is supposed to enable a rapid workflow to arrive at the desired results.

Google said that Flow is aimed at “professionals or those just getting started,” which means pretty much everyone with an interest in filmmaking. Features include camera controls that let you create precisely the kind of shot you’re after, bringing direct control of camera motion, angles, and perspectives.

Other Flow features include scenebuilder, which lets you seamlessly edit and extend your existing shots, so you can reveal more of the action or smoothly transition to what happens next with continuous motion and consistent characters.

Google’s new AI tool is a wake-up call for OpenAI’s Sora, which is one of Flow’s high-profile competitors. Both are designed for filmmakers and creatives to generate cinematic video scenes from text prompts, but Flow distinguishes itself by integrating native audio generation.

Established creatives and those on film crews will be looking at these new tools with some trepidation, with Google’s latest AI-powered content creation products having even greater potential to disrupt traditional filmmaking, advertising, and similar industries. But some filmmakers are embracing the profound changes heading their way, with Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky, for one, announcing a partnership with Google for a new generative-AI storytelling initiative to create short films using some of Google’s newly announced tools, IndieWire reported.

“Filmmaking has always been driven by technology,” Aronofsky said in a statement. “After the Lumiere Brothers and Edison’s ground-breaking invention, filmmakers unleashed the hidden storytelling power of cameras. Later technological breakthroughs — sound, color, VFX — allowed us to tell stories in ways that couldn’t be told before. Today is no different. Now is the moment to explore these new tools and shape them for the future of storytelling.”

Flow is available today for Google AI Pro and Ultra plan subscribers in the U.S., with more countries coming soon.

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

MSI brings AMD-based AMD gaming handheld, updated mid-range gaming laptops to Computex

by admin May 20, 2025

MSI brought its first gaming handheld with an AMD chip inside, the Claw A8 BZ2EM, to Computex. The company also used Taipei tradeshow to launch the latest versions of its Crosshair and Cyborg laptops.

MSI’s previous gaming handhelds, like its Claw 8 AI+, used Intel’s Core Ultra processors — the only mainstream gaming company to do so. It doesn’t seem that MSI is abandoning Intel, but is now making systems with chips from both partners.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

MSI Claw A8 BZ2EM

Processor

AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme

Graphics

AMD Radeon (integrated)

Display

8-inch, 1920- x 1200, 120 Hz, VRR, IPS-level

RAM

Up to 24GB LPDDR5x-8000

Storage

1x NVMe M.2 2280 SSD

Battery

80 WHr

Wireless

Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3

Beyond using AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, the Claw A8 will have other new features. The system, which is very green, has an Xbox-style controller layout, placing the right thumbstick below the A/B/X/Y buttons. MSI is using Hall Effect joysticks, which should help prevent stick drift. The Claw A8 also has Hall Effect sensors in the LT and RT triggers.

The company has rounded the corners and put in bigger grips, which should increase comfort over previous Claw systems.

Gaming Laptops

Like Acer and Asus, MSI brought its mid-range gaming notebooks to Computex, upgrading them to Nvidia’s new RTX 5060 and the RTX 5070.

(Image credit: MSI)

The new Crosshairs will come in 16, 17, and 18-inch sizes. Confusingly enough, using the 18-inchers as examples, the Intel models are styled Crosshair 18 HX AI, while the AMD versions are Crosshair A18HX. So AI means Intel Core Ultra 200 HX chips here, while the A-series systems use AMD Ryzen 8000.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

MSI Crosshair 18HX AI

MSI Crosshair A18 HXX

MSI Crosshair 16/17 HX AI

MSI Crosshair A16/A17 HX

CPU

Intel Core Ultra 200 HX

AMD Ryzen 8000

Intel Core Ultra 200 HX

AMD Ryzen 8000

GPU

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070/5060 “and below”

RAM

DDR5-6400 (2 slots, max 96GB)

DDR5-5200 (2 slots, max 96GB)

DDR5-6400 (2 slots, max 96GB)

DDR5-5200 (2 slots, max 96GB)

Storage

1x PCIe Gen 4 x 4 and 1x PCIe Gen 5 x 4

2x PCIe Gen 4 x 4

Display

18-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240 Hz, IPS-level

16 or 17-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240 Hz, IPS-level

Battery

90 WHr

Webcam

720p

Wireless

Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3

Other than that, the systems have a ton of commonalities. They all use Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 or RTX 5060 GPUs “and below” (whether that means an upcoming RTX 5050 or older generation chips remains to be seen) and go up to 115W on the GPU and 170W on the CPU. All of the systems have 90 WHr batteries, Wi-Fi 6E, and 2560 x 1600, 240 Hz screens.

MSI only sent along configurations for the Crosshair 18HX AI, which will start at $1,699 at Costco and features a Core Ultra 9 275HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. For $2,049, you’ll be able to get 64GB of RAM.

MSI hasn’t detailed full specifications, so while we know Intel will have slightly faster RAM, we don’t know how much RAM many of these systems will ship with. We do know that they have a MUX switch on the motherboard, new crosshair logos on the hinge and touchpad, and, on the 18-inchers, a 24-zone RGB keyboard. MSI didn’t provide pricing or release information for these systems.

(Image credit: MSI)

There’s also a refresh to the Cyborg line, which comes in 15 and 17-inch sizes. These systems use translucent plastic on the edges but still have a metal lid. The Cyborg 15 and Cyborg 17 will use Intel Core 200H chips and RTX 5060, 5070, “and below” graphics cards, while the Cyborg A15 AI and A17 AI (yes, here AI stands for AMD), will opt for Ryzen 200 series processors.

The 15-inch screens come in either 1080p at 144 Hz or 1440p at 165 Hz. if you opt for 17 inches, MSI has gone for a 1080p/144 Hz screen or a 1440p, 240 Hz option.

Again, we only have partial pricing here, and no availability. The Cyborg A15 AI will start at $1,149 at Costco with a Ryzen 7 260, RTX 5050 (which we were surprised to see in a sheet sent to press), 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. For $1,399 at Best Buy, you can go up to a Ryzen 9 270 and RTX 5060. The 17-inch AMD model will be $1,549 at Costco with the Ryzen 9 270, RTX 5060, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage.

MSI’s other Computex announcements include some productivity laptops, including a new Stealth A16 AI+ and Prestige 16 AI+ notebook that further MSI’s partnership with AMG Motorsport. Additionally, there’s a new Prestige 13 AI+ “Ukiyuo-e Edition,” a limited edition showcasing “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” that will be individually crafted by artists.

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May 20, 2025 0 comments