There’s no doubt that gamers will go to extreme lengths to achieve realism in their favorite racing game,flight sim, or shooter. However, one group of World of Tanks players has taken the immersion to the next level with a custom controller setup requiring a three-person tank team including a loader for a reloadable cannon. Abrief videoappeared on the internet recently, showing the setup in action. One person acts as the tank driver, steering the war machine using a Volkswagen steering wheel....

In any game’s video setting, you might have encountered a setting named Bloom. This is a video game mechanic implemented into many games, both FPS (First Person Shooter) and single-player games. The word bloom has two different meanings in a video game. In competitive orFPS games, it mostly deals with where the shots land when you press the shoot button. And the other meaning to bloom is in-game video/graphics settings....

The CPU cache is a tiny temporary memory located on the CPU die itself. It storesprefetched data that the CPU will likely need for quick access. This is necessary to ensure the RAM doesn’t bottleneck the CPU. Modern CPUs typically implement CPU cache in 3 levels –L1,L2, andL3. These play an important part in determining CPU performance (especially for certain tasks like gaming). So, let’s look at how CPU cache works, why it matters, and how much CPU cache you’ll need for your workloads....

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) Server protocol was used on earlier versions of Windows to help communication between different programs. In one of the previous versions of Windows 10, a memory leak issue on Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) caused the DDE Server Window error. After selecting the option to shut down or restart Windows, the process would suddenly halt while showing an error window. You can continue the shutdown or the restart after clickingOKand thenRestart anyway....

Imagine you’re watching a video of your family celebrating Christmas, only to realize that you can’t tell if the red and white mix of pixels in the center is the Santa or the red velvet/white choc-chip cookie. Or, you’ve posted a video of your gaming setup on Facebook only to realize your Facebook video is blurry. Trust me, we’ve been there too. Whether it’s for entertainment, work, content creation, or more, if you’re looking for a more HD experience, we’re here to help!...

For the past few months,Microsofthas been hard at work building extensibility into an area of the Windows shell that never saw an official means of 3rd party customization – the Start Menu. This change of direction comes as a big surprise. Other key areas of the shell, like the taskbar, have actually lost such functionality with the introduction ofWindows 11. Officially called Start Menu Companions, this feature first appeared in Windows 11 Insider build 26212 released in early May 2024, and is available in all Insider channels at the time of writing....

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology has swept through the computing space, delivering a superior viewing experience in devices ranging from smartphones to tablets to laptops to thebest OLED gaming monitors. When it comes to PC monitors, there are generally two popular options available to consumers: WOLED and QD-OLED. WOLED Panels WOLED stands for White OLED and has been popularized byLG. WOLEDs feature four subpixels: red, green, blue, and white. WOLEDs do away with the individual emitters for the red, green, and blue filters, and rely on a single layer that emits white light....

If you’re in the market for a curved gaming monitor, now is a great time to take one home thanks to this deal on theAcer Nitro XZ270 X2bmiiphx. This curved gaming monitor isn’t the biggest on the market, but at 27-inches across it’s not too bad. While its 1080p resolution isn’t probably the sweet spot for 27-inches, it offers a blistering 240 Hz refresh rate and 1 ms response times which are ideal for fast-paced gaming fun....

Nobody likes being interrupted while watching their favorite shows. If you’re one of the 2.6 Billion active users of YouTube, you would most definitely relate to this issue. The popular streaming platform isn’t new to such errors, which can sometimes be quite bothersome. Fortunately, as the service has been around for quite some time now, we understand the nature of this issue and how we can fix it. In this article, we will be breaking down the pause issue on YouTube and how you can work your way around it....

Junk Store, a plugin that lets you run third-party game stores like Epic Games and GOG directly from Steam Deck’s Gaming Mode has appeared inthe Steam Store(h/t toGamingOnLinux). This plugin is similar toDecky Loader, an open-source plugin launcher for Steam Deck that lets other developers add software features to the handheld console. However, it seems that SDK Innovation,Junk Store’sdevelopers, want to run it as an officially recognized Steam Deck app and without the user tinkering under the hood....

Work continues on AmigaOS 3.2 with the stewards of this classic Motorola 680x0 friendly operating system, Hyperion Entertainment, releasing version 3.2.3 a few days ago. In a newsbulletinon the official site, Hyperion highlighted that the third update for AmigaOS 3.2 includes two years of (more than 50) fixes and enhancements. It is somewhat remarkable that work on AmigaOS 3.X continues in 2025, given that Commodore International released AmigaOS 3.0 in 1992 with the Commodore Amiga 1200, followed by 3....

Earlier today, Acer dropped its Nitro Shadow Knight RX 7800 XT in the Chinese market, just a few months after showing it off atCES2024 [h/tITHome.com]. Admittedly we didn’t get our hands on it during the show— some otherAcer odditiescaught our attention at the time— but the latest “Shadow Knight” in Acer’s lineup does seem interesting. The same card also launched as the “Nitro” in the U.S. and other areas, with theAcer Nitro RX 7800 XT priced at $519....

Tom’s Hardware Verdict The Alienware Area-51 makes a much-needed return to (mostly) standardized parts in a huge tower meant for upgrades down the line. Gaming performance is strong, but not a huge leap over previous-generation desktops. Mostly standardized parts Runs quiet Strong gaming performance Great port selection, including Thunderbolt 4 Core Ultra isn’t the best gaming CPU Expensive Adapter kit needed to replace the motherboard Why you may trust Tom’s HardwareOur expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you....