Valve is changing up the Steam Store's menu.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
See All PC Gaming
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Digital Trends
5 hours ago
- Digital Trends
5 ways to upgrade your PC without spending a fortune
Without beating around the bush, PC gaming is expensive these days. Or, at the very least, it certainly feels like it is. With the prices of the best graphics cards still way too high, it might feel like you're stuck with your same old PC for the foreseeable future. Good news: It's not universally that bad. In fact, there are plenty of PC upgrades ranging from free to not-too-pricey that you can jump on today. I'm a PC builder with 20 years of experience, and here's what I recommend doing if you want to give your gaming rig a boost without breaking the bank. Better PC without spending a dime Short of your friends and family suddenly deciding to gift you PC hardware, you can't get any serious gains without spending money — but you can get some improvements. There are ways to boost your existing PC and make it run better, and some of those things can give you improvements in games. Recommended Videos This is especially true if you think that your PC seems to be struggling right now. Thermal throttling, crashes, and disappointing performance can often be addressed without upgrading the hardware — all you need is some good ol' PC troubleshooting. Start by cleaning up your PC, and by that I mean, get rid of all the random junk you've probably accumulated over time. (I know I have an alarming tendency to do that.) Uninstall unused programs, disable startup apps via the Task Manager to make your PC boot faster, and clear temporary files and cookies. Install one of the best antivirus programs and give your PC a thorough scan. Lastly, update all your drivers, including those from Nvidia and AMD. Optimize your settings, both for your PC and on a game-by-game basis. If your PC is getting old, scaling back in settings like View Distance, Projected Textures, or (duh) Ray Tracing can make a world of difference for your frame rates. If applicable, try out upscaling technologies from your GPU vendor, be it Nvidia's DLSS, AMD's FSR, or Intel's XeSS. Next, I recommend cleaning the actual hardware — a process that should be done once every few months, but often goes neglected for years. We have a detailed guide on how to clean your PC, so check it out. These won't make or break your performance, but are a good first step when you're in a pinch. And honestly, cleaning your PC can affect the temperatures in a major way, which translates to better performance. More (or faster) RAM How much RAM do you really need? There's an answer, I promise, and yet, my gut instinct is always to simply say 'more.' I always have an urge to buy more RAM, or at least faster RAM, and it's something I have to fight myself about regularly. Well, don't be like me — instead of debating, just do it. Get yourself a RAM upgrade. It's one of the cheapest ways to give your whole PC a boost — not just in gaming, but overall. Realistically, if you're already sitting at 32GB RAM, you don't need to double it. 64GB is reserved for enthusiasts and most of us don't need it, so if budget is tight, stick to your current RAM and try something else. But if you're under 32GB, that is the current sweet spot in a gaming PC, so buying extra might help your PC handle multitasking like a champ. In games, you'll likely see an improvement in loading times and overall performance. RAM speed and generation matters, too. If you're on an older motherboard, you most likely need to stick to DDR4 RAM. But if you're using an AMD AM5 processor, or an Intel 12th-gen and up CPU, you might be able to buy DDR5 — which opens up a lot of room for speed-based RAM upgrades. Older DDR5 RAM runs at 5,000MHz or less, but newer memory can easily go above 7,000MHz. Want DDR5 RAM? Check out this Crucial Pro DDR5-6000 32GB kit with reasonably tight timings. DDR4 RAM is cheaper, and you can snag 32GB of DDR4-3600 RAM from T-Group for $69. Better SSD? Yes, please! When it comes to storage, gamers can never have enough. I bought myself a 2TB SSD thinking I'd have plenty of room, and I was really wrong. I ended up buying an extra SSD just to store my games. If you don't have an SSD yet, then this is the single most impactful upgrade you can get — hands down. But, realistically, you're probably already using SSD storage. No worries, because you can still score a great upgrade for cheap. Upgrading from a SATA SSD to an NVMe drive is still going to feel like night and day. NVMe SSD to faster NVMe SSD won't feel as impactful, but you'll still shave off a few seconds from every loading screen and your Windows boot time. It helps, and SSDs are reasonably affordable these days. The drive I recently bought was the Lexar 2TBN NM790 with 7,400MB/s in read speeds, and I can heartily recommend it. If you want something smaller and cheaper, it's also available in 1TB for $68, so check it out. A new CPU could be a huge deal CPUs are impactful upgrades, but they're tricky. It's not like RAM or SSD, where you can pretty much pop them in and out of your PC at any given time. Every CPU is locked to a specific motherboard socket, which means that your upgrade path is limited to whenever the CPU vendor changes sockets. In the case of Intel, that happens often. You can generally expect Intel to switch sockets once every one or two generations. Meanwhile, AMD's AM4 platform has lasted for years, and the company still releases new CPUs made for those motherboards. The AM5 platform, on the other hand, is still new and likely not in need of upgrading. It's hard for me to give you a blanket recommendation here without knowing your motherboard, but I'll say this: Spending $100 to $200 on a new CPU might make more of a difference than you think. Most games rely on the GPU more so than the CPU, but even GPU-bound games benefit from a faster processor. The rest of your PC does, too. Have a look at our list of the best budget processors and pick the one that fits your motherboard. Steer clear of motherboard upgrades — that's neither easy nor cheap. Improve your cooling You may have followed my advice (in which case, thanks for making me feel useful) and cleaned your PC, but there's only so much you can achieve with a can of compressed air. Sometimes, you should just go ahead and upgrade your cooler to give your PC the (literal) breathing room that it needs. This will be an especially impactful upgrade if you currently have a stock cooler combined with a mid-to-high-end CPU. While stock coolers are meant to be good enough to handle the processor they come paired with, they don't quite have the power of a third-party CPU cooler. I've personally witnessed many PCs, including my own, that were completely transformed by a CPU cooler upgrade — and those aren't too pricey. When it comes to cooling upgrades, you have three options: Buy a third-party air cooler Buy an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler Stock up on some more case fans You can do two of those things at once, as case fans don't cost a whole lot. As far as air coolers go, I heartily recommend the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE, which is just $37 on Amazon. It's versatile, so chances are it'll fit your motherboard, so make sure to double-check. Meanwhile, AIO coolers get a bad rep for being expensive, but you can get this 360mm Thermalright Frozen Notte model for just $55. Again, a pretty versatile beast, but do your research before shopping to make sure it'll suit your case. No matter which upgrade you go with, you might be surprised how a little investment can help your PC in a major way. While graphics cards are expensive right now, these upgrades can help you get by until things improve in that regard.
Fox News
5 hours ago
- Fox News
Jennifer Lopez suffers wardrobe malfunction during concert
Jennifer Lopez accidentally left her skirt on the floor Friday during a concert in Poland. Lopez, who performed in Warsaw on Friday for her 56th birthday, suffered a wardrobe malfunction during the middle of her celebration. The "Waiting for Tonight" singer was in the midst of receiving birthday wishes during her livestreamed concert when her gold sequined skirt fell to the ground. Lopez glittered in gold wearing a metallic bra with a matching fringed skirt for the show. As she walked across the stage, concert-goers caught a glimpse of her matching underwear when her sparkling skirt hit the stage. "Thank you, Warsaw," Lopez screamed to the crowd when suddenly her skirt broke. "Oh! I'm out here in my underwear." A backup dancer rushed to her side and attempted to cover up Lopez, only for the "Let's Get Loud" singer to throw the broken garment into the crowd. "I'm glad that they reinforced that costume, and I'm glad I had underwear on," she said. "I don't usually wear underwear." Representatives for Lopez did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. JLo's set to perform once again this week in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It's unclear if any additional precautions are being taken to prevent another on-stage incident. The tour, which began earlier this month, is her first tour in six years. Lopez was slated to embark on the "This is Me… Live" tour in the summer of 2024, but canceled the concerts to spend time with her family. Representatives for Live Nation explained JLo would be "taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends." "I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down," Lopez wrote in her newsletter. "Please know that I wouldn't do this if I didn't feel that it was absolutely necessary. I promise I will make it up to you and we will all be together again. I love you all so much. Until next time ... " Two months later, Lopez filed for divorce from her fourth husband, Ben Affleck. The Hollywood heavyweights finalized their divorce in January, with both parties waving spousal support, in addition to waiving further discovery proceedings. Affleck and Lopez were married for two years before she filed for divorce on Aug. 20 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Her petition for the dissolution of their marriage was filed on the two-year anniversary of their Georgia wedding. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER The former couple first said "I do" during a surprise Las Vegas wedding in 2022. One month later, the newlyweds hosted a backyard ceremony for friends and family at the $8 million Georgia mansion Affleck purchased when the couple first began dating 20 years ago. Affleck and Lopez first met while working on the set of "Gigli" and were engaged in 2002 with plans to marry in September 2003, but they postponed the wedding and ultimately called off their relationship at the beginning of 2004. "Bennifer" reunited once again before the summer of 2021, and Affleck proposed to Lopez in April while she was taking a bath.
Forbes
7 hours ago
- Forbes
PlayStation Plus Free Games August 2025: Predictions, Rumors, Leaks And More
What to expect from next month's PlayStation Plus lineup. August is almost upon us, and with it a brand new lineup of free PlayStation Plus Essential games just in time for back-to-school, which rolls out over the next few weeks depending on where you live and how unlucky you (or your kids) might be. What should gamers expect this coming month? July is almost over and it's time to make some predictions. This also means you have about a week or so to claim July's rather excellent lineup of PS Plus Essential titles. Don't sleep on these, as they include a fantastic fighting game, one of the best modern action-RPGs out there and a super unique indie title about exploring a mysterious apocalyptic wasteland. Last year's August lineup was pretty fascinating. It included the amazing Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Five Nights at Freddy's Security Breach and the 2D action-RPG Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights. Read on for more information on next month's PS Plus lineup. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder PS Plus is Sony's monthly membership program that grants access to online gaming. You don't need it for streaming movies or TV shows on Netflix and other services, or for free-to-play games like Warzone or Fortnite. Any paid online games, however, require a subscription. There are three PS Plus tiers—Essential, Extra and Premium—though for the purposes of this post we're only discussing the Essential tier's free monthly games. These tiers cost: PS Plus Essential — $79.99/year; PS Plus Extra — $134.99/year; PS Plus Premium — $159.99/year. Sony typically reveals the following month's games on the last Wednesday of the month, though this isn't always the case. The actual rule of thumb is that the new lineup (almost) always releases on the first Tuesday of the month and the games are revealed the previous Wednesday. This means, we should get our big August 2025 reveal on Wednesday, July 30th. August's Essentials lineup will go live on Tuesday, August 5th. You'll have until then to download July's free PS Plus games. It's interesting to look back on previous August PS Plus releases as we try to predict this coming month's games. Remarkably, the smash hit Fall Guys released on Playstation Plus a whopping five years ago in 2020, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. That same year, we got the remastered campaign of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare. A couple years later we got the remake of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, which is interesting since 3+4 just released. We don't have any big leaks to help guide us for August 2025. The only game releasing on PlayStation (and other platforms) on August 5th is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Hinokami Chronicles 2, an anime-based fighting game and sequel to the 2022 game of the same name. This is a possible PS Plus release but I remain doubtful. Here are some possible PS Plus predictions for August: Resident Evil 4 Remake — The remake of the popular action-horror game from 2005 was released in 2023 to wide acclaim. It's old enough to be a contender for a PS Plus release and would definitely be a crowd-pleaser. Elden Ring — FromSoftware's mega-hit action-RPG would be a huge win for Sony and PlayStation Plus gamers. Even Demon's Souls Remake would be a massive win, though I put both of these in the 'wishful thinking' column. Still, Elden Ring might make sense given the recent release of the standalone multiplayer spinoff Nightreign. Star Wars Outlaws — Ubisoft's open-world Star Wars game wasn't the hit they needed, but it's still a pretty fun way to head to a galaxy far, far away and rub shoulders with scum and villainy. It would make a really perfect PS Plus release. Death Stranding — Hideo Kojima's weirdest game was a big enough hit to commission a sequel and that sequel just came out. There's really no better time to release Death Stranding on PS+ than right now (though maybe a month or two ago would have been more ideal). Topspin 2k25 — The tennis sports game from 2024 would be in keeping with many other PS Plus months where Sony adds a baseball or tennis or golfing game to the mix. Other possible sports games for August: NHL 25, FC 25. Street Fighter 6 — The popular fighting game franchise continues to be a crowd-pleaser, and releasing this 2023 game on PS Plus would be fun despite getting a fighting game last month. That makes me doubtful we'll see this one, but I'd play it if Sony put it out there. Cocoon — Indie developer Jeppe Carlsen (Limbo, Inside) released this innovative and unique puzzle game back in 2023 to stellar reviews. It's been on the wishlist of various PS Plus guessers for a long time now and would certainly be the exact sort of small title that would make gamers happy in August. Trine 5 — I used to absolutely love the Trine games. I remember playing them with my kids when they were little. The gorgeous artwork in those games plus the couch co-op just made them such a delight. Then I forgot about them, and I actually never did play the fifth game. I'd love to, though. It would be super nostalgic for the whole family. Here's hoping! What games would you like to see come to PS Plus this August? Any insights or predictions? Any leaks I should know about? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. You can also sign up for my Substack newsletter, Diabolical, where I talk culture and politics and the arts.
