Indie Game Marketplace Itch.io Gets Taken Down in Unlikely IP Crossfire

Itch.io, the popular developer-friendly indie game marketplace, has revealed that the site has been taken down by a seemingly erroneous IP protection request by none other than Funko Pop, the pop culture collectible maker. According to Itch.io, the bizarre take-down happened as a result of Funko's automated IP protection provider, and it happened despite Itch.io taking action to prevent the take-down. The site has since been restored, with the offending page removed, but it took more than a little effort on the part of Itch.io's management. The whole situation seems to have been caused by poor communication on the part of Itch.io's domain registrar, Iwantmyname, since that's where the decision to remove the entire site, instead of just the offending page, seems to have originated.

According to posts on X by BrandShield, Funko's IP protection partner, the company's automated system flagged an apparent phishing attempt by an Itch.io subdomain, prompting BrandShield to request the removal of the offending subdomain, notifying both Itch.io and Iwantmyname. Itch.io says that it then removed the offending page and sent an e-mail confirming that it had taken the requisite action, but that e-mail apparently went unread, leaving Itch.io without a site for what appears to be around eight hours. Eventually, someone at Iwantmyname was able to address Itch.io's communications regarding the take-down, and the site was restored in the morning of Monday, December 9. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/329672/indie...-crossfire

Intel 0x114 Microcode Could be the Magic Gaming Performance Fix for "Arrow Lake"

The gaming performance of Intel's latest Core Ultra 200-series "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors missed the mark by quite a bit, ending up slower than the 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processors. Adding pressure to Intel is AMD's recent launch of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which extends the company's leadership in gaming performance, ending up to 12% faster than the top Core Ultra 9 285K at gaming (1080p). The company then announced that it has identified possible reasons why gaming performance of "Arrow Lake" ended up below expectations, and that it's working on a microcode-level update to the processor.

A discussion in the ASUS ROG Forums sheds light on what this microcode update could be. Allegedly, it's called the Intel 0x114 Microcode Update, and you can expect it soon in a beta UEFI firmware update from ASUS and other motherboard vendors, which makes it possible that we see a public release of the microcode either by yearend, or in Q1-2025. There's still no word on the extent of gaming performance gain from this microcode, but if we were to speculate, Intel wouldn't bother with such an update if it didn't at least bring "Arrow Lake" to the same gaming performance level as "Raptor Lake," if not higher.


https://www.techpowerup.com/329635/intel...arrow-lake

Microsoft Visual Studio With Coding Courses Is Down to $56 with This Deal

More developers than you think are self-taught, and you can easily teach yourself how to code with this bundle of coding e-courses and Microsoft Visual Studio Pro. You could build a portfolio and start a new career, freelance, or know how to create apps and websites. If you purchase everything separately and not on sale, it would cost you $1,999, but it's only $55.97 on StackSocial for Cyber Week.

The 15 coding e-courses cover front-end development with HTML, JavaScript, Vuex, and React and back-end development with Python, Ruby on Rails, Java, C++, and SQL so you can create websites or desktop applications. Or, maybe you're interested in mobile apps with Flutter, Swift, and Kotlin, data science and machine learning, or DevOps engineering with AWS or Azure.

Through December 8 at 11:59 p.m. PT, get this bundle of Microsoft Visual Studio Pro and 15 coding e-courses on sale for $55.97 (reg. $1,999) on StackSocial. Supplies are limited, so act while they're still available. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/329565/micro...-this-deal

F2P Hero Shooter Marvel Rivals Shatters Expectations With Over 400,000 Concurrent Pl

It's no secret that 2024 hasn't been kind to live-service games, with recent months seeing games like XDefiant and Concord shut down—although not always without reason—so it's a bit refreshing to see the recently released Marvel Rivals hit what can only be described as a home run. Not only is the game already at "Mostly Positive" in terms of Steam reviews, the free-to-play hero shooter also managed to draw in massive amounts of players in its first week on Steam. According to SteamDB, Marvel Rivals peaked at 444,286 concurrent players a mere two and a half hours after its launch on Friday, December 6.

The game launched on the same day as Path of Exile 2, which had an equally successful launch, despite its Early Access fee and some serious technical hiccups along the way. These two games have not been the norm, although Marvel Rivals signals that gaming properties based on Marvel characters may have finally found their audience. In previous years, both Marvel's Midnight Suns and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy made their own impacts, scoring big with both reviewers and audiences. Of course, neither of the aforementioned games garnered quite the player count as Marvel Rivals, but that's likely simply due to the free-to-play nature of Rivals. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/329593/f2p-h...ter-launch

JONSBO Intros TH-series AIO CLCs with Compound Fans

JONSBO today introduced the TH line of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers. These feature conventional cylindrical pump-blocks capped with an LED 7-segment display that puts out CPU temperature, framed by an ARGB diffuser. The highlight with these coolers are their included compound fans. A compound fan is a single frame with multiple impellers (fanlets), which reduces the cable clutter that comes with having multiple individual fans. It takes in a single cable for the 4-pin PWM and 3-pin ARGB connections. The sides of the frame and the impeller hubs feature ARGB diffusers.

There are four models in the JONSBO TH-series depending on the color and radiator size—the TH-240 Black, the TH-360 Black, the TH-240 White, and the TH-360 White. Each 120 mm fanlet in the compound fan turns at speeds ranging between 700 and 2,400 RPM, pushing between 21.46 and 62.40 CFM of airflow; at between 21.3 and 37.3 dBA of noise output. The company didn't put out static pressure numbers. Among the CPU socket types supported are LGA1851, AM5, LGA1700, and AM4. The company didn't reveal pricing.


https://www.techpowerup.com/329554/jonsb...pound-fans

(PR) Lexar Enterprise Storage and Memory Solutions Now Available Through DigiKey

Lexar Enterprise, a new division of Lexar Americas, announced today that its range of OEM products is now available through DigiKey. With this strategic partnership with DigiKey, Lexar Enterprise is prepared to offer its comprehensive line of memory and storage products to expand its presence throughout North America.

Lexar Enterprise offers an expansive portfolio of embedded memory solutions, including eMMC, UFS, LPDDR4/4x and LPDDR5, SD, uSD, DIMMs, SSDS, and ePOP, with temperatures including commercial, industrial, and automotive grade. These Lexar Enterprise products and more are available worldwide. Lexar Enterprise products now available through DigiKey include eMMC, LPDDR4/4x, SD, uSD, and others added quarterly as we innovate for the embedded memory market. All Lexar Enterprise products undergo a rigorous testing process to ensure excellent performance and compatibility. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/329503/lexar...gh-digikey

Satechi's new SSD Enclosure Boasts a Remarkably Compact Design with Write Protection

A prominent maker of smartphone and computer accessories, Satechi, has introduced yet another product to its lineup. The Satechi Mini NVMe SSD enclosure boasts an impressively compact design, with USB-C connectivity that allows it to be used with PCs, Macs, smartphones, etc. Interestingly, the product features a read-only mode, thanks to its physical write protection switch.

Owing to its diminutive form factor, the NVMe enclosure can only accommodate M.2 2230 drives. Satechi claims speeds of 10 Gbps, which is decently fast for most use cases, and a maximum capacity of 2 TB. Somehow, Satechi has also managed to pack active cooling into the product, which can spin up to a claimed 10,000 RPM when needed, thereby mitigating the woe of thermal throttling when the drive hits 50° C. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/329428/satec...protection

Sony Details Marvel Rivals PS5 Pro Enhancements Coming on December 6 Launch

Marvel Rivals is set to launch on PlayStation 5 at the end of this week, Friday, December 6, and Sony has finally revealed some of the technical details that will ship with the upcoming PvP shooter. On the base-model PS5, Marvel Rivals will supposedly run at a stable 60 FPS at 1440p resolution, with UE5 Lumen Global Illumination and Chaos Destruction tech. Meanwhile, High Frame Rate mode will deliver 120 FPS, likely dropping the maximum resolution and quality settings to reach the higher frame rate, although Sony neglects to mention the resolution in this mode.

The PS5 Pro steps things up somewhat, thanks to the improved processing power and AI enhancement features. On PS5 Pro, Marvel Rivals will run at up to 4K and 60 FPS in Pro Mode, with an optional 120 FPS High Frame Rate Mode promising higher frame rates and resolutions than on the base PS5, although again there are no specific resolutions quoted here. The PS5 Pro also adds Lumen Reflections, which is a ray tracing implementation that allows for better, more accurate reflections off of a wide variety of surfaces, theoretically enhancing things like water effects, diffuse reflections, and indoor and outdoor lighting, making all the aforementioned more realistic. In addition to improved visuals and performance, PS5 and PS5 Pro players will get access to two special skins as in-game purchases or PlayStation Plus add-ons, namely Peni Parker's VEN#M skin and a PlayStation-exclusive Scarlet Spider skin for Spider-Man. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/329415/sony-...r-6-launch

URCDKeys Black Friday Mega Sale: Great Prices on Genuine Software

URCDKeys is here with the 2024 Black Friday mega sale, with an exclusive discount for TechPowerUp readers. Simply use the coupon code "Power" on any item to avail a 30% discount sitewide, and bag the prices you see here. URCDKeys is an international merchant of genuine, globally-valid software, selling the stuff that should particularly interest PC enthusiasts, gamers, and those building their own gaming PCs. Get Genuine Windows 11 Pro at just $20, and Windows 10 Pro at $14, a fraction of what you'd pay an OEM to pre-install this. Office 2021 Professional Plus, a powerful and contemporary productivity suite, can be had at just $127, or half of what you'd pay to get it from Microsoft. We have great deals on older editions of Office and Windows, and their combos. Also check out interesting prices on VS and SQL Server.

Please use the coupon code Power at checkout to get the prices you see here.
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https://www.techpowerup.com/329313/urcdk...e-software

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