When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Valve has spent the last decade tunneling into Microsoft's vault. Now, the heist is on. Microsoft's big focus for Windows is AI integration . Meanwhile, Valve has been not-so-quietly pilfering the entire PC gaming ecosystem from Microsoft, turning the Linux-based SteamOS into a real competitor to Windows.

It's funny how things in reality can be so far removed from what we imagined. A classic example of this is how I imagined there to be a horde of scientists at Nvidia HQ hunched over their PCs and all working to train the next generation of Nvidia DLSS algorithms -- between enjoying bouts of Call of Duty with colleagues, of course. But as it turns out that's only part of the story… Yes, there are scientists at Nvidia working on these projects, but doing a large portion of the work in training and developing new DLSS technology for us PC gamers to enjoy is also an AI supercomputer, and it's been doing that non-stop 24/7 for going on six years now. That nugget of information was delivered by Brian Catanzaro, Nvidia's VP of applied deep learning research at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. Catanzaro dropped that gem on stage casually as a throwaway comment while discussing details about DLSS 4. But as it turns out, that reference has been the catalyst for a ton of talk about the topic.

While the AI features touted by Microsoft's Copilot PCs are a flat miss, the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite hardware inside Copilot PCs is a definite win. Finally, after more than a decade of effort, Windows on Arm is a viable alternative to traditional x86 processors--and it's especially alluring if you long for longer battery life. There's reason to be skeptical., Games are often developed with a highly specific platform target. Even ports that seem simple, like a move from PlayStation 5 to Xbox Series X S, can take a lot more effort than you might think.

I've been a gamer pretty much all of my life. When I was a kid, my dad taught me how to navigate the puzzles and defeat the bosses in Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past on the original Nintendo. Those are some of my earliest childhood memories, which is why console gaming will always have a special place in my heart. That said, now that I'm in my mid-thirties and value comfort and convenience above all else, I've mostly switched to PC gaming these days. I'm not going to lie, my argument for switching to PC gaming is mostly rooted in my persnickety personality.

If you thought Nvidia's latest DLSS 3 (opens in new tab) frame-rate speedifyin' technology was pretty trick, you ain't, as they say, seen nothin'. May we introduce you to NeRFs or Neural Radiance Fields, (opens in new tab) a terrifyingly clever AI-accelerated method for generating full 3D scenes from a handful of photos. The idea is conceptually simple. Take a few 2D images of something. It's similar to photo scanning to create 3D scenes but with added AI goodness.

I had a very particular idea of what I wanted the sound to feel like. And then the big question was: How do I push my skin to feel different without it being technically better? How can you get creative with -- these are random things but -- a gunshot? I used, as a base layer, a snare drum and a kick drum together -- something that I use in my world a lot, and it gives you a similar punch, like a shot would. But that was the base layer, and I built on that and just experimented.

AMD recently released its Radeon Super Resolution (RSR) feature, which promises to speed up the performance of your games. AMD already offered a similar technology dubbed "FidelityFX Super Resolution," or FSR, and it's been adopted at a blistering rate since its introduction last summer. Don't let the names get lost in translation, however. We'll explain exactly what each one does, along with when you should use them. And trust us--having both of these available means better PC gaming in general. AMD, Intel, and Nvidia all have their own versions of upsampling technology.

Whether you've purchased a new computer to fulfil your gaming needs or would like to add some fun (and functionality) to an aging PC, perhaps it's time to invest in a few accessories. You're not alone: the demand for computer gaming accessories grew 81% year-over-year, according to market research firm NPD Group, when comparing U.S. sales data between 2019 and 2020. Combined with PC gaming hardware, such as game-centric laptops and desktops, consumers spent $4.5 billion last year – double the total sales from 2017. "Not only has PC gaming become the dominant gaming platform globally, but making the technical and aesthetic choices for your setup is a fun hobby in and of itself," says Evan Lahti, editor-in-chief for PC Gamer, a leading publisher of computer game news, reviews, and how-to's, across its nearly 30-year-old magazine and popular website. "People like PC gaming because it gives you access to higher fidelity gaming, higher performance gaming, with lots of options for upgrading and customization over time," he explains.

Flight Simulator was once one of the jewels in Microsoft's crown, as close to synonymous with PC gaming as it's possible to get. The series debuted a staggering 37 years ago, pre-dating even Windows as an operating system, and demanded exacting attention from players as they guided increasingly detailed planes safely through the skies. Over the course of a dozen iterations spanning nearly four decades, the flying experience evolved from blocky cockpit views to full aerial tours with a hangar's worth of realistically modelled aircraft to get to grips with. It's been running so long that even Microsoft does not know its sales figures, but Flight Simulator has certainly been played by millions. Yet as PC gaming blossomed, becoming home to everything from competitive shooters to arthouse narrative games, Flight Simulator's star began to wane. The last major release was 2006's Microsoft Flight Simulator X (eventually revamped and repackaged for Steam in 2014), while 2012's simplified spin-off, Microsoft Flight, had an aborted take off, cancelled a mere five months after launch.

By the time The Game Awards cameras switched off on December 6th, after three hours of sternum-pounding concerts, raucous celebration and heartfelt speeches, the video game landscape had changed in a massive way. In the show's first hour, the studio behind Fortnite and the Unreal Engine launched its new digital marketplace, The Epic Games Store, and its simple gray-and-white logo became a consistent theme throughout the night. It seemed that every time a trailer for a new game faded to black, the Epic Games Store emblem was there. This is a fundamental shift for the PC gaming ecosystem, which, for more than a decade, has been dominated by Steam, Valve's digital distribution hub. "Dominated" doesn't even cover it -- for years, Steam has been the only digital games store for many players, and its power over the PC market remains unparalleled.