This week, on a more focused episode of The TT Show, Jak and Kosta break down and go through the crazy Helldivers 2 controversy on PC. If you were offline for a few days (and this all played out throughout a single weekend), the decision to force the Helddivers 2's PC players to link their Steam Account to a PlayStation Network (PSN) account caused a veritable backlash storm.

From the review bombing to developers being grilled to Sony and developer Arrowhead's damage control to the surprisingly swift happy ending, Jak and Kosta discuss the implications and consider what might happen in the aftermath.

This week's other big story comes from the world of Apple, with the company lifting the lid on its new iPad Pro lineup powered by the new AI-powered 3 nanometer M4 chip. The big thing here is that it represents Apple's first dip into the world of OLED displays, with a groundbreaking 1000-nit SDR and HDR screen that has two OLED panels in one!

Before it created Halo and before it created Destiny, veteran game development studio Bungie released the classic first-person shooter Marathon for the Apple Macintosh in 1994. Hailed as the Mac's answer to Doom, Marathon spawned a sequel several years later, leading to the studio's creation of the iconic Halo: Combat Evolved.

With Bungie now a first-party PlayStation studio owned by Sony, the team is developing a new entry in the series called Marathon. It takes place in the same futuristic sci-fi universe as the original but is shifting the gameplay and style to fit the mold of a PvP extraction shooter - ala Escape From Tarkov.

We've got some great news if you want to get a taste of where it all began. The community-driven team at Aleph One Developers has released a remastered version of the 1994 original - playable on modern PC gaming hardware and available for free on Steam.

MSI and Capcom announced and showcased limited edition Monster Hunter-themed PC gear earlier this year at CES 2024. The line-up of PC hardware included a gaming laptop, GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GPU, a custom gaming controller, case, motherboard, monitor, and liquid cooler. It's quite the line-up, with the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8G GAMING SLIM Monster Hunter Edition GPU now available.

The limited edition graphics card is bundled with the custom Monster Hunter controller, both sporting unique designs inspired by the franchise to help celebrate its 20th anniversary. The custom GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB GPU looks very cool with red, gold, and black flourishes to mimic Rathalos - one of the game's giant monsters.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8G GAMING SLIM Monster Hunter Edition sports a thin 2-slot design and MSI's TRI FROZR 3 cooling system, which includes the company's latest TORX FAN 5.0, core pipe, and airflow setup. However, as a limited edition bundle that also features custom packaging, the price tag is much higher than the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB's MSRP of $399 USD. It's currently listed for $499.99 USD at Newegg.

MSI has introduced a new GPU with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16G SHADOW 3X OC, which looks like a darker version of the Ventus 3X reference model we reviewed when the GPU launched in January 2024. The Shadow 3X sports an out-of-the-box boost clock speed of 2640 MHz (which can be pushed to 2655 MHz via MSI Center), so it should perform slightly better than the non-OC Ventus variant.

The big difference here isn't just the color, which takes the silver of the Ventus line-up and switches it out for a darker bronze or brown metallic look. The MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16G SHADOW 3X OC is thinner, 43mm versus 50mm, and lighter, 838 grams versus 1107 grams.

Being thinner and lighter but retaining the same look as the Ventus 3X, MSI's new Shadow line could be the series' next evolution. It represents MSI's most affordable range of GeForce RTX graphics cards.

With a planned release for later this year, rumors, speculation, and insider leaks about the upcoming GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards are ramping up. The most recent rumors suggest that the GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 will be released within weeks of each other, much like the initial launch of the Ada Lovelace GeForce RTX 40 Series in 2022.

Built using NVIDIA's Blackwell architecture, the upcoming GeForce RTX 4080 is said to use the new GB203 GPU, while the flagship GeForce RTX 5090 is set to use GB202. Based on leaked or rumored specs, there will be a significant disparity between the two - with GB203 set to include 96 SMs compared to GB202's 192 SMs. Memory bandwidth will be 256-bit on the GeForce RTX 5080 compared to 512-bit on the GeForce RTX 5090.

Although the GeForce RTX 5080 is expected to be more powerful than the current GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER graphics card, the US export ban on powerful GPU hardware could be the reason for the GeForce RTX 5080 launching in such a 'cut down' state.

Sony, not Valve, is behind the recent unpopular decisions regarding PlayStation PC games.

A bit ago, Sony learned a tough lesson about PC gamers: They're an austere and fickle audience. This was proven by the mass orbital review bombings that Helldivers 2 recently suffered. Sony has a policy to require PlayStation Network accounts in its games that include online multiplayer. This included Helldivers 2, and gamers had to make a PSN account in order to keep playing.

Predictably, everyone pushed back against this mandate and Sony eventually reversed course. But something else happened along the way: Helldivers 2 was delisted and removed from sale in countries that don't support PSN accounts, all 181 of them. This policy has led to a lot fewer players--and payers--for Sony.

On the heels of reports that Microsoft is unsure whether or not launching new Call of Duty titles on Game Pass is a good idea, Xbox president Sarah Bond reiterates the company's day-one policy for the subscription service.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Tech, Xbox president Sarah Bond brought up the day-and-date Xbox Game Pass policy as one of the touchstones of Microsoft's core gaming business. Bond says that a plethora of high-profile games are coming to Game Pass later this year. Games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Starfield's Shattered Space expansion, and new Fallout 76/Elder Scrolls Online will be among the releases, but what about Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War?

New reports say that Xbox management is conflicted on launching new Call of Duty games on the service. After all, COD titles sell many millions of copies a year--offering new COD games day one would undoubtedly affect these sales. But that seems to be waived by the Xbox president, who hints that Call of Duty 2024 could be among the titles included on Game Pass this year.

Electronic Arts is currently working on new ways to integrate ads into its games, and it's possible the ads could extend outside of sports.

EA is no stranger to advertising. The company's EA Sports label makes multi-million deals with top brands like Nike, Pepsi, and even teamed up with Uber Eats to make an FC24 tournament. Advertising is a big part of sports sims.

But what about EA's other titles? Games like Battlefield, or even Dragon Age and Mass Effect? Could advertisements show up there in some way? In a recent Q4 earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson says that there are teams currently looking at ways to place more ads into games, but the extent of this remains unclear.

Xbox president Sarah Bond says 'new options' are coming to Microsoft's game streaming offerings.

Microsoft's foray into cloud gaming is far from over. The company is still gung-ho on the nascent technology and hopes to use cloud to accelerate its multi-faceted games business. In a recent interview with Bloomberg Tech's Dina Bass, Xbox president Sarah Bond says that cloud gaming is seeing tremendous growth.

This growth is likely driven by a sharp uptick in Xbox game availability on services like GeForce Now. In an effort to assuage regulatory concerns, Microsoft signed a 10-year agreement to bring Xbox and Activision games to competing cloud services like GeForce Now and Boosteroid. In return, NVIDIA would get a lower Windows license fee. The partnership has born lots of fruit; in 2022, there were exactly 0 licenses for Xbox games that could be streamed on GFN, and as of today, there are 234 Xbox games that can be streamed over GFN.

Xbox's top brass are reportedly conflicted on whether or not new Call of Duty titles should launch on Game Pass.

Something as big as Call of Duty on Game Pass could skew things quite a bit, and in ways that Microsoft can't fully predict. The megaton shooter franchise is worth over $31 billion, but all of those earnings started with one thing: Premium game sales. Including Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass will lead to fewer game sales--a replacive effect referred to as "cannibalization." Who's going to spend $70 on Call of Duty when they can play it for $17, or maybe even $25?

This is the exact reason that Activision Blizzard never included its games on Game Pass in the first place. Microsoft would have to pay quite a bit to make up for the potential impact on sales, and other publishers have reportedly referred to Game Pass as 'value destructive'. Consumers typically enter ABK's biggest games through a point of sale, especially Call of Duty.

Xbox's new mobile storefront will start on the web and "extend from there," Xbox president Sarah Bond says.

Xbox's Universal Store is starting to take shape. Microsoft plans to lay the early frameworks for its new unified digital commerce ecosystem with a so-called 'mobile store experience.' Xbox already has a game store on consoles and PC, but the mobile version won't be a dedicated shop.

Instead of a native app, Microsoft is launching its Xbox mobile store on the web. This way, Microsoft can completely circumvent paying the 30% commission fee on the Google Play and App Store. The Xbox mobile store experience is set to launch sometime in July--the same month that Microsoft will shut down the Xbox 360 store.