Welcome to this week’s DC Tech news! It’s a brand new month so let’s not mess about and get right into it! 

 

Hardware 

Jez Corden reveals new Lenovo handheld gaming console 

 

According to technology journalist Jez Corden on Windows Central, his sources have revealed that Lenovo are working on entering the handheld PC market. 

 

Called the “Legion Go”, it aims to rival the already released Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally consoles. According to Corden, it will use AMD Phoenix processing power and have an eight-inch display. At the time of writing, there are no concrete release dates or official announcements, leaving us only to speculate about this new entrant, or if it will even release at all. 

 

A new age for gaming monitors? 

 

Oled is here to stay for our monitors, it seems.  Short for Organic Light Emitting Diode, which uses organic compounds to emit light rather than relying on a backlight like its older cousin, the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). Each pixel in an OLED display is composed of tiny organic material layers that emit different colors of light when an electric charge is passed through them. Benefits can include a better overall image quality, more malleable than LCD screens - meaning more options for curved screens – and they are far more energy efficient. 

 

LG are manufacturing and releasing monitors that are paving the way for the future. Their LG 27GR95QE – B is not the cheapest monitor currently available, but its clear picture, true blacks and colours thanks to the OLED display are hard to beat. According to Sean Hollister on the Verge, he described the clarity of playing on an OLED screen was: 

 

"It feels slightly more like looking through a window into another world and slightly less like looking at a screen." 

 

Have you invested in an OLED screen? Perhaps your Switch has an OLED screen? What do you think of the image quality? 

 

 

Software 

Baldur’s Gate 3 reviews are out: Are you buying? 

 

We certainly might be.  

 

It’s been a long time coming: twenty three years have passed since the last instalment of Baldur’s gate, but we’re more than ready to leap back in.  

 

Released on the 3rd of August, reviews are still limited, but people just can’t seem to stop playing it! From what we can glean from reviewers, they’re struggling to tear themselves away to even write their reviews.  

 

Surely that’s a good sign, right? 

 

We took a look at the specs needed to play, and we determined that you will need: 

 

• 150GB of HD or SSD space 
• A CPU with the equivalent power of an Intel i5-4690 (although one great to or equal than Intel i7-4770K is recommended by the developers to enjoy Baldur’s Gate 3 to its full potential. 
• At least a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card (although the equivalent to an AMD Radeon R9 280x graphics card can be used, this is not recommended by the developers.) 
• At least 8GB of RAM (although 16GB is preferable) 

 

Does your PC meet the mark for the hottest new CRPG to drop this year? If not, we can help with any upgrades you need! 

 

Linux gamers outnumber Mac gamers on Steam - thanks to Steam Deck 

 

According to the latest Steam Hardware and Software survey from July 2023, Steam users that use Linux have overtaken Mac users, landing in 2nd place behind Windows. 

 

According to Gaming on Linux, the user base for steam players using Linux currently sits at 1.96% compared to Mac’s 1.84%, the website attributes this spike over such a short period of time to the recent sale on the Steam Deck – which ships already equipped with SteamOS Linux. It remains to be seen if the trend will either settle, dip or continue to climb, as the difference between Mac users and Linux users is still fairly small.  

 

 

Star Wars: Jedi Survivor is coming to PS4 and Xbox One 

 

Good news for Star Wars fans still on last gen consoles: Jedi: Survivor is coming to PS4 and Xbox One. An official date has yet to be set, as Andrew Wilson from EA announced that: 

 

“Thanks to the strength of this legendary franchise and community demand, our development team has committed to bringing this Jedi experience to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.” 

 

If you’ve been waiting to play, there might not be long to wait to finally get your hands on it. 

 

 

Industry 

Medical clinics using fake Google reviews to boost their online profiles have been discovered by an investigation by the BBC

 

 

Consumer groups have warned about the danger of fake reviews and call them a “significant and persistent problem”. 

 

Given the sensitive topic of the service involved, groups such as Which? Have warned it could lead to serious issues if consumers choose these clinics based on the fake reviews. Google have responded by saying it removes fake reviews, which can be bought online. The BBC’s full investigation can be found here, where they investigate a dental practice in Manchester based on some of their dubious reviews:  

 

 

AI systems found being fed artist’s work without their consent 

 

Artist Kelly McKernan, based in Tennessee, was shocked to discover her art had been used to feed an artificial intelligence programme, leading to questions about copyright law for the future. 

 

AI can only work if it is fed the work of previously generated content. Usually this is human-created content and is scraped from the internet. 

 

McKernan has subsequently opened a lawsuit against Stability AI alongside several other artists. This is not the first time Stability AI has been targeted with a lawsuit – earlier in the year Getty Images filed a case against the company for using millions of their images without consent. These lawsuits have opened new discussions about the proper regulation of AI. 

 

Do you work in the creative industry and use PCs to create digital work? Or perhaps you need an upgrade to your slightly struggling PC that needs a new lick of paint. If you are, you can get in touch to either speak to our copywriting team about what you think about AI-generated content, or whether you need a new graphics card to play Baldur’s Gate 3. We love to hear from you, so get in touch today!