This is the first time I can remember that PC gaming was mentioned at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) without me having to remind an exec that we existed. Unprompted, Intel's Kirk Skaugen took to the stage in the main keynote proclaiming “desktop is alive and well. It's innovating, whether it's small form factors, all-in-ones, portable all-in-ones or extreme gaming. There are 711 million PC gamers in the world today, that's one in ten people on the planet,” he enthused.

Skaugen was talking up their new Broadwell processors, coming our way early next year. They're Intel's first 14nm product based on the Haswell microarchitecture. Simply put,” he said, “this 14nm technology is the most advanced silicon manufacturing technology in the world.”
But it's not simply the die-shrink that's going to be important for Broadwell as Intel is really pushing forward the processor graphics of its next CPUs.

That's interesting because, for the first time, Intel is going to be slotting their top Iris Pro GPU component into a socketed processor. That means you should be able to buy an Iris Pro-based processor and drop it into a cheapo mini-ITX H97 motherboard to make an affordable mini gaming PC. Of course you can already get a small form factor PC with the likes of the NUC and Gigabyte's Brix Pro, but those are super-expensive products. I'm hoping that Intel shifts the Iris Pro down into the more affordable i5 processor ranges, but they are not able to say yet what from those chips are going to take.

Unfortunately it's likely to remain a differentiator for Intel's K-series processors, even down at the Core i5 level. That still means potential for a far more affordable, teensy 1080p gaming PC than ever before.

“We're really focused around PC gaming and enthusiasts. This is the one area of PCs that has kept growing,” Intel's Lisa Graff told me at the show. “These are out most loyal customers: PC gamers. They want as much performance as we can throw at them. We're going to bring Intel's best technologies to bear for PC gaming.”

 Nearly a year's worth of whining and rumor-mongering has finally paid off: Grand Theft Auto V is coming to PC this fall, a full year after its debut on last generation's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. And, for the console crowd, it's also making its way onto the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
The game moved almost a billion dollars in product in its first day last year, so a next-gen/PC release seemed inevitable—it lets Rockstar both double-dip on those who want the definitive version and rope in the (few) people who missed the game the first time around.

Furthermore, you'll be able to transfer your progress from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game to your next-gen platform of choice.

The new version of Grand Theft Auto V will, of course, probably feature higher-resolution textures, anti-aliasing, better lighting, better weather, more traffic, and all the other graphical bells and whistles we've come to expect with this sort of repackaging.

The big excitement with a PC version of GTAV is mod support. Grand Theft Auto IV is still one of the most hilarious repositories of mod content six years after release.

Sony has begun distributing the first wave of beta invites for the PlayStation Now, Sony's ambitious cloud streaming platform that hopes to beam PlayStation 3 games into your PS4, Vita, phone, tablet, or even Bravia TV.

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