Sony Now Allows Horizon Forbidden West PS4 To PS5 Version Upgrade

Previously, Sony Interactive Entertainment made the baffling announcement of not allowing the upgrade from PS4 to PS5 versions of Horizon Forbidden West. It’s a strange announcement as many other titles allowed for free upgrades, or for a small fee. The company has since reversed its decision, allowing for the upgrade from PS4 to PS5 versions of the game.

SIE President and CEO Jim Ryan announced the change in an update to the initial announcement post of Horizon Forbidden West. In essence, the company now says that players who choose to get the PS4 version of the game will be able to upgrade to the PS5 version for free. Which should have been the case to begin with, since Ryan himself announced back in 2020 that this would be among the games that will get the free upgrade treatment.

But on the flip side, Ryan also said that “moving forward, PlayStation first-party exclusive cross-gen titles will offer a US$10 digital upgrade option from PS4 to PS5”. Which simply means that you will have to pay for the upgrade for all future PS exclusives. This includes the upcoming sequel to God of War, and Gran Turismo 7.

In the larger scheme of things, having to pay for an upgrade is better than having to buy a game twice. On one hand, it makes sense that only games that launch close to the new console’s own launch like Horizon Forbidden West gets the free upgrade. But on the other, with the PS5 still being so difficult to obtain, it feels very hasty of SIE to already announce that future games’ upgrades will come at a cost.

TPM 2.0 Requirement Could Affect Windows 11 Upgrade For Many Users

Windows 11 has just been officially announced last night as a free upgrade for Windows 10 users. However, the minimum system requirements for the new operating system are now much higher than its predecessor which include having a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chip.

TPM is a microprocessor that is designed to perform security functions such as storing encryption keys and login information. Microsoft has made the TPM 2.0 chip mandatory for certified Windows devices since 2015 which mean PCs that were manufactured before 2015 would likely not have the chip and will be ineligible for the Windows 11 upgrade.

On another hand, those who built their own PCs may not notice that a TPM chip has been integrated directly into their CPUs in the form of Intel Platform Trust Technology or AMD Platform Security Processor fTPM. Of course, this is provided that their Intel or AMD chip was released within the past 5 to 7 years as pointed out by Microsoft’s Director of OS Security, David Weston.

According to The Verge’s Tom Warren, even if your computer has a TPM chip, you’ll still need to make sure that Secure Boot is enabled in your motherboard BIOS before you’re able to upgrade. Each manufacturer has different steps to enter the BIOS, so you may need to do a bit of research for your own machine.

There are generally two ways to check if your desktop computer or laptop has a TPM chip. One, you could do it manually through Windows Terminal — Tom’s Guide has provided step-by-step instructions here. Or two, you could just download Microsoft’s new PC Health Check tool that will tell you if your machine meets all the requirements for the upgrade as per what we have mentioned in our previous report.

If you find yourself left out in the cold, there are a few ways to get around it but they are definitely not for the faint of heart. For example, ExtremeTech found that they could install the OS on incompatible systems by virtualising a TCM 2.0 module through VMWare Workstation Pro 16. You could also buy and install the module yourself provided your motherboard supports it, which may be tricky for some users out there.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Offers Slight Performance Upgrade Over Its Predecessor

Qualcomm has unwrapped the new Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor which is designed for Windows and Chrome OS systems. The new system-on-chip (SoC) is the successor to the original Snapdragon 7c that was announced at the end of 2019.

However, the new SoC still carries plenty of features from the original Snapdragon 7c. In fact, the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 is not exactly an all-new release but is deemed more as a generational update or in other words, a refresh.

Based on their specs sheet, the only noticeable difference that we can easily spot between these two processors is the fact that the Kyro 468 octa-core CPU within the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 is slightly faster at up to 2.55GHz. As a comparison, the original Snapdragon 7c which features a similar CPU maxed out at 2.4GHz which means we are looking at around six per cent of improvements in terms of CPU performance.

Among the features that were carried over from the original Snapdragon 7c includes Spectra 255 ISP with 14-bit image signal processing, Hexagon 692 DSP, and 5th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine. Also equipped with Snapdragon X15 LTE modem, the Gen 2 release continues to support LPDDR4x-2133 RAM as well as Aqstic and aptX HD codecs.

Despite not carrying significant upgrades, Qualcomm claims that the new SoC is still able to overcome other chips from competitors such as Intel and MediaTek:

The role of the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 remains the same as per its predecessor which is to serve the entry-level market. Qualcomm is also pitching the SoC to the education sector as well as for machines that are meant for first-line workers and lightweight users.

In terms of availability, you can expect products powered by Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 to appear in the market in the next few months. However, only time will tell if there are any OEMs committed enough to release such products in our market, although it is possible that Qualcomm’s partner in Ipoh, SNS Network may have some plans for the new SoC.