Since the advent of onboard motherboard audio and audio output on graphics cards, dedicated sound cards have mostly been relegated to an optional component of gaming PC builds. But for those who strive for the best possible sound experience, a sound card can make all the difference. Creative recently unveiled their newest sound card, the Sound BlasterX AE-5, and it’s armed to the teeth with high-end components aimed at both the audiophile market and serious PC gamers.
The Sound BlasterX AE-5 features a quad-core Sound Core3D audio digital signal processor (DSP), and a 122dB ESS Sabre-Class digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Having a powerful DAC is important, as it’s where the conversion from digital data to analog sound signal takes place, and Sabre’s chips are some of the best in the industry. They’re often used in high-end Yamaha receivers and Astell & Kern’s premium portable devices. With these chips, Creative promises the Sound BlasterX AE-5 will multiply your onboard motherboard audio quality by up to 32 times. The soundcard’s playback quality tops out at a whopping 32-bit/348kHz, which is well above the average 28-bit/198kHz of most hi-res audio.
While it is armed with the necessary specs for hi-res playback, the Sound BlasterX AE-5 also features an onboard Xamp Headphone Amp for driving headphone and headset audio. Each of the channels is individually amplified thanks to dual-amp design, which essentially means that each channel is separated, resulting in high clarity for each channel. Creative claims the Xamp can drive everything from sensitive in-ear earphones to studio-grade headphones thanks to an output impedance of 1 to 600 ohms. Beyond driving headset audio, the AE-5 also can support a 5.1 surround sound speaker setup.
The thought of sacrificing space in your case for a sound card may be off-putting for some, but Creative seems to know the market it’s aiming for, and has anticipated the desire of PC aficionados to customize their devices to aesthetically fit in their desktop setups.
The AE-5 has a built-in Aurora RBG controller which can light up the card via PCB and supports up to four LED strips. These different lighting elements can be controlled with Aurora’s Reactive Lighting System, which gives users the ability to chose from 16.8 million colors to display and program custom effects or variations. This RGB controller can also control various other devices, supplanting the need for an external RGB controller, and freeing up space for other components.
The Sound BlasterX AE-5 launches in July with a price of $150. Starting June 13, customers can pre-order the sound card from Creative’s website, or from retailers like Fry’s, Newegg, or Micro Center.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.