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The XP-Pen Artist 22 (Gen 2) is a great drawing tablet for beginners, hobbyists, and veterans.

To preface, I'm by no means a professional artist, but I've done plenty of dabbling over the years. In a past life, I had aspirations of being an animator, and occasionally still do projects in Adobe Animate and drawing apps like Sketchable. Historically, I've used Surface devices as my primary drawing tool, even if drawing on glass always felt a little off for someone used to paper. But like anything, it takes practice to adjust to a new hobby, and digital art is no exception.

That being said, I was surprised how easy it was to get to grips with my first ever dedicated drawing tablet, the XP-Pen Artist 22 (2nd Gen).

Here's a hobbyist's perspective on how XP-Pen makes digital art easy with this truly awesome product.



Digital art made easy

XP-Pen Artist 22 (2nd Gen)

$499












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Windows Central Gaming live!





For our 16th episode of Xbox Chaturdays we'll be joined by the 'Elden One' himself Jeff Grubb to discuss the future of Playstation games on PC, a State of Play, a Nintendo Direct, a Pokemon Direct, our impressions of the Outriders demo, and the insatiable desires of the Elden Ring fandom. If you want to join the conversation live, be sure to catch us on Saturday (2/27) at 12:00PM ET.

Welcome to Xbox Chaturdays!

Xbox Chaturdays is our weekly Windows Central Gaming podcast. Every Saturday we sit down with a variety of Xbox developers, enthusiasts, and industry figures to chat about all things Xbox. Our show is catered to provide exciting and engaging content for Xbox and PC players that focuses on highlighting the things we love about gaming.

While the show is fairly new, we've built up a pretty incredible audience of live viewers that consistently keep the show fresh and exciting with their questions. If you haven't caught an episode before, head on ...
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Motive Studio's space combat title is coming to EA's game subscription service.

What you need to know


Star Wars: Squadrons is a squad-based game developed by Motive Studio.
Star Wars: Squadrons released back in October 2020 for Xbox One, PC and PS4.
Star Wars: Squadrons is coming to EA Play and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in March.


Star Wars: Squadrons is coming to EA Play according to an update shared by EA on its official page for the service. Since EA Play is also included with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, anyone subscribed to the latter will also be able to play Star Wars: Squadrons when it arrives.

If you're an Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X owner, you can play Star Wars: Squadrons at 120 FPS. EA Play was originally supposed to be available for Game Pass for PC back in December 2020 but has been delayed to some point in 2021.

In EA's Q3 2021 financial results release, the company stated that EA Play has grown to nearly 13 million subscribers, thanks in part to the service being i...
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The writing's on the wall for future releases.





In some big Playstation news this week, Sony Interactive Entertainment's CEO Jim Ryan confirmed that more first-party Playstation games are on their way to PC, starting with Days Gone in the spring. The company has historically been rather sheepish about its stance on cross-platform releases, but these new details open up a whole new world of possibilities for the future of Playstation exclusives on PC. Here's why this policy change from Sony proves Xbox had the right approach all along.

The current situation



Let's start by breaking down the latest developments and the current situation. Ryan was interviewed by GQ about Sony's plans for a next-generation PSVR headset and the future of PS5. In addition to burning topics like PS5 stock shortages and the delay of Gran Turismo 7, Ryan was also questioned about the company's desire to bring more Playstation titles to PC. When asked why Sony held back on releasing games on PC for such a...
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Redstone means Minecraft has something for everyone.

What you need to know


Mojang Studios has a 'How We Make Minecraft' YouTube series that explores different parts of Minecraft.
The series drops one episode a month, each covering a different subject with a humorous tone.
Episode 7 of 'How We Make Minecraft' is about redstone, its origins in Minecraft, and why its complexity makes sense.
Redstone helps ensure that Minecraft holds something for everyone - players can learn redstone at their own pace.


One of the many ways Mojang Studios has connected with the diverse Minecraft community has been the How We Make Minecraft YouTube series, which goes over different parts of Minecraft, why they're essential, and how Mojang Studios balances all of these parts. Episode 7 is now here, and the beloved Narrator is taking a look at one of the biggest (and most confusing) parts of Minecraft: redstone.





Redstone was added to Minecraft many years ago, and has been the subject of steady imp...
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Subnautica: Below Zero is just around the corner... and below the water.

What you need to know


Subnautica: Below Zero is the highly-anticipated sequel to the indie-hit and survival game, Subnautica.
Subnautica: Below Zero has been in Early Access but is now receiving its final update with Seaworthy.
Players can explore new areas, hear new music, and enjoy a plethora of bug fixes before Subnautica: Below Zero officially releases.
On May 14, 2021, Subnautica: Below Zero will come to PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Mac, and Switch.


Subnautica is an incredibly popular indie game, and one of the Best Survival Games for Xbox, that has players survive the perilous depths of an alien world's vibrant oceans. While Subnautica has been completed for two years now, the team at Unknown Worlds has been hard at work on Subnautica: Below Zero, the exciting sequel that's been in Early Access. In Early Access, Subnautica: Below Zero has received tons of updates but now is enjoying the be...
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Improved animations, a new clipboard feature, and an unannounced battery graph.

What you need to know


We go hands-on with Windows 10 build 21322.
Showcasing new changes and improvements over previous builds.
Plus a first look at a new battery graph feature coming soon.


Windows 10 build 21322 is now out in the Insider Dev ring for testers to submit feedback. And with it, comes a few notable changes and enhancements that we think warrant a video demo.

Today's build video showcases improvements introduced with the last few Windows 10 builds, including an improved app open animation, a new cloud clipboard pasting option, and an as-yet unannounced new battery graph feature.

We also showcase minor improvements to Microsoft's new Build 21322 is available now in the Insider Dev Channel, although you won't get access to the new battery graph just yet.

Microsoft's current Insider Preview builds in the Dev Channel are no longer tied to any specific future release of Windows 10, but we...
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Best answer: No, AMD Rage Mode does not void warranty. While AMD has said that overclocking AMD processors even with the official software will void the warranty, Rage Mode is just a fan and power tuning preset and does not increase the GPU's clock speeds. AMD has clarified that it is not an overclocking setting and thus does not void the warranty.


Best choice with AMD Rage Mode support: XFX AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT 16GB GDDR6 ($650 at Best Buy)
Flagship GPU with AMD Rage Mode support: MSI AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16G ($1000 at Best Buy)


Using AMD Rage Mode

AMD Rage Mode is a performance tuning preset for Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT. Rage Mode isn't an overclocking preset. Rather, it increases the graphics card's power and fan levels to make use of any headroom that the card has. This helps the GPU stay at the boost clock speed for longer. Rage Mode performance boost depends on how well the card's power and cooling systems are configured so that the performance boost will vary fo...
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With its Radeon RX 6000 series, AMD pulls a whole lot closer to NVIDIA in the high-end GPU market.



AMD's "Big Navi" Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards (GPU) were revealed about four months ago, and since then it's mostly been a fracas for anyone on Team Red looking to get their hands on the new RDNA 2 hardware. These GPUs, including the RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6800 (which I'm reviewing here), align with NVIDIA's high-end Ampere cards in terms of raw performance, something that wasn't always the case in the past. These cards together make up most of our list of best graphics card options, so it's no surprise that they're in hot demand.

The RX 6800 sits at the base of the RX 6000 tower, but that doesn't mean it's lacking the ability to deliver an excellent gaming experience. To compare with NVIDIA, it fits somewhere between the RTX 3070 and the RTX 3080, slightly edging out the former but coming in below the latter in terms of raw performance.

AMD RX 6000 cards add the ability f...
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The Samsung 870 QVO internal solid state drive is the newest generation of Samsung's unique QVO series, and it got 4 out of 5 stars with a Recommended badge in our review a few months back. You can get the 2TB of the drive on sale for just $199.99 at Amazon. We've also seen it this low at a couple of other places like Best Buy. This price matches the lowest we have seen for the 870 QVO yet, a price we first saw on Black Friday. The 2TB drive normally sells for $220 and can go as high as $250 at Best Buy.



Although it has a similar name, the 870 QVO is different than other Samsung offerings like the 870 EVO, and despite using newer tech is actually much less expensive at the moment. It uses a QLC NAND controller, which is one of the newest technologies in the SSD world. It's not a technology that has become completely widespread yet, although it probably will. One of the only other consumer-level SSDs we've written about with QLC is Intel's 660p NVMe M.2 SSD, and NVMe M.2 SSDs are an ...
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