Inside is an 8th generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processor (otherwise known as Kaby Lake Refresh), along with 16GB of memory, and an Nvidia Geforce MX150 graphics card. The MX150 certainly won’t win any speeds awards, but it should handle e-sports games without issue, as well as help speed up rendering tasks in compatible applications. There’s also a 512GB PCIe SSD inside, a fingerprint sensor, and a battery rated for up to 13 hours of use. Prices start from €799.

Enlarge / Artist’s conception of trolls’ slack-jawed reaction to Blizzard’s newly announced enforcement policy.

Overwatch will soon start laying down harsher penalties on trolls that face player complaints under its existing reporting system, according to director Jeff Kaplan. Posting in the Battle.net forums, Kaplan says that the current system of temporarily silencing accounts for abusive chat will be replaced with immediate account suspension for such issues “pretty soon.”

Past that, Kaplan promised that in the medium term, “we have a new series of punishments we’re going to try that escalates much more quickly… As part of these increasing punishments, we’re looking to make it so that offenders get blocked from Competitive play much sooner.” Kaplan also said that new systems were being put into place to prevent players from manipulating their skill rating through self-serving play. Players will soon receive better notifications of the effects of their reports on other players as well.

The announcement of stricter enforcement comes after a separate Battle.net forum thread discussing an account that Kaplan confirmed had 2,247 separate complaints filed against it. Despite that ridiculous player backlash—which averages out to over four reports per day for every single day the game has existed—the account has received just three temporary suspensions and seven chat “silences” over that time. In his update, Kaplan said the new system should fix “egregious cases” like that one, banning consistent problem players.

Asus has joined the likes of Dell and HP with the launch of its own mixed reality headset. Priced on the steep side at €449 (US and UK prices TBC), the Asus Windows Mixed Reality headset takes Microsoft’s reference design and wraps it up in a “3D Polygon” shell, complete with PlayStation VR-like headband design that distributes its 400g weight across the forehead.

Internally, it sports the same specs as other mixed reality headsets. Those include 1440×1440 panels for each eye, a 90Hz refresh rate, and two cameras for inside-out tracking. Asus is also making use of “quick drying antibacterial materials” to avoid any sweat-related germs passing between users. It comes complete with Microsoft’s VR controllers, which look similar to those bundled with the HTC Vive.

On August 26, the Indonesia based, state-owned satellite operator PT Telkom disclosed an “anomaly” in the pointing of its satellite in geostationary orbit. Company officials said that although they and contractor Lockheed Martin expected to restore service to the satellite, it was moving customers to another satellite as a precautionary measure.

However, new evidence gathered by a US-based firm that tracks objects in geostationary orbit, ExoAnalytic Solutions, suggests the satellite may be falling apart. The company uses algorithms to review data collected by its global network of 165 optical telescopes for anomalies, and one of its instruments in Eastern Australia spotted the satellite apparently breaking apart.

Enlarge (credit: Mark Walton)

Following in the footsteps of the Predator 21X curved display laptop—unveiled at IFA 2016 and now sold out—Acer has unveiled the Orion 9000, a carbon fibre clad, RBG-laden behemoth of a gaming desktop with masses of upgradability. It’s due for release before the end of 2017 at a starting price between “two to three thousands dollars.”

That kind of money won’t buy the configuration Acer has on show at IFA, which features an 18-core Intel Core i9-7980XE processor (the 7980XE retails for $2,000 on its own), four AMD Radeon Vega graphics cards, and 128GB of memory. Other configurations with more reasonable components—including comparatively cheaper CPUs like the i9-7900X, as well as GTX 1080 Ti SLI graphics from Nvidia—will also be available.

“Designed to intimidate enemies,” according to Acer, the Orion 9000 has one of the most extreme l33t gamer designs I’ve seen in some time, with aggressive angles, vents, and enough RBG lighting to blind even the most the hardened of PC gamers. There are faux carbon fibre highlights throughout, too, along with a hinged side panel window that quickly comes loose with a click. Notably, the window has a metal mesh applied to it that distracts from the look somewhat but is required to make the machine EMI certified (something most enthusiast PC cases are not).