Besdies the news, PCGamer has made an article with the games that will launch during this year and when, plus a few that still don't have a date set. Check it out here: https://www.pcgamer.com/new-games-2019/

*** NEW CONTEST ***

HEXUS EPIC GIVEAWAY Day 26: Win one of three WD storage upgrades https://hexus.net/tech/features/storage/124856-day-26-win-one-three-wd-storage-upgrades/

This contest is GLOBAL.

Let's go with the Friday news:

SALES & DEALS

What Remains of Edith Finch will be free on the Epic Games Store next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/what-remains-of-edith-finch-will-be-free-on-the-epic-games-store-next-week/
The Epic Games Store has revealed its next free game, in the form of Giant Sparrow's high-regarded What Remains of Edith Finch. The game will be available free from the store between January 10-25, and follows similar offers for Subnautica and Super Meat Boy (the latter is still available, in case you've yet to snap it up). Andy loved What Remains of Edith Finch when it launched back in 2017. "Touching, sad, and brilliant; a story worth forgiving the limited interactivity to experience," he wrote in his 91% score review.

On the Humble Store there are two new sales and both will last 6 more days:

• NIS America has put its games on sale, up to 75% off: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/nis-america-publisher-sale/
• Idea Factory has also put its games on sale, again, up to 90% off: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/idea-factory-publisher-sale/

At Fanatical there are three new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Layers of Fear: Masterpiece Edition, 80% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/layers-of-fear-masterpiece-edition
• Publisher Aspyr Games has put its games on sale again, up to 80% off for the next 5 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/aspyr
• There's a new bundle, the Headshot Bundle, that features 5 games with a 97% discount for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/headshot-bundle

SOFTWARE/DRIVERS

-empty-

MODS/EMULATORS

The Fallout 3 remake mod for Fallout 4, Capital Wasteland, is back from the dead
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-fallout-3-remake-mod-for-fallout-4-capital-wasteland-is-back-from-the-dead/
Back in February 2018, we informed you about a Fallout 3 total conversion mod in Fallout 4 that was under development, called Capital Wasteland. However, in March 2018 the team announced that it would be cancelling this fan remake. And yesterday, the team revealed that this remake is back from the dead.
The team decided to cancel the project in March 2018 because it wanted to use the audio voices from Fallout 3, something that would raise some serious red flags. The solution to this was to record all voice clips from the start or (use text), something that the team back then wasn’t willing to.
Thankfully, Road To Liberty, and with the help of its voice acting lead Unoctium, is working towards re-voicing the lines from Fallout 3. It is said that there are approximately 45,000 voice lines in Fallout 3 and the team is currently looking for people to join them.
Now while the team is once again working on this fan remake, I don’t know whether it will be able to complete it. Alongside the voice actors, the team is also looking for Level Designers, 3D Artists, 2D Artists, Animators, Environment Artists and VFX Artists. So yeah, while my “enthusiast side” wants to believe that this mod will see the light of day, my “realistic side” tells me that the mod will eventually get cancelled (again) unless this news goes viral so that the team can increase its manpower.

This mod adds a fully configurable wheel menu to Fallout 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/this-mod-adds-a-fully-configurable-wheel-menu-to-fallout-4/
Modder ‘devpieron’ has released, in my opinion, a must-have mod for Fallout 4 that adds a wheel menu to fast use/equip your ingestibles (chems, food, etc), grenades, mines or anything you want. Now what’s really cool here is that all menu sections are configurable, meaning that you can alter the wheel menu to your liking.
Whenever players open the wheel menu, the time slows down (so you can have more time to explore it). What this ultimately means is that players won’t have to open pipboy just to change grenade or check what they had previously equipped.
>> Check the article to know where to download it as well as what you'll need to do to run it.

Unreal PT is another fan remake of Konami’s Silent Hills PT in Unreal Engine 4, available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/unreal-pt-is-another-fan-remake-of-konamis-silent-hills-pt-in-unreal-engine-4-available-for-download/
Radius Gordello has released yet another fan remake of Konami’s cancelled Silent Hills PT in Unreal Engine 4, called Unreal PT. According to its description, Unreal PT was under constant development over the course of 9 months, starting in April 2018 and ending in January 2019. Textures, models, animations, gameplay, and code have been recreated from scratch (more details on this in the development logs).
>> Download it from its official page.

Project Variety is a new major overhaul mod for Mass Effect 3 that is available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/project-variety-is-a-new-major-overhaul-mod-for-mass-effect-3-that-is-available-for-download/
Modder ‘Scottina123’ has released a massive new overhaul mod for Mass Effect 3, called Project Variety. Project Variety aims to fix everything the modder found annoying about the game. As such, everything – from the Citadel’s population, to the weapons the Shepard and company uses during the cutscenes and much much more – has been modified in order to make Mass Effect 3 feel more unique than it was before.
Do note that this mod requires the Leviathan DLC, Omega DLC, Citadel DLC, From Ashes DLC, and the Mass Effect 3: Rebellion Pack to unlock all of its features. Thankfully, those that do not have the DLCs will still be able to use it, however some parts of the mod will be absent. Project Variety also requires WarrantyVoider’s DLC Patch files to be installed in Mass Effect 3BinariesWin32.
>> Download it from Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

Space shooter Arc Savior releases on January 31st, gets new gameplay video
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/space-shooter-arc-savior-releases-on-january-31st-gets-new-gameplay-video/
Squid Monkey Studios announced today that Arc Savior will be release on PC on January 31st. In order to celebrate this announcement, the team has also released a new gameplay video that you can find below.

Here are 15 minutes of brand new gameplay footage from RAGE 2
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-15-minutes-of-brand-new-gameplay-footage-from-rage-2/
YouTube’s ‘Quake ChampionsPRO’ has shared a video, showing 15 minutes of brand new gameplay footage from Rage 2. Rage 2 is being developed by by id Software and Avalanche Studios and promises to feature insane action, open-world environments with no loadings, vehicular combat, upgradable weapons, and like its predecessor will be using a first-person perspective.

Catherine has been rated by the ESRB for the PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/catherine-has-been-rated-by-the-esrb-for-the-pc/
Yesterday, SEGA teased a PC version of Catherine on the official Bayonetta Steam forum. And from the looks of it, this puzzle game will be indeed coming to the PC as it has already been rated by the ESRB.

Friday news, part two:

Super Animal Royale demo lets you play free for as long as you like
https://www.pcgamer.com/super-animal-royale-demo-lets-you-play-free-for-as-long-as-you-like/
If you haven't played Super Animal Royale (and I suspect you probably haven't) you can now, for free, as much as you want. The woodland battle royale featuring cuddly (yet deadly) animals now has a demo, and you can play the demo for as long as you like, for free. You'll even unlock new items as you play—you just can't use those items unless you upgrade to the full version, which costs $13/£10.29.

Return of the Obra Dinn leads the 2019 Independent Games Festival nominations
https://www.pcgamer.com/return-of-the-obra-dinn-leads-the-2019-independent-games-festival-nominations/
Another new year is upon us, and that means fresh starts, well-intentioned resolutions, gym memberships that will be gone before the snow, and a fresh batch of Independent Games Festival award nominees. This year's lineup of contenders is led by Return of the Obra Dinn, our pick for Best Puzzle Game of 2018, which has four nominations including one for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, followed by the "hilarious, horrifying wizard death experiment" Noita, and Hypnospace Outlaw, the inspiration for our October 2018 back page joke, with three each.

Reselling game keys without permission is now illegal in Japan
https://www.pcgamer.com/reselling-game-keys-without-permission-is-now-illegal-in-japan/
Reselling game keys without permission from software makers, selling tools that can modify game saves, and providing game or console modding services are now illegal in Japan because of a recent amendment to the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.

Former Hearthstone developers are working on a new Marvel game
https://www.pcgamer.com/former-hearthstone-developers-are-working-on-a-new-marvel-game/
Former Hearthstone director Ben Brode has revealed what he and a handful of other former Hearthstone developers are getting up to at Second Dinner, the studio they founded last year after departing Blizzard. [Drumroll] It's a Marvel game, and it's backed by a cool $30 million investment from Chinese technology company NetEase, who just happen to also be Blizzard's main partner in that region.

Batalj beta extended to the end of January, keys are now available to everyone
https://www.pcgamer.com/batalj-beta-extended-to-the-end-of-january-keys-are-now-available-to-everyone/
Batalj is a 1v1 action-strategy game that looks like Overwatch and plays like XCOM currently in development at Swedish studio Fall Damage, whose members include DICE co-founder Markus Nyström. A closed beta began in early December and was expected to run until the end of 2018, but today the developers announced that it has been extended to the end of January, and effectively opened to everyone.

Portal 2 writer Erik Wolpaw seems to have returned to Valve
https://www.pcgamer.com/portal-2-writer-erik-wolpaw-seems-to-have-returned-to-valve/
It looks like ex-Valve writer Erik Wolpaw can drop the ‘ex’ prefix. Wolpaw worked on both Half-Life episodes and Portal 2 before leaving the developer in 2017, but after a stint at his old employer, Double Fine, he appears to have returned to Valve.

Activision Blizzard loses its second executive in a week
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-loses-its-second-executive-in-a-week/
Activision Blizzard is down a second chief financial officer this week. The publisher terminated its CFO, Spencer Neumann, early in the week, and now Blizzard’s CFO, Amrita Ahuja, is leaving for Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s mobile payment company, Square.

The Winter sales from GOG and Steam may be over, but that doesn't mean that they don't have new deals for us this weekend:

+GOG

• XSEED Games is the star of this weekend publisher sale, with up to 75% discounts for the next 3 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190104_weekend_promo_xseed

+Steam

• The daily deal is CHUCHEL, 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/711660/CHUCHEL/
• Terraria is also 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/105600/Terraria/
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance is 50% off too: https://store.steampowered.com/app/379430/Kingdom_Come_Deliverance/
• And the Resident Evil franchise is also on sale, up to 87% off: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/resident-evil/
• And, while the winter sale may be over, there are still lots of games on sale. You can check them out on the Specials tag.

And just like that, we've ended the first week on news of 2019. Next Monday, more. Until then, have a happy and gaming weekend.

Humble Monthly Bundle early unlocks: Yakuza 0 and The Division.

Nice month again!

Clockrates fall in line with the rough increases expected from TSMC's 7nm clock gains as well. (Of course, salt still required.)

*** NEW CONTEST ***

HEXUS EPIC GIVEAWAY Day 27: Win a Raijintek case and cooler bundle https://hexus.net/tech/features/chassis/124859-day-27-win-raijintek-case-cooler-bundle/

The contest is GLOBAL.

If those clocks are true and if AMD manages to improve their gaming performance, Intel could be in very big trouble.

After all, the 9900K works in a range of 3.6 to 5.0GHz, making it only a slight faster in single threaded programs, but slower than it in multi-threaded ones, than the (probably) much cheaper 3600X. And then there's the 3700X, faster and with more cores.

But yes, it's better to wait until we know the final specs and then the reviews come in to gauge how these new processors compare with Intel's latest.

*** NEW CONTEST *** (and probably the last one)

HEXUS EPIC GIVEAWAY Day 28: Win a Fractal Design chassis and cooler https://hexus.net/tech/features/chassis/124862-day-28-win-fractal-design-chassis-cooler/

This contest is GLOBAL.

Nvidia will finally support generic adaptive refresh rate implementations on their 10/20 series video cards after all these years ...