*** NEW CONTESTS *** (turns out I was wrong)

+HEXUS EPIC GIVEAWAY Day 29: Win a Sharkoon headset and chair https://hexus.net/tech/features/peripherals/124865-day-29-win-sharkoon-headset-chair/

Despite the size of the prize, this contest is a GLOBAL.

+HEXUS EPIC GIVEAWAY Day 30: Win a Qnap TS-231P2-4G NAS https://hexus.net/tech/features/network/124868-day-30-win-qnap-ts-231p2-4g-nas/

And this one is GLOBAL too.

I can see the appeal for those monitors for games like Civilization and some racing/flight sims, but they're way too big for me.

The max I could deal with would be a 34-35" Ultrawide monitor, and I would have a hard time adjusting to something like that.

I like the aspect ratio of 32:9, these 49" monitors are basically the size of two 24" 16:9 monitors slapped together, and I'm very used to that at my work, it's just that these makes them seamless.

As for gaming, peripheral vision is always a good thing in my book for many genres.

The news:

SALES & DEALS

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 has sold two million copies worldwide
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/warhammer-vermintide-2-has-sold-two-million-copies-worldwide/
Fatshark today announced that Warhammer: Vermintide 2 has broken all expectations with over two million players from March 8 to December 31st, 2018. Vermintide 2 has Mostly Positive reviews on Steam and was one of the most optimized PC games of 2018.

At Steam we have a new daily deal as well as a new round of weeklong deals:

• The daily deal is the Early Access title Universe Sandbox ², 33% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/230290/Universe_Sandbox/
• Dream Car Builder is 25% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/488550/Dream_Car_Builder/
• Hand of Fate 2 has a 33% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/456670/Hand_of_Fate_2/
• The Early Access game Tavern Tycoon - Dragon's Hangover is 40% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/439340/Tavern_Tycoon__Dragons_Hangover/
• Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- reaches the 55% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/430960/Lucy_The_Eternity_She_Wished_For/
• Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive manages to get a 75% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/260730/Desperados_Wanted_Dead_or_Alive/
• And Sniper: Ghost Warrior Trilogy scores a 85% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/sub/36904/

At Fanatical there are another 3 sales:

• The Star Deal is Learn Japanese to Survive! Trilogy, 70% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/learn-japanese-to-survive-trilogy
• Paradox Interactive has puts its games on sale, up to 80% off for the next seven days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/paradox-interactive
• Team 17 also puts its games up to 80% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/team17-digital-ltd

SOFTWARE/DRIVERS

-empty-

MODS/EMULATORS

The studio behind Sonic Mania wanted to make a Darkwing Duck game
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-studio-behind-sonic-mania-wanted-to-make-a-darkwing-duck-game/
First released for NES in 1992, Darkwing Duck was one of Capcom's cherished Disney cartoon adaptations. Until recently it was lost to time, but thanks to the release of The Disney Afternoon Collection in 2017, the 8-bit platformer is available on PC.
But one studio had even higher hopes for Darkwing's survival into the 21st century: Sonic Mania creators Headcannon Games built a working prototype for a retro-styled revival of the series. And not only can you see the game in action above, a playable prototype is also available here.
According to Headcannon's Simon Thomley, aka Stealth, the project was first mentioned to Capcom representatives at last year's E3. Sensing interest, Thomley gathered a team and quickly produced the one level demo, but all further communications with Capcom proved fruitless, until finally a "credible source" advised him that Disney would likely refuse the project anyway.

GAMING NEWS

Dead or Alive 6 has been delayed, now releasing on March 1st
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dead-or-alive-6-has-been-delayed-now-releasing-on-march-1st/
KOEI TECMO America and Team NINJA announced today that Dead or Alive 6 will now be released worldwide on March 1st. According to the press release, the change in date – originally scheduled for a February 15, 2019 release – is due to the developer’s desire to further enhance and balance the hotly-anticipated fighting game.

Official PC requirements for Anthem revealed, 16GB of RAM and more than 50GB of free HDD space
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/official-pc-requirements-for-anthem-revealed-16gb-of-ram-and-more-than-50gb-of-free-hdd-space/
Electronic Arts and Bioware have revealed the official PC requirements for Anthem. According to the specs, PC gamers will at least need an Intel Core i5 3570 or AMD FX-6350 CPU with 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GTX 760 or an AMD Radeon 7970 / R9280X graphics card.

Russia 2055 is in pre-alpha stage, gets an official announcement trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/russia-2055-is-in-pre-alpha-stage-gets-an-official-announcement-trailer/
Back in October 2018, we informed you about a new futuristic military indie first-person shooter powered by Unreal Engine 4, Russia 2055. (...)
Today, the team behind it, InvictusVolition, has released a proper announcement trailer and revealed that the game is still in a pre-alpha stage. Not only that, but a free beta release will be coming to all those that follow its Twitter account.

Tropico 6 has been delayed, now releasing on March 29th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/tropico-6-has-been-delayed-now-releasing-on-march-29th/
Tropico 6 was originally meant to come out later this month. However, Kalypso Media has announced that the game has been delayed by almost two months and now targets a March 29th release. Still, and according to the official press release, after going through rigorous in-house testing and taking on board all the feedback collected from the closed beta and the wider Tropico community, Tropico 6 is shaping up to be a great game.

Part two of the news:

X4: Foundations goes online, but don't expect multiplayer
https://www.pcgamer.com/x4-foundations-goes-online-but-dont-expect-multiplayer/
X4: Foundations introduced the series’ first ever online mode just before the holidays, which isn’t quite as big a change to the normally single-player space sim as you might think. Online ventures let players send their ships and crews into the universes of other players, but it’s not possible to join them. It might be an online mode, but it’s not a multiplayer mode.

Kids do the craziest things in The Walking Dead: The Final Season's Episode 3 trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/kids-do-the-craziest-things-in-the-walking-dead-the-final-seasons-episode-3-trailer/
The Walking Dead: The Final Season's third and penultimate episode, Broken Toys, will rise from the Epic Games Store on January 15, nudging us closer to the conclusion of Clementine's gory, tragic tale. Take a gander at the trailer above.

Epic boss Tim Sweeney is worth nearly $3 billion more than Gabe Newell, according to Bloomberg
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-boss-tim-sweeney-is-worth-nearly-dollar3-billion-more-than-gabe-newell-according-to-bloomberg/
We all marveled at the money-making magic of Steam last year when Forbes ranked Valve boss Gabe Newell as one of the wealthiest people in the US. But do you know who's even wealthier? According to the most recent Bloomberg Billionares Index, that would be Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney.

Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Hero Academy 1 and 2 are closing in April
https://www.pcgamer.com/orcs-must-die-unchained-hero-academy-1-and-2-are-closing-in-april/
Orcs Must Die! studio Robot Entertainment laid off 30 employees in March 2018, part of a "strategic shift" that also saw it cut the number of projects it had in the works from two to one. Today it cut even deeper by announcing that Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Hero Academy, and Hero Academy 2 are being closed.

Metro Exodus will launch with a built-in photo mode
https://www.pcgamer.com/metro-exodus-will-launch-with-a-built-in-photo-mode/
Tom described Metro Exodus last year as "a beautiful mood piece," with environments that are "beautiful and varied, and remarkably atmospheric." It sounds like a perfect sort of place for some virtual sightseeing, and maybe some virtual picture-taking with a virtual camera. And if that's your thing, developer 4A confirmed today that you'll be able to do that right out of the gate thanks to a built-in photo mode.

Here's how Hytale creates its big, blocky worlds
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-how-hytale-creates-its-big-blocky-worlds/
Hytale, an RPG from the designers of one of Minecraft’s most popular servers, looks a lot like its blocky inspiration, but there are some big differences under the hood. A recent blog update digs into one of the upcoming sandbox’s most important features: its world generation.

Final Fantasy 14 update introduces new quests, dungeons, and mahjong today
https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-14-update-introduces-new-quests-dungeons-and-mahjong-today/
Final Fantasy 14’s A Requiem for Heroes update is out today, which can only mean one thing: it’s massive MMO patch notes time! I know that 4.5 is a rather meaty update, because I’m still scrolling through these patch notes right now. They never end. The next expansion will be out when I’m finally done.

Cultist Simulator's new mode lets you fight immortals and become a god
https://www.pcgamer.com/cultist-simulators-new-mode-lets-you-fight-immortals-and-become-a-god/
It can be hard to know what to do when you’ve achieved your dreams. For instance, I once made an extremely good sandwich, and I’ve really just been coasting ever since. In Cultist Simulator, the goal is a bit more ambitious: start a cult and achieve immortality. But where do you go from there? A free update due out later this month has a very satisfying answer: become a god.

Gris is deemed far too sexy for Facebook
https://www.pcgamer.com/gris-is-deemed-far-too-sexy-for-facebook/
There are apparently some things Facebook isn’t OK with advertising on its platform, and that now includes an ad for a Gris, seen above, that was deemed “sexually suggestive”. Now, I don’t want to kink-shame Facebook employees or whatever algorithm determined this, but it’s hard to imagine what about the moon or a silhouette suggests that it’s time to get hot and sweaty.
>> The sooner Facebook goes down, the better.

GTA Online gets laser cannons in a new update
https://www.pcgamer.com/gta-online-gets-laser-cannons-in-a-new-update/
Christmas is now over in GTA Online, but the spirit of the season—blowing stuff up online—is carrying on thanks to some weapons from the future. The Unholy Hellbringer and Widowmaker guns, normally sported by Republican Space Rangers, can be yours, at least if you’re able to shell out for them next time you visit Ammu-Nation.

Are those that small? Given that the 34" ultrawide monitors usually have the height of a 27" one, I thought these ones would be the same or even taller.

And more peripheral vision is always good, I won't deny that, but there are some genres where it's not really useful.

Hm, you're quite right. I checked specs of both that Samsung's 49" 32:9 and regular 27" 16:9, and they're about the same in height. Well, only thing I can say is that I'm sure glad I was wrong -  while I don't mind "only" 2x24", 2x27" is even better.

Probably there's some genre's that it's not that useful, but any FPP/TPP game (which makes up for quite a bit of my gaming diet) benefits from it, at least from my POV (pun intended).

I could go a 50" at most probably. I am at 32" now and gotten used to it.

You do have monitors like the Phillips 436M6VBPAB... Which is 43", IPS, Freesync, 4k, HDR.

Just a shame it's only 60hz.

The frustrating part about such aspect ratios is... Content.
I was running 48:9 aspects years ago and for anything outside of select games, it was a pain.

Of course you also have the screen space to do multiple things at once if that is your cup of tea.

Fisheye becomes a big issue in allot of games... The best game I have found for such aspect ratios is actually... Civilization.
Forget anything that Blizzard makes, they tend to only beat the 16:9 drums.

Yeah, fisheye is annoying, and I guess there's no getting around some degree of it, but even with that, if you use extra space just for peripheral vision/situational awareness, I find twice as much horizontal coverage to be quite worthy in many genres.

huh, I'm actually interest in that Razer monitor and it's sexy cable management. Also the haptic feedback.