*** ALERT FREE GAME ***

The Humble Store is giving away for free the game Tacoma when you subscrube to their newsletter: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/tacoma

Available for the next 2 days or until they run out of keys.

Friday news!

SALES & DEALS

Devil May Cry 5 has sold two million copies worldwide in less than a month
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/devil-may-cry-5-has-sold-two-million-copies-worldwide-in-less-than-a-month/
At GDC 2019, Capcom revealed that Devil May Cry 5 has sold more than two million copies worldwide on all platforms. Devil May Cry 5 was released on March 8th, meaning that it took Capcom less than a month in order to hit the two million milestone.
According to Steam’s charts, Devil May Cry 5 was the second biggest release for Capcom on Steam, falling behind the huge and successful PC release of Monster Hunter World. Surprisingly enough, Devil May Cry 5 has surpassed Resident Evil 2 Remake.

APEX Legends had the best launch of any F2P game in history, Anthem made over $100 million at launch
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/apex-legends-had-the-best-launch-of-any-f2p-game-in-history-anthem-made-over-100-million-at-launch/
SuperData Arcade has shared its monthly report, stating that Apex Legends has the best launch month of any free-to-play game in history and that Anthem made over $100 million in digital revenue at launch.
Going into more details, Apex Legends generated an estimated $92 million from in-game spending across all platforms, with the majority coming from console. Despite this, though, Fortnite still came in above Apex Legends in the top grossing rankings. On the other hand, Anthem was the top-selling title by units on console in February, with an above-average digital download rate. In-game spending came in at $3.5 million across both platforms.
Moreover, Hearthstone revenue had its largest year-over-year decline ever this month, dropping 52% across PC and mobile, partly due to heightened competition within the genre and likely franchise fatigue.
Last but not least, NBA 2K19 was a game that was criticized for its micro-transactions, however it appears that this basketball game has been more successful than its predecessor.

Oxenfree is free to play on Epic Store, The Witness to be free on April 4th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/oxenfree-is-free-to-play-on-epic-store-the-witness-to-be-free-on-april-4th/
While the Epic Store is receiving… shall I say… mixed responses all over the internet lately, we mustn’t forget that the client does toss us a free game every now and then. I finally got to play the fantastic Subnautica a few weeks back because it left my wallet untouched, and the indie gem that is Oxenfree is now up for grabs free of charge.
(...)
Last but not least, The Witness will be made available for free on the Epic Store on April 4th!

On the Humble Store, there's an Indie Mega Week sale, with up to 85% discounts for the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/indie-mega-week/

And at Fanatical, the weekend bundle is the Dollar Underground Bundle, with 9 games with a 94% discount for the next 14 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/dollar-underground-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has been cracked a day prior to its official release, does not use Denuvo
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/sekiro-shadows-die-twice-has-been-cracked-a-day-prior-to-its-official-release-does-not-use-denuvo/
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is one of the most anticipated games of March 2019. And while the game is officially releasing tomorrow, it appears that the PC video-game hacking groups have already cracked it.
Now the good news here is that the game does not use the Denuvo anti-tamper tech. I don’t know if that’s one of the reasons why the game has been cracked in record time, however it’s a bit disheartening witnessing such a thing.

Steam will get a re-designed library and new Events page, first details
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/steam-will-get-a-re-designed-library-and-new-events-page-first-details/
At GDC 2019, Valve announced that Steam’s library will get re-designed. Moreover, Valve aims to add advanced tag searches, as well as a new Steam Events page.
Some of the key features for the re-designed library are listed below.

Quixel shows photorealistic real-time next-gen visuals by using Photogrammetry in Unreal Engine 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/quixel-shows-photorealistic-real-time-next-gen-visuals-by-using-photogrammetry-in-unreal-engine-4/
At GDC 2019, Quixel introduced Rebirth; a real-time cinematic produced by Quixel, harnessing the power of Unreal Engine and real-world scans from the Megascans Icelandic collection. As the company noted, and by using Rebirth represents a new way of crafting computer graphics with photorealistic results rivaling traditional offline renderers.

Microsoft is adding a new trick to DirectX 12 that could make games run faster
https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-is-adding-a-new-trick-to-directx-12-that-could-make-games-run-faster/
Microsoft has a simple challenge—expand the image above and see if you can spot a difference in image quality between the two halves. You probably can't. That's a good thing, because one is using a special rendering technique that improves performance.
In this case, there's a 14 percent performance difference, courtesy of Variable Rate Shading (VRS). Microsoft is adding VRS to its DirectX 12 API and is awfully excited about the implications. The excitement is warranted, if real-world results mirror Microsoft's example. So, what's going on here? In Microsoft's words, VRS is a "powerful new API that gives developers the ability to use GPUs more intelligently."
>> This is the image in question, from Civ VI, in case you don't want to check the article.

40 percent of Epic Games Store users say they don't have Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/40-percent-of-epic-games-store-users-say-they-dont-have-steam/
Epic Games said during a GDC presentation today that there are now 85 million registered users of the Epic Games Store on PC—and, according to user surveys from August 2018 and January 2019, 40 percent of them report not having Steam.
Although Valve has not recently reported the total number of Steam accounts registered, in January, the company reported 90 million active Steam users.
>> Either the Epic Store is expanding the PC gaming market, or there are a lot of liars. I kind of bet on the second one.

MODS/EMULATORS

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GAMING NEWS

First in-engine footage revealed for the STALKER-inspired science-fiction survival horror game, Chernobylite
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/first-in-engine-footage-revealed-for-the-stalker-inspired-science-fiction-survival-horror-game-chernobylite/
The Farm 51 has released the first in-engine footage for Chernobylite and announced that it will be soon launching a Kickstarter campaign for it. Chernobylite promises to feature unrestricted exploration of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone combined with non-linear storytelling, unique crafting, and challenging opponents to fight.

ShockRods is the new vehicle-based arena shooter from the creators of Carmageddon
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/shockrods-is-the-new-vehicle-based-arena-shooter-from-the-creators-of-carmageddon/
Green Man Gaming has announced the next game from the creators of the Carmageddon series, ShockRods. ShockRods is described as a 6v6 or 12 player free-for-all vehicle-based arena shooter, bringing all the blisteringly fast-paced action, mayhem and overpowered weapons you would expect from a Stainless game.

Assassin’s Creed 3 Remastered Official PC System Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/assassins-creed-3-remastered-official-pc-system-requirements/
Ubisoft has revealed the official PC system requirements for the upcoming remastered version of Assassin’s Creed 3. According to the French company, PC gamers will at least need an Intel Core i5 2400 or an AMD FX 6350 with 8GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 or an AMD Radeon R9 270X for gaming on the Lowest settings at 1080p with 30fps.

Paradox officially announces Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, coming in Q1 2020, first details
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/paradox-officially-announces-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-coming-in-q1-2020-first-details/
Paradox Interactive has officially announced Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will be a direct sequel to the first Bloodlines game, will be released in Q1 2020 and the publisher has released its announcement trailer.
>> And here are the first official screenshots.

DiRT Rally 2.0 update 1.2 available for download, full patch release notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dirt-rally-2-0-update-1-2-available-for-download-full-patch-release-notes-revealed/
Codemasters has released a brand new update for Dirt Rally 2.0. According to the release notes, this patch brings stability improvements across all modes, prevents negative times from posting to leaderboards and enables OSD Dial in headcam.

Borderlands Game of the Year has been rated by the ESRB
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/borderlands-game-of-the-year-has-been-rated-by-the-esrb/
The ESRB has just listed a Game of the Year edition for the first Borderlands game. According to the listing, Borderlands Game of the Year will be coming to current-gen platforms (including the PC) though there isn’t any ETA yet.

Friday news, part two:

Battlefield 5 Firestorm trailer showcases tanks, tractors, and the dangers of safecracking
https://www.pcgamer.com/battlefield-5-firestorm-trailer-showcases-tanks-tractors-and-the-dangers-of-safecracking/
Electronic Arts has dropped a new gameplay trailer showcasing Battlefield 5's upcoming Firestorm battle royale mode. At its core, it looks like a fairly conventional BR brawl, but the addition of vehicles, breakable buildings, and objectives promise to help it stand out from the crowd.

Epic on pulling Metro Exodus from Steam: 'We don't want to do that ever again'
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-on-pulling-metro-exodus-from-steam-we-dont-want-to-do-that-ever-again/
When Epic announced that Metro Exodus would be a year-long Epic Store exclusive, it was close to release and had already been taking pre-orders on Steam. At the time, I said it was an act of war.
A panel of Epic Store leaders were asked during an Epic Store Q&A at GDC 2019 today if, given how much rage the move caused, they'd ever do something like that again. Steve Allison, head of the Epic Games Store, responded immediately: "We don't want to do that ever again."

Life is Strange 2 will continue in May, August, and December
https://www.pcgamer.com/life-is-strange-2-will-continue-in-may-august-and-december/
Life is Strange 2, the multi-part adventure about life and the strangeness thereof, will continue its elongated tale with the release of episode 3, Wastelands, on May 9. Publisher Square Enix announced the date today, as well as the dates—but not the subtitles—for the next two chapters.

Control, Remedy's mind-mending multidimensional shooter, will be out in August
https://www.pcgamer.com/control-remedys-mind-mending-multidimensional-shooter-will-be-out-in-august/
Epic announced yesterday that Remedy's upcoming interdimensional exploration-shooter Control will launch exclusively on its store. It's kind of ironic, then, that the release date was revealed today by the Microsoft Store, which said in a product listing for the Xbox version that it will be out on August 27.

Epic says it'll eventually stop pushing for exclusives
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-says-itll-eventually-stop-pushing-for-exclusives/
Epic's latest deals will bring The Outer Worlds and Control to the Epic Games Store, and not the PC's largest distributor, Steam. These are the latest in a string of exclusivity deals that Epic feels are necessary to challenge Steam, paired with an 88 percent revenue share for developers (at least if they self-publish), which it believes should replace Steam's 70 percent rate industry-wide.
For those frustrated by the recent wave of exclusives, relief may be in sight. During a GDC 2019 Q&A panel today, Epic Games Store head Steve Allison said that Epic won't keep doing this forever.
>> Hopefully it's sooner rather than later.

Tim Sweeney 'does not take any orders from Tencent,' says Epic
https://www.pcgamer.com/tim-sweeney-does-not-take-any-orders-from-tencent-says-epic/
During a public Q&A at the Game Developers Conference this week with Epic Games Store leaders Steve Allison, Sergey Galyonkin, and Joe Kreiner, a GDC 2019 attendee invoked a claim that's appearing more frequently in Reddit threads, tweets, and discussions of the company: that Tencent, which invested in Epic in 2013, 'actually' runs the company.

Getting around in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord requires a bit of maths
https://www.pcgamer.com/getting-around-in-mount-and-blade-2-bannerlord-requires-a-bit-of-maths/
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord's latest blog update tackles the important matter of party and army speed. You never really know if you're the type of person who gets excited reading about the speed of an unladen donkey or a band of knights until it happens to you. Don't look at me that way. It's interesting stuff!

Cities: Skylines is free this weekend
https://www.pcgamer.com/cities-skylines-is-free-this-weekend/
I feel pretty confident about calling Cities: Skylines the best city builder; it's certainly the one I've spent the most time obsessively tinkering with, returning every time a new mod or bit of DLC catches my eye. You don't need to rely on my correct opinion, however, as it's free for the weekend on Steam. Go build a utopia, or flood an entire city with poo.
>> I need to go back and play a bit more of this game.

Time now to check the rest if the GOG and Steam deals for the weekend:

+GOG

• The most important sale right now at GOG is the Spring Sale, of course, with more than 600 games up to 90% off until March 28th: gog.com
• Besides that, there's also the weekly sale, Trinkets and gizmos, with up to 90% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190318_weekly_sale
• And there's also a Battlestar Galactica Deadlock sale: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190319_special_promo_battlestar_galactica_deadlock

+Steam

• Today's daily deal is Space Hulk: Tactics, 33% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/492230/Space_Hulk_Tactics/
• Call of Cthulhu is 33% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/399810/Call_of_Cthulhu/
• XCOM 2 is free to try and 75% off, with some DLCs being 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/268500/XCOM_2/
• Ubisoft is the star of the weekend publisher sale, with up to 90% deals: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/ubisoft_weekend/
• And of course, there's the weeklong deals.

And that's all for this week. Have a happy and gaming weekend.

Given the years it has, it's surprising that it's still that "expensive" during a sale.

So, I've seen this.. shall we call it post at 9GAG and, since I know little about all this, I thought about asking some of you that have more knowledge than me.

https://9gag.com/gag/aWYoP4q

So, is any of this true? Is it "normal" (so to speak) and other stores do the same? Or it's just false and it's a campaign against the Epic Store or China?

By the way, the new text editor is... kind of packet and I've already seen some problems with the code I have to make the news :-/. It's not a complain, I'm just asking for a bit of sympahty when/if the next edition of the news doesn't look "right".

Yeah. I wouldn't take it as gospel.

It's not entirely gospel, but at the same time, I'm not surprised that Epic still wants most, if not all of Steam's userbase, using their own client.

It's a single CPU, 4 core, hyperthreaded, Haswell based CPU from 2014. (5~ years)
It was good for the time, but games are starting to push past quaddies these days, although it still has years of life left in it still.

Feel free to list the models of the SSD's and I will happily tell you which is faster. :)

Sandisk. Should be double the speed.
I would personally use the Sandisk for the OS though to keep everything feeling snappy.

The Monday news:

SALES & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

1. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
2. PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
3. Devil May Cry 5
4. Grand Theft Auto V
5. Total War: WARHAMMER II
6. Two Point Hospital
7. Far Cry New Dawn
8. Assassin's Creed Odyssey
9. Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
10. Frostpunk

Dead Cells sold over a million copies, most on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/dead-cells-sold-over-a-million-copies-most-on-pc/
During this year's Game Developers Conference Sébastien Bénard, a designer on popular roguelike metroidvania Dead Cells, gave a postmortem of indie studio Motion Twin's hit game. He explained that Dead Cells had sold over a million copies, with about 60% of that number on PC. Of the console versions, the Nintendo Switch port was the biggest seller. He also described Dead Cells as a "last chance project" for the studio, and said that its success saved them from going under.

Sekiro reaches 125,000 concurrent players, fourth most-played on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/sekiro-reaches-125000-concurrent-players-fourth-most-played-on-steam/
Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice's outstanding combat is clearly a hit with players—as of writing, more than 120,000 people are playing it, and its daily peak is more than 125,000, making it the fourth most-played game on Steam today ahead of Rainbox Six Siege.
It's a monumental launch, bigger even than Devil May Cry 5's, which was itself Capcom's second biggest PC launch ever, topping out at around 85,000 concurrent players, according to Steam Charts.
>> Not exactly a sales report, but it's the closer we'll get until we get official numbers from Activision or From Software.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is available for free today on Bethesda’s launcher
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind-is-available-for-free-today-on-bethesdas-launcher/
Bethesda has announced that The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is currently available for free on its launcher. This free offer will only last for one day and once you acquire your free copy, you will be able to keep your game in your library forever.
(...)
As said, this offer will only last for one day (meaning that it will end on March 26th) so go ahead and acquire your free copy if you are remotely interested in this classic The Elder Scrolls game (and provided you don’t mind installing the Bethesda launcher).

Warframe has almost reached 50 million registered players on all platforms
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/warframe-has-almost-reached-50-million-registered-players-on-all-platforms/
Digital Extremes announced today that its cooperative online hit Warframe has reached nearly 50 million registered online users on its sixth anniversary, making 2018 its biggest year of growth to date. To celebrate the occasion, it is giving birthday gifts to all Tenno for free this Wednesday, March 27, including a brand new exclusive Liset (landing craft) Skin, last year’s amazing Dex Excalibur skin, and all its previous anniversary gifts.

Steam has two new daily deals:

• The first one is Lobotomy Corporation | Monster Management Simulation, 33% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/568220/Lobotomy_Corporation__Monster_Management_Simulation/
• The other game is Road Redemption, 60% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/300380/Road_Redemption/

At Fanatical, there are three new deals:

• The Star Deal is Cossacks 3, 70% off for the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/cossacks-3
• There's a new GameGuru Bundle, with 2 games and 7 DLCs split in 3 tiers, available for the next 14 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/game-guru-bundle
• And publisher Aspyr has a new Pick & Mix bundle where we can buy 3 or 5 of their games at great prizes: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/aspyr-pick-and-mix

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS/EMULATORS

Sekiro Mod Engine has been released, allows gamers to replace textures, 3D models and more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/sekiro-mod-engine-has-been-released-allows-gamers-to-replace-textures-models-and-more/
Modder ‘Katalash’ has released the first mod for FromSoftware’s latest third-person action adventure title, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Sekiro Mod Engine is a file replacement injection library that allows you to modify weapons, armors, parameters and textures.
What this basically means is that by using this injection library, modders will be able to replace any of the in-game models they want, release highly detailed texture packs, modify the attributes of weapons, introduce new enemies and armours and more.
Do note that Mod Engine only supports the Steam version 1.02 for Sekiro and does not work with any older version or any pirated/cracked copy. Furthermore, Mod engine only supports file based mods, and mods that require dll injection are currently not supported.
>> You can get this mod from Nexus Mods.

New mod for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice unlocks its framerate on the PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-mod-for-sekiro-shadows-die-twice-unlocks-its-framerate-on-the-pc/
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has just been released and as we’ve already reported, it’s locked at 60fps. Thankfully, modder ‘jackfuste’ has released a brand new mod that completely unlocks the framerate on the PC version.
Do note that by unlocking the framerate you may encounter bugs and glitches. As such, this is only for those that want to experience Sekiro with more than 60fps.
>> Available from here.

Caveblazers Together mod adds online co-op
https://www.pcgamer.com/caveblazers-together-mod-adds-online-co-op/
You may remember Vadim from Nuclear Throne Together, which added an online mode to Vlambeer's twin-stick shooter, as well as similar mods for Spelunky, Wasteland Kings, and other games. Now he's done the same for Caveblazers, adding online co-op to the 2D roguelike platformer. And it's available on Steam.
Vadim has written a blog post about the process of creating the Caveblazers Together mod if you're interested in a look behind the scenes. He writes about trickiness of creating it while the game was still being updated, but notes that if the game weren't still receiving patches it likely wouldn't have enough of a community to make it worthwhile creating this kind of mod for it.

GAMING NEWS

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will support real-time ray tracing, DLSS and mods
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-will-support-real-time-ray-tracing-dlss-and-mods/
Paradox Interactive has revealed, via a press release, that Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will support both real-time ray tracing and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). Furthermore, and like its predecessor, Bloodlines 2 will officially support mods.

Electronic Arts and DICE share the 2019 roadmap for Battlefield 5
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/electronic-arts-and-dice-share-the-2019-roadmap-for-battlefield-5/
Electronic Arts and DICE have released the 2019 roadmap for Battlefield 5, revealing the new free content that will be coming to this latest part in the Battlefield series.

S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster is coming to the PC in Q2 2019, first details and screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/s-w-i-n-e-hd-remaster-is-coming-to-the-pc-in-q2-2019-first-details-and-screenshots/
Assemble Entertainment has announced that they are teaming up with Kite Games and taking over the publishing rights for S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster; a brand-new, highly polished version of the classic real-time strategy game S.W.I.N.E. Developer Kite Games, the team behind Sudden Strike 4, have worked with fans to extensively modernize the game to bring big, beautiful bunny-blasting, pig-punching battles to PC.

Detroit: Become Human will be using the Vulkan API, official PC system requirements revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/detroit-become-human-will-be-using-the-vulkan-api-official-pc-system-requirements-revealed/
Quantic Dream has revealed the official PC system requirements for Detroit: Become Human via the game’s Epic Store page. According to the developer, the PC version of this Playstation 4 exclusive will be using the Vulkan API.

The Division 2 PC players report a 100% CPU usage issue, Ubisoft is investigating
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-division-2-pc-players-report-a-100-cpu-usage-issue-ubisoft-is-investigating/
In our PC Performance Analysis article, we claimed that The Division 2 was a polished PC product. However, it appears that a number of gamers is currently reporting high CPU usage even on high-end CPUs.
>> 100% usage with 4-core CPUs. With more cores and/or Hyperthreading, it no longer happens.

Ubisoft will add a Field of View slider to The Division 2 via a future patch
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ubisoft-will-add-a-field-of-view-slider-to-the-division-2-via-a-future-patch/
Ubisoft has announced that it will add a Field of View slider to The Division 2 via a future patch. Although we don’t know yet when this FOV slider will be added, and even though I personally had no issue with the camera, we do know that Ubisoft will eventually implement it.