Thanks, I'll check that out.

I think we'll have to wait to see how that RTX tech works. Only Volta cards support the hardware implementation of it, so the only "consumer" card that's able to use it is the Titan V.

"V" for "very expensive".

Tuesday news:

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 has sold more copies on the PC than its predecessor on all platforms
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/warhammer-vermintide-2-has-sold-more-copies-on-the-pc-than-its-predecessor-on-all-platforms/
It appears that Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a hit for Fatshark. According to its CEO, Martin Wahlund, the game has sold more copies on the PC than its predecessor on all platforms. In other words, in just two weeks, the team has managed to outsell the lifetime revenue of the original Vermintide.

There are new deals at GOG:

• The daily deal is Memoranda, 80% off: https://www.gog.com/game/memoranda https://www.gog.com/game/memoranda
• To celebrate the launch of three more Close Combat games on the store, they are 50% off. The games are: Invasion: Normandy - Utah Beach to Cherbourg, Cross of Iron and Modern Tactics.

On the Humble Store, there's a new IGF Awards Sale: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/igf-awards-sale/

And lastly, we have Steam with its 14... no, wait, it's 1362... no! 1292 (the number keeps changing!) weeklong deals. When I click the link it shows nothing, so I'll just post those listed in the store page:

• The Early Access title Medieval Kingdom Wars is 50% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/499660/Medieval_Kingdom_Wars/
• Armello is also 50% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/290340/Armello/
• Total War: SHOGUN 2 is 66% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/201270/Total_War_SHOGUN_2/
• Magicka 2 is 70% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/238370/Magicka_2/
• Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter is 70% off too: http://store.steampowered.com/app/350640/Sherlock_Holmes_The_Devils_Daughter/
• Titan Souls is 75% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/297130/Titan_Souls/
• And lastly, we have Crypt of the NecroDancer, that is 80% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/247080/Crypt_of_the_NecroDancer/

SOFTWARE

NVIDIA officially collaborates with Microsoft for the DirectX Raytracing (DXR) API, first screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nvidia-officially-collaborates-with-microsoft-for-the-directx-raytracing-dxr-api-first-screenshot/
As promised, NVIDIA today announced its collaboration with Microsoft for a brand new DirectX API that will allow real-time ray tracing. According to the teams, the DirectX Raytracing (DXR) API will enable straightforward access to real-time ray tracing running on development graphics hardware, and below you can find its first screenshot from Remedy’s Northlight Engine.

>>As with any positive story related to MSoft, Vasto has a thread about it. But don't set your hopes too high because...

Real-time raytracing is a next-next-gen feature, Seed Tech Demo ran on three NVIDIA Titan V
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/real-time-raytracing-is-a-next-next-gen-feature-seed-tech-demo-ran-on-three-nvidia-titan-v/
(...) while some gamers are excited about this, we should temper everyone’s expectations. As Remedy claimed, this technology remains at research level, and as such it is far from being implemented into a video game.
So, the big question is when can we expect to see some sort of this real-time ray tracing techniques in video-games? According to the co-founder of Hatrabbit Entertainment, Joakim Svarling, this will happen in next-next generation. In other words, we can expect games to use some form of real-time ray tracing when PS6 and Xbox Three (assuming that Microsoft keeps using the One, Two, Three names) come out.

AMD Radeon Adrenalin 18.3.3 driver is optimized for Sea of Thieves, adds Vulkan 1.1 support
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/amd-radeon-adrenalin-18-3-3-driver-is-optimized-for-sea-of-thieves-adds-vulkan-1-1-support/
AMD has released a new driver for its graphics cards. According to the release notes, the AMD Radeon Adrenalin 18.3.3 driver is optimized for Sea of Thieves and A Way Out, and adds official support for Vulkan 1.1.

>>You can download them from here.

MODS/EMULATORS

Star Wars comes to Company of Heroes thanks to this great total conversion mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-comes-to-company-of-heroes-thanks-to-this-great-total-conversion-mod/
The Front Lines Development team has released the alpha version of its Star Wars total conversion mod for Company of Heroes, StarWars Frontlines – The Galactic Civil War. According to the team, this alpha version features limited, but exciting content that has never been seen in Company of Heroes before.

>>It's available from ModDB.

GAMING NEWS

New screenshots released for Codemasters’ upcoming arcade racer, ONRUSH
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-screenshots-released-for-codemasters-upcoming-arcade-racer-onrush/
Codemasters has released a new set of screenshots for its upcoming arcade racing game, ONRUSH. ONRUSH is described as a celebration of sensational speed, outright fun and over the top spectacle.

Tuesday news, part two (and with actual gaming news XD):

Minecraft server drama leads to a wave of bomb threats at UK schools
https://www.pcgamer.com/minecraft-server-drama-leads-to-a-wave-of-bomb-threats-at-uk-schools/
A wave of 24,000 emails threatening bomb attacks against more than 400 schools in the UK led to evacuations but were not found to constitute a "viable threat," according to police investigating the matter. In fact, this Sky News report says they were the result of a beef between Minecraft players, and were sent in an effort to bring down the VeltPvP gaming network.

>>Some people are really crazy.

Fortnite's time-limited 'Blitz' mode is now live
https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnites-time-limited-blitz-mode-is-now-live/
"Blitz," a limited-time game mode for Fortnite that promises "faster and more intense matches," is now live. Blitz mode matches feature boosted treasure and ammo spawns, increased resources and health, begin with the storm circle already closing in, and are capped at a maximum of 15 minutes in length.

A remastered Killer7 may be on the way
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-remastered-killer7-may-be-on-the-way/
A remastered release of the 2005 action-adventure cult hit Killer7 may be in the works: Grasshopper Manufacture founder Suda51 said during an event celebrating the studio's 20th anniversary that he hopes to be able to put out an updated version of the game "in the near future."

Sea of Thieves Day 1 Patch is a fashion accessory, not a download
https://www.pcgamer.com/sea-of-thieves-day-1-patch-is-a-fashion-accessory-not-a-download/
In the tradition of many games these days, Sea of Thieves has a Day 1 Patch. There's a twist, though: it's not something you download. The patch is an eyepatch with a red '1' on it, and you can buy it for your character for a single gold piece in any Sea of Thieves clothing store. See, it's a Day 1 Patch. Cute.

Strangeland is a new point-and-click adventure coming from the makers of Primordia
https://www.pcgamer.com/strangeland-is-a-new-point-and-click-adventure-coming-from-the-makers-of-primordia/
Despite the rather dismal 55/100 score we awarded Primordia in our 2013 review, I thought it was excellent. It's an old-school point-and-click adventure about an android and his companion who travel to a crumbling robotic metropolis in search of a power core for their derelict spacecraft. Complex and beautiful, it suffered from occasionally uneven pacing and frustrating puzzles, but my biggest complaint was simply that it didn't delve deeply enough into the desolate, post-human world in which the game takes place.

Far Cry 5 Boomer trailer shows us why videogame ads need more dogs
https://www.pcgamer.com/far-cry-5-boomer-trailer-shows-us-why-videogame-ads-need-more-dogs/
"I'm a very good boy who works very, very hard! Bad people killed my family. So I will take down the bad people! I jump on the bad ones. I bite the bad ones! It's easy and fun! I will find the bad ones for you. I will bring their loud sticks to you! Please pet me sometimes. We're family now!"

Rare on Sea of Thieves: 'We have a responsibility to make a positive online social space'
https://www.pcgamer.com/rare-on-sea-of-thieves-online-we-have-a-responsibility-as-game-creators-to-make-a-positive-social-space/
Joking aside, developer Rare is to keen to ensure Sea of Thieves provides a "positive online social space for players" from the outset—and will endeavor to address negative and toxic situations if or as they occur.

Roughly a couple weeks ago, [H]ardOCP wrote an editorial about how the GPP, GeForce Partner Program, could have an impact to consumers. Read the article here: https://www.hardocp.com/article/2018/03/08/geforce_partner_program_impacts_consumer_choice/

I didn't post it because I didn't want it to be an AMD vs GPU battle, but some sites did mention the article, sitting either on its side or against it. Well, now we may be seeing the first consequences of the GPP like [H] predicted:

Third-party GPU manufacturers have removed the ‘gaming’ brand label from their AMD graphics cards
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/third-party-gpu-manufacturers-have-removed-the-gaming-brand-from-their-amd-graphics-cards/
Earlier this month, HardOCP published a really interesting story about NVIDIA’s GPP program. According to HardOCP’s sources, this program prohibited – among other things – third-party GPU manufacturers to use their gaming brand label on both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. And even though some claimed that this was merely a rumour, today we’ve discovered some third-party manufacturers – that create GPUs for both companies – who have already removed their gaming brand label from their AMD graphics cards.

Gigabyte is the first company that is currently removing its gaming brand label from its AMD products. The team has introduced a new AMD-oriented external GPU box, however, the AMD box has your typical GIGABYTE brand. On the other hand, the exact same NVIDIA-oriented box has the AORUS branding.

MSI has also removed all its AMD ‘gaming’ GPUs from its official website. For example, AMD’s RX580 GPUs are only under the ‘Armor’ brand and some gamers had an awful experience with MSI’s ‘Armor’ products in general (meaning that some customers may not even bother with these GPUs solely due to their ‘Armor’ branding).

For what it’s worth, it appears that ASUS is still selling its AMD graphics cards under its ROG Strix gaming label, though it will be interesting to see whether ASUS will remove its ROG branding in the future like Gigabyte and MSI have already done!

>>This won't end well...

Well, I can't wait for EU to slap them with some astronomical fine, like with Intel's $1 billion, for this crap.

nVidia were always bunch of dicks (EDIT: cunts), shame they are only one left as an actual choice - that's why I've been hoping for quite some time Intel will jump into dGPU game, since they certainly have both money and brains.

It's so sad to see when powerful industry leaders who already have almost a monopoly anyway still go for such underhanded tactics to squeeze out just a few more percent market share.

It will take years before the EU, or any other administration, takes any measure, and by then it will be pointless. 

Greed. Never underestimate its power.

Hexus.net has a new contest, for UK only residents, with a chance to win one of four Silverstone goodies: Primera Series PM01-RGB, Primera Series PM02, Redline Series RL07 PC chassis or a 700W Strider Titanium ST70F-TI power supply:

http://hexus.net/tech/features/chassis/116132-win-silverstone-chassis-psu-upgrade/