Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

[JEMC]

The Wednesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG wants to make my day harder than it should with a lot of new deals:

• These are the 9, (9!), new Deals of the Day, available until Friday:
  • Blade Runner - Enhanced Edition is 26% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/blade_runner_enhanced_edition
  • A YEAR OF SPRINGS gets a 30% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/a_year_of_springs
  • 8Doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure Bundle is 50% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/8doors_arums_afterlife_adventure_bundle
  • Knightin'+ is also 50% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/knightin
  • Darkwood gets a 70% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/darkwood
  • Ever Forward is also 70% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/ever_forward
  • Iron Harvest gets a 75% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/iron_harvest
  • Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/tokyo_xanadu_ex
  • And Jagged Alliance: Rage! , that doesn't have online at GOG, gets a 95% discount, making it a bargain: https://www.gog.com/en/game/jagged_alliance_rage
• There's a new GIVEAWAY! This time it's the Alien Breed Trilogy, free to keep during 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/game/alien_breed_trilogy
• The We Love Games Sale adds a new category with the Medieval Day, full of games "inspired by the Dark Ages". These deals will end with the bigger sale, in 5 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_we_love_games_medieval
• And publisher Hooded Horse celebrates its anniversary putting its games on sale, with up to 25% discounts on a small selection of its games until February 25th: https://www.gog.com/partner/hooded_horse

Steam has two new deals:

• SYNTHETIK 2, still in Early Access, will be 20% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1471410/SYNTHETIK_2/
• And Haven gets a 60% discount until February 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/983970/Haven/

The Humble Store puts Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Deluxe Edition on sale with a 75% discount during 13 days. The keys is for Steam or EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/destiny-2-the-witch-queen-deluxe-edition.

And, finally, there's Fanatical with a new Star Deal and bundles:

• The new Star Deal is Ghostwire: Tokyo, 66% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/ghostwire-tokyo
• There are 12 new bundles and I'm not going to post them. Check the bundles page to check them out: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 23.2.1
https://videocardz.com/driver/amd-radeon-software-adrenalin-23-2-1

Highlights:

• Support for:
  • Forspoken™
    • Up to 7% increase in performance for Forspoken @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-524
  • Dead Space™
  • IREE compiler using MLIR interface on Vulkan.
  • Additional Vulkan® extensions. Click here for more information.
• Radeon RX 6000 Series GPUs now have support for newly introduced streaming capabilities including pre-filter toggle, pre-analysis feature and CAML technology.
• A new version of AMD Link improves overall connectivity across all supported Radeon products, RX 400 series and newer, so you can game from anywhere on virtually any device.
• Boost your performance with AMD Software – read the latest blog HERE and learn how this newly unified driver delivers performance gains since Windows 11 first launched.

>> The article also details some game optimizations (between 3 and 19% at 4K with a 6950XT, but they should also apply to the rest of the RDNA2 cards) and also several fixed issues, but I haven't posted them to avoid making this part too long. Funnily enough, there's no Hogwarts Legacy profile in this driver.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This Valentine's Day, say it with Doom
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-valentines-day-say-it-with-doom/
What the world needs now is Doom, sweet Doom. Yes, while the 14th of February sends some folks' thoughts into the aether, while others search through gas station bouquet stands, the dedicated speedmapping mod team Pineapple Under the Sea Studios know that one universal truth remains: What the world really needs today of all days is Doom.
I bring you the studio's 24th (!) major Doom project, the aptly named Lover's Quarrel. Themed around love and Valentine's day, a bunch of mappers were given six hours apiece to create Deathmatch maps, which were then adjusted ("often in major ways") to also work as singleplayer maps.
"Come and join us on this romantic stroll and kill some demons along the way! And hop into a Deathmatch or co-op server, with or without a valentine, to lose yourself in this world of love!"
>> A day late, but you can still try it. There's an almost 3 minutes long video of the mod.

Players are replacing their Hogwarts wands with with guns, Luigi Wiimotes, and asparagus
https://www.pcgamer.com/players-are-replacing-their-hogwarts-wands-with-with-guns-luigi-wiimotes-and-asparagus/
It didn't take long for modders to begin practicing their magic on Hogwarts Legacy. Within days of release there were already Hogwarts Legacy mods to improve performance, tweak the UI, add mouse controls for broomstick flying and spellcasting, and yes, to shoehorn in Shrek and the inevitable Thomas the Tank Engine.
One particular aspect of the open world RPG modders have been focusing on is the player's magic wand. Players can, of course, pick between different wand appearances in the game, but modders have taken further liberties, in some cases removing it completely and replacing it with something more interesting than a pointy stick.
>> There are some screenshots.

GAMING NEWS

First Hogwarts Legacy PC Update released, full patch notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/first-hogwarts-legacy-pc-update-released-full-patch-notes-revealed/
Avalanche has released the first PC Update for its latest Harry Potter game, Hogwarts Legacy. According to the release notes, the February 14th Update brings a number of PC-specific tweaks and improvements. As such, we’ve decided to test this patch and see whether these claims were valid.

The Callisto Protocol February 14th Update Released
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-callisto-protocol-february-14th-update-released/
Striking Distance Studios has just released a brand new update for The Callisto Protocol. The February 14th Patch is around 300MB in size, and brings some HDR improvements to the game.

Gotham Knights February 14th Update promises to significantly improve performance
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/gotham-knights-february-14th-update-promises-to-significantly-improve-performance/
Warner Bros has released a new patch for Gotham Knights. According to the release notes, the February 14th Update promises to significantly improve the game’s performance.