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JEMC on 28 October 2024
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A new week, a new round of gaming news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Dead Island 2 has hit a record ten million players
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dead-island-2-has-hit-a-record-ten-million-players/
Deep Silver has announced that Dead Island 2 has hit a record ten million players. The game came out in April 2023, meaning that it took it almost one and a half years to hit that goal.
The milestone was reached on the same day that Dead Island 2 Ultimate Edition launched. The Ultimate Edition is a free upgrade to all Gold Edition owners, granting them access to all the content HELL-A has to offer.
Do note that these are not sale numbers. Dead Island 2 is available on Game Pass. This means that a lot of gamers were able to play it without buying it. So, while this is a huge milestone, it’s not a huge commercial success.

The boxing game that only exists because most big publishers won't touch the sport has now sold over a million copies
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/the-boxing-game-that-only-exists-because-most-big-publishers-wont-touch-the-sport-has-now-sold-over-a-million-copies/
Undisputed is a game that exists because, for far too long a time, there simply wasn't another big boxing game around. Ash Habib, a boxing fan from Sheffield in the UK, found himself wondering why games like the Fight Night series had disappeared (the last was in 2010), with big publishers having seemingly decided there was no future in the genre.
Such thoughts eventually led Habib and his brothers Asif and Asad to found Steel City Interactive in 2020, which has since enjoyed significant venture investment and four years on boasts around 70 employees. Undisputed launched in early access in 2023, and PCG's own slugger Tyler Wilde calls the game "an aggressively complex boxing sim", with a focus on authenticity and a large licensed cast of real world fighters (both contemporary and historical).
Undisputed left early access and launched on Steam October 8. Steel City Interactive has now announced that the game has sold over a million copies. Game Developer reports this was achieved in one week, though I'm curious as to how many of those may be early access purchases: I've asked the studio to clarify, and will update with any response.

Factorio's expansion is setting record high player counts yet again so I'm expecting the world's IT infrastructure to collapse and innovation to stagnate any day now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/factorios-expansion-is-setting-record-high-player-counts-yet-again-so-im-expecting-the-worlds-it-infrastructure-to-collapse-and-innovation-to-stagnate-any-day-now/
I'm here today to announce a dire portent. An issue that may or may not be disastrous for modern technological society. The Factorio: Space Age expansion is doing very, very well. After peaking at a record-setting 91,801 players on launch week, this weekend we've hit 118,674 players—more than triple the total we saw when Factorio launched its 1.0 release in 2020. This most illustrious of factory-building games is like catnip for engineers, coders, systems administrators, process designers, IT personnel, and also me.
Sure, it's the weekend now and that's responsible for the spike in peak player count... but what happens when their minds turn to The Factory, And How It Must Grow come Monday morning when they're supposed to be working? In a year already overrun with good factory games—surely hindering their productivity to date—we are seeing yet another monumenal release. I fear we shan't survive.
So, with a grain of salt, I'd recommend we all prepare for the full-scale collapse of technological civilization as we know it. Engineering tasks shall go un-gineered. Code shall be un-coded. Systems un-administered. Processes? Unprocessed. And there's no way the underpaid IT staff at the local government admin is showing up when they could be building factories that build rockets to send space factories to other planets, each of which has its own unique challenges, and then also build factories there to make yet more rockets.
>> We’re doomed!

GOG starts the week with three new sales:

Steam has two new deals:

There are two new deals at Humble:

And last, but not least, there’s Fanatical has three new deals:

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Here are three more DLC-sized mods for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/here-are-three-more-dlc-sized-mods-for-the-witcher-3-next-gen/
These past couple of weeks we’ve shared a few fan expansions for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen. So, today, I’ve decided to collect three new DLC-sized mods and share them in one article. This should please a lot of our TW3 fans. So, let’s dive in.
Let’s start with Beast of the Blood. Created by Oleksandr Shapran, this mod adds two new quests, new dialogues, location, entity and new game creature. It’s a cool DLC-sized mod, and you can download it from this link.
Then we have Of Kings and Killers. In this new mod, you will hunt down a witcher assassin being trained by the king of wild hunt, Eredin himself. The mod features a hand-crafted fan-fiction questline that seamlessly integrates into the main quest of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. You can download it from this link.
Lastly, we have The Spider and The Wolf. This mod presents players with an intriguing new questline, centered around an old threat. It offers over two hours of new gameplay over the course of 2-3 quests. You can download it from this link.
>> The article has three videos, one for each mod.

You can now play Black Myth: Wukong in first-person with guns
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/you-can-now-play-black-myth-wukong-in-first-person-with-guns/
Now this right here is why we all love mods on PC games. Black Myth: Wukong is an amazing third-person action RPG, inspired by Dark Souls and Sekiro. The game relies on melee and magic attacks. But what if you could play it in first-person with guns? Well, thanks to this mod, it’s now possible to get that experience on PC.
Going into more details, the Gun Mod allows you to use AK47 rifles and AWP sniper rifles. You can also switch at will from a third-person to a first-person perspective.
But wait, there is more. Inspired by Max Payne and other shooters, this mod also has a Bullet Time mechanic. By hitting “C”, you’ll enter Bullet Time. Bullet Time has a 30-second cooldown, will clear all sticks, and will consume a certain amount of health and mana.
>> There’s an almost 2 minutes video.

Play Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone with Path Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/play-harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-with-path-tracing/
Modder ‘mmdanggg2’ has updated his Unreal Engine 1 RTX Remix Renderer, adding support for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. This means that you can now play this 2003 Harry Potter game with Full Ray Tracing/Path Tracing.
To showcase the game with these new Path Tracing effects, NVIDIA’s Jacob Freeman shared the following screenshots. These shots will give you an idea of the visual improvements that the renderer brings to the table.
As we can see, the lighting has been completely overhauled. And while the game looks better than its vanilla version, it still needs A LOT of work.
For starters, the textures have not been improved. Thus, they still look blurry and they lack any PBR values. As we’ve seen, PBR materials are a must for games that get Ray Tracing/Path Tracing support. Also, since this is an old game, its devs used a lot of “fake” light sources to light up the scenes. For Path Tracing to look right, modders will have to remove those fake lights.
All in all, while it’s cool, it’s still a very early WIP state. It’s also not representative of what RTX Remix is really capable of. At least right now. Still, if you want to try it, you can go ahead and download the Unreal Engine 1 RTX Remix Renderer from this link.
>> In the article you’ll find four screenshots.

The GTA Trilogy's excellent SilentPatch just got a big update and went open-source
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/grand-theft-auto/the-gta-trilogys-excellent-silentpatch-just-got-a-big-update-and-went-open-source/
You may know Silent from patches like the one that restores product placement and makes analog controls work properly in Crazy Taxi, or the one that restores Deus Ex: Human Revolution's piss filter. Perhaps even more essential is the SilentPatch for the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy, which just got a significant update and went open-source to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The GTA SilentPatch fixes numerous issues in the PC ports of GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas, many of which weren't present in the console originals. It's not a patch for the Definitive Edition rerelease, however, which is a whole different kettle of fish with its own well-documented problems.
Among the fixes the SilentPatch now adds for all three games are fix for the issue where cars could blow up twice if you bailed out during the explosion, a restoration of the PS2 version's random chance that some drivers wouldn't turn on their lights in the rain or fog, metallic vehicle extras now appearing properly shiny rather than weirdly matte, the credits scrolling at the correct speed (they used to go slower at high resolutions), and the mission completion text likewise leaving the screen at the correct speed (again, it was linked to resolution).
There are also a significant number of changes specific to individual games. For instance, the SilentPatch now gives GTA 3 proper boat-sitting and driving animations rather than having Claude simply sink through the seat, pedestrians dive away from your vehicle instead of toward it, and severed limbs use the proper model rather than being weirdly doubled up so you'd see two hands on each severed arm. Oh, and NPC drivers can turn right on one-way roads now, something they couldn't do before.
Meanwhile, a lot of the Vice City changes have to do with broken backface culling. If you're not familiar with it, culling is the way videogames save memory by not rendering things you can't see—like the backs of objects. Vice City had all kinds of problems with its backface culling, resulting in car windows and parts of Tommy's collar disappearing, among other things. That's all been fixed, as has assault rifle muzzle flashes being aimed the wrong way, and a separate patch for pedestrians and Tommy not talking as much as they were supposed to on the street has been incorporated into the SilentPatch.
Finally, in sunny San Andreas, CJ's clothes now move when he's riding the quadbike just as they do on regular bikes, and you can hover with the jetpack even if you're using keyboard controls (it defaults to Q+E, and makes the jetpack segments way less annoying). Those weird falling black dots have also been fixed—while conspiracy theorists have long theorized they were supposed to be flying saucers, Silent looked into the code and realized they were supposed to use the textures from clouds, but were taking the wrong part of it. They now look white as they were originally intended to and clearly appear as shooting stars. Mystery solved.
>> The article has no media.

Skyrim mod lets you shank NPCs as Agent 47 in a Hitman Contracts-style assassination mode
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/skyrim-mod-lets-you-shank-npcs-as-agent-47-in-a-hitman-contracts-style-assassination-mode/
The great thing about Skyrim is that, if you don't like Skyrim, by this point you can make it into pretty much anything else. The game now has a decent claim to be the most-modded of all time, with over 170,000 mods listed across the basic and Special Edition on Nexus Mods. Whether you fancy recreating World War 2 in Tamriel, guilt-tripping yourself over NPC deaths, or just chilling while the game plays itself, there's a good chance someone's way ahead of you.
The title of this one speaks for itself, kinda: Hitman Contracts for Skyrim. It is not a full conversion of the excellent 2004 Hitman: Contracts, but a single focused quest that casts you as Agent 47 with five unlucky NPCs on your to-do list. It's the work of modder Magickaless, who also posted the below video of 47 taking out some Skyrim residents.
"It includes an assassination quest, the classic suit and a few weapons," says the creator. "I used Book of Shadows for the subdue animation. It's not part of my mod but I wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone who likes stealth."
The mod starts with you having to find 47's suit, a kitchen knife, and a silver crossballer from Riften. After this you can find a note that has the details of your contract, and then it's time to shank-'em-up, albeit in a game that has a very basic vanilla stealth system. Luckily mods can help out there too, and the description for Hitman Contracts includes a few suggestions.

GAMING NEWS

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Official PC System Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/horizon-zero-dawn-remastered-official-pc-system-requirements/
Nixxes has shared the official PC system requirements for Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered will be available on October 31st, and it will cost $9.99 to those who already own the original version. So, let’s see what kind of PC you’ll need to run it.

First screenshots from the triple-A open-world game from the creator of Just Cause
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/first-screenshots-from-the-triple-a-open-world-game-from-the-creator-of-just-cause/
Christofer Sundberg, co-founder of Avalanche and creator of Just Cause, has shared the first screenshots from his next triple-A game. This new game will be an open-world title, created by Sundberg’s new studio, Liquid Swords.

God of War Ragnarok Patch 6 improves performance on AMD Zen1 and Zen2 CPUs
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/god-of-war-ragnarok-patch-6-improves-performance-on-amd-zen1-and-zen2-cpus/
Jetpack Interactive has released Title Update 6 for the PC version of God of War Ragnarok. This patch brings visual improvements and performance increases on AMD’s older Zen CPUs. So, let’s take a closer look at it.

EDENS ZERO gets official PC system requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/edens-zero-gets-official-pc-system-requirements/
Konami has revealed the PC requirements for the 3D action RPG based on the space fantasy comic/anime EDENS ZERO by Hiro Mashima, EDENS ZERO. The game will come out on PC in 2025, so let’s see what PC system you’ll need to run it.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 October 26th Patch Released & Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/call-of-duty-black-ops-6-october-26th-patch-released-detailed/
Treyarch has released the first post-launch update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. The October 26th Patch is around 500MB in size on PC, and below you can find its complete changelog. So, let’s take a look at what it brings to the table.

A PC port for Halo 5 was canceled due to technical issues
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/a-pc-port-for-halo-5-was-canceled-due-to-technical-issues/
When Microsoft released Halo 5: Forge on PC in 2016, a lot assumed that its single-player campaign would also find its way to the PC. And yesterday, Tyler Owens, a former Halo 5 dev confirmed that there were plans to bring it to the PC. However, Microsoft has decided to cancel that PC port due to some technical issues.

Alan Wake 2 Title Update 1.2.3 Released, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/alan-wake-2-title-update-1-2-3-released-full-patch-notes/
Remedy has released Title Update 1.2.3 for Alan Wake 2. According to the release notes, this patch fixes a number of bugs that plagued the main game and its latest DLC. So, let’s take a closer look at what it fixes.



Please excuse my bad English.

Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070

Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet    Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.