That's expected after 7 years, but still cool.

It may have more TFlops but, since they're limited when it comes to memory bandwidth, it will perform worse than those consoles when it comes to gaming.

Yeah, and the very first one, Llano, which came out in June 2011, so before the the PS360 got replaced with the current gen, was already almost beating the last gen consoles. The main difference here is that Llano needed 100W TDP to do so, while Renoir just comes with 65W only. With the second gen, Trinity, which came out September 2012, PS360 were finally soundly beaten by integrated graphic chips.

Well, unless you compare to the Xbox One, whose DDR3 Memory is only barely faster than what Dual Channel DDR4-3600 can reach. Sure, there's also some ESRAM, but at 32MB, that's barely more than the L3 cache (which consoles don't have).

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam has two new deals, as well as a new set of weeklong deals:

• The new daily deal is Gorogoa, 60% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/557600/Gorogoa/
• Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, that has a demo, is 55% off for the next 2 days: https://store.steampowered.com/app/449610/Monster_Boy_and_the_Cursed_Kingdom/
• And these are some of the weeklong deals:
  • Crisis VRigade 2, an VR only game in Early Access, is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1066180/Crisis_VRigade_2/
  • Airships: Conquer the Skies gets a 35% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/342560/Airships_Conquer_the_Skies/
  • Zeus + Poseidon is 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/566050/Zeus__Poseidon/
  • Infested Planet is 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/204530/Infested_Planet/
  • And The Town of Light gets a 85% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/433100/The_Town_of_Light/

The Humble Store has three new sales:

• THQ Nordic has its games on sale, up to 80% off during the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/thq-nordic-publisher-sale/
• Bandai Namco has also put its games on sale during the next 6 days, with up to 84% discounts: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/bandai-namco-sale/
• And there's a new Very Positive Indie Sale with up to 90% discounts also during the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/very-positive-indie-sale/

And Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Skullgirls, 90% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/skullgirls
• And there's a new bundle: the Tropico 5 Complete Bundle, with the game and 12 DLCs at a 79% discount during the next 14 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/tropico-5-complete-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Steam is adding support for built-in beta testing
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-appears-to-be-adding-support-for-built-in-beta-testing/
Running a beta test on Steam is normally something of a hassle, because developers have to hand out individual Steam keys to each person who wants to take part. But Valve is apparently trying to eliminate that aggravation by adding a new option that enables developers to incorporate testing signups directly into their Steam pages.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

There is now a 19GB HD Uncompressed AI-Enhanced Texture Pack for Skyrim
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/there-is-now-a-19gb-hd-uncompressed-ai-enhanced-texture-pack-for-skyrim/
In the past few months, we’ve seen a respectable number of HD Texture Packs for Skyrim Special Edition. However, these packs were not compatible with the original version of Skyrim. Thankfully, modder “kartoffel” has released a massive 19GB AI-enhanced Texture Pack for those that are still playing the original Skyrim.
Going into more details, the modder has cleaned of compression artifacts all the textures of Skyrim Legacy Edition. In order to achieve that, kartoffel used AI-enhanced techniques. To be more precise, he used ESRGAN’s BC1smooth2 mode.
According to the modder, this HD Texture Pack requires 0.6-1.6GB more VRAM than the original version with Bethesda’s HD Textures. Thus, and if you stay below the hard VRAM limit of 3.5GB, there will be no performance impact.
Do note that Skyrim Legacy Edition is a 32-bit game. As such, the game cannot use more than 4GB of VRAM.
>> You'll find it at Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

Project Athia will be open-world, will support Ray Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/project-athia-will-be-open-world-will-support-ray-tracing/
Back in June 2020, Square Enix announced a new game for PS5 and the PC, Project Athia. Now while we don’t know much about this game, we do know that it looks beautiful. Moreover, it will feature the same female protagonist that was present in Square Enix’s amazing tech demos, Agni’s Philosophy and WITCH CHAPTER 0 [cry].
Thankfully, Square Enix’s president, Yosuke Matsuda revealed some additional details about it. Project Athia will be an open-world game, and will support real-time ray tracing.

Disintegration will be free to play this weekend, between July 30th and August 2nd
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/disintegration-will-be-free-to-play-this-weekend-between-july-30th-and-august-2nd/
A lot of players were excited when V1 Interactive announced Disintegration; a new sci-fi first-person shooter from the co-creator of Halo. However, it appears that the game flopped (at least commercially). Thus, and in order to let more players experience it, V1 Interactive announced a free weekend period for it.
>> Let's hope it works for them.

STALKER 2 will support Ray Tracing according to its Microsoft Xbox Page
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/stalker-2-will-support-ray-tracing-according-to-its-microsoft-xbox-page/
STALKER 2 was one of the most promising games that were shown during Microsoft’s Xbox July 2020 event. And, according to the game’s Microsoft Xbox Page, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will support real-time ray tracing effects.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has been funded in just a few hours
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes-has-been-funded-in-just-a-few-hours/
A couple of days ago, we informed you about a new JRPG from the developers of SUIKODEN. As we reported back then, its team was planning to launch a Kickstarter campaign today. And, we are happy to report that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has been funded in just a few hours since its launch.
>> Hiku made a thread about it.

F1 2020 Patch 1.06 released, adds black Mercedes F1 car
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/f1-2020-patch-1-06-released-adds-black-mercedes-f1-car/
Codemasters has released a new update for its latest F1 racing game, F1 2020. According to the release notes, patch 1.06 brings in the brand new black Mercedes AMG Petronas livery. This is something that a lot of Mercedes fans have been waiting for, so kudos to Codemasters.

Lust from Beyond releases in September, inspired by Lovecraft, Giger and Beksinski
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/lust-from-beyond-september-lovecraft-giger-beksinski/
Movie Games has announced that its first-person psychological horror with a bold occult and erotic themes, Lust from Beyond, will release on September 24th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the team released a new trailer that you can find below.

Here is why Ubisoft cancelled Mike Laidlaw’s King Arthur game
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/here-is-why-ubisoft-cancelled-mike-laidlaws-king-arthur-game/
In late 2018, Ubisoft hired Mike Laidlaw. Mike Laidlaw was the creative director of the Dragon Age series. Laidlaw also worked on other Bioware games such as Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
However, and in just a year, Ubisoft fired Laidlaw and cancelled his project. And, thanks to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, we finally know the reasons behind this cancellation.

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge is a new adventure experience for Oculus Quest
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-tales-from-the-galaxys-edge-is-a-new-adventure-experience-for-oculus-quest/
ILMxLAB has announced a new Star Wars VR game for Oculus Quest. Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge will release later this year, and will be a new action-adventure experience. Furthermore, ILMxLAB has shared the game’s reveal trailer that you can find below.

Tuesday news, the second part:

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide will be developed alongside Vermintide 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/warhammer-40000-darktide-will-be-developed-alongside-vermintide-2/
After years of letting us chop up evil rats in Vermintide, Fatshark's heading to the 41st millennium, where a group of Inquisitors will delve into a hive city that's been taken over by a Chaos cult. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is another co-op first-person melee affair, but the studio won't be tossing the previous game aside.

Shing! dev diary reveals how the 2D beat-'em-up trades buttons for analog sticks
https://www.pcgamer.com/shing-dev-diary-reveals-how-the-2d-beat-em-up-trades-buttons-for-analog-sticks/
A new dev diary for the side-scrolling beat-em-up Shing! explores how the developers are working to modernize and expand the genre, without making it overly difficult for newcomers to pick up and play. Developer Mass Creation also revealed the release date today, announcing that the game will be out on August 28.

If regular chess isn't hard enough for you, try 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel
https://www.pcgamer.com/if-regular-chess-isnt-hard-enough-for-you-try-5d-chess-with-multiverse-time-travel/
Chess is a game so complex that even with all our computing power it remains unsolved, which means that the perfect strategy has yet to be determined. And that's just boring old regular chess. It gets considerably more complicated when you and your opponent can use time travel to send your chess pieces into the past and create different parallel universes. Now thinking ahead isn't enough—you have to start thinking a few dozen moves behind and a whole bunch of moves sideways.

Twitch's Indie Showcase will feature Garden Story, Nuts, Werewolf, and more
https://www.pcgamer.com/twitchs-indie-showcase-will-feature-garden-story-nuts-werewolf-and-more/
The relentless cavalcade of online events continues tomorrow with Twitch's Indie Showcase, an up-close look at "hidden gems" chosen by the Twitch community that will include gameplay, developer interviews, and a few special Easter eggs.

Hideo Kojima wants to work with manga artist Junji Ito on a horror game (updated)
https://www.pcgamer.com/hideo-kojima-wants-to-work-with-manga-artist-junji-ito-on-a-horror-game/
Update: Manga artist Junji Ito says he overstated Hideo Kojima's offer of a collaboration in a recent interview. He intially told Comic Book, via a translator, that Kojima invited the mangaka to work on a horror game that he might be designing, but now he claims it was just a remark made at a party.

This cute sim lets you build tiny gardens at the end of the world
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-cute-sim-lets-you-build-tiny-gardens-at-the-end-of-the-world/
I like my post-apocalypses to be verdant. Keep your radioactive deserts and give me nature devouring the corpse of civilisation. That's Cloud Gardens' pitch: help plants grow amid urban ruins at the end of the world. It's an aimless, meditative little garden sim, and it's coming to Steam soon.

AMD Ryzen 7 4700G APU’s iGPU can play Doom Eternal, Death Stranding & other games at 1080p
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/amd-ryzen-7-4700g-apus-igpu-can-play-doom-eternal-death-stranding-other-games-at-1080p/

TechEpiphany has uploaded some performance videos for the flagship Renoir APU, the AMD Ryzen 7 4700G.

TechEpiphany uploaded one video which shows the AMD Ryzen 7 4700G desktop processor’s Radeon Vega 8 iGPU running Doom Eternal. As we all know Doom Eternal is well optimized for the PC platform. And it’s impressive to see the Vega 8 iGPU crunch through this game at 1080p, with no resolution scaling, on mostly High details. The frame rates can be seen fluctuating between 40 and 50fps at 1080p on high settings, with the FPS sometimes dropping to 37 fps in close-quarters combat. 

Yea pretty much. Perfect timing as the next gen consoles are on the horizon.

Gabe Newell Prefers Xbox Series X Over PlayStation 5 “Because It’s Better!”

https://wccftech.com/gabe-newell-prefers-xbox-series-x-because-its-better/

He doesn't give any specific reasons but we have seen Valve prefer Xbox more than PlayStation over the years so it's not too surprising.

Intel All Set To Unveil & Detail Its Next-Gen Xe Graphics Next Month

https://wccftech.com/intel-all-set-to-unveil-detail-its-next-gen-xe-graphics-next-month/

Death Stranding PC DLSS 2.0 vs PS4 Pro Checkerboarding: Image Reconstruction Analysis

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-image-reconstruction-death-stranding-face-off

The other interesting thing from the video/article:

AMD has not shared its plans for machine learning support with RDNA 2, and there is some confusion about its implementation in the next-gen consoles. Microsoft has confirmed support for accelerated INT4/INT8 processing for Xbox Series X (for the record, DLSS uses INT8) but Sony has not confirmed ML support for PlayStation 5 nor a clutch of other RDNA 2 features that are present for the next generation Xbox and in PC via DirectX 12 Ultimate support on upcoming AMD products.

Broadly speaking then, the Xbox Series X GPU has around 50 per cent of the RTX 2060's machine learning processing power. A notional DLSS port would see AI upscaling take 5ms to complete, rather than a 2060's circa 2.5ms. That's heavy, but still nowhere near as expensive as generating a full 4K image - and that's assuming that Microsoft isn't working on its own machine learning upscaling solution better suited to console development

Who cares what console Newell prefers when Valve won't launch a single game for neither of them?

Also, to me, that a picture at native resolution with AA looks worse than an upscaled one tells me more about how shitty the AA is rather than how good is the upscaling.