The news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG sees a new release and has a new giveaway:

• The giveaway is... The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, but you only have 7 hours left to claim it! https://www.gog.com/game/the_witcher
• And Death and Taxes launches with a 33% discount until August 13: https://www.gog.com/game/death_and_taxes

Steam has three new sales:

• The new daily deal is West of Dead, 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1016790/West_of_Dead/
• Eastshade will be 50% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/715560/Eastshade/
• And there's a Quakecon sale with up to 80% discounts until the 11th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/quakecon

And Fanatical has two new sales:

• The new Star Deal is Torchlight I & II Pack, 91% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/torchlight-1-and-2-pack
• And there's a new Build Your Own Adventure Bundle with 19 games to choose your 3, 5 or 7 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-adventure-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

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GAMING NEWS

Sperasoft, creator of Saints Row The Third Remastered, is also working on Halo Infinite
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/sperasoft-creators-of-saints-row-the-third-remastered-is-also-working-on-halo-infinite/
Sperasoft has announced its collaboration with 343 Industries and Xbox Game Studios to develop Halo Infinite. In case you weren’t aware of, Sperasoft was responsible for Saints Row The Third Remastered.

Star Citizen Alpha 3.10 released, improves gameplay mechanics, combat tools, planet tech & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-citizen-alpha-3-10-released-improves-gameplay-mechanics-combat-tools-planet-tech-more/
Cloud Imperium has announced the release of Star Citizen Alpha 3.10: Flight & Fight. According to the team, this new alpha introduces an array of new and improved gameplay mechanics, combat tools, vehicles, planet tech improvements, and more.

New WRC 9 gameplay trailer showcases Rally Japan
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-wrc-9-gameplay-trailer-showcases-rally-japan/
NACON and KT Racing studio have released a new gameplay trailer for WRC 9, showcasing Rally Japan; a brand-new round for the 2020 season that players will find in the game.

2D sprite-based Japanese beat-em-up, Ogre Tale, coming to PC on August 20th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/2d-sprite-based-japanese-beat-em-up-ogre-tale-coming-to-pc-on-august-20th/
Degica and MAGES have announced Ogre Tale will release on August 20th. Ogre Tale is a brand new Japanese-Style Swordplay Battle Action game. As the press release reads, the game will feature Japanese ‘Chanbara’ or swordplay style action.

Ary and the Secret of Seasons is a lovely adventure game, coming to PC on September 1st
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ary-and-the-secret-of-seasons-is-a-lovely-adventure-game-coming-to-pc-on-september-1st/
Now here is something that completely passed under my radar. Fishing Cactus and eXiin are working on a new lovely adventure game, called Ary and the Secret of Seasons.

Guerilla Games on Horizon Zero Dawn PC: “Some animations are 30fps, Anisotropic Filtering not working, stutters on some systems”
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/guerilla-games-on-horizon-zero-dawn-pc-some-animations-are-30fps-anisotropic-filtering-not-working-stutters-on-some-systems/
Guerilla Games has issued an official statement about the issues that will plague the PC version of Horizon Zero Dawn at launch. According to the team, some of the game’s animation will be locked at 30fps. Moreover, PC gamers may experience some stuttering issues in specific PC configurations.

Thursday news, part two:

Yakuza Empire is a mob management sim with turn-based shootouts
https://www.pcgamer.com/yakuza-empire-is-a-mob-management-sim-with-turn-based-shootouts/
Inide studio RockGame S.A has revealed its new turn-based strategy game, Yakuza Empire. It's a mobster romp full of blood and gangsters out for revenge, and you get to sit at the head of the criminal outfit.

You maniacs! You made COD: Modern Warfare over 200GB
https://www.pcgamer.com/cod-warzone-file-size-200gb/
Well, Infinity Ward finally did it. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is now over 200GB in size. All my megabytes, gone. My gibibytes? Depleted. For what—a big hole in a stadium? I've deleted photo albums, treasured memories, and the entire Adobe suite for this, it better be spectacular.
>> Insane.

EA removes two FIFA 21 goal celebrations to help reduce 'toxic behaviors'
https://www.pcgamer.com/ea-removes-two-fifa-21-goal-celebrations-to-help-reduce-toxic-behaviors/
A Eurogamer report says that as part of its effort to combat toxicity in its FIFA games, Electronic Arts has decided to cut two goal celebrations—Shush and A-Ok—from the upcoming FIFA 21.

Street Fighter 5's final season will add five new characters, including Akira from Rival Schools
https://www.pcgamer.com/street-fighter-5s-final-season-will-add-five-new-characters-including-akira-from-rival-schools/
The fifth and final season of Street Fighter 5 Champion Edition will see five new characters from added to the game's roster, Capcom announced today: Dan, Rose, Oro, Akira, and a mystery fifth fighter who will be revealed later.

Fortnite 13.40 update: Cars pull in, radio stations go live
https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnite-update-13-40-joy-ride-patch-notes/
Fortnite's Joy Ride update 13.40 is finally here, and it's bringing one of Fortnite's most significant changes in quite some time. Epic doesn't post official patch notes, but we've got all the details you need to know, including the long-awaited addition of drivable cars, bug fixes, and more.
>> And the store has new items.

Avengers dev explains why Spider-Man is a PlayStation exclusive
https://www.pcgamer.com/avengers-dev-explains-why-spider-man-is-a-playstation-exclusive/
In an interview with Newsweek, Crystal Dynamics boss Scot Amos tried to explain how such a fan-favorite character could wind up tied to a single platform, saying that "it comes back to the relationship with PlayStation and Marvel."
>> Interesting way of saying that they own most of the IP.

Family is a free detective game about a forgotten music scene
https://www.pcgamer.com/family-is-a-free-detective-game-about-a-forgotten-music-scene/
Family is a detective game, but one where you're investigating a music scene: a bunch of (fictional) bands that flowered in London in the 1980s, its members forming bands and splitting off, coming together and falling out. You're uncovering a forgotten slice of history, and celebrating the players in it. And all while listening to some cracking tunes from these fictional bands.

Honey, I Joined a Cult will let you manage a cult in Early Access next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/honey-i-joined-a-cult-will-let-you-manage-a-cult-in-early-access-next-year/
After being attacked by grubby cultists for hours in Far Cry 5, it should be refreshing to switch sides for Honey, I Joined a Cult, a management game where you form and run your very own cult. You'll build and expand a compound, recruit and look after followers, and cater to a demanding cult leader, all while listening to some funky tunes from the 1970s. And you'll do so (via Steam Early Access) next year. Have a watch of the trailer above.

Cyberpunk 2077's next Night City Wire livestream is next Monday
https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-2077s-next-night-city-wire-livestream-is-next-monday/
CD Projekt Red has announced that the next Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire livestream will take place on August 10—that's next Monday at 1pm EDT (10am PDT / 6 pm CEST / 5 pm BST).

Serious Sam 4 delayed into September
https://www.pcgamer.com/serious-sam-4-delayed-into-september/
Serious Sam 4 will reportedly feature hundreds of thousands of enemies on screen at once, but you'll need to wait a bit longer before you can mow them down. Croteam announced today that the game's original August release window will be missed, but we now have a firm date: September 24.

Gorgeous endless runner The Alto Collection is free on the Epic Games Store next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/gorgeous-endless-runner-the-alto-collection-is-free-on-the-epic-games-store-next-week/
I thought endless runners were supposed to be hectic, stressful, to reflect the inexorable march of time. The Alto Collection, by contrast, looks remarkably peaceful and laid-back: less Temple Run and more Temple Saunter. It's the latest game to be announced as going temporarily free on the Epic Games Store, and you can grab it between August 13 and August 20. After which you can still grab it, but you'll have to reach for your wallet first.
>> Not *is* but *will be*.

Mothergunship studio's next game is a 'playable sitcom,' free on the Epic Games Store
https://www.pcgamer.com/mothergunship-studios-next-game-is-a-playable-sitcom-free-on-the-epic-games-store/
Terrible Posture Games, the studio behind Tower of Guns and Mothergunship, is trying something new and very different for its next project. Guns are out, and an "episodic playable sitcom about life at the world’s worst game development studio," called 3 Out of 10, is in.

Quite a numebr over on Era/Steam are already filing for refunds, and going by the studio manning the game, yeah... I'd totally go for it, I'm not really expecting good miracles from a studio with a known history of shoddy port jobs. It's not like there's going to be some Disney level magical moment, where this studio suddenly pulls a Hercules moments and makes the port stellar after a single day 1 or week 2 patch. A bad track record is just a bad track record. 

Should have handed the job over to GG or at the very least, Kojipro. At the end of the day Sony made this call and it was a really bad first step back into PC gaming, while MS has made many bad steps in the past, their actual track record is steadily improving, while Sony is just letting us know that PC's just going to be their "dirty hoe" on the street corner for that extra sack of cash, kinda gig (which is what I see Epic as doing, and why I hate anyone abusing the PC market as such).

How nice of a Christmas present would it be if Rocket Lake releases this year and beats Zen 3.

So you can play Rocket League on Rocket Lake?

Gonna be a lot of thumbs down tomorrow. Least they are working to fix it but essh.

Yeah, this is just a straight up bad port job, but that's what you get when you hire a team known for making bad port jobs, having a website they seemingly cannot keep up either:

The asking price for getting less of a good port is just a straight up bad idea from Sony, regional pricing or not, it's asked for too much and given so little. Like look at this rope "detail" from one of the 4k screens:

The rope looks like something straight out of a PS2 game at best.

For all the piss we take out on Halo Infinite, this port seems honestly laughable and yet sad at the same time.

Alex's settings based off his RTX 2080ti:

With how Valve's review system works now, negative reviews mean next to nothing, thanks to some indie devs and corps bitching like babies. You'll be lucky if the game gets mixed reviews, which is easy for a dev to ignore these days. 

Sony needs to step up their game though, if they wanna take PC as it's second hooker to make money from.

Well, I won't try to defend them, but it's not surprising that, after developing for only console at a time, they have troubles with an ecosystem so diverse as PC. Most studios leave the PC port to other, more capable, studios, but they decided to do it by themselves which, well, looks like it wasn't the best option.

We'll see if they can fix most of the troubles.

Going by the track record of that studio (I cannot stress how silly it is that they cannot maintain their own website, which in this day and age sounds abysmal), I'd say we're looking at an AK situation, where it'll get slightly better, but not by much to get it out of the "bad port" range. 

I mean, we've seen the studio that brought us the really ugly and crappy Rambo game, but some years later they manage to give us a real neato Terminator game, but I'd call that lightning in a bottle, so I'm not sure this studio will manage to completely reverse the issues. To me personally it's either make it stellar or go home, I'm in no mind to buy a mediocre port job. DS and previous stellar port jobs have set the bar these days, so I'd rather that bar be maintained rather than lowered slightly. 

Not going to argue about the rest, but maintaining the website is probably done by entirely different people or is not in the devs' area of expertise, so you can't really blame actual devs for that. Besides, even bigger, competent companies sometimes mess up website certificates. That said, it could be an indicator of other problems in the company.