Not sure if AMD can afford to put any real estate into ML on their gaming cards. RDNA2 has shown that they really do not care about fancy stuff like that.

I don't think they will have a choice. Native RT is gonna continue to kill GPUs for the next few generations. It's why Nvidia made DLSS in the first place to help with the performance hit that comes from Ray Tracing. Plus you can't have people like GN saying Nvidia is 500% faster in Ray Tracing after enabling DLSS.

While I doubt AMD by themselves will have the capability of implementing a DLSS type of software solution anytime soon... If they can get the ball rolling with at least a hardware solution, then MS can maybe step in and hopefully make a solution that will work just fine on both AMD and Nvidia vs DLSS which only works on Nvidia.

Also in case someone hasn't watched Linus rant against Nvidia yet, here's the full clip:

40 minutes of beautiful glory

This is why I trust Hardware Unboxed/Gamers Nexus and other select reviewers for their tests and results. Read the numbers and make your own conclusions.

Nvidia seedy marketing goes a bit too far here. I wouldn't be surprised if all the big players have tried this with their outlets.

*** NEW CONTESTS ***

• Guru3D 2020 December 16th: Win a TeamGroup MP33 PRO NVMe SSD https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/guru3d-2020-december-16th-win-a-teamgroup-mp33-pro-nvme-ssd.html

• HEXUS EPIC Giveaway Day 2: Win one of two ASRock motherboards https://hexus.net/tech/features/mainboard/147097-day-2-win-one-two-asrock-motherboards/

The motherboards are a Z490 Taichi and a B460M Pro4. This contest if for UK and Europe ONLY.

Another day, another round of news:

Let me tell you that the PC Secret Santa thread is open! If you want to join, come here: https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread/243930/the-11th-semi-annual-pc-secret-santa-event/

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Much to no one's surprise, GOG's Winter Sale if live! Featuring over 3300 games on sale with up to 91% discounts, the sale will last until January 4th. But that's not all:

• To celebrate the Winter Sale, GOG is giving away the game Prison Architect during the next 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/game/prison_architect
• And four new games launch on the store, and all of them are on sale during the Winter Sale:
  • The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series launches with a 40% discount: https://www.gog.com/game/the_walking_dead_the_telltale_definitive_series
  • The game Shing! lands with a 50% discount: https://www.gog.com/game/shing
  • Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey arrives on the store and it's 60% off: https://www.gog.com/game/ancestors_the_humankind_odyssey
  • And Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus also lands with a 60% off deal for both the game and the Deluxe edition with the Season Pass, a Season Pass that is 70% off by itself: https://www.gog.com/game/wolfenstein_ii_the_new_colossus

Steam has six new deals:

• The new daily deal is Spintires, 80% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/263280/Spintires/
• Dreadlands will be 40% off until December 22: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1054690/Dreadlands/
• And these are the Midweek Madness deals:
  • Fall Guys is 20% off until Friday 18: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1097150/Fall_Guys_Ultimate_Knockout/
  • Second Extinction, still in Early Access, will be 20% off until December 22: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1024380/Second_Extinction/
  • Outward gets a 70% discount until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/794260/Outward/
  • And Gears 5 will be 75% off until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1097840/Gears_5/

The new Humble Québec Indies Bundle brings 12 games to grab during the next 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/quebec-indies

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce 460.89 WHQL driver is now available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nvidia-geforce-460-89-whql-driver-is-now-available-for-download/
NVIDIA has released a brand new driver for its graphics cards. According to the release notes, the NVIDIA GeForce 460.89 WHQL driver provides support for the Quake II RTX v1.4.0 Update which enables support for the new Vulkan Ray Tracing extensions. As we’ve already reported, any GPU with support for Vulkan Ray Tracing can now run Quake 2 RTX.
Furthermore, this driver adds support for the finalized Vulkan Ray Tracing extensions, as well as support for CUDA 11.2.
Unfortunately, this new driver does not bring any new bug fixes. As such, you can safely skip it if you are not planning to play Quake 2 RTX.
>> Available from here.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Here are some new amazing Deus Ex Human Revolution Ray Tracing Screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-amazing-deus-ex-human-revolution-ray-tracing-screenshots/
As we’ve already reported, ENBSeries creator, Boris Vorontsov, is currently experimenting with some Ray Tracing effects in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. And yesterday, the modder released some new screenshots for his upcoming mod.

Enhanced Controls Mod for Cyberpunk 2077 adds walk button, improves dodging, and more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/enhanced-controls-mod-cyberpunk-2077-walk-button-improves-dodging/
Modder ‘PuppyUnicorn’ has released a must-have mod for all Cyberpunk 2077 PC players. Enhanced Controls Mod adds a dedicated walk button, tweaks the dodging mechanics, allows PC gamers to use spacebar for the dialogue options, and more.
>> You can find it at Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

Grand Theft Auto 5 Update 1.52 released and here are its full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/grand-theft-auto-5-update-1-52-released-and-here-are-its-full-patch-notes/
Rockstar has released a brand new update for Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online. According to the release notes, Update 1.52 brings The Cayo Perico Heist and some new free content to Grand Theft Auto Online.

Quake 2 RTX Patch 1.4.0 released, adds support for platform-agnostic Vulkan Ray Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/quake-2-rtx-patch-1-4-0-released-adds-support-for-platform-agnostic-vulkan-ray-tracing/
NVIDIA has released a new update for Quake 2 RTX that adds support for platform-agnostic Vulkan Ray Tracing. This basically means that Quake 2 RTX is no longer locked on NVIDIA’s hardware. Instead, this fully path-traced game can now run on all GPUs that support the latest Vulkan Ray Tracing extensions.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Update 1.1.0 released, is 5.6GB in size, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/assassins-creed-valhalla-update-1-1-0-released-is-5-6gb-in-size-full-patch-notes/
Ubisoft has released a brand new update for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. According to the release notes, Update 1.1.0 is 5.6GB in size on the PC, and adds in-game support for the Settlement expansion and Yule Festival. Moreover, it packs a number of stability improvements, as well as bug fixes.

New gameplay trailer released for upcoming horror game, PARANOID
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-trailer-released-for-upcoming-horror-game-paranoid/
Madmind Studio, the team behind AGONY and SUCCUBUS, has released a brand new trailer for PARANOID; its new first-person survival horror game. This trailer focuses on introducing our protagonist, Patrick, showing his struggles with a progressing mental illness.

Dirt 5 Update 2.00 adds wheel support, improvements and free content pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dirt-5-update-2-00-adds-wheel-support-improvements-and-free-content-pack/
Codemasters has released the first major update for DIRT 5 which adds wheel support across all platforms, improved online matchmaking, and other bug fixes and optimizations. Moreover, the team released a new trailer that you can find below.

Torchlight 3 receives its largest content update to date
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/torchlight-3-receives-its-largest-content-update-to-date/
Perfect World Entertainment and Echtra Games announced that Torchlight III’s Winter-themed update, Snow & Steam, is now available on Steam. According to the teams, this is the largest patch to come to Torchlight III since its launch in October.

Hyper Scape Update 2.5 released, adds crossplay support, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/hyper-scape-update-2-5-released-adds-crossplay-support-full-patch-notes/
Ubisoft has released a brand new update for Hyper Scape. According to the release notes, Update 2.5 adds crossplay support between all consoles and PC. Furthermore, this update will allow players to enjoy the Winter Festival event, the snowy Neo Arcadia, its magical outfits and items in the Shop.

The second part of the Wednesday news:

The first Season One patch for Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War is live
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-first-season-one-patch-for-call-of-duty-black-ops-cold-war-is-live/
After a small delay earlier this month, the biggest update to Call of Duty’s multiplayer mode since launch is arriving tomorrow. In anticipation of the Season One update, Treyarch has released the first of two patches for Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone.
>> And here's when Season One unlocks in each zone.

Spelunky 2 online multiplayer is now live on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/spelunky-2-online-multiplayer-is-now-live-on-pc/
Spelunky 2's online multiplayer, which was delayed in September following a rough debut on the PlayStation 4, is now in open beta testing on Steam. Developer Mossmouth said matchmaking is working properly and the improvements made over the past month "have mostly paid off," but it hasn't been perfectly smooth sailing: A problem with invites means that many players have had to rely on matchmaking to try finding their friends online.

The Overwatch Winter Wonderland event returns with a frosty new 4v4 mode
https://www.pcgamer.com/overwatch-winter-wonderland-2020/
Winter doesn't officially begin until December 21, but the Winter Wonderland is snowing and blowing in Overwatch today. The annual event brings back Mei's Snowball Offensive, Yeti Hunt, and Snowball Deathmatch modes, and adds an all-new 4v4 brawl for 2020 called Freezethaw Elimination.

Fortnite's new limited-time mode is essentially Among Us
https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnite-among-us-spy-within/
Fortnite's new Spy Within limited-time mode is almost entirely a clone of Among Us, the immensely popular hidden identity deduction/deception game played by the likes of AOC.
>> And thanks to a leak, we know some skins that will appear on the shop.

Chuchel studio Amanita Design is making a psychological horror adventure called Happy Game
https://www.pcgamer.com/chuchel-studio-amanita-design-is-making-a-psychological-horror-adventure-called-happy-game/
Amanita Design, the indie studio behind games including Samorost, Botanicula, and Chuchel, is going somewhere a little different in its next game. The new project was revealed today as Happy Game, and it looks to be anything but happy.

Among Us for Nintendo Switch supports crossplay with PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/among-us-for-nintendo-switch-supports-crossplay-with-pc/
Among Us is surprise releasing for Nintendo Switch today, which is good news for Switch users. It's also good news for us: the port supports crossplay with the PC and smartphone versions of the game, so it's now possible to play with a wider net of friends.

Diablo 4's latest developer update is all about itemization (and a bit of player stats)
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4s-latest-developer-update-is-all-about-itemization-and-a-bit-of-player-stats/
The latest Diablo 4 development update dives deep into itemization, "the lifeblood of Diablo," with a closer look at changes that have been made since the last time Blizzard talked about the game and what it's prioritizing as it continues to work on the design.

Cat café sim Calico is out right now, thank goodness
https://www.pcgamer.com/cat-cafe-sim-calico-is-out-right-now-thank-goodness/
Everyone's a bit sick of hearing about how terrible 2020 has been, so let's list some good things that have happened: cat café sim Calico is out.
That's all I've got. We first heard about Calico back in early 2019, and were immediately impressed that you can ride cats in it. But this is no mere cat-racer, it's a "day-in-the-life community sim game" about building and nurturing a rundown cat café. This entails filling it with very nice cats, but you'll also need to stock it with food and furniture, I guess.

Starbase, the EVE Online-meets-Minecraft game, is looking for more alpha testers
https://www.pcgamer.com/starbase-the-eve-online-meets-minecraft-game-is-looking-for-more-alpha-testers/
Starbase struck us as an "EVE Online-Minecraft hybrid" when it was announced by Trine studio Frozenbyte in mid-2019, and it certainly promised big things: Build spaceships and entire stations from basic nuts-and-bolts components, explore the stars, form corporations, and go to war with one another (because we always end up going to war, don't we?) in a very destructible universe.
An Early Access release on Steam was expected to take place that year, but it didn't happen and in fact still hasn't happened. Work has continued, though, and going by the latest trailer it's come a long way—far enough that Frozenbyte is now looking for more alpha testers.

Unsung Story, the game 'envisioned by' Final Fantasy Tactics director Yasumi Matsuno, has a Steam page
https://www.pcgamer.com/unsung-story-the-game-envisioned-by-final-fantasy-tactics-director-yasumi-matsuno-has-a-steam-page/
Six years ago, a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics called Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians managed to raise $660,126 on Kickstarter. It achieved that mainly on the promised involvement of Yasumi Matsuno, director and writer of Final Fantasy Tactics, as well as its composer Hitoshi Sakimoto. Two years later developer Playdek put Unsung Story on hold, and in 2017 sold it to Little Orbit.
Little Orbit scrapped the work Playdek had done, went back to the setting and story Matsuno had laid out—which details a 77-year War in a world where songs are magical spells, and heroes must travel back in time from the victory of evil to re-sing history—and started from scratch. We'll see the results soon, as the first episode of what's now just called Unsung Story will be out via Steam Early Access this month, and keys are being sent to backers "over the coming days" according to the latest Kickstarter update.

Devotion returns almost two years after a China-centric controversy saw it removed from Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/devotion-returns-almost-two-years-after-a-china-centric-controversy-saw-it-removed-from-steam/
In early 2019 the indie horror game Devotion, which PCG thought was pretty great, was discovered to contain a reference to China's president, Xi Jinping. (...)
Once this was out in the open, things began to go badly wrong for Taiwanese developer Red Candle Games. Chinese players began to review-bomb the game en masse, undeterred by the removal of the offending material. Shortly afterwards the game was pulled from Steam by Red Candle itself.
(...)
Today the developer announced it will be re-releasing Devotion via GOG on December 18.

Update: Earlier today, Red Candle Games announced that its horror game Devotion would be released on GOG. But now, according to a tweet from GOG itself, that is no longer the case.

"Nvidia announces GeForce RTX: Game On: A Special Broadcast Event on 12 January 2021 at 9am PST"

https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/special-event/

I am assuming it's going to be for their mid-tier and entry level lineup. Maybe even a glimpse of 3080 Ti, SAM and DLSS 3.0?

"Khronos releases Vulkan SDK and drivers with official ray tracing support"

https://videocardz.com/press-release/khronos-releases-vulkan-sdk-and-drivers-with-official-ray-tracing-support

This means you can now play Quake 2 with Ray Tracing on AMD GPUs. From the initial benchmarks:



https://www.pcgamer.com/amd-rx-6800-xt-vulkan-ray-tracing/

"Intel Announces Its Next Generation Memory and Storage Products"

https://videocardz.com/press-release/intel-announces-its-next-generation-memory-and-storage-products

Also I forgot this from yesterday:

TSMC Ends Its Volume Discounts For the Biggest Customers, Could Drive Product Prices Up

https://www.techpowerup.com/276029/tsmc-ends-its-volume-discounts-for-the-biggest-customers-could-drive-product-prices-up

Future gonna get even more expensive

Glass Bottom Games announced that their game, SkateBIRD, will no longer be released on GOG because of this decision.