God, how pathetic. SCS certainly didn't help matters, either.

Please don't bastardize one of my favorite studios...

As much as I support VR, its current implementation is still pretty problematic with controls and polished interactivity being key issues. Wands and bulky headsets feel like a stopgap compared to what it can eventually become. Neural interfaces (external or internal) are its destiny and I'm following the industry with anticipation.

I really doubt most countries would allow internal neural interfaces outside of those dedicated to help with a medical condition (deafness, parkinson, etc.).

There are a lot of things that can be done to make VR more immersive without having to resort to those kinds of interfaces, like better and lightler glasses, gloves instead of wands, and over all of that, make it wireless.

That's how it will start, but once people see how they can not just replace but enhance their capabilities, demand for general application will grow. There are plenty of valid concerns around privacy, ethics, etc, but that's never stopped the march of technology before.

It wouldn't be the first time we rush to jump into the next big thing without realizing the consequences. The thing, tho, is that here we're talking about the brain, and every health institution will act as watchdogs to put a stop on it at the first sign of trouble.

External solutions will come a lot sooner than internal ones.

It would be built at 5nm TSMC, it should be half the size, if everything else is kept equal of course.

A large part of the chip is cache and logic which could continue to be built at 7nm and likely live as it's own wittle chippy.

AMD isn't going to push it's own DLSS alternative.

Rather they are throwing their support to the more GPU-Agnostic technology known as DirectML from Microsoft...
Of course AMD also has Radeon Image Sharpening as well.

AMD has typically always had higher VRAM capacities... Especially as they usually had cheaper/narrower buses than nVidia. (I.E. No 384bit/320-bit.)

AMD's approach was they weren't willing to compromise VRAM capacity for speed like nVidia, hence the infinity cache to make up that ground.

8GB is not future proofed or forward looking... For most of us it's irreverent as we would upgrade before it ever became a true issue, but some users hang onto hardware for many years.

It's a Ubisoft game, there is no "maybe" about poor optimization on PC. :P

It did quite a dent on cybernetics, electronic implants and wearables so far. Remember google glasses for instance?

I don't think privacy/ethics is what caused Google Glass to fail; I think the technology was just premature. VR itself went through decades of failure before finally catching on with Oculus. The market for AR products like a Glass successor will probably become even bigger than that for VR. HoloLens 2 is already making nice inroads in the enterprise market. AR wearables might really break into the mainstream once Apple finally unveils what they've been working on for years, now.

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners has generated $29 million in revenue
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-walking-dead-saints-sinners-has-generated-29-million-in-revenue/
Skydance Interactive has announced that The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners surpassed more than $29 million in revenue on all platforms since its initial launch on January 23rd. As such, it is one of the best-selling VR games of the year.
The survival horror VR game has been praised for its visceral, physics-based combat, original storyline and deep crafting system, and became a global top seller upon its release for PC VR, PSVR and most recently, Oculus Quest platform. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners was also recognized by critics for its innovative gameplay and received several award nominations, including “Best VR/AR Game” at the 2020 Game Awards.

Over 19 million players have acquired a free copy of Star Wars Battlefront 2 from EGS
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/over-19-million-players-have-acquired-a-free-copy-of-star-wars-battlefront-2-from-egs/
Two weeks ago, Epic Games and EA offered Star Wars Battlefront 2 for free on Epic Games Store. And from the looks of it, this giveaway was really successful as over 19 million players have acquired a free copy from EGS.
>> And I'm not one of them.

Steam has two new daily deals as well as a new range of weeklong deals:

• The new daily deal is Blazing Sails: Pirate Battle Royale, still in Early Access, 25% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158940/Blazing_Sails_Pirate_Battle_Royale/
• The game Heat will be 75% off until February 4th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/656240/Heat/
• And here are sine if the weeklong deals:
  • Skater XL - The Ultimate Skateboarding Game is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/962730/Skater_XL__The_Ultimate_Skateboarding_Game/
  • Through the Darkest of Times gets a 33% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1003090/Through_the_Darkest_of_Times/
  • Guard Duty is 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/872750/Guard_Duty/
  • ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove! gets a 68% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/516110/ToeJam__Earl_Back_in_the_Groove/
  • And Beat Cop is 80% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/461950/Beat_Cop/

Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is SUPERHOT, 73% off for the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/superhot
• And there's a new SEGA Sale with up to 86% discounts during the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/sega

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

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GAMING NEWS

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood Official PC Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/werewolf-the-apocalypse-earthblood-official-pc-requirements/
Nacon and Cyanide have revealed the official PC system requirements for Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood. In addition, the publisher released a new gameplay trailer that you can find below.
According to the specs, PC gamers will at least need an Intel Core i5-3470 or AMD FX-8370 with 4GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 or AMD Radeon HD 7790 GPU. Nacon recommends using an Intel Core i7-8700 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X with 8GB of RAM. The publisher has also listed the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 and the AMD Radeon R9 290 as the recommended GPUs. Unfortunately, though, we don’t know the settings, resolution and framerate that these PC specs target.

System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition will be using the KEX Engine, will have improved 3D models
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/system-shock-2-enhanced-edition-will-be-using-the-kex-engine-will-have-improved-3d-models/
Nightdive Studios has shared some new details about System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition. According to the team, this remastered version will be using the KEX engine, the engine Nightdive used in pretty much all of its classic remasters.

Runescape is now owned by the world's second-largest private equity firm
https://www.pcgamer.com/runescape-is-now-owned-by-the-worlds-second-biggest-private-equity-firm/
Jagex, the the Cambridge-based studio best-known for Runescape, has been bought by the second-largest private equity firm in the world, the Carlyle Group. The developer has changed hands a couple of times in the last five years: it was bought out by Macarthur Fortune Holding less than a year ago, having been under the ownership of Shanghai Hongtou Network Technology since 2016.

Scavengers Studio creative director accused of sexual and verbal harassment
https://www.pcgamer.com/scavengers-studio-creative-director-accused-of-sexual-and-verbal-harassment/
Scavengers Studio is a Montréal-based indie studio with around 40 employees that made a big splash at the Game Awards in December with the announcement of Season. This narrative-driven adventure game is about a young woman bicycling across a surrealistic landscape, documenting her journey and the artifacts she finds to prevent them from being lost in a mysterious and impending apocalypse. But despite Season's serene vibes, several employees have come forward to accuse Scavengers Studio co-founders, creative director Simon Darveau and CEO Amélie Lamarche, of fostering a hostile and sexist working environment.

Dragon Age 4 will be set in Tevinter
https://www.pcgamer.com/dragon-age-4-will-be-set-in-tevinter/
We were already pretty sure that Dragon Age 4 will be set in the previously unseen realm of Tevinter. The Inquisitor stabs a knife directly into a map of the Tevinter Imperium at the end of the Dragon Age: Inquisition DLC Trespasser, for one thing, and BioWare pointed a finger in the same direction in 2020 with the release of a collection of short stories called Tevinter Nights.
The writing's been on the wall. But now, it's in an actual licensed book. Any doubts about the location of the new game have been dispelled by the recently released BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development, a book celebrating the studio's 25th anniversary with art, pictures, commentary, and stories. Tom Phillips of Eurogamer scored himself a copy, and found an official confirmation inside.

Celeste Classic 2: Lani's Trek is a free sequel to the original PICO-8 platformer
https://www.pcgamer.com/celeste-classic-2-lanis-trek-is-a-free-sequel-to-the-original-pico-8-platformer/
Unfortunately, 2018 platformer Celeste probably isn't be getting a full-fledged sequel anytime soon. But Celeste Classic, the free PICO-8 game that started it all, was given an equally priceless follow-up this week in the form of Celeste Classic 2 (AKA Celeste 2: Lani’s Trek).
Released on the day of Celeste's third anniversary, developers Maddy Thorson, Noel Berry and Lena Raine cobbled together a sequel to the brutally simple platformer in just three days.
>> You can play it, or download it, from here.

IO's studio director says its Bond game could be a trilogy
https://www.pcgamer.com/ios-studio-director-says-its-bond-game-could-be-a-trilogy/
Little is known about IO Interactive's recently announced James Bond game (beyond the fact the studio will be a great fit, and it's years away), but in a new interview with Danish website DR studio director Hakan Abrak has dropped some crumbs. First of all by teasing that the game 'could' be a trilogy, which is no great surprise.
>> The interview is, obviously, in Danish, in case you want to check the interview.

Hidden Deep looks like Another World meets the Thing
https://www.pcgamer.com/hidden-deep-looks-like-another-world-meets-the-thing/
Daedelic Entertainment has announced the upcoming Hidden Deep, an intriguing looking puzzle-platformer that leans heavily on classic sci-fi and horror movies. The game is the first production from Cogwheel Software, aka Łukasz Kałuski, who interestingly enough made Amiga games in the 90s before using his coding skills elsewhere for the past two decades. "Since I was a kid I was dreaming of being a sci-fi movie director like James Cameron who will forever be my absolute Master," writes Kałuski, and boy does his game show it.

Hearthstone's bugged Journal notification is a terrible itch that none of us can scratch
https://www.pcgamer.com/hearthstones-bugged-journal-notification-is-a-terrible-itch-that-none-of-us-can-scratch/
Last Thursday, Hearthstone's Darkmoon Races first mini-set launched, dropping 35 new cards into the Darkmoon Faire pool. As you'd expect, a new patch often means new bugs, of which a few surfaced immediately. Thankfully, these hiccups were pretty minor. Most weirdly, we saw The Witchwood's Town Crier briefly morph back into human form, and a couple of cards displayed incorrect rarity gems. This caused a few players to do double-takes as they opened Darkmoon Faire packs, thinking they'd received a pack containing only Common cards, when Rare newcomers Rally! and Hysteria had simply been mislabeled.

Jumping on a new node won't make it better because the yields will be low and the chiplets will still be relatively big.

If they went with 40CU instead of 80, the situation would be better. Not only the smaller size would make for better yields, but it would give AMD a better starting point allowing them to make cards with 40, 80, 120 and even the 160CUs of the rumor, enough to make a whole range of cards.

Intel’s Raja Koduri publishes the first picture of Xe-HPC GPGPU

https://videocardz.com/newz/intels-raja-koduri-publishes-the-first-picture-of-xe-hpc-gpgpu

Official Modding support for Cyberpunk 2077

https://www.cyberpunk.net/en/modding-support

VKD3D-Proton begins work to support DirectX Raytracing on Linux

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/01/vkd3d-proton-begins-work-to-support-directx-raytracing-on-linux

Hitman 3 CPU benchmark:

https://www.computerbase.de/2021-01/hitman-3-benchmark-test/3/