So DF did their Series X and Series S analysis on the medium... And I guess we now know why the requirements are so nutty on PC!

During regular single world scenes, the Series X Dynamic Resolution can scale all the way down to 1440p. During split view where it's rendering two different game worlds, the Series X Dynamic Resolution can go as low as 900p! Also there's bad frame pacing through out the game but it is locked at 30fps.

Hopefully DLSS will do it's magic on PC cause if the Series X is performing like that, it's gonna affect PC as well. Also according to Alex from DF, PC version has a lot more RT affects that will be on at all times instead of being selective like on the Series X. If you turn on Ray Tracing that is.

Are we just gonna start seeing a new gen where devs are like "let's make us a Crysis, but not actually optimise it"?, because it's starting to look that way.

You'd think even before releasing it fully, they'd test these on the latest cards with RT, and try to perfect them before final release.

Didn't happen last gen so I doubt it will happen this gen. We have seen how hard it is to get a 30 fps targeted game to run at 60fps even with top tier gpus in the past. Guess it's time to wait for dem patches...

You make it sound like if Crysis was an optimized game. It wasn't. The optimized one was Warhead, but not the first one.

You are right of course. I should have double checked my sources rather than rely on wikipedias CPU table.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:AMD_Ryzen_Mobile_5000_series

Yeah, whoever made those entries didn't even check his own sources correctly:

https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-ryzen-9-5980hs

https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-ryzen-9-5980hx

Notice the complete lack of any cTDP on the HS model? It just says 35W - and nothing else.

I'm not saying it was, I'm just pointing out that we're seeing games coming out in even worse shape than Crysis was, and how we're waiting what amounts to a year or two until said game reaches what it should have on day/month 1. 

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has three new sales:

• The game Talisman and its expansions are up to 75% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210126_talisman_sale
• The release of the Nemesis #3 - Battle of Rimini DLC for Steel Division 2 comes with a sale with up to 66% discounts for the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/steel_division_sale
• Something similar happens with Prison Architect, whose new Going Green DLC is the perfect excuse for a sale with up to 75% discounts for the next 4 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/prison_architect_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• Chicken Police - Paint it RED! , that has a demo, is 33% off until January 31: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084640/Chicken_Police__Paint_it_RED/
• And POSTAL 4: No Regerts, still in Early Access, is 20% off until the 1st of February: https://store.steampowered.com/app/707030/POSTAL_4_No_Regerts/

And Fanatical has three new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Death end re;Quest - Deluxe Bundle, 70% off for the next 24 https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/death-end-re-quest-deluxe-bundle"> https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/death-end-re-quest-deluxe-bundle
• Publisher Curve Digital has put its games up to 91% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/curve-digital
• And the new Mega Bundle 2 comes with 20 games with a 99% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/mega-bundle-2

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

CDPR shuts down Cyberpunk mod that let players have 'sex' with Keanu Reeves
https://www.pcgamer.com/cdpr-shuts-down-cyberpunk-mod-that-let-players-have-sex-with-keanu-reeves/
In a somewhat inevitable outcome, a new Cyberpunk 2077 mod that allowed players to kinda-maybe-halfway have sex with Keanu Reeves has been quickly shut down by CDPR.
Created by one Catmino and hosted on Nexus mods, essentially it allowed players to manually swap character skin textures onto other models, and Johnny Silverhand is one of the skins that can be shuffled around in this way: specifically, onto a sexbot called a joytoy.
(...)
The mod was spotted by Eurogamer earlier today and, shortly after that story's publication, was removed from nexus mods with the following explanation: "Clearing things out with CDPR."
>> Sorry guys, banging Keanu Reeves will still be limited to your dreams.

Massive Fallout: New Vegas mod The Frontier taken offline by its creators
https://www.pcgamer.com/massive-fallout-new-vegas-mod-the-frontier-taken-offline-by-its-creators/
The Frontier is a mod for Fallout: New Vegas released earlier this month after years of work. With a playable area the size of the base game's Mojave Desert, three faction storylines, and driveable vehicles, it was hotly anticipated—so much that when it was released it drew enough visitors to crash the NexusMods website.
You won't find The Frontier on NexusMods right now, however. It's been removed by the modding team, and replaced with the following statement:
"Some deeply concerning news has emerged in the past few hours. We have been recently notified that one of our developers, ZuTheSkunk, had posted animated pedophillic content on their personal artist accounts. The items in question are deeply disturbing to the entire team, and we condemn them in the strongest sense. ZuTheSkunk has since been removed from the Development Team and banned off of our Community Discord. We will be conducting dialogue with members of the development team to hear their thoughts regarding the current situation and help make our decision more informed. We have stopped production and work on the mod to address the current events properly. More measures will be undertaken and a more detailed address will be posted soon."
>> Unless that guy was key in the development of the mod, I don't see why they can't keep with the development after finding a substitute.

This Soulcalibur 6 mod lets you dunk on Geralt as Bernie Sanders
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-soulcalibur-6-mod-lets-you-dunk-on-geralt-as-bernie-sanders/
A Soulcalibur 6 mod lets you become this month's favourite meme, pitting a chair-bound Bernie Sanders against the might of fighters like Geralt and 2B.
It doesn't take much to become a meme these days, huh? Last week, the Vermont congressman took over the internet and overshadowed Inauguration Day celebrations when he… sat in a chair. (...)
Now, DeviantArt's user619 has replaced Soulcalibur 6's male custom character with chair-sitting Bernie Sanders. He doesn't have any animations, instead just wildly throwing his body around, chair 'n' all, with whatever character's weapon you assign him—user619 uses Azwel for all their demos, but I would have loved to see Voldo or Yoshimitsu's batshit crazy moveset on a stationary man in his chair.
>> You can get it from deviantart.

GAMING NEWS

The Day Before is a new open-world MMO survival game, first screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-day-before-is-a-new-open-world-mmo-survival-game-first-screenshots/
Fntastic and Mytona have announced a new open-world MMO survival game, The Day Before. The game will be coming soon on the PC, and you can find below its first screenshots, details, and PC requirements.

Immortals: Fenyx Rising PC demo available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/immortals-fenyx-rising-pc-demo-available-for-download/
Now here is something you wouldn’t expect to see from Ubisoft. The French company has just released a free demo for its latest open-world game, Immortals: Fenyx Rising.
>> You cna get it from UPlay, of course.

Cyberpunk 2077 Hotfix Patch 1.11 available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/cyberpunk-2077-hotfix-patch-1-11-available-for-download/
CD Projekt RED has released a new hotfix patch for Cyberpunk 2077. According to the developers, this update addresses two issues that appeared after Patch 1.1.

The Thursday news, the second part:

One week on, Hitman 3 has recouped its development costs
https://www.pcgamer.com/one-week-on-hitman-3-has-recouped-its-development-costs/
One week of sleuthing, stealthing and stabbing later, Hitman 3 breaks even and becomes profitable for developer IO Interactive.
Released a week ago today, Hitman 3 is a stellar end to IO's assassination trilogy, a game Andy Kelly called IO's "most creative and surprising assassination sim yet" in his Hitman 3 review. Plenty of others must've thought so too, with the developer now announcing that Agent 47's closing act has fully recouped its development costs.

Fallout 76 now lets you stash 50% more junk
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-now-lets-you-stash-50-more-junk/
Bethesda released an update for Fallout 76 yesterday that now lets you stash more stuff, as well as other quality of life changes. The Inventory Update now lets you store 1,200 pounds of items in your stash—that's 50% more than you could previously.

EA reveals its new Skate studio, Full Circle
https://www.pcgamer.com/ea-reveals-its-new-skate-studio-full-circle/
Skate is back! But Skate is also a long, long way away, with EA only last year announcing that it was returning to the low-angle kickflipping sim. Now, at least, we know who'll be making it, as the publisher announces its new Skate development team Full Circle.

Scavengers Studio suspends creative director after harassment allegations
https://www.pcgamer.com/scavengers-studio-creative-director-accused-of-sexual-and-verbal-harassment/
Update Scavengers Studio CEO Amélie Lamarche released a statement today addressing the allegations and outlining several actions the company is taking as a result. Creative director Simon Darveau, the subject of most of the allegations, is indefinitely suspended from all responsibilities and from the board of directors. Scavengers Studio is also bringing in a third-party firm to audit its workplace culture and practices, the results of which will be shared with every employee of Scavengers Studio upon its completion.

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 hard drops on Steam in March
https://www.pcgamer.com/puyo-puyo-tetris-2-hard-drops-on-steam-in-march/
While it took us nearly a year to get Puyo Puyo Tetris on PC back in 2018, thankfully the wait for the sequel won't be quite as long. Sega has announced that Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 will be coming to Steam on March 23rd.

Activision refuses to adopt diverse hiring practices across the company
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-refuses-to-adopt-diverse-hiring-practices-across-the-company/
Activision Blizzard has called proposals to adopt the Rooney Rule, a policy requiring it interview at least one diverse candidate when hiring, "an unworkable encroachment" on its ability to do business, Motherboard reports.

Resident Evil Village actor Jeanette Maus dies aged 39
https://www.pcgamer.com/resident-evil-village-actor-jeanette-maus-dies-aged-39/
Jeanette Maus, the actor who lent her voice to Resident Evil Village's bug-skinned witches, died earlier this month.
The actor behind several different characters in this year's Resident Evil—including the sinister "daughters" that accompany fan-favourite giantess Lady Dimitrescu—died of Crohnes Disease complications attributed to Covid-19 this past weekend (via The Hollywood Reporter). Tweeting from its Dev 1 account earlier this morning, Capcom said it was "deeply saddened" by her passing, expressing condolences to the late actor's surviving family.

Here's how to find Assassin's Creed Valhalla's secret bow the right way
https://www.pcgamer.com/ac-valhalla-players-find-a-magic-superbow-in-a-pile-of-rocks/
This article was updated on January 28 after the discovery of the proper way to unlock Assassin's Creed Valhalla's secret Isu bow.
(...)
AccessTheAnimus has conveniently detailed the steps you'll need to take, which involve heading to the rocks and using only the very best of weapons to break them with any tricks. You'll need Excalibur if you want to do it yourself, and you'll need to wait until just the right time. Excalibur isn't a sword you're likely to get until quite late into the game, but you can find out how to do that with our Excalibur guide.

Evil Genius 2: World Domination will be out in March
https://www.pcgamer.com/evil-genius-2-world-domination-will-be-out-in-march/
It's been almost four years since the announcement of Evil Genius 2, the sequel to the 2004 RTS about running a satirical supervillain organization modeled after the James Bond films of the 1960s and '70s—or, perhaps more accurately, the Austin Powers trilogy. It's been slow going since, but the pace began to pick up last year: We got our first look at gameplay at the PC Gaming Show in June, a more in-depth preview in October, and the promise of dodos—scientific " target="_blank">dodos—in November.

Tesla Model S new infotainment system has 10TFs of power, can play Cyberpunk and Witcher 3

https://videocardz.com/newz/tesla-model-s-new-infotainment-system-has-10tfs-of-power-can-play-cyberpunk-and-witcher-3

"It is rumored that Tesla Model S is powered by an AMD RDNA2 chip, likely Navi 23 GPU (there have been no leaks on CPU design yet). This is a mid-range GPU that has not yet been announced by AMD. It is rumored that the new GPU will have 32 Compute (or shall we say Commute?) Units, which means 2048 Stream Processors. In order to achieve 10 TFLOPS of power, the GPU would have to be clocked at 2.44 GHz."

It will just set you back $80,000+

Scalpers Have Sold 50,000 Nvidia RTX 3000 GPUs Through eBay, StockX. [PCmag]

https://www.pcmag.com/news/scalpers-have-sold-50000-nvidia-rtx-3000-gpus-through-ebay-stockx

RTX 30XX prices to increase again due to increase in GDDR 6 production costs

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/l5sytn/rtx_30xx_prices_to_increase_again_due_to_increase/