This kind of lawsuit has no place on PC given that there are many platforms and users can choose where to get their games. Just look at Blizzard, for example, that only launches its games on their own store.

In my opinion, this is more about Epic wanting to have Fortnite (and their other products) back at the Apple Store, and if they can do that wihile getting a better deal then even better. And for Apple now it's more about asserting dominance and making of Epic an example/warning to the rest.

The Friday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Victorian Gothic naval adventure Sunless Sea is free on the Epic Store
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-victorian-gothic-naval-adventure-sunless-sea-is-free-on-the-epic-store/
Sunless Sea is a really weird game. It casts you as the captain of a ship on the Unterzee, a vast underground sea in the "Victorian Gothic" universe of Fallen London. You sail, you explore, you expand your capabilities and your crew, you meet strange people and creatures, you suffer nightmarish horrors that ravage your sanity, and sooner or later, you die.
>> Next week the free game will be "Wargame: Red Dragon".

The guys at Humble have several new deals:

• There's a new Humble Bundle: the Humble Stardock Wayfarers Bundle, with up to 9 items to get during the next 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/stardock-wayfarers
• At the Humble Store we find 5 new sales:
  • Publisher 11bit Studios has put its games up to 80% off during the next 3 days. The keys are for Steam and GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/11-bit-publisher-sale/
  • Publisher Astragon also has its games up to 80% off, but during the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/astragon-publisher-sale/
  • The Robot Mecha Sale brings up to 80% discounts during the next 6 days. The keys are for Steam and GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/robot-mecha-sale/
  • The Paradox BYOB Sale comes with 29 games to choose your up to 5 games bundle. Keep in mind that the more games you add to the bundle, the bigger the discount, up to 88% off. The keys ar for Steam and GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/paradox-build-your-own-bundle/
  • And the Comic Games Sale features up to 90% discounts during the next 6 days. All the keys are for Steam except for one that's also available for GOG; https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/comic-games-sale/

Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, 79% off during the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider-definitive-edition
• The Mega Bundle Reloaded features 19 games with a 99% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/mega-bundle-reloaded

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

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GAMING NEWS

Outriders PC demo is now available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/outriders-pc-demo-is-now-available-for-download/
Square Enix has just released the PC demo of Outriders. The demo gives you access to the game’s prologue and opening chapter. Players will be able to play as all four classes up to a cap of level seven.
>> From Steam.

Survival horror Dark Moonlight gets an official announcement trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/survival-horror-dark-moonlight-gets-an-official-announcement-trailer/
Dark Moonlight is a survival horror game from Silent Bear Studio and published by Black Rose Projects. The game draws inspiration from various modern science-fiction series. The release date is to be announced.

Fights in Tight Spaces gets a Early Access launch trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/fights-in-tight-spaces-gets-a-early-access-launch-trailer/
Fights in Tight Spaces is a new title from Ground Shatter and published by Mode 7. The game is now available through Early Access on Steam, and so far it has a very positive rating.

Oddworld: Soulstorm releases on April 6th, gets new gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/oddworld-soulstorm-releases-on-april-6th-gets-new-gameplay-trailer/
Oddworld Inhabitants has announced that Oddworld: Soulstorm will release on April 6th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the team has also released a new gameplay trailer that you can find below.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits releases on August 24th, gets new gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/kena-bridge-of-spirits-releases-on-august-24th-gets-new-gameplay-trailer/
Ember Lab has released a brand new gameplay trailer for Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Moreover, the team revealed that the game will release on August 24th.

DEATHLOOP gets a brand new gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/deathloop-gets-a-brand-new-gameplay-trailer/
Bethesda has released a brand new gameplay trailer for Arkane Lyon’s upcoming game, DEATHLOOP. DEATHLOOP aims to continue Arkane’s signature gameplay design, challenging gamers to play their own way.

New Halo Infinite PC screenshots released
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-halo-infinite-pc-screenshots-released/
Microsoft and 343 Industries have just released a few new PC screenshots from Halo: Infinite. These screenshots are from a WIP build and do not represent the quality of the final version. Still, we can clearly see numerous graphical improvements over the game’s debut gameplay video.

Milestone is working on a Hot Wheels racing game, coming out in September 2021
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/milestone-is-working-on-a-hot-wheels-racing-game-coming-out-in-september-2021/
Mattel and Milestone have announced the upcoming release of Hot Wheels Unleashed, an all-new, action-packed arcade-style racing game. The game will launch on September 30th, and below you can find its debut trailer.

Monster Hunter Rise is officially coming to PC in early 2022
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/monster-hunter-rise-is-officially-coming-to-pc-in-early-2022/
In an interview with Multiplayer.it, Capcom Japan’s Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto confirmed that Monster Hunter Rise will be coming to PC. According to Tsujimoto, the PC version will come out in early 2022.

The new Dragon Age won’t have any multiplayer, will be single-player only
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-new-dragon-age-wont-have-any-multiplayer-will-be-single-player-only/
It appears that the overwhelmingly positive reception of Star Wars: Fallen Order is finally paying off. After what happened with Anthem, EA and BioWare will reportedly remove the multiplayer modes from the new Dragon Age, and will focus on delivering a single-player experience.
>> shikamaru317 made a thread about this.

Anno 1800 is free to play until March 1st
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/anno-1800-is-free-to-play-until-march-1st/
Ubisoft has announced that Anno 1800 is free to play this weekend on UPLAY. From today and until March 1st, PC gamers can download and play this strategy game. As always, and once the free weekend is over, your progression will be carried over if you purchase the game.

It Takes Two PC Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/it-takes-two-pc-requirements/
Electronic Arts and Hazelight have revealed the official PC system requirements for It Takes Two. According to the teams, PC gamers will at least need an AMD FX 6100 or Intel Core i3-2100T with 8GB of RAM and an AMD R7 260X or Nvidia GTX 660.

Friday news, part two:

Two besties go to war in Total War: Three Kingdoms' Fates Divided DLC
https://www.pcgamer.com/two-besties-go-to-war-in-total-war-three-kingdoms-fates-divided-dlc/
Ten years have passed since the events of Total War: Three Kingdoms, and things haven't gotten much more peaceful. Two warlords, once close friends, have come to loggerheads—and it's up to you to determine which one will control the fate of China.

State Of Decay 2 dev apologises for confusion surrounding the game's Nazi-punching trait
https://www.pcgamer.com/state-of-decay-2-dev-apologises-for-confusion-surrounding-the-games-nazi-punching-trait/
State Of Decay 2 developer Undead Labs has apologised to Steam Marines 2 developer James Seow, after an automated blocking system tried to silence their concerns over a questionable in-game trait.

Subnautica: Below Zero gets a full release date
https://www.pcgamer.com/subnautica-below-zero-release-date/
After two years in early access, Subnautica: Below Zero is getting a full release on Steam and Epic Games on May 14.
Like its predecessor, the 2018 game Subnautica, Below Zero is a deep-sea survival sandbox experience on the Planet 4546B. The new game takes place a full year after the original game's events, building on its story.

Valheim players are killing bosses too quickly, so today's patch makes them tougher
https://www.pcgamer.com/valheim-players-are-killing-bosses-too-quickly-so-todays-patch-makes-them-tougher/
Millions of players have swarmed into Early Access survival game Valheim over the past few weeks, and many have already conquered the Viking afterlife by taking down Valheim's five big bosses.
But it sounds like developer Iron Gate Studios would like to put the brakes on players steamrolling some of their boss monsters at such a rapid pace. A patch released today (0.146.8) makes some difficulty tweaks to bosses 3, 4, and 5. Swamp blob Bonemass, ice dragon Moder, and skeletal head honcho Yagluth are now harder to beat.

Verdansk is probably going to explode during Call of Duty: Warzone Season 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/verdansk-is-probably-going-to-explode-during-call-of-duty-warzone-season-2/
Call of Duty: Warzone players should start getting used to the idea of leaving Verdansk behind. A new report from VGC claims Activision plans to launch a new map themed around the Black Ops universe at the end of Warzone Season 2, which began last night. This supports a growing pile of evidence in the game itself that Warzone's launch map could see annihilation.
>> And there are three powerful and hidden weapons.

Destiny 2's Witch Queen expansion delayed, but weapon sunsetting is being scrapped
https://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-2s-witch-queen-expansion-delayed-but-weapon-sunsetting-is-being-scrapped/
In June 2020, Bungie said the next Destiny 2 expansion, The Witch Queen, would be out sometime in 2021—later clarified to late in the year. Today, however, the studio said that, for multiple reasons, it has decided to push the expansion into early 2022.

All the cards from Hearthstone's new Core set have been revealed
https://www.pcgamer.com/hearthstone-core-set-cards-revealed/
Blizzard has pulled the curtain back on the cards that will be included in Hearthstone's revamped Core set, which is due to launch when the Year of the Gryphon begins. Somewhat weirdly we still don't have the exact date for that, but it'll coincide with the release of the Forged in the Barrens expansion and the set rotation of the Standard format. You can see a gallery of all the Core cards on Blizzard's site.

New 3D platformer from Hyper Light Drifter developers is looking very cool
https://www.pcgamer.com/new-3d-platformer-from-hyper-light-drifter-developers-is-looking-very-cool/
Five years on from Hyper Light Drifter, I'm excited to see a new game from indie developer Heart Machine that takes Drifter's visual style and reinterprets it in 3D. Heart Machine's new game, Solar Ash, definitely has some similar vibes—the ruined kingdom, the sole adventurer, the warm color palette. But the action is something very different, focusing on fast platforming rather than precise swordplay.

Kung-fu brawler Sifu looks super cool, will be out on PC this fall
https://www.pcgamer.com/kung-fu-brawler-sifu-looks-super-cool-will-be-out-on-pc-this-fall/
Sifu is the next game from Sloclap, the studio behind under-loved fighting game Absolver. There are a lot of ways Absolver is good, but to me, its best feature is the ability to customize your fighting style, mixing and matching moves to design your own complex rhythm. As a fan of 1978 Jackie Chan movie Drunken Master, I spent a long time developing my skills with Absolver's clumsy-looking Stagger-style moves, and had just as much fun testing my abilities against other players as I did experimenting with movesets against AI fighters.

In an early version of Bugsnax you had to dismember the creatures
https://www.pcgamer.com/in-an-early-version-of-bugsnax-you-had-to-dismember-the-creatures/
Hey, you know Bugsnax? That game with the catchy theme tune and welcoming island full of friendly folk who just want to eat bugs that make them mutate? It walks the line between adorable and unsettling, sometimes crossing over more to one side than the other, but as developers Young Horses recently revealed on Twitter, an early version would have swung hard into unsettling.

EA has cancelled Motive's 'Gaia' after six years in development
https://www.pcgamer.com/ea-has-cancelled-motives-gaia-after-six-years-in-development/
EA has pulled the plug on Gaia, an ambitious sandbox adventure that had reportedly been in development for the last 6 years.
The cancellation comes as part of the same internal review that saw EA ultimately shut down plans to rework Anthem. While it was never formally announced, Gaia was teased in 2015 as a brand-new IP in development at Motive, the studio behind last year's Star Wars: Squadrons.

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey will never leave you without a weapon
https://www.pcgamer.com/elite-dangerous-odyssey-will-never-leave-you-without-a-weapon/
You'll never be left without a firearm in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey, a heavily armed Frontier Q&A explained this week.
Odyssey's big sell is that, on top of getting out of your ship to stretch your legs, you'll be able to shoot up all sorts of bandits and lawmen across thousands of dusty extra-terrestrial towns. To that end, you'll never be left unarmed.

These are the weekend deals from GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• The first of the five sales is the Weekly Sale, with up to 90% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210222_weekly_sale
• The Midweek Sale with its up to 90% discounts will last another 22 hours: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210224_midweek_sale
• The Weekend Sale is all about games that you can "tackle in one day", even if that's a lie, with up to 90% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210226_weekend_sale
• There's a Special Sale with games from Amanita Design up to 75% off during the next 3 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/amanita_sale
• And lastly, there's a SUPERHOT Sale with up to 60% discounts during the next 6 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/superhot_sale

+Steam

• Black Desert Online will be free to keep until the 10th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/582660/Black_Desert_Online/
• Deep Rock Galactic is free to try during the weekend and also 35% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/548430/Deep_Rock_Galactic/
• Descenders is also free to try during the next 3 days and 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/681280/Descenders/
• The game Moss is 60% off until March 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/846470/Moss/
• Slitherine has its games up to 90% off until March 1: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/slitherine_weekend
• Breathedge is 25% off until March 4: https://store.steampowered.com/app/738520/Breathedge/
• Dying Light celebrates its 6th anniversary making the game free to try during the next 3 days and by making it up to 70% off until March 8: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/dlanniversary2021
• And of course, there's also the weeklong deals.

That's all the news for this week, Have a happy and gaming weekend.

Intel trying its best to ensure Rocketlake's failure - 11900K 8 core CPU $600

🤣 https://t.co/vJPuRaHig9

— _rogame 🇵🇸 (@_rogame) February 26, 2021

[Rumor] Specifications of Intel DG2 (Xe-HPG) gaming GPU family emerge

https://videocardz.com/newz/specifications-of-intel-dg2-xe-hpg-gaming-gpu-family-emerge#disqus_thread

Anyone desperate enough to give Intel GPUs a chance if the price is right?

[DF] Cyberpunk 2077 PC Tested On Xbox One CPU... And It Works!

While it does run worse than the Xbox One version, it doesn't run *that much* worse considering it's old jag cores with Windows overhead, lower memory bandwidth and huge PCI-E bandwidth limitation.

I think it does speak to how efficiency has improved on PC. Especially since it can run Doom Ethernal over 60 fps... On super potato cpu cores!

If their consumer grade gaming cards reach 3060Ti/3070 levels and isn't obscenely priced, I'll give them a go. Assuming drivers aren't broken, games work as intended and if I can get a hold of one < main obstacle.

The usual leakers have hinted at good RT performance from Xe. We'll have to see.

This is the type of "competition" that I don't like. They leap from each other in terms of performance but both companies increase the price. Don't get me wrong, it's better than a monopoly where there are no increases in performance but it's also not as good as the true competitive landscape where each of them are trying to take each other out instead of what I'd call trying to co-exist.

It's kind of like how Telecom and ISPs do their "competitive" nonsense where they know they have their customers so they make a back handed agreement to not do anything that would disrupt the market but instead, just make good profit. And I feel like that's where AMD and Intel are going... Assuming they continue to leap frog each other that is and one doesn't fall significantly behind.

Its not like they are market leaders either. And while it might beat a 5800X and may come closer to 5900X in synthetics to get there require a boatload of power and require some hefty cooling. And performance aside, its now priced even higher than it competitors equivalent while still being 8core and being charged at a premium for this. All while being worse at gaming.

Maybe Intel are just hoping enthusiasts to pay the extra because covid tax and people have cash spare because I don't know what they are doing. Intels not going to change I guess.

I don't think the first gen of Intel GPUs will do well.

They won't launch until the end of the year and by then the supply problems we're facing now should've been fixed and Nvidia could have launched their refresh cards. Plus we would be hearing rumors about AMD and Nvidia's next architectures.

Between that and the unknown that is their driver support I doubt many enthusiasts will make the jump. OEM builders, however, those may be more willing to make the switch if they get a good deal.

I'm pretty sure Intel will bundle them with their CPUs for a cheap price for the OEMs so they'll be sure to get a big market share no matter their performance.