Hey, Yuri and Viv (you seemed quite pissed by this when it first came out), you may want to be alert for an upcoming BIOS update:

AMD announces AGESA 1.2.0.2 that solves intermittent USB connectivity issues
https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-announces-agesa-1-2-0-2-that-solves-intermittent-usb-connectivity-issues
Less than four weeks ago, AMD has begun collecting data from users who experienced USB related issues on AMD 500 series motherboards. Today the company announced that a fix is coming this April.

(...)

The company announced AGESA 1.2.0.2 which will be released to motherboard makers in a week. They are expected to provide updates for their motherboards starting in April. There are many board partners who release AGESA updates much sooner, so it is likely that we will be seeing BETA firmware being downloadable already in March. Be sure to check your motherboard support pages soon.

It's time for the Friday news (I'm a bit late, sorry):

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Loop Hero sells half-a-million, promises new cards and classes
https://www.pcgamer.com/loop-hero-sells-half-a-million-promises-new-cards-and-classes/
The excellent Loop Hero has been swallowing my evenings of late, an original game that's hard to pigeonhole: it's kind of like a passive roguelike map-builder. Whatever you call it, our review said this is "the sort of smart, focused resurrection of old games I want more of, something that feels old and new with every expedition step."
Clearly players agree, because alongside overwhelmingly positive reviews Loop Hero has now sold over 500,000 units in its first week on Steam. Publisher Devolver also says it has the fastest-selling soundtrack they've ever had, and an average playtime of 12 hours. It then indulges in some dodgy math: "by our calculations [this] means a total of 3 trillion hours and 18 billion loops, at least!" The total hours played would be more like 12 million: for Devolver's 18 billion calculation to be accurate, each player would have had to loop around 38,000 times which... doesn't seem realistic. Maybe developer Four Quarters knows something we don't. Or maybe Devolver's poking a bit of fun at the industry's fascination with largely meaningless numbers.

Little Nightmares 2 has sold over 1 million copies
https://www.pcgamer.com/little-nightmares-2-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/
One month after its release, Tarsier Studios' creepy puzzle-platformer Little Nightmares 2 has already sold over a million copies across all platforms. Added to the original, the Little Nightmares series has now shifted over five million copies in total.

Metro 2033 available for free on Steam until March 15th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/metro-2033-available-for-free-on-steam-until-march-15th/
Deep Silver has announced that Metro 2033 is available for free on Steam for a limited time. From today and until March 15th, PC gamers can visit its official Steam store page and acquire their free copy.
>> Well, they already gave it for free at GOG and the Epic Store so, why not here as well? The rest of the games are up to 80% off.

The Humble Store has two new sales:

• Focus Home Interactive has put its games up to 80% off during the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/focus-home-interactive-publisher-sale/
• The Festival of Speed Sale comes with up to 90% discounts in all kind of racing games during the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/festival-of-speed-sale/

Fanatical's Spring Sale has three new Flash games:

• Wasteland 3 is 40% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/wasteland-3
• MONOPOLY PLUS is 66% off during the same 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/monopoly-plus
• And Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition will be 80% off during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/planescape-torment-enhanced-edition

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Project Proteus mod promises to completely change how you play Skyrim
https://www.pcgamer.com/project-proteus-mod-promises-to-completely-change-how-you-play-skyrim/
Plenty of Skyrim mods add new followers, locations, questlines, or ways to look naked. Project Proteus is more about altering how you approach Skyrim, giving you an in-game editing tool to alter NPCs, items, spells, and even weather on the fly, as well as importing characters you've already created into your current game, and then switching between them as you please.
Some of what Project Proteus lets you do is already possible with Skyrim's console commands and existing mods, but this brings them together in a single pop-up menu. And while you could switch to another savegame to play your Khajiit archer for a while, Project Proteus lets you import them into an existing world state—meaning you can swap to a character with their own items, skills, and spells, but keep your current quest progression. NPCs who have died remain dead, items one character has left in storage can be retrieved by the other, and so on.
>> You can find it at Nexus Mods for the two editions: Vanilla and Special Edition.

Fallout: New Vegas mod restores cut NPCs to the Strip
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-new-vegas-mod-restores-cut-npcs-to-the-strip/
One of the most underwhelming parts of Fallout: New Vegas is the New Vegas Strip itself, which feels empty and lifeless when it should be a thriving urban hot spot—at least by radioactive wasteland standards. That's because a bunch of stuff planned for the area was cut to keep performance up, which The Strip NPCs Uncut mod aims to fix.
As modder PushTheWinButton explains, "There are actually a fair number of perfectly functional, mostly-implemented NPCs already placed around the Strip, but they were likely cut late in development for performance reasons on console. As far as I am aware, no-one has touched these NPCs yet, probably due to difficulty in deciphering the scripts related to the Strip. This mod fully restores them."

GAMING NEWS

New gameplay trailer for Hood: Outlaws & Legends introduces The Hunter
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-trailer-for-hood-outlaws-legends-introduces-the-hunter/
Focus Home Interactive has released a new gameplay trailer for Hood: Outlaws & Legends that introduces us to The Hunter. Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a new PvPvE multiplayer game that is coming to PC in 2021.

Electronic Arts will publish the first game from Silver Rain
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/electronic-arts-will-publish-the-first-game-from-silver-rain/
Silver Rain, an interactive entertainment development studio co-founded by BAFTA-nominated actor and producer Abubakar Salim has signed a major deal with Electronic Arts. EA Originals will provide funding for the studio’s upcoming unannounced IP. Furthermore, it will provide guidance and support in the team’s journey to bring a fresh perspective to games and to the industry.

Crysis Remastered PC Update 2.1 released, adds support for DLSS
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/crysis-remastered-pc-update-2-1-released-adds-support-for-dlss/
Crytek has released a brand new PC update for Crysis Remastered. According to the release notes, Patch 2.1 adds support for NVIDIA’s DLSS tech.
However, it appears that there are some graphical issues with DLSS. As Crytek noted, some distant textures can appear to be blurred textures when DLSS is active.

Friday news, part two:

Borderlands 3 Directors Cut delayed over bad weather
https://www.pcgamer.com/borderlands-3-directors-cut-delayed-over-bad-weather/
Last month, Texas was met with severe winter storms, causing massive power outages across the state as temperatures plummeted to their lowest levels in 30 years. While hardly the worst-affected Texas resident, the storm has led Borderlands 3 developer Gearbox to postpone the game's upcoming director's cut past its planned March 18 release.

Call of Duty: Warzone's zombies are on the move
https://www.pcgamer.com/warzone-zombies-shipwreck-prison/
Call of Duty: Warzone's zombies are flying east for the winter. After weeks of swarming around the shipwreck found on the southeastern coast of Verdansk, the undead hordes finally wised up and walked out of the place. As of today, the zombie invaders have moved in next door at the nearby prison.

Potential new Call of Duty: Warzone hack is ending matches instantly
https://www.pcgamer.com/potential-new-call-of-duty-warzone-hack-is-ending-matches-instantly/
A potential new Call of Duty: Warzone hack may give cheaters control over when the game ends for everybody. In a match captured by streamer BisaG10, the game suddenly ends for the entire lobby, even though 19 players are still alive.

Hearthstone is un-nerfing 35 cards and for a week things are going to get spicy
https://www.pcgamer.com/hearthstone-is-un-nerfing-35-cards-and-for-a-week-things-are-going-to-get-wild/
I've been banging the drum for a while that the current Hearthstone dev team is more willing to make bold moves than ever before. But I have to say I didn't expect them to revert the nerfs made to 35 cards which had previously been deemed egregiously overpowered. That's exactly what's happening later this month, but before anyone freaks out about Galakrond Shaman once again being the absolute giganuts, there are a couple of important caveats to consider.

Todd Howard: 'There was very little we didn't screw up' on Fallout 76 launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/todd-howard-there-was-very-little-we-didnt-screw-up-on-fallout-76-launch/
In a livestreamed conversation between Xbox and Bethesda executives today about their newfound partnership, Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard was blunt about the state of Fallout 76 when it came out in 2018. "When that game launched, the litany of issues we had, and we let a lot of people down, and, well, there was very little we didn't screw up honestly," Howard said, talking about the launch of the troubled multiplayer RPG.

Star Citizen management criticized by employees for poor handling of Texas winter storm
https://www.pcgamer.com/star-citizen-management-criticized-by-employees-for-poor-handling-of-texas-winter-storm/
In February, Texas faced a winter storm that left much of the state without power. Many residents experienced frozen and burst water pipes, a lack of water treatment, difficulty finding food, and no running water for days amid frigid temperatures. Unsurprisingly this includes some employees of Cloud Imperium Games, developer of Star Citizen, which has an office in Austin, Texas.

How Rust got back online after its servers literally caught fire
https://www.pcgamer.com/how-rust-got-back-online-after-its-servers-literally-caught-fire/
(...)
"We had to settle for OVH Poland," he said. That's some 1,000 kilometers from Strasbourg, the server's original location. It wasn't ideal for Rust's players, or for McFarlane's team. "We'll need to move the servers again in the coming weeks, but it's all we could source with the quantity we required quickly," he said.
>> The fire could have been caused by a faulty UPS.

Latest retro FPS is about blasting demons in hell, just for a change
https://www.pcgamer.com/latest-retro-fps-is-about-blasting-demons-in-hell-just-for-a-change/
Retro-styled first-person shooters are definitely a thing right now, with stuff like Ion Fury and Dusk making way for droves of similar games. I'm not complaining. Nor am I complaining that the latest retro FPS to be announced, Dread Templar, has one of the most hilariously perfunctory settings you could dream up for a shooting game.

A new Life is Strange game will be shown at a Square Enix showcase next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-new-life-is-strange-game-will-be-shown-at-a-square-enix-showcase-next-week/
Square Enix announced a digital showcase today, with games like Outriders, Marvel's Avengers and Balan Wonderworld confirmed to appear on the March 18 livestream. But there's another game set to appear that hasn't until now been announced: a new Life is Strange game.

Halo Infinite's ringworld isn't open-world, but it is teeming with gophers
https://www.pcgamer.com/halo-infinites-ringworld-isnt-open-world-but-it-is-teeming-with-gophers/
Halo Infinite's world isn't quite as open as some have speculated, according to an in-depth Ask343 developer stream posted last night.
That was just one of dozens of insights provided during the 40-minute AMA, which covered everything from weather systems and vehicle reworks to the tiny critters that'll populate the ringworld's ecosystem. Speaking to tensions raised by a very Ubisoft-looking map screen in last year's reveal, gameplay director Troy Mashburn explained that Master Chief won't be out "gathering leather" or crafting new items.

Rockstar Leeds founder Gordon Hall dies at 51
https://www.pcgamer.com/rockstar-leeds-founder-gordon-hall-dies-at-51/
Gordon Hall, the founder of the studio that became Rockstar Leeds, has died at the age of 51.
As reported by GamesIndustry, news began circulating around the Yorkshire development scene, where Hall was based. A cause of death has not been released. While Hall did not spend much time in the PC gaming scene, he contributed towards many handheld ports and licensed adaptations during his career.

Before we wrap it all, let's take a look at the GOG and Steam deals available:

+GOG

• Let's begin with the Weekly Sale and its up to 85% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/indie_gems
• Next comes the Midweek Sale, full of scary games up to 90% off for another 22 hours: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210310_midweek_sale
• The Weekend Sale features Dungeon crawler games up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210312_weekend_sale
• A Special Paradox Interactive Weekend Sale brings up to 90% discounts during the next 3 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/pdx_insider
• Publisher Nihon Falcon has its games up to 80% off during another 3 days for its 40th anniversary: https://www.gog.com/promo/nihon_falcom_40th_anniversary
• And the Close Combat franchise is up to 76% off during the next 6 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/close_combat_sale

+Steam

• The Early Access title Medieval Dynasty is 20% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1129580/Medieval_Dynasty/
• The game Röki is 55% off during the next 3 days: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1067540/Rki/
• Publisher Neowiz offers its games up to 65% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/36481934/sale/publishersale
• The Sherlock Holmos franchise is available with up to 80% discounts until the 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/sherlock-holmes/
• The D3 Publisher Sale comes with discounts that go from 20 to 90% during until Monday 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/d3publisher
• And let's not forget about the weeklong deals.

That's all folks! Until next time, have a happy and gaming weekend.

AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT only ‘a few thousand’ cards at launch for the whole European Union

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-6700-xt-only-a-few-thousand-cards-at-launch-for-the-whole-european-union

More like "only a few thousand cards for the whole European Miners Union"

AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ray tracing performance has been leaked

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-6700-xt-ray-tracing-performance-has-been-leaked

Now this is with SAM enabled. 6700XT wins in 11 games, 3070 wins in 13 games. As that is in Pure Raster and with SAM enabled, the pricing of the 6700XT would make it a horrible purchase if people had a choice and if the benchmark turns out to be true. In Ray Tracing, it's obviously slower than a 3060 Ti. The funny thing is they tested RT performance in 1080p while the Raster performance at 1440p. I'd imagine at 1440p, Ampere would take even bigger leads. But regardless, I'd take it with lots of salt as the source is wccftech.

DF did a new video as Crysis Remastered now has DLSS but also has a number of other improvements. They also added that flying level back in.

The CPU issues are still the main issues with this game because as you increase the resolution of the game, for some reason, the cpu performance decreases but a lot! And the kicker is... DLSS doesn't help even though it's rendering at a lower resolution with DLSS on. So DLSS in this game will only help with GPU bound scenarios.

Intel’s Xe-HPG (DG2) engineering board teased by Raja Koduri?

https://videocardz.com/newz/intels-xe-hpg-dg2-engineering-board-teased-by-raja-koduri

Looking forward to seeing Intel's big discrete GPU. It'll be great if Xe-HPG is successful commercially as the GPU situation is kinda dire rn. Releasing something comparable to a 3070 with similarly performing RT (or better) would be great this year. And keep Nvidia/AMD on their toes too.

Yea in some ways, I am actually hoping Intel GPUs will bring something revolutionary to the market even if it's mid-ranged to lower end. Cause I am not really liking the offerings from both Nvidia and AMD when you consider the prices. Especially the 3060 which is effectively just a 12 GB 2060 Super.

That was very quick. While I haven't experienced any issues with my Dark Hero, I'd rather have issues fixed before they occur!

Yeah, looks like the problem was "easy" to find and the fix wasn't too complex if they've done it in a month. But it's always comforting when companies actually look into the problems and fix them.

Same. Both companies (Nvidia/AMD) have gotten a bit too complacent and greedy and with the current world situation they know they can sell out whatever they make. We need someone else like Intel who can shake things up a bit. I know GPU prices most likely continue to climb but a Xe could be a absolute hit if they price the stack right and have the opportunity to capture a market-share. They could swoop in an undercut RX and RTX cards and make a big showing for gamers who've been struggling to get a new GPU for the PC for a sane prices.

I mean low-mid ranged cards shouldn't be anywhere near the $500 mark. Lets hope availability is good.

Ha! Counting on Intel to low the prices of GPUs, what a world we life in.