Yea pretty much. I think the 3050 Ti will perform like a 2060 MaxP and 3050 will perform like a 2060 Max Q. The good news is that even the entry level laptops this time around has Ray Tracing and DLSS support. The bad news is that if the 3050 Ti does perform like a 2060, then you lose 2GB of Vram.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYCEBRTX4QY

I know that, with the shortages, both AMD and Nvidia had to postpone them, but I wonder how long it will be until the desktop lower end models hit the market. The top tier cards launched more than 6 months ago.

The Wednesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has a new sale and also a new release:

• The new Midweek Sale comes with up to 90% discounts until Saturday: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210512_midweek_sale
• And the new release is Base One, that lands with a 20% discount until May 18: https://www.gog.com/game/base_one

Steam has technically one (but actually two) daily deals, as well as some Midweek Madness deals:

• Journey To The Savage Planet is 50% off during the next 26 hours: https://store.steampowered.com/app/973810/Journey_To_The_Savage_Planet/
• The daily deal is Salt and Sanctuary, 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/283640/Salt_and_Sanctuary/
• Teardown, still in Early Access, is 20% off until Friday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1167630/Teardown/
• Destiny 2 puts its extra content packs up to 50% off until May 18: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1085660/Destiny_2/
• The Pathfinder and Outward games are on sale, between 33 and 71% off until May 18: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/pathfinder_outward
• And publisher Versus Evil offers its games with up to 90% discounts until the 18th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/VersusEvil

And Fanatical has a new Star Deal and a new contest:

• The new Star Deal is Metro Exodus - Gold Edition, 72% off during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/metro-exodus-gold-edition
• And the new contest has 4 different prizes to win. Check it out: https://www.fanatical.com/en/blog/pick-win-top-pc-games-mad-bonus-prizes

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

First-person mod released for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/first-person-mod-released-for-warhammer-40000-space-marines/
Mr Wolf has released a pretty cool mod for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines that allows you to play it in first-person mode. This is something that will please a lot of Space Marines fans as you can now play it in both third-person and first-person modes.
Now do note that this mode is still in an early stage. As such, there are some clipping issues.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is an intense action RPG. The game features epic battles where players take direct control of the ultimate defender of humanity, the mighty Space Marine. Players can unlock new weapons, upgrades, armor & abilities through an accessible progression system.
>> Fun game, like a mix of Gears of War and God of War. Anyway, you can download it from Nexus Mods.

First Lady Dimitrescu Nude Mod for Resident Evil Village released
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/first-lady-dimitrescu-nude-mod-for-resident-evil-village-released/
Earlier this month, we shared a semi-nude mod for Resident Evil Village. That mod removed a part of Cassandra’s dress, allowing players to see her big boobs. Now as we said back then, we expected the first nude mod for RE: Village to be for Lady Dimitrescu. And the first Nude Mod for Alcina Dimitrescu is now available for download.
Now there is good and bad news. The good news is that this highly anticipated Nude Mod is available for download. The bad news is that it’s behind a Patreon wall. In other words, this isn’t a free version, something that will obviously disappoint some gamers.
>> I won't post the link, but I'm sure it won't take long before a similar, but free, mod launches.

Design your own massive Valheim ships with this mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/design-your-own-massive-valheim-ships-with-this-mod/
From the lowly raft to the mighty longship, there are a few different seafaring vessels you can craft in Viking survival game Valheim. But in a game where you spend so much time painstakingly building the base of your dreams, it makes sense that you wouldn't want to be restricted to crafting one of the standard ships. Instead, wouldn't it be cool to build your own custom model from scratch?
The ValheimRAFT mod allows you to construct a Viking ship to your own specifications, no matter how wild they may be. You begin with a basic version of the raft, but instead of just being stuck with a simple mast and sail, you can use it as a building platform. While it's going to be tricky as hell building while your ship bobs around on the water (you might want to use some Valheim cheats to make it easier), the sky's the limit since the normal construction rules of Valheim don't apply. You can stick on as many pieces as you like. Go nuts!

GAMING NEWS

Master of Magic Remake announced, releases in 2022, first screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/master-of-magic-remake-announced-releases-in-2022-first-screenshots/
Slitherine has announced a remake of Master of Magic that will be coming to PC in 2022. Master of Magic is a combination of an RPG and a strategy game, and you can find below its main features as well as its first screenshots.

Battlefield 2021/Battlefield 6 will release on both current-gen & old-gen platforms
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/battlefield-2021-battlefield-6-will-release-on-both-current-gen-old-gen-platforms/
During EA’s quarterly earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed that Battlefield 2021/Battlefield 6 will be coming on both current-gen and old-gen platforms. Not only that, but the game – like its predecessor – will have lots of “live service” features. So yeah, expect micro-transactions.

Wednesday news, part two:

QuakeCon will remain online-only this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/quakecon-will-remain-online-only-this-year/
We're over a year into the pandemic, and already seeing some events flirt with the idea of returning to in-person events. Not so with QuakeCon, it appears, as the annual Bethesda show announces plans to remain online-only for another year.

This year's EA Play event is coming in July
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-years-ea-play-event-is-coming-in-july/
EA announced on Tuesday that its usual E3-adjacent reveal event will be coming a bit later in the summer this year. While most of the E3 2021 streams will be happening from June 12-15, EA Play will take place on July 22nd.

Destiny 2: Season of the Splicer goes live with transmog, new rewards, and more
https://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-2-season-of-the-splicer-goes-live-with-transmog-new-rewards-and-more/
Destiny 2's Season of the Splicer is upon us, bringing with it a new six-player matchmade activity, rewards, and the long-awaited (and incredibly confusing) transmog system. As always, the full lowdown on everything you can expect can be had in the patch notes at bungie.net.
>> The launch, however, has come with some problems...

Destiny 2 is coming back online after Season of the Splicer goes sideways
https://www.pcgamer.com/season-of-the-splicer-launch-forces-destiny-2-offline-for-emergency-maintenance/
Today's rollout of Destiny 2: Season of the Splicer does not appear to be going well: A "Honeydew" error was keeping players from accessing the new content, and now the game has been taken offline entirely for "emergency maintenance."
Update: After doing whatever it did, Bungie is "slowly" bringing Destiny 2 back online. You may have to spend some time in a queue before getting back in, and other rough bits could crop up, but with any luck the Season of the Splicer is now, for real, underway.

Overwatch 2 PvP will be revealed next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/overwatch-2-pvp-will-be-revealed-next-week/
In his first Overwatch developer update video since taking over from Jeff Kaplan, new director Aaron Keller said that Blizzard will showcase Overwatch 2's PvP during a livestream that will take place on May 20.

Ubisoft is going to focus more on 'high-end free-to-play games' in the future
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-is-going-to-focus-more-on-high-end-free-to-play-games-in-the-future/
(...)
Ubisoft chief financial officer Frederick Duguet said during today's earnings call that the company's previous commitment to release 3-4 premium, "triple-A" games per year "is no longer a proper indication of [Ubisoft's] value creation dynamics." Instead, while it will continue to maintain "a high cadence of content delivery including powerful premium and free-to-play new releases," the goal is to grow audiences "by widening our brand at the top of the funnel"—in other words, convincing more people to try Ubisoft's games by making them free at the entry level.

Surprise! Skull and Bones is delayed again
https://www.pcgamer.com/surprise-skull-and-bones-is-delayed-again/
The open-world multiplayer pirate game Skull and Bones was announced in June 2017—nearly four solid years ago—with an expected release target of fall 2018. It made a good initial impression—we said playing it "felt like Burnout as much as Black Flag," which we were definitely on board with—but has been beset by trouble since. It's been delayed multiple times, to the point that Ubisoft felt compelled to reassure everyone that it was still happening, shortly after which the managing director of the Skull and Bones studio in Singapore was ousted following multiple accusations of bullying and sexual harassment.
In today's full year earnings report for 2020-21, Ubisoft pushed it back again: It's now set to come out in 2022-23.

Resident Evil Village PS1 demake has a scarier Lady Dimitrescu
https://www.pcgamer.com/resident-evil-village-ps1-demake-has-a-scarier-lady-dimitrescu/
Maybe I’m just old, but horror games aren’t as scary as they used to be: photorealism isn’t as discomforting as chunky polygons, eerily static facial expressions, and environments that constantly judder with their own putrid early-3D lifeblood. This Resident Evil Village PS1 demake by YouTuber Hoolopee almost looks too good for the original console, but it definitely captures the weirdness of uncanny valley, back before they’d started to fill it in.

The creators of the most popular Roblox game have formed a new studio
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-creators-of-the-most-popular-roblox-game-have-formed-a-new-studio/
Adopt Me! is by leaps and bounds the most popular Roblox game, with the kind of player engagement that would put a lot of big standalone games to shame. In February the game had amassed 20 billion visits, which is pretty damn impressive for a game within a game.
So it's no surprise that the talent behind Adopt Me! has founded its own company called Uplift Games. Previously, the game's development talent were collectively known as Team Adopt Me and Dreamcraft, but Uplift Games is a full-blown company employing 40 staff with an intent to grow.

Europa Universalis 4 game director apologises for years of 'low quality releases'
https://www.pcgamer.com/europa-universalis-4-game-director-apologises-for-years-of-low-quality-releases/
Paradox Tinto studio manager Johan Andersson has apologised for a long string of "low-quality" releases for Europa Universalis 4.
Posting on the Paradox forums, Andersson admitted that Leviathan, the game's most recent update, was "one of the worst releases we have had". But this wasn't a one-off—the EU4 game director feels Leviathan was only the cap on a "long trail of low quality releases" that, in his eyes, began with Golden Century back in 2018.

Retro shooter Zombies Ate My Neighbors is getting a PC release
https://www.pcgamer.com/retro-shooter-zombies-ate-my-neighbors-is-getting-a-pc-release/
LucasArts' 16-bit classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors and its sequel Ghoul Patrol are finally getting their moment on PC, nearly 20 years after their initial releases.
(...)
The games—which will be the SNES version specifically—remain largely unchanged bar a couple of modern tweaks. There's a quick-save system being added, along with achievements. There's also some museum goodness with behind-the-scenes looks at unseen concept art and an interview with one of the original Zombies Ate my Neighbors developers.
>> Well, better late than never, right?

Respawn has nerfed Apex Legends' pesky new bow
https://www.pcgamer.com/respawn-has-nerfed-apex-legends-pesky-new-bow/
Respawn has reined in Apex Legends' new Bocek bow, after the weapon's razor-sharp arrows dominated the first week of the game's Legacy season.
Respawn shared the changes over on Twitter yesterday, and has since added them to the full Legacy patch notes. The Bocek, along with the Spitfire LMG, were both nerfed in one of two small updates posted last night—with the rest of the hotfixes devoted to fixing small issues with Arenas, new hero Valkyrie, and removing some extremely funny LOD bugs. Goodbye, Blobalore.

'Several new' SteamWorld games are currently in development
https://www.pcgamer.com/several-new-steamworld-games-are-currently-in-development/
Image & Form has announced it's working on "several new SteamWorld games", as well as a future name change following its merge with Thunderful Development.

Save mom's video store by pulling crimes in this 90s comic caper
https://www.pcgamer.com/save-moms-video-store-by-pulling-crimes-in-this-90s-comic-caper/
Remember the '90s? Not really (I was an actual child for most of it), but Skybound is banking on you loving the saturated Saturday morning cartoon stylings of the decade for its upcoming crime caper, The Big Con.

Well I overslept but here's some news!

AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT allegedly features 2048 cores, RX 6600 gets 1792

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-6600-xt-allegedly-features-2048-cores-rx-6600-gets-1792




NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti category shows up on MSI website

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3080-ti-category-shows-up-on-msi-website


AMD 4700S PC Desktop Kit Disassembled & Pictured – Partially Disabled Xbox Series X APU With 16 GB GDDR6 Memory

https://wccftech.com/amd-4700s-pc-desktop-kit-disassembled-pictured-partially-disabled-xbox-series-x-apu/

I am very interested to see how a PC with 16GB of GDDR6 as system memory performs


Vive Pro 2 Specs: 5K 120Hz LCD, New 120° Lenses, SteamVR Tracking ($799 headset only, $1399 full kit)

https://uploadvr.com/htc-vive-pro-2-full-specs/

DF did their port review for Resident Evil Villages PC version

Overall pretty yikes. Quite a number of problems regardless of what GPU you use such as stuttering and the Ray Tracing being at quarter resolution even at the highest setting. Also the last of escape keys to get out of menus like I mentioned before.

Now I am also playing the game on my 3080 but I haven't been experiencing the crazy stutters that Alex has been with his 3090. So I am not too sure why that is. Overall, a meh console port that needs a number of patches to sort things out on PC.

Xbox Series X performs similar to a 2070 Super.

Well, someone correct me if I'm worng, but GDDR memory have bigger latency compared to their DDR counterparts. With that in mind, any task that's sensitive to latency will perform worse on this than on a regular APU.

I'd say that it will be good, but not great, for games but probably quite bad in anything else.

This was my impulse buy for the year.  Pre-order price for just the headset actually $750 (need to use a promo code that anyone can get by signing up for newsletter).

I been using the original HTC Vive(2016) for 5 years now so figure time for a upgrade.  For my setup the Version 1 base station work great so I can still use my original base station and controllers with the Vive Pro 2.  version 2 really only needed if you have a really large play area or you cant place 2 base station in opposite corners of room where they can easily see each other.  My room fairly square so never been a issue for me using the original.  At some point I probably get the index controllers to use with it, which are fully compatible with both version 1 and version 2 of htc base stations.

I'm curious: how much did you pay for the Vive + base station + controllers in 2016?