Square Enix always does that. They always launch their games with Denuvo and then, roughly 6 months later, they remove it. It's a burden, but at least you know that it will go away rather soon.

Others don't bother to remove it, or do it years later when it no longer matters.

Cool, just what I always wanted, a launcher for my launcher...

Guess that means I'm never bothering with 2k games again I guess. I wrote R* off the list, because fuck off with attaching 3rd party clients to another existing client (Steam).

Between the DRM and store exclusivity bs and now extra clients being thrown in, it feels like I'm going back to the early 00's.

O.M.G!!!

And I thought the Dell was so bad it couldn't be topped...

Yeah, this sounds very interesting. I was awaiting them since the reveal as in raw performance per watt (so outside of DLSS and Raytracing) Big Navi already beat NVidia slightly, which made me very curious haw that would translate into a mobile version of those chips.

Granted, AMD tops out at a mobile version of the 6700XT, but considering how much weaker the mobile versions of NVidia cards are compared to their desktop versions, this might not be much of a problem anyway.

But after selling those kidneys

i noticed when claiming among us for free on EGS you get a 10,- coupon

^Nice!

The Monday *Sigh* news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Humble Heal raises over a million dollars for Covid-19 charities
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/humble-heal-raises-over-a-million-dollars-for-covid-19-charities/
Humble Bundle’s recent “Humble Heal: COVID-19 Bundle” raised $1,170,824 (£825,000), it announced in a recent blog post.. While games were at the forefront of the bundle, including indie hits like Superhot and Undertale, books and other software were bundled in.
The Humble Heal bundle, which ran in early May, was unique in that a fixed 100% of the money raised will be going to the charities nominated by Humble. The traditional Humble model splits proceeds between the nominated charity, the publisher, and Humble, with buyers being able to choose how to divide their money. With this bundle however, all proceeds should be split equally between Direct Relief, Doctors Without Borders, International Medical Corps, and GiveIndia.

GOG's Weekly Sale is full of games from publisher Headup Games up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/headup_sale

Steam's new daily deal is Furi, 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/423230/Furi/

Fanatical has several a new Star Deal, that will end soon, and new bundles added to its BundleFest:

• The Star Deal is Redout Complete Bundle, 95% off during the next 24 hours... but it started yesterday and it's almost out of keys left: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/redout-complete-bundle
• The Very Positive Mystery Bundle 2 consists of 3 unknown games during the next 5 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/very-positive-mystery-bundle-2
• The Extreme VR Bundle comes with 10 games split into 3 tiers of 2, 7 and 10 games: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/extreme-vr-bundle
• The Build Your Own All Stars Bundle 2 features 20 games to choose your 1, 5 or 10 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-all-stars-bundle-2
• The Guardian Bundle 2 comes with 9 games split into 3 tiers of 2, 8 and 9 items: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/guardian-bundle-2
• Also, to celebrate Memorial Day, there's an extra 10% discount with the code Memorial10.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Here is a beautiful forest map in Unreal Engine 5 with Lumen and Nanite
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-is-a-beautiful-forest-map-in-unreal-engine-5-with-lumen-and-nanite/
Last week, Epic Games announced the public release of Unreal Engine 5’s Early Access version. And a couple of days ago, MAWI United has shared a video, showing its Birch Forest Map/Biome in Unreal Engine 5 with Nanite and Lumen.
MAWI United has managed to enable Nanite for every static mesh in this map. Moreover, this map has Lumen with hardware ray tracing enabled, so it can give you a glimpse at what you can expect from it. Not only that, but MAWI has enabled the new Virtual Shadow Maps so that every mesh can cast shadows.

Ubisoft reveals new chat system for Ubisoft Connect
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/chat-is-coming-back-to-ubisoft-connect/
After removing the chat service from its game launcher, so it could be reworked to "align with the rest of the Ubisoft Connect experience", Ubisoft has announced the feature's return. Starting today, you'll again be able to chat to folks over Ubisoft Connect (formerly known as Uplay and Ubisoft Club), at least in its desktop app. Meanwhile, chat will return to the Connect overlay in "the coming weeks".
Ubisoft reckons the new chat service will be faster, more stable and reliable, while providing players with a "safe and friendly environment." Should you find yourself conversing with a jerk, or worse, you can block them or file a report.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Fallout Van buren Remake Mod in development for Fallout New Vegas
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/fallout-van-buren-remake-mod-in-development-for-fallout-new-vegas/
The United West Team has announced that it is currently working on a remake mod of Fallout Van buren for Fallout New Vegas. Fallout Van buren is the codename of the cancelled Fallout 3 game that Black Isle Studios was working on.
According to the team, this Fallout Van buren Remake will be called Fallout Revelation Blue. Revelation will be using the engine and assets of both Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 3. The team also promises to add in and remake all the classic weapons of Fallout 2.
While this mod is in a really early stage, the team aims to release a demo in the future. This demo will feature the Tibbets Prison Facility, where the player will go through a demo-sized quest.

HD Texture Pack for Valheim, with 4K/8K textures, available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/hd-texture-pack-for-valheim-with-4k-8k-textures-available-for-download/
Modder ‘Willybach’ has released a brand new version of his HD Texture Pack for Valheim. This latest version of this pack comes with some 4K and 8K textures. Additionally, the modder offers three other versions of his pack that can run on weaker PC systems.
In case you weren’t aware, this mod uses AI techniques in order to overhaul the vanilla textures. The mod currently covers most biomes and most Building and Crafting textures. Furthermore, it has textures for almost all weapons and tools, and half of the creatures. What’s still missing from this HD Pack are armors, some creatures and animals, and Ocean and Mountain biomes.
>> Available from Nexus Mods.

Crysis Enhanced Edition Definitive Update is now available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/crysis-enhanced-edition-definitive-update-releases-on-may-29th/
Remaster Studio announced that the Definitive Update for Crysis Enhanced Edition is now available for download. In order to celebrate this announcement, the team released a new trailer that you can find below.
Crysis Enhanced Edition is currently the best graphics mod for the original Crysis game. In fact, this mod can make the game look just as good as its official remaster. Thus, and if you haven’t purchased Crysis Remastered, we strongly suggest downloading it. This mod introduces a lot of major features, such as 4K/8K textures, real-time ray tracing, and better Ambient Occlusion.
>> You can get it from ModDB.

The Witcher 3 gets Berserk Guts and Original Witcher Mods
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/the-witcher-3-gets-berserk-guts-and-original-witcher-mods/
Modder ‘user619’ released a Berserk Guts mod for The Witcher 3. This mod basically replaces Geralt’s 3D model with Guts, and it’s a tribute to Kentaro Miura, the creator of “Berserk” manga, who passed away on May 6th, 2021.
You can download this mod from here. You can play as Berserk Guts by selecting the Gryphon Armor Lv1. Do note, that you’ll also have to disable NVIDIA Hairworks (as the mod is not compatible with them).
(...)
Speaking of character mods for The Witcher 3, PTRMO released one such mod that adds Geralt’s 3D model from the first The Witcher game. You can download this mod from here.

A modder is reviving the lost Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory singleplayer campaign
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/a-modder-is-reviving-the-lost-wolfenstein-enemy-territory-singleplayer-campaign/
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory was one of the great multiplayer shooters of its day, delivering what was at the time uniquely class-based, objective-based gameplay. It came off the back of the success of singleplayer Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but it was multiplayer only—at least, it was at the time. It had an unfinished singleplayer campaign cut during development, long considered lost, but with the recent revival of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory by modders one man, William Faure, is bringing back that dream.
This follows on the heels of a major mod project, called RealRTCW, that remade Return to Castle Wolfenstein itself.
Faure is taking the six Enemy Territory maps and making them into both singleplayer and cooperative experiences. He's not a stranger to modding the game, either, because he's the person behind an extensive RealRTCW mod called The Dark Army: Uprising, an unofficial sequel to the RTCW story. Given the trailer above, which shows not just a slice of game from several maps but an extended look at gameplay on a D-Day level, it's coming along nicely.
You can read more about it on this Steam post by the RealRTCW team. You can track the mod's progress on its moddb page. Wolfenstein Enemy Territory Singleplayer will release on November 19th 2021, and come to Steam on November 30th 2021.

Well, here's a nude Geralt Skyrim mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/well-heres-a-nude-geralt-skyrim-mod/
There are plenty of mods for bringing characters from The Witcher into Skyrim, and we've even tried playing as Geralt with Triss and Yennefer as companions. One frontier had yet to be crossed, however. Thanks to the Butcher of Blaviken's unique physique and scarring, none of the Geralt mods really looked like him with his clothes off. Until now.
Modder matthouss is responsible for Unique SOS body type and skin textures for Geralt follower, the mod that gives the White Wolf an appropriate nude mesh. To use it you'll also need Geralt of Rivia voiced follower and SOS: Schlongs of Skyrim, as well as whichever of Skyrim's adult mods you prefer. Some of those links are NSFW, in case you needed to be told. Time to update the list of Best Skyrim mods again.
It's only available for Skyrim Special Edition at the moment, but there is a vanilla Oldrim version of the Geralt of Rivia voiced follower mod if you just want to pal around with Geralt and aren't interested in his Valley of Plenty.

GAMING NEWS

Genshin Impact Patch 1.6 releases on June 9th
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/genshin-impact-patch-1-6-releases-on-june-9th/
miHoYo has announced that Patch 1.6 for Genshin Impact will release on June 9th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the team released a new trailer that you can find below.

Microsoft Flight Simulator Patch 1.16.2.0 reduces file size from +170GB to 83GB
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/microsoft-flight-simulator-patch-1-16-2-0-reduces-file-size-from-170gb-to-83gb/
Microsoft has released a brand new update for Microsoft Flight Simulator in which it performed some optimization for the initial full download of the title so the base game is only 83GB instead of +170GB.

Far Cry 6 releases on October 7th, gets brand new screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/far-cry-6-releases-on-october-7th-gets-brand-new-screenshots/
Ubisoft has announced that Far Cry 6 will release on October 7th. In addition, the company has released a new set of screenshots that you can find below.

Monday news, part two (warning: it's a long post):

Next week's Destiny 2 update will heavily nerf Stasis in PvP
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/destiny-2-stasis-nerf/
Sour sentiment surrounding Destiny 2's subclass, Stasis, has caused Bungie to bring forward its planned changes to the crowd control element.
Writing in the latest This Week At Bungie blog post, the developer explained that it's heard feedback about Stasis absolutely dominating the game's PvP playlists. Rather than wait until next season to bring in these changes, Bungie is bringing its planned Stasis fixes forwards into a hotfix going live next Thursday.
>> Needless to say, all these changes will happen this week.

Warzone nerfs the cargo truck meta
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/warzone-nerfs-the-cargo-truck-meta/
The latest patch for Call of Duty: Warzone takes aim at the cargo trucks meta that has dominated its solo mode for months. Essentially cargo trucks are... well, they're trucks. They can absorb tonnes of fire, there are loads of them about, and so players have unsurprisingly opted to try and run over their opponents rather than fighting them: resulting in the end of matches turning into some sort of destruction derby between multiple trucks rather than a shootout.

Mistborn's Kelsier comes to Fortnite as a new skin
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/fortnite-mistborn-crossover/
Marvel cinematic universe? Nah. Hip-hop icon? Get out of here. A series of fantasy books I used to sell at Barnes & Noble? I guess so? Burn your bingo cards, because the latest Fortnite crossover is be based on the Mistborn novels by Brandon Sanderson.

Creepy action adventure Graven is now in Early Access
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/creepy-action-adventure-graven-is-now-in-early-access/
Action-adventure Graven tasks you—disgraced priest, unjustly exiled—with rooting out evil and corruption in its gothic medieval world by destroying eldritch terrors. The tools at your disposal? Righteous anger (aided by magic, naturally), but also wrist-mounted crossbows, flails, and an explosive peat launcher, with more weapons to come.

Judge denies Valve's request for a new trial following Steam Controller lawsuit loss
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/judge-denies-valves-request-for-a-new-trial-following-steam-controller-lawsuit-loss/
In February, Valve was ordered to pay $4 million to SCUF Gaming parent Ironburg Inventions for violating the company's patents with the Steam Controller. (...)
Following the verdict, Valve filed a motion requesting either a judgment as a matter of law—essentially, that the judge set aside the verdict and issue a new ruling—or a new trial, because the jury's findings and damage awards "were unsupported by the evidence." In a ruling issued earlier this week (available in full via The Esports Observer), however, the judge disagreed, saying that sufficient evidence was presented, and was in fact quite simple and straightforward.

Obsidian slows the pace of Grounded updates in favor of more 'meaningful' releases
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/obsidian-slows-the-pace-of-grounded-updates-in-favor-of-more-meaningful-releases/
It's been almost a year since the Early Access release of Grounded, Obsidian's Honey I Shrunk the Kids-style survival game, and since then the developer has kept up a monthly cadence of content releases. In an update posted today, however, the studio said it's proving difficult to maintain that pace, and so it's going to shift to larger but less frequent updates in the future.

First Biomutant patch will tackle dialogue problems alongside combat
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/biomutants-first-patch-will-tackle-dialogue-problems-alongside-combat/
The developers at Experiment101 have announced they're working on an update for Biomutant, naturally, that they "hope to get into players' hands soon." The update will include work on some of the community's most persistent bugbears, like "the pacing of dialogues, narrator settings, difficulty settings, video settings like depth of field and motion blur, loot and enemy tuning as well as sound and combat."

Sierra Entertainment’s original creators might be making something new
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/sierra-entertainments-original-creators-might-be-making-something-new/
On Saturday, YouTuber “Space Quest Historian” shared that Ken and Roberta Williams—founders of Sierra Entertainment—would be making a new game. This news first came to him in dubious circumstances: via twitter DM, from the third developer involved in the project, Marcus Mera. He seemed skeptical, but Ken Williams then confirmed the story himself in response to the video, according to ScreenRant.

Syberia creator Benoît Sokal has died
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/syberia-creator-benoit-sokal-has-died/
Benoît Sokal, Belgian comic book artist and creator of the adventure game series Syberia, has died at the age of 66. According to a statement from publisher Microïds, Sokal died on May 28 of an unspecified long-term illness.
>> D.E.P.

Rumor: The next Sonic game may be open world and include 'ubisoft towers'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/rumor-the-next-sonic-game-may-be-open-world-and-include-ubisoft-towers/
Sega's recent Sonic the Hedgehog livestream showcased various projects in the works, like a remaster of Sonic Colors called Sonic Colors: Ultimate that will be coming to PC as an Epic Store exclusive on September 7. The stream ended with a 30-second teaser of Sonic running through a forest as various digital effects flew off his feet, leaving a glowing trail that formed a circular pattern seen from above. It's a new game from Sonic Team coming to PC in 2022, and that's all we know about it for sure.

Angry Total War fans are review-bombing Three Kingdoms
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/angry-total-war-fans-are-review-bombing-three-kingdoms/
Creative Assembly has announced that it is ending support of Total War: Three Kingdoms as of patch 1.7.1. The response from Total War Fans hasn't been great. They claim that bugs in the DLC haven't been addressed, and are frustrated a map update that would "focus on building out the North of the map" promised by Creative Assembly in a blog post from July of 2020 never eventuated. In response they've begun review-bombing Three Kingdoms on Steam. Its overall review rating of Mostly Positive has dropped to Mostly Negative in recent reviews, and each Three Kingdoms DLC now has Overwhelmingly Negative recent reviews.

Here's your cinematic trailer for 40K shooter Necromunda: Hired Gun
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/heres-your-cinematic-trailer-for-40k-shooter-necromunda-hired-gun/
With the Warhammer 40k first person shooter just around the corner, Focus Home Interactive and Streum On Studio have released the opening cinematic for Necromunda: Hired Gun. It's a stealth and wall running shooter from mid-tier developer Streum On Studio set in the Warhammer 40k universe's favorite dystopian industrial hell hive city, Necromunda.

Dodgeball shooter Knockout City is free to try for all new players
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dodgeball-shooter-knockout-city-is-free-to-try-for-all-new-players/
Knockout City splits players into a competitive team-based shooter format, but arms them with lethal dodgeballs. It’s significantly more intense than the dodgeball games of our schooldays, but maybe the same amount of deadly? The multiplayer dodgeball brawler celebrated its launch on the 21st with a ten day long block party that brought in over 2 million players—and the fun isn’t over yet.
While the block party ends today, new players can still play for free up to Street Rank 25 before needing to buy the game.

Have a bit of Tainted Grail: Conquest for your roguelike deckbuilder fix
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/have-a-bit-of-tainted-grail-conquest-for-your-roguelike-deckbuilder-fix/
I see you there, twitching and chewing at your fingers. Been a while since you've stacked up cards, huh? That latest Monster Train expansion not doing it for you anymore, is it?
Tainted Grail: Conquest released this week, a roguelike deckbuilding game set in a dark fantasy takeoff of Arthurian mythology. It's a story-driven hybrid of roguelike and RPG, with an emphasis on the roguelike. Something like your Slay the Spires but with a richer story behind it.

Logistics and city builder Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic has helicopters now
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/logistics-and-city-builder-workers-and-resources-soviet-republic-has-helicopters-now/
(...)
The latest update for W&R:SR adds helicopters to the game, versatile vehicles which make their appearance shortly after Workers & Resources' 1960 start date and allow you to haul passengers, workers, and even construction materials via skycrane. That's fitting for Workers & Resources, which unique among city builders allows you to produce every bit of your buildings, from steel to boards and concrete, yourself.

Griftlands hits 1.0 as Klei turns its publisher sale into a festival
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/griftlands-hits-10-as-klei-turns-its-publisher-sale-into-a-festival/
Klei, the studio responsible for games like Don't Starve, Mark of the Ninja, and Invisible Inc., has a sale at around this time ever year. For 2021, it's turning that publisher sale into an event called Klei Fest, celebrating all its games as well as offering discounts of up to 75%. To kick off Klei Fest, deckbuilding sci-fi roguelike Griftlands will leave Early Access on June 1.

Resident Evil producer Peter Fabiano leaves Capcom for Bungie
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/resident-evil-producer-peter-fabiano-leaves-capcom-for-bungie/
Peter Fabiano, founder of Global Production at Capcom, Japan, and producer of the recent Resident Evil games, has left Capcom to work at Bungie. He spent 13 years at Capcom, notably as the producer on Resident Evil 7, the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3, and Village, while he also played the part of Peter Walken in Resi 7. (He was one of the paranormal investigators, brutally murdered by Mia Winters.)

Microsoft Store leaks Two Point Hospital follow-up Two Point Campus
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/two-point-hospital-follow-up-two-point-campus-leaked/
The Microsoft Store has leaked a follow-up to wacky hospital sim Two Point Hospital. Two Point Campus will let you build and manage a university, one where unusual courses such as Knight School and Gastronomy are on the menu.

Bungie hiring for new IP, a "multiplayer action game" in early development
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/bungie-hiring-for-new-ip-a-multiplayer-action-game-in-early-development/
A couple of months ago, a job listing appeared for a multiplayer systems designer at Bungie, who would work on a brand new game at the company. Now, another listing has been posted, looking for an "incubation sandbox designer", or someone to design the combat system for a "multiplayer action game", which will be a new IP for the Destiny developer.

Dark Alliance will get split-screen co-op after launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dark-alliance-will-get-split-screen-co-op-after-launch/
As the sequel to two great local co-op games—Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 and 2—it was a bit odd to see that the third game, the simply titled Dark Alliance, was not going to feature a local multiplayer option. (...)
It just felt a bit odd that Dark Alliance's co-op would be online only, but thankfully that will change soon after launch. As announced on a developer stream, and then again on Twitter, Dark Alliance will be getting local, or 'couch' co-op after all.

Linus reviews Tiger Lake

Now this is the type of review I was waiting for. Intel for some stupid reason gave reviewers Tiger Lake in a super thin laptop that wasn't able to handle the CPU and came with a 65 Watt 3060 so you couldn't do any gaming benchmarks. So Linus got himself a proper gaming laptop with the i7 11800H tiger lake paired with a 3080. They compared it against Ryzen laptops with a similarly speced 3080 and Ryzen 5900HX. The results are:

- Tiger Lake is faster than Ryzen in all of their gaming tests
- In single core production workloads, Tiger Lake is faster because the CPU boosts like nuts but in multi core production workloads, Ryzen is faster
- Battery Life on Tiger Lake is only 5 hours and 18sh minutes vs 8-9 hours on the Ryzen

Sabrent Unveils The Ultra-High Endurance Plotripper & Plotripper Pro SSDs Specifically Designed For Mining The Chia Coin

https://wccftech.com/sabrent-unveils-the-plotripper-ssds-specifically-designed-for-mining-chia/

I'd be interested to know the price but it also feels like these SSD companies have been holding out on us with their low TBW counts prior to Chia

AMD's keynote will be starting at 7PM PT today:

Nvidia's keynote will be starting at 9:45 PM PT today: