The Wednesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Valorant has 14M players, mobile version is on the way
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/valorant-has-14m-players-mobile-version-is-on-the-way/
Today marks the one-year anniversary of Valorant, Riot's foray into the competitive shooter scene, and the developer has announced it's been a hit. "An average of more than 14 million PC players from around the world log on each month to play" the PC-only shooter, and over the game's first year have competed in over half a billion matches.
For comparison's sake, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive had just under 27 million players last month, so within one year Valorant has got over halfway to matching the player count of a series that has been around for over two decades (Counter-Strike was created in 1999 and has seen several iterations—CS: GO is the latest, and released in 2012). By any metric that is some going.

Steam has four new Midweek Madness deals (note that the "midweek" part is just formal, doesn't mean anything):

• The first Midweek Madness deal is Amazing Cultivation Simulator, 20% off during the next 26 hours: https://store.steampowered.com/app/955900/Amazing_Cultivation_Simulator/
• The Homeworld franchise is on sale, up to 90% off until Friday 4th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/HomeworldFranchise
• Endzone - A World Apart gets a 25% discount until the 7th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/933820/Endzone__A_World_Apart/
• And the Battlefield franchise is up to 75% off until June 14: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/battlefield/

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This 3.7GB Mod for Fallout 4 adds 14 different weapons to it
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/this-3-7gb-mod-for-fallout-4-adds-14-different-weapons-to-it/
Modder “NovaFinch” has released a massive new mod for Fallout 4 that adds 14 new weapons to it. Combined Arms adds weapons ranging from handguns to high caliber rifles. Additionally, it comes with a long list of ammo type options for each weapon.
Furthermore, this mod offers reticle customization, and every reflex sight has 8 different ones each. Not only that but there is quite a sizable amount of customization options, both large and small for every weapon.
We should also note that this mod comes with “Complete Leveled List” integration. As such, appropriate weapons will spawn on both Gunners and Raiders and in stores.
>> Available from Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

New trailers for Blood Bowl 3, LEGO Builder’s Journey, Spirit of the Island & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-trailers-for-blood-bowl-3-lego-builders-journey-spirit-of-the-island-more/
Nacon, NVIDIA, META Publishing, Dreamworks and Lienzo Mx have released new trailers for Blood Bowl 3, LEGO Builder’s Journey, Spirit of the Island, Dreamworks Spirit Lucky’s Big Adventure and Aztech Forgotten Gods. As such, we’ve decided to share all of them in one big article.

Crytek has officially announced Crysis Remastered Trilogy
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/crytek-has-officially-announced-crysis-remastered-trilogy/
Crytek has just confirmed the remasters for both Crysis 2 and Crysis 3 that will be present in Crysis Remastered Trilogy. The Crysis Remastered Trilogy features the single-player remasters of Crysis, Crysis 2, and Crysis 3, optimized in partnership with Saber Interactive for today’s consoles and PC hardware.
>> Shikamo has made a thread about this.

Watch Dogs Legion Update 4.5 released, full patch notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/watch-dogs-legion-update-4-5-released-full-patch-notes-revealed/
Ubisoft has released Title Update 4.5 for Watch Dogs Legion, and revealed its full patch notes. The update will be between 16 and 39GB depending on your platform and will be required to play the Online Mode.

Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis releases on June 9th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/phantasy-star-online-2-new-genesis-releases-on-june-9th/
SEGA has announced that Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis will release on June 9th. New Genesis is set a thousand years after the events of PSO2, and will be free to play.

Biomutant Update 1.4 released, full patch notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/biomutant-update-1-4-released-full-patch-notes-revealed/
Experiment 101 has released a new major update for Biomutant. According to the team, patch 1.4 edits the dialogues of the game’s early parts to be shorter. Furthermore, it reduces the amount of gibberish spoken before the Narrator starts translating.

The King of Fighters XV has been delayed until Q1 2022
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-king-of-fighters-xv-has-been-delayed-until-q1-2022/
SNK has announced that the release window for its upcoming flagship title, The King of Fighters XV (KOF XV), has been changed from 2021 to Q1 2022.

Far Cry 6 won’t have a map editor
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/far-cry-6-wont-have-a-map-editor/
In a recent Reddit AMA, the developers of Far Cry 6 revealed that the game won’t come with any map editor. This is a bit disappointing as most Far Cry games had a map editor. Naturally, the absence of a map editor will have a negative effect on the game’s modding community.

STALKER 2 Build 2011 has been leaked online
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/stalker-2-build-2011-has-been-leaked-online/
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is one of the most anticipated games. And, from the looks of it, its 2011 build has been leaked online. As such, players can use some patches in order to run this build and see for themselves this very early version of STALKER 2.

Wednesday news, part two:

The next Battlefield reveal will happen on June 9
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/battlefield-6-reveal-june-9/
In May, Electronic Arts teased (with no great subtlety) that the official reveal of Battlefield 6 (or whatever it ultimately ends up being called) would take place sometime in June. Today it got specific, nailing down the date to June 9.

Viewfinder's mind-bending photography puzzles are shaping up nicely
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/viewfinders-mind-bending-photography-puzzles-are-shaping-up-nicely/
Last year, student developer Matt Stark blew us away with a peek at an experimental new game that'd let you turn take photos of the world, print out a polaroid, then superimpose the snapshot back into the world.
One year on, we've got a fresh look at the game with a new name (Viewfinder), and a better sense of how this wild technology might play out in a full-featured game. Once again, it'll make more sense when you see it in action.

Minecraft quietly tosses out a dated 4chan reference
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/minecraft-quietly-tosses-out-a-dated-4chan-reference/
Mojang Studios has scrubbed a decade-old reference to 4chan from the Java version of Minecraft.
The loading screen splash text "Woo, /v/!" has been in Minecraft: Java Edition for over 10 years—a reference to the large part the imageboard site played in the game's initial success. Markus "Notch" Persson promoted the game heavily on 4chan, garnering a large amount of attention on the videogame topic /v/ board and contributing towards Minecraft's popularity (thanks, Kotaku). The reference never made it outside the Java version of the game.

No Man's Sky gets a major visual overhaul and rideable flying critters
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/no-mans-sky-gets-a-major-visual-overhaul-and-rideable-flying-critters/
Not even two weeks have passed since No Man's Sky's last free update, which added Mass Effect's Normandy to your fleet as a frigate. And there's already another update to Hello Games's space exploration sandbox.

Dark Horse wants wants to bring its comic icons into games
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dark-horse-wants-wants-to-bring-its-comic-icons-into-games/
Hellboy, 300 and Umbrella Academy publisher Dark Horse Comics wants to bring its series to games with the establishment of a new Dark Horse Games division.

Aliens have begun abducting Fortnite players
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/aliens-have-begun-abducting-fortnite-players/
A new twist has arrived in Fortnite's absurd, never-ending narrative, as aliens have reportedly begun snatching players straight out of the battle royale.
As reported by The Gamer, a number of Fortnite players have reported being "abducted" by UFOs that have begun circling over murder island. The kidnappings seem to be limited to Risky Reels, with recordings showing players engulfed in a flash of green light before being dumped in a field—their memories presumably wiped from whatever went on aboard the spacecraft.

The fact that GOG doesn't have a Midweek Sale could mean that there's a big sale incoming, probably the Summer Sale.

I usually read the reviews but honestly, both the 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti have to be one of the worst products that Nvidia has come up with. If the 3080 Ti was $1000, I could kinda see it. But $1200? May as well pay slightly more and get a 3090 with the 24GB of Vram or pay a lot less and get a 3080 that performs 10% slower.

Come on Nvidia, do better...

So after looking through various reviews regarding the 6800M. This seems to be the conclusion overall:

For best performance in laptops for games in raster and ray tracing regardless of resolution:
Tiger Lake H + Nvidia 3000 mobile

For best all arounder and excellent battery life:
Ryzen 5000 + Nvidia 3000 mobile

For Value and excellent battery life:
Ryzen 5000 + RDNA 2 mobile


NVIDIA DLSS coming to Proton (collaboration between NVIDIA, Valve, and the Linux gaming community)

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/06/nvidia-dlss-coming-to-proton-plus-geforce-rtx-3080-ti-and-geforce-rtx-3070-ti-announced


Intel interested in giving AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution a try on upcoming Xe-HPG series

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-interested-in-giving-amds-fidelityfx-super-resolution-a-try-on-upcoming-xe-hpg-series


Raja Koduri teases Xe-HPG discrete DG2 GPU with 512 Execution Units

https://videocardz.com/newz/raja-koduri-teases-xe-hpg-discrete-dg2-gpu-with-512-execution-units


Lenovo expects GeForce RTX 3080 SUPER and RTX 3070 SUPER laptop GPUs

https://videocardz.com/newz/lenovo-expects-geforce-rtx-3080-super-and-rtx-3070-super-laptop-gpus

Yeah its pretty much a cash grab at this point. Since these are lower binned 3090's with way less VRAM and a dual slot cooler, it shouldn't cost $1200. Granted its usually within a few percent slower than a 3090, on average. I'd wish people won't buy them (at these prices) and send a message to Nvidia.. but these will still sell, and Nvidia will go back to Turing pricing or worse for Hopper.

Sad thing is.. the 3080Ti is a good product, though the price is just straight up bad.

Finally got around to watching the video, and I find that your tl:dr is very misleading:

1. The 3080 is in a bigger and thicker 17" Laptop versus the 15" for the 6800M, giving the 3080 much more cooling headroom
2. The 3080 ran at a 20-30W higher power consumption than the 6800M, with the 6800M stuck between 105W and 110W while the 3080 fluctuated between 120W-140W. Combining this higher power limit with the bigger cooler from the bigger chassis, no small wonder the 3080 won out in those tests. It would have been catastrophic for NVidia if they didn't under those conditions.
3. The AMD laptop did perform better when just running on battery. It didn't suddenly beat NVidia, but the performance gaps did get somewhat smaller

1) Cooling headroom doesn't matter in this case because neither GPUs were thermal throttling and had headroom to boost higher if they could

2) Considering the laptop for the 6800M has a power budget of 145 Watt and had the same thermals as the 3080M, there was nothing stopping it from boosting any higher other than it's design. If AMD is limiting it to 116 Watts peak where as Nvidia is allowing their GPUs to boost higher, then it's an inherent flaw with the 6800M design because it's supposed to be rated to go up to 145 Watts unless there's thermal issues which the video says it doesn't.

3) It got slightly smaller where as their presentations made it sound like there would be a big difference when in reality, there really wasn't. Especially when you considering how efficient TSMCs 7nm is supposed to be against Samsung's 8nm.

In other news...

Sounds like this won't be something that will just work on Nvidia GPUs unless Nvidia supports it and the demo they showed was just a proof of concept. If Nvidia doesn't support it, I think on the PC space, it could be a situation where engines will just use their own Upscaling technologies such as UE5's Temporal Super Sampling or UE4's TAA which will actually work on Both Nvidia and AMD GPUs that were released a few generations ago.

Why do you think AMD limited the GPU? After all, it's ASUS who produced the laptop, and I'm certain it's them who put the limit in place, not AMD. Otherwise, both would have had comparable power consumption and would have been much more comparable. But the way this is set up, it is like if you would compare a Max-Q with a Max-P version, and of course the Max-P version would win that one.