Vancouver Canada.

Usually even during the summer, it's no where near this but we are experiencing a heatwave so...

"Video game voice actors express concern about technological advances that may see the use of AI-generated voices in games, as in a Witcher 3 mod."

https://gamerant.com/the-witcher-3-mod-ai-voices/

This is the natural progress of things, while I feel for the people whose livelihoods will be impacted I'm excited what this could mean for game development. Voice actors are expensive and can impact a game's story if they may no longer be available to record.

"Square Enix confirms a new entry in the Mana series is currently in development during a livestream celebrating the franchise's 30th anniversary."

https://gamerant.com/square-enix-mana-game-30th-anniversary/

Hopefully it will be released on PC.

"An Xbox insider shares the possibility that gaming classic Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver will have a remastered version announced this year."

https://gamerant.com/legacy-of-kain-remaster-rumor/

Please don't suck.

"Drowning in debt, Frelling Hazmot had nothing until he started creating cosmetics for Warframe."

https://www.pcgamer.com/how-a-struggling-artist-escaped-poverty-by-designing-a-warframe-scarf/

Edit:

"Microsoft has now confirmed signing a malicious driver being distributed within gaming environments.

This driver, called "Netfilter," is in fact a rootkit that was observed communicating with Chinese command-and-control (C2) IPs."

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-admits-to-signing-rootkit-malware-in-supply-chain-fiasco/

The Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Win a Death Stranding PC case in our giveaway over on the PC Gamer forums
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/win-a-death-stranding-pc-case-in-our-giveaway-over-on-the-pcg-forums/
Our latest giveaway on the PC Gamer forums features the official Death Stranding PC case!
We’ve made no secret of our personal thirst over this incredible piece of hardware. Honestly, can you blame us? This imposing custom tower ticks off all the right boxes. It’s got all the design elements that set it apart from any setup but also stays true to the game’s apocalyptic theme—you can very easily see this thing being an easter egg you come across while playing.
(...)
For your chance to win, follow the instructions over at this thread. Hurry, you’ve only got until 11:59 PM EST July 8 / 4:59 AM BST July 9 to enter!
>> Check the article for the specs of this case. And good luck.

Team Fortress 2 hits all-time player high following anti-bot patch
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/team-fortress-2-hits-all-time-player-high-following-anti-bot-patch/
The free-to-play 2007 shooter Team Fortress 2 has hit a new all-time high player count, with 151,253 people online in the evening UTC. Today's counts are similarly high, with a peak of over 147,000 players online. This high follows a similar spike to a record high in December of last year.
The spike in players comes after the game received a major patch fighting the bots that plague Team Fortress 2 lobbies. That same update introduced a case of cosmetics for summer 2021—TF2 was one of the first games to have such things, you may remember. The case has 18 new items and six new unusual effects, all made by the TF2 community.

GOG goes back to its usual routine with two sales and also new releases:

• The new Weekly Sale features up to 80% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210628_weekly_sale
• There's also a Summer Sale Encore featuring the most popular games of the last three weeks with up to 85% discounts during the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/summer_sale_encore
• Two narrative games from Plug in Digital launch: A Normal Lost Phone and Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story, both with a 66% discount until the 5th of July. Learn more here: https://www.gog.com/news/explore_two_fascinating_narrative_games_from_plug_in_digital
• And Fragments of Him lands with a 75% discount until July 5: https://www.gog.com/game/fragments_of_him

Fanatical has three new flash sales and a new competition:

• The first flash deal is Thea: The Awakening, 75% off during the next 22 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/thea-the-awakening
• Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach will be 85% off for the next 22 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/warhammer-40-000-sanctus-reach
• The Yakuza Remastered Collection, that includes Yakuza 3, 4 & 5 Remastered is the last flash deal, 46% off during the next 46 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-yakuza-remastered-collection
• And the competition is the fourth week of Omen's Giveaway, this week the prize is an HP OMEN 15 laptop and Days Gone: https://www.fanatical.com/en/blog/big-omen-giveaway-win-incredible-gaming-prizes-thousands-dollars

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Dark Souls: Nightfall, fan sequel to Dark Souls, release date revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/dark-souls-nightfall-fan-sequel-to-dark-souls-releases-on-december-21st/
Back in February 2021, we informed you about Dark Souls: Nightfall. And today, Team Nightfall announced the release date for its fan sequel to Dark Souls. Additionally, the team released a new teaser trailer that you can find below.
Dark Souls: Nightfall is a direct, fan-made sequel to Dark Souls with a new story, new combat system, new world map, and more. The good news here is that this is strictly a single-player mod. Furthermore, Nightfall will prevent the game from connecting to the official servers. Now the reason I’m saying this is good news is because you won’t have to worry about a potential ban. Since the game won’t connect to the servers, you won’t receive any penalty/ban for playing it.
Do note though that this mod will be exclusive to Dark Souls: Remastered.

This 8K Texture Pack for Skyrim completely overhauls Castle Volkihar
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-8k-texture-pack-for-skyrim-completely-overhauls-castle-volkihar/
Modder ‘PraedythXVI’ has released an 8K Texture Pack for both Skyrim LE and Skyrim Special Edition that completely overhauls Castle Volkihar. As with most HD Texture Packs, this is a must-have for all Skyrim players.
Going into more details, Castle Volkihar HD’s roof has its own textures instead of using sky haven temple textures. The bridge also has its own textures instead of using imperial dungeon textures. Furthermore, the modder has re-textured the moondial and crests. Additionally, the glowing parts of each crest now use multi-layer parallax and glow.
It’s also worth noting that this HD Texture Pack comes in 1K, 2K and 4K versions. Thus, these packs will be perfect for those that can’t run the 8K version.
>> Check the article for the links (both Nexus Mods).

The Witcher 3 Mod improves combat animations, walking & runing systems
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/the-witcher-3-mod-improves-combat-animations-walking-runing-systems/
PsychoCaki has released the Smooth Combat and Animations Redux mod for The Witcher 3. According to the modder, this mod brings many animation options, and freedom to pick any dodge animation package suitable for you and your gameplay.
The SCAAR project features four categories. These are ‘Combine Forces’, ‘Intense’ , ‘Revolve’ and ‘Technical’. Additionally, these options are generated as DLS packages, meaning that they won’t alter the default gameplay mechanics.
Furthermore, the files contain new walking, jogging, and running systems (which the modder found inside the game’s files). He also adjusted every animation playback speed for a smoother gameplay experience. And lastly, rolls are back with a much better and smoother experience.
You can download the mod from here. In order to install it, you’ll have to put ‘modSCAAR‘ in your Mods folder. Then, you’ll have to put one of the DLC folders in your main DLC folder. Afterwards, you can extract the .rar file

Metal Gear Online 2 gets a new trailer, running on PC via RPCS 3
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/metal-gear-online-2-gets-a-new-trailer-running-on-pc-via-rpcs-3/
In April 2021, we reported on Metal Gear Online 2 being playable on PC via the PS3 emulator, RPCS 3. And today, its team released a trailer that showcases the game running on PC.

Play Skyrim as Ash from Evil Dead with this Bruce Campbell mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/play-skyrim-as-ash-from-evil-dead-with-this-bruce-campbell-mod/
If you've ever wanted to call Skyrim's enemies primitive screwheads while you shoot fire from your hand at them, then I've got the mods for you. The Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) voicepack combined with Additional player voices will have your Dragonborn saying "groovy" and "who's your daddy?" and dozens of other catchphrases from the Evil Dead movies at regular intervals.
To explain how Ash got from our world to Nirn you might also want to install Necronomicon Book of the Evil Dead, or you could play through the Evil Dead mod to experience a quest and worldspace based on the events of the movies. Also, that mod will give you a chainsaw. If you'd rather have Ash as your companion then the Ash Williams - Evil Dead follower mod has you covered, and it's the source of the audio files the voicepack uses.

Valheim mod lets you punch wolves with your own two hands in VR
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/valheim-mod-lets-you-punch-wolves-with-your-own-two-hands-in-vr/
Valheim released into Early Access back in February, and it already has mods at a terrifying scale. One such mod is VHVR on Nexus Mods. The unofficial VR mod recently updated to let you play the survival game with motion controls, so now Valheim players can punch a wolf with their actual bodies, if that's what their heart desires.

This first-person Sonic the Hedgehog mod is utterly nauseating
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-first-person-sonic-the-hedgehog-mod-is-utterly-nauseating/
Mercifully, Sonic the Hedgehog's 3D outings have always restrained themselves to a third-person view, letting us watch the speedy critter from a comfortable distance. Now, one modder has given us a hedgehog's-eye-view of Sonic Generations thanks to an absolutely vomit-inducing first-person mod.
Posted on Twitter over the weekend, Sonic modder Skyth does warn that the following footage is absolutely going to hurt your eyes.
>> You can get it from here.

GAMING NEWS

CD Projekt RED claims that Cyberpunk 2077’s performance has reached a satisfying level
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/cd-projekt-red-claims-that-cyberpunk-2077s-performance-has-reached-a-satisfying-level/
During a WSE Innovation Day conference, CD Projekt RED’s CEO Adam Kicinski claimed that Cyberpunk 2077’s performance has reached a satisfying level.
>> Just to be clear, that is only about performance, nothing more. Bugs and glitches are something else.

Rumor: Microsoft to publish Hideo Kojima’s new episodic game that uses the cloud
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/rumor-microsoft-to-publish-hideo-kojimas-new-episodic-game-that-uses-the-cloud/
SoulsHunt, who has previously leaked STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN, revealed that Microsoft plans to publish Hideo Kojima’s upcoming game.

Frostpunk’s creators will be using Unreal Engine for all their future games
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/frostpunks-creators-will-be-using-unreal-engine-for-all-their-future-games/
11bit Studios has announced that it will be using Unreal Engine for all of its future games. In order to celebrate this announcement, the studio released a trailer that gives us a glimpse at some of its Unreal Engine projects.

NINJA GAIDEN: Master Collection Patch 1.0.0.1 adds 1440p launch option
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/ninja-gaiden-master-collection-patch-1-0-0-1-adds-1440p-launch-option/
Team Ninja has released the first patch for the PC version of NINJA GAIDEN: Master Collection. According to the changelog, Update 1.0.0.1 adds a 1440p setting. Do note, though, that this patch does not introduce any improved graphics settings. Instead, PC gamers will have to use launch options in order to use 1440p.

New Scars Above pre-alpha trailer shows more than 8 minutes of gameplay footage
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-scars-above-pre-alpha-trailer-shows-more-than-8-minutes-of-gameplay-footage/
Scars Above was one of the coolest things that Prime Matter showcased at its E3 2021 conference. And today, Mad Head Games released a new trailer for it. This trailer shows more than eight minutes of pre-alpha gameplay footage from it, so be sure to watch it.

2D Souls-like game, GRIME, releases on August 2nd
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/2d-souls-like-game-grime-releases-on-august-2nd/
Clover Bite and Akupara Games announced that their highly-anticipated title GRIME will be coming to PC on August 2, 2021. In order to celebrate this announcement, the teams released a new trailer that you can find below.

Feardemic to publish horror game Dark Fracture, PC demo available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/feardemic-to-publish-horror-game-dark-fracture-pc-demo-available-for-download/
Feardemic has announced its plans to release the upcoming horror game from Twisted II Studio, Dark Fracture. In addition, the teams revealed that a PC demo is currently available for download on Steam.

CD Projekt RED has released the official schedule for WitcherCon 2021
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/cd-projekt-red-has-released-the-official-schedule-for-witchercon-2021/
CD Projekt RED has just released the official schedule for WitcherCon 2021. This official schedule re-affirms the lack of a new The Witcher game. Thus, and if you were looking forward to any news about The Witcher 4, you will be disappointed.

Monday news, part two:

Cozy Grove's Spanish localisation chose to spare players the horrors of US healthcare
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/cozy-groves-spanish-localisation-chose-to-spare-players-the-horrors-of-us-healthcare/
Localising a game doesn't just mean translation—it often means changing content that makes sense in one culture so it'll fit another. So, when tasked with adapting cutesy Animal Crossing-like Cozy Grove for a Spanish audience, the localisers at Native Prime decided to spare players the stress of thinking about how messed up American healthcare has become.

EA removes Ultima Underworld and Syndicate from GOG
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ea-removes-ultima-underworld-and-syndicate-from-gog/
Ultima Underworld and Syndicate are foundational games in their respective genres: Underworld is one of the finest dungeon crawlers ever made, and Syndicate was a groundbreaking (and extremely cool) real-time tactics game. They're also very old, released in 1992 and 1993 respectively, which means they can be difficult to get running on modern hardware.
The versions currently available on GOG make that process easier, but they won't be around for much longer. GOG announced yesterday that, at the "publisher's request," Ultima Underworld 1 and 2, Syndicate Plus, and Syndicate Wars will be delisted on June 28.
>> Sadly, it's already June 28 and the game have already been removed.

Konami mashes up anime, Among Us, and Sherlock Holmes in a new multiplayer murder mystery
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/konami-mashes-up-anime-among-us-and-sherlock-holmes-in-a-new-multiplayer-murder-mystery/
There are few fictional rivalries more famous than that of the great detective Sherlock Holmes and his equally brilliant nemesis Moriarty. CrimeSight, a new social deduction game in development at Konami, will resurrect their long-running tale, with an unusual sci-fi twist.

Activision smacks down pro wrestler Booker T. in Call of Duty copyright lawsuit
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/activision-beats-pro-wrestler-booker-t-in-call-of-duty-copyright-lawsuit/
In February 2019, pro wrestler Booker T. Huffman sued Activision, claiming that the Call of Duty character David "Prophet" Wilkes is based upon a character he appeared as in the early days of his wrestling career named GI Bro. The similarities are certainly there—both are large, muscular men with dreadlocks, bandanas, and grim scowls—but a jury has decided that they are not enough to constitute an infringement.

The murder door in Call of Duty: Warzone is no longer doing murder
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/a-certain-door-in-call-of-duty-warzone-is-murdering-players/
A Call of Duty: Warzone player on Reddit has found a bug where a certain door in the salt mining facility instantly kills you when you touch it. Other players have also experienced the wrath of the murder door.
Update: There is no longer a murder-door in Call of Duty: Warzone. It was indeed a bug, which has now been patched out. Players are free to run into that Salt Mine door headfirst and survive the encounter. For now, doors have gone back to tormenting developers only—the rest of us have been spared.

River, the dog best known as Fallout 4's Dogmeat, has died
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/river-the-dog-best-known-as-fallout-4s-dogmeat-has-died/
River, the dog which served as both model and inspiration for Fallout 4's Dogmeat, has died. Developer Joel Burgess, who was River's owner, announced the death on Twitter and went over River's impact on Fallout 4's development as a constant presence for the development team to understand a dog companion. River was also filmed, recorded, and had her behavior watched as a reference for Dogmeat.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will be a 'brand new story with new characters'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-will-be-a-brand-new-story-with-new-characters/
The game-of-the-movie for James Cameron's Avatar was one of the more unexpected announcements at this year's E3. The 2009 film was one of the highest grossing of all time, but the general public feeling about it now is to remember the spectacle of it, but not necessarily the details of the plot. The CGI was spectacular, seeing it in 3D was novel, and the main character’s name was... Jake, I think?
The upcoming game, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora sidesteps this issue entirely. In an interview with VentureBeat, Luigi Priore, vice president of Disney and Pixar Games, explains their approach.

Orcs, ant-people, Barbarians, and all 14 wizards return in Master of Magic remake
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/orcs-ant-people-barbarians-and-all-14-wizards-return-in-master-of-magic-remake/
Master of Magic is a really, really rad 4X—at least if you, like me, are part of its cult following. The d evelopers of the new Master of Magic remake, Polish indie studio MuHa Games, have posted the first developer diary going into what they're keeping, and what they're changing, from the original. Master of Magic was acquired by publisher Slitherine in 2019, then re-released on Steam alongside its impressive fan-made expansion in early 2020.

Marvel's Avengers July update will let players be the same hero
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/marvels-avengers-july-update-will-let-players-be-the-same-hero/
After testing the feature in a time-limited event called Tachyon Anomaly, Marvel's Avengers will let multiple players in the same team play the same hero permanently as of its next update.

Minecraft archivists have found their holy grail
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/minecraft-archivists-have-found-their-holy-grail/
Back in September 2010, a woman named Luna downloaded the latest version of an indie game, an alpha called Minecraft to her laptop. She was excited, so she tweeted about it: "oooooohhhhhhh MineCraft update! " . Who knows if she played it. All we know now is that she downloaded it and didn't purge her download folder later.
A decade later, Luna made a group of archivists very happy due to one thing: She backed up the user profiles and saved them before she later wiped the laptop. The members of Omniarchive, an internet archivist collective, have been after the short-lived Minecraft Alpha 1.1.1 for a long while now. Alpha 1.1.1 didn't last long because it had a game-breaking graphics bug. That's not what matters to the archivists, though: They want everything. Finding Alpha 1.1.1 was a long-running joke inside this Omniarchive community because it was only available for download for a scant three and a half hours. It seemed unlikely that, after years of searching, it would ever turn up.

Cancelled 1990s FMV game American Hero returns for some reason
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/cancelled-1990s-fmv-game-american-hero-returns-for-some-reason/
In the 1990s Atari dabbled in FMV for PC and the Atari Jaguar, with a format called GameFilm promising interactive movies with seamless scene transitions and choices that didn't result in immediate dead-ends, but instead branched the story and affected a final score. The first GameFilm, Caves of Fear, was completed yet never released, while American Hero was filmed but never adapted into a game. The whole line was cancelled, a victim of the Jaguar's commercial failure.
Retro publisher Ziggurat Interactive and developer Empty Clip Studios have revived American Hero, restoring it and bringing back lead actor Timothy Bottoms for additional voice-acting.

AMD Confirms: Navi 23 GPU Has 64 ROPs and 32 Ray Tracing Cores

https://wccftech.com/amd-confirms-navi-23-gpu-has-64-rops-and-32-ray-tracing-cores/

It will certainly be an interesting "budget" card when it comes out. So far, nothing is able to touch the value of a 3060 Ti so hopefully, AMD will bring something to the table, especially in the 3060 price class where they have a pretty good shot as the 3060 is poor value.

Intel LGA1700 socket pictured, already on sale in China

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-lga1700-socket-pictured-already-on-sale-in-china

Why yes, the socket is on sale...

Nintendo Switch Pro Will Release in 2022, According to Chinese Switch Accessories Manufacturer

https://wccftech.com/nintendo-switch-pro-release-2022/

Who knows, maybe it will just be the successor by the end of it

That's what I've thought since the latest rumors came.

In any case, this puts the Bloomberg articles to shame, because according to those, the Pro should already be in production or close by, but Nintendo won't keep them in a warehouse for 8 months, right?

If I die due to this heat, someone format my hard drive

It's also possible that Nintendo simply canned the project due to the chip crunch.

An considering how Nintendo said time and again that they want to support the Switch for longer than previous Nintendo consoles and handhelds, I seriously doubt they would already bring a successor in 2022. I mean, that would be even shorter than the gap between the releases of the Wii and Wii U...

You don't cancel such project, specially after spending millions in R&D just because the chips could cost $5 or 10 more. Specially Nintendo, that sells its hardware for a profit (and they're still selling the Switch at its launch price 4 years after).

As for the second part... well, they're not going to put their current momentum by saying that they'll stop supporting them in a year, right? Plus there's the option, discussed in some rumors, that games will be developed for the three modes (handheld, TV and Pro) in mind, so even if they launch a new machine, they can still say that they're still supporting the original console as primised.

the moment the switch sells less then a certain threshold BOOM there it is and not a moment earlier