One of my fears when Japanese games become successful on PC, is when said companies decided to drop the caring façade and just lower their quality output, yet raise the prices (like we just saw recently with NISA on twitter for their PC port price increases). Capcom still has to improve, but if they only focus on sales and not quality, well we're going to get the same sort of situation (which I feel we got with Resi 3's cut content, same setting issues and price increase). 

The Friday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Only one of Epic's 'first wave' of exclusives made money, and it wasn't Metro
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/only-one-of-epics-first-wave-of-exclusives-made-money-and-it-wasnt-metro/
Epic Games, we learned courtesy of a likewise epic document dump in the midst of its lawsuit with Apple, is spending mountains of money to make games exclusive to its store—which is fine, because it's got mountains of money to spend, and big plans for the future. But a more recently released document, seen via Simon Carless' GameDiscoverCo newsletter, indicates that there was actually one game in Epic's "first wave" of exclusives, released between December 2018 and June 2019, that made money for Epic.
The titles in the original graph are redacted, but redditor MrBubbaJ took a run at matching up release dates, which are visible on the chart, resulting in the assumption that the game launched on March 19, 2019 is Satisfactory. The MG—"minimum guarantee," which is essentially the amount that Epic paid to get it onto EGS and keep it off of Steam—is $11.5 million, a hefty sum but also very mid-range on this particular chart. But in its first year of release—still in early access, mind—it earned $11.6 million, making it the only game on the chart to cover its costs.
>> And they've lost 500 millions.

Talking about Epic, there's been a change from what was announced: A Plague Tale: Innocence is still one of the free games, but Speed Brawl has been replaced by Minit. For next week, the free game will be "Rebel Galaxy" (that they already gave away a while ago).

At the Humble Store we find the HyperStrange Publisher Sale, with up to 66% discounts during the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/hyperstrange-publisher-sale/

Fanatical, that is currently going through their Summer Sale, has a new Star Deal: The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series will be 61% off during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-walking-dead-the-telltale-definitive-series

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

One of Skyrim's most popular modders is pulling his work from Nexus Mods
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/one-of-skyrims-most-popular-modders-is-pulling-his-work-from-nexus-mods/
Popular mod-hosting site Nexus Mods announced recently that users who upload files will no longer be allowed to delete them. It's planning to add a collections feature that will let people assemble lists of compatible mods to download with a single click, and if a mod that others rely on was deleted that would break any collection featuring it. Instead, modders will be able to archive work they don't want on the site, removing a mod's front-facing pages while leaving the files accessible in collections they've been added to.
Some modders aren't pleased with the move, and have been taking advantage of Nexus Mods' policy allowing files to be deleted if they apply by August 5. The latest modder to request removal is Arthmoor, who is responsible for Skyrim mods like Alternate Start - Live Another Life, which lets players skip the intro and tutorial and has been downloaded over eight million times, as well as Cutting Room Floor, Run For Your Lives, the Paarthurnax Dilemma, Open Cities, Ars Metallica - Smithing Enhancement, and more. Arthmoor also has mods for Oblivion and Morrowind on the site, and is requesting they be deleted too.
However, Arthmoor's mods will remain available on AFK Mods, a site that allows deleting mods. And group projects Arthmoor was involved in to create unofficial patches for Skyrim, Skyrim Special Edition, and Fallout 4 will remain on Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

Evil Dead: The Game has been delayed until February 2022
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/evil-dead-the-game-has-been-delayed-until-february-2022/
Boss Team Games has announced that Evil Dead: The Game has been delayed until February 2022. According to the company, this delay will give the dev team enough time to further polish it so it can provide the best Evil Dead experience.

Here are 19 minutes of gameplay from Back 4 Blood’s Closed Beta
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-19-minutes-of-gameplay-from-back-4-bloods-closed-beta/
The Closed Beta phase for Back 4 Blood is currently underway and below you can find a video showing 19 minutes of gameplay footage from it.

Focus Home Interactive has acquired Dotemu
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/focus-home-interactive-has-acquired-dotemu/
Focus Home Interactive has announced the signing of a contract for the acquisition of 77.5% of the share capital of Dotemu; a world leader in retrogaming based in Paris. Dotemu is both a game developer and publisher, known for having released more than fifty retro games on consoles, PC and mobile platforms.

Second spotlight trailer for Sonic Colors: Ultimate shows the colorful Wisps
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/second-spotlight-trailer-for-sonic-colors-ultimate-shows-the-colorful-wisps/
SEGA has published the second spotlight trailer for Sonic Colors: Ultimate, the adrenaline-pumping upgrade to the iconic 2010 platformer Sonic Colors.

Riders Republic Beta begins on August 23rd
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/riders-republic-beta-begins-on-august-23rd/
Ubisoft has announced that the Riders Republic Beta will be available from August 23rd to August 25th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the company released a new trailer that you can find below.

The Ascent August 6th Update improves DX12 & Ray Tracing performance
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-ascent-august-6th-update-improves-dx12-ray-tracing-performance/
Neon Giant has released a brand new patch for The Ascent. According to its release notes, the August 6th Update improves overall DX12 performance, as well as Ray Tracing performance.

Friday news, part two and last for the weeK:

Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on The Block is the wrestler dating sim I didn't know I needed
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/wrestling-with-emotions-new-kid-on-the-block-is-the-wrestler-dating-sim-i-didnt-know-i-needed/
I'll be honest, big hairy guys do nothing for me, but what does get me excited is the potential for dating games to be about more than high schoolers (or, er, high school birds), and so by extension, I'm pretty excited about Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on The Block. The 'New Kid on The Block' part is important because it marks this game as a sequel to micro dating sim Wrestling with Emotions, which came out on Itch.io in 2016.

FIFA Ultimate Team's new Preview Packs actually boosted loot box sales, EA says
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/fifa-ultimate-teams-new-preview-packs-actually-boosted-loot-box-sales-ea-says/
Unlike many other major publishers, including Riot and Microsoft, Electronic Arts has stuck with loot boxes as a major monetization model, particularly in the FIFA series. And understandably so: A €10 million fine upheld in the Netherlands in 2020 is a drop in the bucket compared to the $1.6 billion earned from "extra content sales" on the Ultimate Team games, including FIFA, NFL, and NHL.
But with sentiment having turned strongly against loot boxes, EA has been looking at ways of making them more palatable, including with FIFA Ultimate Team "Preview Packs," which players can "open" before committing to purchase. The new pack type was only meant to be available for a limited time, but it sounds like they could become a permanent fixture: In an investors call yesterday, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said Preview Packs "were very well received by the community," and more importantly they brought in lots of money, too.

Destiny 2 abilities will see big changes in Season 15
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/destiny-2-abilities-will-see-big-changes-in-season-15/
Destiny 2 Season 15 is expected to launch on August 24, and in the lead up Bungie has started discussing the changes it'll usher in. These include a comprehensive rebalancing of abilities for all character classes, and while these are quite big, Bungie isn't stopping there: these Season 15 changes will simply "help set the stage for those larger systemic ability changes" coming in later seasons, according to Bungie.

Hitman 3 smells the roses with a free and permanent Dartmoor Garden Show event
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/hitman-3-smells-the-roses-with-a-free-and-permanent-dartmoor-garden-show-event/
Agent 47 is a man of many trades—including, as it happens, botany. The chrome-domed killer is heading back to England for Hitman 3's free and permanent new escalation event, the Dartmoor Garden Show.

Splitgate dev drastically shortens queue times and increases server capacity
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/splitgate-dev-drastically-shortens-queue-times-and-increases-server-capacity/
People are going nuts over Splitgate's open beta, reaching new record numbers of concurrent players every day. But the arena shooter's popularity has come at a cost, with queue times quickly exceeding 90 minutes. Now developer 1047 Games has announced that due to a breakthrough trying to increase server capacity, queue times are now down to 5 minutes on average, and 30 minutes at most, though things may look slightly different over the weekend when even more players join the game.

Time to check the weekend deals at GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• The first one is the Weekly Sale, featuring oup to 90% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210802_weekly_sale
• The Midweek Sale features roguelikes and roguelites up to 90% off during another 22 hours: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210804_midweek_sale
• The Special Frogwares Summer Sale and its up to 80% discounts will last another 10 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/frogwares_summer
• The Weekend Sale brings up to 90% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210806_weekend_sale
• And there's also a new "release": the game Jupiter Hell leaves development and celebrates it with a 20% discount until August 15: https://www.gog.com/game/jupiter_hell

+Steam

• The new daily deal is STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town, 40% off (the DLCs are 50% off): https://store.steampowered.com/app/978780/STORY_OF_SEASONS_Friends_of_Mineral_Town/
• Oxygen Not Included will be 60% off during the weekend: https://store.steampowered.com/app/457140/Oxygen_Not_Included/
• Publisher bilibili puts its games up to 60% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/gameconference2021
• DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT is 67% off until August 9: https://store.steampowered.com/app/851850/DRAGON_BALL_Z_KAKAROT/
• The XCOM franchise is up to 80% off until Monday 9th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/xcom/
• Far Cry 5 is 85% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/552520/Far_Cry_5/
• Dreamscaper will be 25% off until August 12: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1040420/Dreamscaper/
• And of course, there's also the weeklong deals.

Nothing else to add, except wishing you a happy and gaming weekend.

Also, a couple of extra news as a bonus:

3DFX Interactive is NOT coming back, Twitter account was a troll
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/3dfx-interactive-is-not-coming-back-twitter-account-was-a-troll/
A Twitter account surfaced two weeks ago, suggesting that 3DFX Interactive would be coming back. Now the reason we did not report on this was because it was fishy as hell. And we were right as this was a trolling attempt and nothing more.
(...)
Yesterday, the trolling account issued a press release that was full of errors. I won’t be posting it as it doesn’t really make sense to share fake press releases.
After getting some of the media’s attention, the Twitter account revealed that it was basically trolling and that there wasn’t any “Jansen Products” company.
>> As expected, but still sad.

Garry's Mod's Garry is helping get anti-cheat software running on the Steam Deck right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/garrys-mods-garry-is-helping-get-anti-cheat-software-running-on-the-steam-deck-right-now/
Garry Newman, founder of Facepunch Studios, has said the studio behind Rust and Garry's Mod is helping Easy Anti Cheat (EAC) in its quest to get its software compatible with the Proton compatibility layer for Linux. That's good news for Steam Deck fans, as the reason many popular games are unable to be run on Proton is due to anti-cheat software.

Epic has sunk $500M into the Epic Games Store, doesn't expect to make a profit until 2027

https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-has-sunk-dollar500m-into-the-epic-games-store-doesnt-expect-to-make-a-profit-until-2027/

ELDEN RING Steam page is up

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1245620/ELDEN_RING/

"Planned Release Date: 20 January, 2022"

Why they gotta put it up so early? It makes me want it even more now!

Dell’s new BIOS fixing poor GeForce RTX 3050 Ti performance on XPS 9510 laptop brings 20% improvement

https://videocardz.com/newz/dells-new-bios-fixing-poor-geforce-rtx-3050-ti-performance-on-xps-9510-laptop-brings-20-improvement

As always, only after they get caught

AMD or Intel For Gaming? 5800H vs 11800H

It's fairly apples to apples comparison. Last time he did production and now he is doing gaming.
Intel 11800 > 5800H
Both CPUs are limited to 45 Watts
Intel imo looks to have the better cooling but neither of the CPUs are running into Thermal limits
GPUs are limited to 125 watts to prevent any throttling issues
5800H has better battery life
He is unsure how much of the performance is caused by Intel having x16 gen 4 pcie lanes for the GPU vs 5800H having only x8 pcie gen 3


Intel Xe-HPG DG2 GPU Spotted With Performance On Par With A NVIDIA GTX 1660 SUPER

https://wccftech.com/intel-xe-hpg-dg2-gpu-spotted-performance-on-par-with-a-nvidia-gtx-1660-super/

"It looks like this particular variant could be a higher-end variant with either 256 or 192 EUs"

Top of the line is supposed to have 512 EUs. Hopefully by the time it comes out, it is a lot faster. Cause having a 1660 Super performance for a 192/256 version in 2022 would be terrible.

According to Anandtech, 5700G/5600G APUs have only 8 lanes of pci-e gen 3 for the GPU

https://www.anandtech.com/show/16824/amd-ryzen-7-5700g-and-ryzen-5-5600g-apu-review

"*PCIe lanes on the SoC are listed in 8xGFX + 4xChipset + 2x4 for NVMe"

"The top part is a Ryzen 7 5700G, featuring eight cores and sixteen threads, with a base frequency of 3.8 GHz and a turbo frequency of 4.6 GHz. The Vega 8 graphics runs at 2000 MHz, and we get eight lanes of PCIe 3.0 for graphics, plus another eight for storage (as a pair of x4 connections). "

Now I don't know whether or not this is actually true or if Anandtech made a mistake as I am not able to find a different source that says the same thing. I think overall, it's better to skip these APUs entirely. Especially as 5600X/5800X are starting to get discounted.

I hope more modders pull their mods from Nexus Mods. Sucks for us gamers, but I fully support modders' rights to their mods, which Nexus Mods doesn't.

Have close to 90 games on EGS and only bought one of them. Guess I'm part of the problem lol.

As for DG2 graphics.. I feel are going to be quite disappointing. For an midrange/entry level card getting on par with 1660 Super isn't impressive by any stretch of the imagination. Granted this result is from engineering sample, which can always change.

Yea I think their excessive spending is starting to come back to them. Especially with this years e3 where we saw most games being on Steam.

And yea, I fear that Nvidia and AMD next year are both gonna price their GPUs well above $300 and if Intel GPUs don't perform well... It ain't gonna be something to look forward to. Especially with Crypto and such.

Linus tried out the Steam Deck and it has a ton of info

Thank you Linus for doing what IGN didn't and giving us actual info. There's quite a bit and most are interesting so it's worth a watch.

As far as performance goes, he tried running Doom Ethernal at the Deck's native resolution at medium settings. It mostly runs at 50fps with dips to 20 fps. He tweaked some settings and was able to run it at 50-70fps. Not sure what he tweaked though.

The fans are comparable to the Aya Neo without the high pitched noise. The main sources of heat are at the screen area and the places where you touch on the Steam Deck don't get very hot. It's nearly twice as fast as the Aya Neo when running Doom. The Sticks and etc all feel good.

I wish he went through the settings and performance some more but he did only have an hour. He only tested Doom and CSGO of all things but that was for input latency test. He said games running off of the microsd card ran fine. Hopefully someone else goes more in depth as there seems to be more tech tubers being invited to try it out. Still, lots more info than IGN. It's worth a watch.

The verge also got their hands on it:

https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/6/22612886/valve-steam-deck-handheld-gaming-pc-hands-on-preview

"I was able to turn up demanding sections of The Witcher 3 and Control to medium spec without feeling uncomfortable."

Whatever the heck that means.

Yup. They were super aggressive the past year and I'm not too sure its working. I mean they've probably gained some marketshare though not as much as they'd want or expect. Steam is still a beast and take more than some money hats and free games to win people over. Still, its nice to have some competition since there hasn't been anything that comes close to offering what Steam has or had (at least in terms of library) as to EGS.

True consumers have spoken with their wallets and they know people are willing to spend. I think the sub $300 GPU category is largely gone, and thus the entry level 50/0 tier cards with it. Lets see what Intel releases, they could surprise us (or not).