Could be a similar but different tactic, or similar in goal, as to try and cover this up. Imagine if they go full woke asap. Odds are most of their customers will prefer the way things were before the controversy as compared to after. Obviously it would be best if everything works out as what seemingly may be the right thing for everyone, without getting extreme, but if that's not what the company wants, this way they have a better chance of getting their way. Change things so much, so dramatically, that fans voice their dislike for the new direction, even if the company needs to take a bit of a hit. This gives the company a pass basically, and even if new woke hires make a stink about it, it'll be much easier to deal with because the customer is what matters most right? Who's going to go against the company if they apologize and agree to change things back to the way they were, though that may mean making 'tough decisions'?

Like I always knew Activison was going to ruin Blizz over time, I just ignored it for the most part and tried to enjoy the games I knew Blizz was good with (WoW/Starcraft).

The thing that really gets me pissed, is that within the past 4-7 years, shit has been getting worse not only with the company, but it's products as well (Diablo 3 always online bs, the auction house, the always online for SCII, WC3 reforged turning into a complete shitshow, WoW content droughts and a few bad expansions, Starcraft II effectively being killed off, heroes of the storm being left to rot etc).

I don't think it's possible for them to even return to the way things were before, because those that made the good games possible have basically left, and all we're left with now are staff that are either new to the company and it's IP's, or people that just regard their customers as "enemies" to slag on their own personal twitter accounts (like the few staff that went straight for Asmogold, because he's a known guy that some Blizz devs hate).

They could totally hire idiots and go for the full woke approach, but that will sink the ship far faster, and of course, will serve to totally drive me away from the company and all of it's products.

Tbh, I don't really think Blizz is even going to be doing the same stuff they've been doing the past decade. The leaks from staff members that's been coasting the net, paints a picture that's honestly not that far off from reality.

Just take a look at this:

Second wall of text, you can see mention of Blizz wanting to "transition" over the next 5 years towards mobile/tablet gaming, which means free this or simple that, much like what Activision is doing with MT's and F2P titles. Acti has one of it's biggest money makers (Candy Crush), that makes more cash than most of Blizz's products combined, so it doesn't blow my mind that Acti is likely to have Blizz focus more on shitty casual style products in the future, especially after this insanely massive shitshow, that's already seeing devouts moving over to FFXIV, uninstalling and not playing Blizz games anymore. Half my friends on Discord keep telling me that they won't play Blizz games until that shit is sorted out.

Between the name changing of Mcree, the paintings being "warped" in WoW, and the "let's focus on hiring SJW's" approach just tells me that Blizz is utterly fucked as a company. I don't think there's any going back, for the better.

Funnel people into raiding sounds about right for Shadowlands, particularly if you want the the very best. While BFA wasn't the strongest of expansions its one helluva lot more fun and better than this one particularly for endgame outside of raids. Lets not speak of Torghast and Korthia.. awful zones and grindfests with no reward or satisfaction. And balance lol, so bad. People are just seeing that WoW (retail) has very little to offer now they don't have a clue on what they are doing. Whats left is Classic, but thats old content..

And then you have people within disrespecting their customers and calling them wrong. Not surprised there's a divide within the company too, sounds awful.

Here are the Wednesday news (and some of the articles from the two previous days):

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has two sales going on:

• The Weekly Sale features indie games up to 90% off until next Monday: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210920_weekly_sale
• The new Special RPG Sale involves Hack'n'Slash games up to 90% off during the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210922_rpg_month_hacknslash

Steam has several new deals, including the new weeklong deals (which I'm not going to post):

• The new daily deal is Kynseed, still in Early Access, 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/758870/Kynseed/
• The first Midweek Madness deal is Cities: Skylines, 75% off until the 23rd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/Cities_Skylines/
• The Naruto franchise is on sale, between 50 and 90% off until tomorrow: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/NarutoSale
• Neon Abyss will be 40% off until Friday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/788100/Neon_Abyss/
• Ultimate Chicken Horse will be 50% off until the 24th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/386940/Ultimate_Chicken_Horse/
• Kasedo is the star of the publisher sale with up to 90% discounts until Friday 24th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/KasedoPublisherSale
• And lastly, there's Phoenotopia: Awakening is going to be 25% off until September 26: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1436590/Phoenotopia_Awakening/

The guys at Humble have numerous new sales:

• The new Humble Bundle is the Fall VR Emporium Bundle, featuring up to 7 games during the next 9 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/fall-vr-emporium-bundle
• And the Humble Store has 5 new sales:
  • The South Park franchise is up to 75% off during the next 26 hours. Needless to say, the keys are for UPlay: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/south-park-franchise-sale/
  • Rockstar brings up to 70% discounts during the next 2 days. The keys are for its social club: +https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/rockstar-publisher-sale/
  • The Watch_dogs franchise is up to 80% off during the next 2 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/watch-dogs-franchise-sale/
  • Publisher Raw Fury puts its games up to 80% off during the next 2 days. The keys are all for Steam, except one that's also available for EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/raw-fury-publisher-sale-september/
  • And the 2K Publisher Sale features up to 84% discounts during the next 5 days. The keys are for Steam and EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/2k-publisher-sale/

Fanatical has several new deals:

• The new Star Deal is HUMANKIND, 23% off during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/humankind
• A new BundleFest is live! Check it out daily for new bundles: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle
• As part of that, there's a new in-game event with VIP scratchcards for several prizes /games, discounts coupons, etc.). Learn more here: https://www.fanatical.com/en/blog/vip-scratchcard-how-it-works-what-you-can-find
• There's also a new contest where three winners will win a bundle and another 100 will get a mystery key: https://www.fanatical.com/en/blog/chance-to-pick-win-super-games-bundle-during-bundlefest

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Unearthed Steam patent would let users play games as they're downloading
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/unearthed-steam-patent-would-let-users-play-games-as-theyre-downloading/
A patent filed in March 2020 by Valve, which was recently uncovered by SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik on Twitter, shows that Valve is looking to implement a system that lets a Steam user play a game as it downloads with what the company calls "instant play."
The way it works is that Steam will be able to track read operations of an executable file of any game. Steam will use this data to draw a digital map to prioritize specific game files during the download process, letting the player start playing the game without needing the download to finish.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This 36GB HD Mod for Fallout 76 overhauls all of its textures
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-36gb-hd-mod-for-fallout-76-overhauls-all-of-its-textures/
Modder ‘Wessberg’ has released an HD Texture Pack for Fallout 76 that weighs around 36GB and overhauls all of its textures. This is a must-have for all those that were disappointed by the game’s textures and want to make them look better.
Going into more details, Wessberg ported the Fallout 4 HD DLC in its entirety to Fallout 76. In addition, the modder adjusted the HD DLC to the new texture formats and re-assembled it in combination with the new AO, subsurface scattering, and reflection texture formats that were introduced in Fallout 76.
Furthermore, this mod brings back the textures that were available in Fallout 76 before the Wastelanders Update. Apparently, those textures were of a higher resolution than those found in the current version of Fallout 76.
>> You can find the mod at Nexus Mods, and it's split into several folders based on the category (actors, interiors, etc.).

SA_DirectX 3.0 Beta Overhaul Mod for GTA San Andreas adds SSR, SSAO, Rain Drops & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/sa_directx-3-0-beta-overhaul-mod-for-gta-san-andreas-adds-ssr-ssao-rain-drops-more/
In August 2018, we informed you about a graphical overhaul mod for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, SA_DirectX 2.0. And earlier this week, modder ‘Makarus’ released a brand new beta version of it.
SA_DirectX 3.0 Beta adds new Reflections (SSR), Volumetric Clouds, Screen Space Reflections, SSAO, GodRays and Rain drops. Additionally, it packs some lighting tweaks and improvements.
Unfortunately, this beta build is behind a Patreon wall. Still, Makarus plans to release the mod to the public once it hits a more stable /final version. Until then, you can go ahead and download its previous version. We also suggest using this AI-enhanced HD Texture Pack.

This must-have mod for Tales of Arise improves LODs, Shadows, Lights & Ambient Occlusion
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-must-have-mod-for-tales-of-arise-improves-lods-shadows-lights-ambient-occlusion/
Modder ‘DunArd’ has released a must-have mod for Tales of Arise. This mod raises shadows, lights, postprocess effects, disables Chromatic Aberration, and increases both Ambient Oclussion and LOD quality.
This mod basically resolves most of the graphical complaints I had with the game. Thus, we highly recommend downloading and using it.
Do note, however, that this mod brings a noticeable performance hit. According to the modder, PC gamers should expect around a 5% performance decrease.
>> Head to Nexus Mods to get it.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Community Patch released, fixes numerous issues
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/mass-effect-legendary-edition-community-patch-released-fixes-numerous-issues/
The Mass Effect Community Patch Team has released the first community patch for Mass Effect Legendary Edition. This is basically a spiritual successor to ME1Recalibrated, and aims to make small edits to fix bugs, and fix bugs only in Mass Effect 1: Legendary Edition. Going into slightly more details, this unofficial patch fixes some notorious bugs. For instance, it fixes the random medigel activations, and Corporal Toombs thinking Shepard was on Akuze. Moreover, it fixes the UNC: Besieged Base elevator news bug.
>> It's available from ModDB, but you'll need the ME3Tweaks Mod Manager.

Modders are working on an unofficial remaster of The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/modders-are-working-on-an-unofficial-remaster-of-the-lord-of-the-rings-conquest/
A team of modders is currently working on an unofficial remaster of Pandemic’s The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Lord of the Rings Conquest Reimagined is going to be a reimaged version of the original game using Unreal Engine 4, and you can find below a teaser trailer.
Now I have to be honest here, this sounds TOO AMBITIOUS. The team promises a lot of things like map changes, more units, a new class, better animations for all units and improved AI. And… well… this sounds more like a remake instead of a remaster. This could be the Black Mesa of The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. And we all know the troubles that the Black Mesa team faced. So this will be either abandoned, toned down, or get shut down by EA.

Tales of Arise – Nude Mod released for Shionne, Rinwell & Ashen
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/tales-of-arise-nude-mod-released-for-shionne-rinwell-ashen/
Tales of Arise is a new anime-like action RPG that recently came out on PC. And, as you may have guessed by the title, the first nude mod has been released for it. This nude mod offers naked models for Shionne, Rinwell, Ashen, and some other characters. I know, I know, some will hate it. However, I’m certain that others will also find it interesting. As always, we won’t allow screenshots from this mod. However, you can go ahead and download it from DevianArt.

Good news, everyone: You can now control the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Minecraft
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/good-news-everyone-you-can-now-control-the-four-horsemen-of-the-apocalypse-in-minecraft/
If you've ever wanted to cause destruction of biblical proportions in Minecraft, creator Whimzee has the exact data pack to help you out. This pack lets you take on the role of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, you know, that the group of angry dudes from the bible created to rein misery down on Earth.
The data pack adds four new items into the game, each one inspired by the weapons wielded by the four horsemen (Death, Famine, War, and Conquest). When you have the item you can summon a horse that lets you use its special ability.

Here's a mod to boost your outdoor framerate in Skyrim Special Edition
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/heres-a-mod-to-boost-your-outdoor-framerate-in-skyrim-special-edition/
If you take advantage of the way Skyrim Special Edition handles heavy mod loads to tweak the heck out of it—and especially if you use an ENB to overhaul the graphics—you've probably taken a hit to your framerate. (I've been using Ominous ENB to give things a gloomy, somber look, but it costs up to 20fps in some areas.) If that's you, exterior FPS boost is here to help.
It works thanks to occlusion culling, which prevents geometry you can't see from being rendered. While Skyrim already has occlusion culling, eFPS adds significantly more. Have a look at the changelog in the mod's description to see just how many cells have had occlusion panes added to them. It's a lot.
The existing Project Optimization mod does the same for interiors, and the two mods work together. However, eFPS is incompatible with mods that rearrange structures, like Open Cities and JK's Skyrim. The description also recommends starting a new game, since "We still haven't completely figured out how eFPS behaves with existing saves." I didn't notice any ill effects on my current save, however, and picked up about 5fps in Whiterun even with Ominous ENB making it all dark and smoky.

GAMING NEWS

Jagged Alliance 3 officially announced, first screenshots, details & trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/jagged-alliance-3-officially-announced-first-screenshots-details-trailer/
THQ Nordic has just announced the next part in its Jagged Alliance series, Jagged Alliance 3. In order to celebrate this announcement, the publisher revealed its first screenshots, details, and debut trailer.

New gameplay trailer released for the Dead Space-inspired horror game, Negative Atmosphere
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-trailer-released-for-the-dead-space-inspired-horror-game-negative-atmosphere/
In 2019, we informed you about an indie sci-fi horror game that was inspired by the first Dead Space game, Negative Atmosphere. And yesterday, Sunscorched Studios shared a brand new gameplay trailer for it.

Here is an extended look at Forza Horizon 5’s multiplayer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-is-an-extended-look-at-forza-horizon-5s-multiplayer/
Yesterday, Playground Games released the eighth episode of Forza Horizon 5: Let’s ¡Go! which gave players a glimpse at the game’s multiplayer.

Diablo 2 Resurrected will support NVIDIA’s DLSS via a post-launch update
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/diablo-2-resurrected-will-support-nvidias-dlss-via-a-post-launch-update/
Kevin Todisco, Graphics Lead at Vicarious Visions, has confirmed that Diablo 2 Resurrected will support NVIDIA’s DLSS tech. However, the game will not support DLSS at launch. Instead, Vicarious Visions plans to add support for it via a post-launch update.

New reworked version of World War 3 available in Early Access until October 4th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-reworked-version-of-world-war-3-available-in-early-access-until-october-4th/
MY.GAMES and The Farm 51 plan to release their reworked tactical FPS World War 3 during the Veteran Alpha Test; an exclusive event for people who bought the game during Early Access. The ‘Veteran Alpha Test’ starts on September 30 at 5AM PT and will end on October 4 at 5AM PT.

The Wednesday news, part two:

Outcast is finally getting a proper sequel
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/outcast-is-finally-getting-a-proper-sequel/
When THQ Nordic acquired the rights to the cult-classic open-world action adventure Outcast in 1999, we wondered if we would finally be able to look forward to a full-fledged sequel. Today we got our answer, with the official announcement of Outcast 2: A New Beginning.

Dota 2 is dropping support for 32-bit systems
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dota-2-is-dropping-support-for-32-bit-systems/
Dota 2 is dropping support for some older hardware in the coming months, including older 32-bit operating systems. As part of their announcement of the update leading up to The International 10, Valve said they're dropping some of the older hardware that Dota has supported up until now. "In order to keep the game and the Source 2 engine fresh, we're planning on removing support for some older systems and configurations. Nothing is changing today, but in the coming months we'll implement the following changes," said Valve.

V Rising is a survival game where you're a vampire
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/v-rising-is-a-survival-game-where-youre-a-vampire/
Vampires are always thirsty and they have an antagonistic relationship with trees—well, wooden stakes—which makes them perfect protagonists for a survival game. Hell, one of the first things the gameplay trailer for vampire survival game V Rising shows is an angry dracula going to town on a tree with an axe, it's like the the opening minutes of a new game of Don't Starve only even more goth.

Deltarune Chapter 2 is free, but the next three chapters won't be
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/deltarune-chapter-2-is-free-but-the-next-three-chapters-wont-be/
Deltarune Chapter 2 suddenly released last week, and contrary to what everyone expected it's free. The first chapter was free too, but this trailer is among several that forewarned that you'd need to pay to continue the story. That's pretty generous, but there's three more chapters coming in the future, writes creator Toby Fox, and those are gonna cost you.

There's a new Pokémon trading card game coming to PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/theres-a-new-pokemon-trading-card-game-coming-to-pc/
The mainline Pokémon games might still be locked to Nintendo consoles, but did you know you've been able to play the trading card game on PC since 2012? Now, after nine years, The Pokémon Company has announced a long-due successor to Pokémon TCG Online with the fancier new Pokémon TCG Live.

Halo Infinite has back-to-back test weekends starting this Thursday
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/halo-infinite-has-back-to-back-test-weekends-starting-this-thursday/
We've already given Halo Infinite's bots a fair drubbing during the game's first technical preview. Now it's time to give the game's arena deathmatch a proper stress test, with two weekend-long technical tests opening up over the next two weeks.

Next Steam Next Fest drops 'hundreds' more demos this October
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/next-steam-next-fest-drops-hundreds-more-demos-from-october-1/
The first Steam Next Fest happened this June and among the 700-odd (!) demos available, there were more than a few gems to discover. Valve announced shortly afterward that it would host another next month, running from October 1-8, and now the event has a trailer showing off some of the games being featured.

Neo: The World Ends With You arrives on Epic this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/neo-the-world-ends-with-you-arrives-on-epic-this-month/
Good news for fans of fashionable teens and JRPGs. After making its console debut back in July, Neo: The World Ends With You finally arrives on PC via the Epic Games Store later this month.

Quantic Dream wins (and loses) lawsuit against French media outlets
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/quantic-dream-wins-and-loses-lawsuit-against-french-media-outlets/
Detroit: Become Human studio Quantic Dream has won its lawsuit against French media outlet Le Monde, according to reports from Solidaires Informatique and STJV (via Eurogamer), but lost a claim filed simultaneously against another outlet, Mediapart. Both lawsuits were filed in 2018 over their coverage of allegations of sexism, homophobia, and inappropriate behavior at the studio.

New Deathloop patch partially addresses stuttering issues on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/deathloop-stuttering-patch/
Bethesda released a new Deathloop patch today that it says will partially fix for the game's occasional stuttering issue. Version 1.708.4.0 is available now on both the Steam and Bethesda launcher versions of the game.

Overwatch executive producer is leaving Blizzard
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/overwatch-executive-producer-is-leaving-blizzard/
Blizzard is losing yet another top executive, according to a new Bloomberg report, which says that Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny will leave the company on Friday.

Call of Duty: Warzone's Numbers event is live now, here's how it works
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/call-of-duty-warzones-numbers-event-live-now-heres-how-it-works/
Call of Duty Warzone's new limited-time Numbers event, which harkens back to the story of the original Black Ops with new points of interest and rewards, is live starting today until October 6. Players can progress in the event by playing either Warzone or Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War.

Green Hell's next chapter has been delayed
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/green-hells-next-chapter-has-been-delayed/
The developers of Green Hell, a survival game that made Christopher Livingston so mad he punched an innocent armadillo, have announced a delay. The third and final chapter of Spirits of Amazonia, a prequel to its story mode, has been pushed back to "an undetermined date".

Get in the Car, Loser, we're going on a free JRPG road trip
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/get-in-the-car-loser-were-going-on-a-free-jrpg-road-trip/
Ladykiller in a Bind developer Christine Love just pulled up in a hot convertible and invited you on a ride through a stylish pixel-art JRPG road trip—and you don't even have to pay your share of the gas. So Get in the Car, Loser, we've got monsters to slay.

The Sims 4 just got an extra 1,200 furniture swatches for free
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-sims-4-just-got-an-extra-1200-furniture-swatches/
Holy crap, EA finally added a bunch of brand-new swatches to The Sims 4!
(...)
Additional swatches have been a big ask from the community for a while now, and it looks like EA has finally listened. A patch that went out on September 21 added a whopping 1,200 swatches to 149 items across the base game.

Final Fantasy 14 community gather to pay tribute to beloved Heavensward voice actor
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/final-fantasy-14-community-gather-to-pay-tribute-to-beloved-heavensward-voice-actor/
Final Fantasy 14 players are gathering together for vigils to honour one of the game's voice actors, Stephen Critchlow, who died at the age of 54 earlier this week. He was known for his roles in various Doctor Who and Torchwood audio dramas, as well as voicing Bana in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and providing additional voices in World of Warcraft's Battle for Azeroth expansion.

Big CS:GO update adds shorter matches, riot shield, and fixes Dust 2's biggest problem
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/big-csgo-update-adds-shorter-matches-riot-shield-and-fixes-dust-2s-biggest-problem/
All hail the developers of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for, yea, they have listened to our pleas. Lo it was written that CTs moving to B-site on Dust 2 must always cross the double doors, which the Ts fire through while praying to RNGesus, and oft ye will take a hit and occasionally even a headshot, and it doth suck the big one. But from the mountaintop in Seattle come the new holy words: "Blocked visibility of mid from T spawn in Dust 2. Really!"

Roblox introduces an opt-in age verification system
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/roblox-introduces-an-opt-in-age-verification-system/
Roblox has today rolled out out a new age verification system that, while opt-in, will be required to access certain features across the experience creation platform going forwards.

Good amount of hardware news:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 SUPER, 3070 SUPER and 3060 SUPER get rumored specifications

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3080-super-3070-super-and-3060-super-get-rumored-specifications

I'll post my reaction in a separate reply...

Intel Core i9-12900K allegedly scores 30K points in Cinebench R23

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-core-i9-12900k-allegedly-scores-30k-points-in-cinebench-r23

Insane numbers if true! Personally as an owner of a 5950x, I do hope that Intel comes back mainly because we saw what happens when there's no competition. When Intel had no competition, endless quad cores. When AMD had no competition, screw the budget segment. We need companies to continue to trade blows. Hopefully Zen 3 Vcache will be competitive.

Microsoft’s SQ3 Chip Based on Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Said to Deliver 60% Performance Improvement Against SQ2; Equal to an 8-Thread i7-1160G7

https://wccftech.com/microsoft-sq3-performance-equal-to-8-thread-i7-1160g7/

If true, the CPU Arms race will get more competition as well. Plus Windows PCs could have an alternative to Apple's M1 even if it ends up being slower but giving you a significantly larger apps support.

Can the Slowest PS5 SSD Upgrade Run Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart?

Overall it makes sense why such a "slow" (by 2021 standards) SSD is able to keep up. Read speeds are generally not the main issue with budget SSDs. Endurance and write speeds are. Hence why the write speeds are crazy long. Still while it works just fine with Ratchet and Clank, as per video, it's best to get an SSD that's above spec rather than below spec.

3090 Super + 3080 Super:

3070 Super:

3060 Super:

Clearly the 3090 Super has no purpose other than money. The 3080 Super is basically the same, maybe will beat the 6800XT at 1440p on average as the 3080 is ahead at 4k but Nvidia will probably charge more for Super. The 3070 Super is legit, the most useless product in Nvidia's entire lineup. Like I don't even understand what they are doing with the 3070 series in general other than the original 3070. Like why is it so hard for them to give the 3070 more Vram? They really think a 3080/Super buyer is gonna trade 30% performance for the same amount of Vram? Really? Come on Nvidia...

The 3060 Super is the star of the show. Since discounts aren't a thing, I am assuming it will cost around $450 and perform similarly to a 6700XT in Raster as we know that a 3070 is faster than a 6700XT in raster already. In Ray Tracing, the 3060 Super as usual will smoke it. Ironically the 3060 Super will probably be faster than 3070 at 4k resolution in games that require more vram as it has a higher vram pool even if the bus might be 192 bit. At 1440p, the 3070 should out perform it. Once this comes out, it will probably make little sense to buy a 3060 Ti or a 3070 or a 3070 Super or a 3070 Ti or a 6700XT assuming the price point is around $450.

Assuming the rumour turns out to be true that is.

Yeah the 3060 Super is the star of the lineup. The bump up is quite insane for a 60 series card and puts it on par with a 3070.

Have a feeling its Nvidia's answer to Intel's Alchmist. Stop them dead in their tracks before they can get any momentum.

For the other Supers I feel that they're trying to segment the cards as per performance. Like they probably thought that they made the 3070 too good for value so they'll find ways of reselling the GPU with some minute changes. Same goes for the 3080.

And for them to upgrade RAM - going from high frequency RAM to faster GDDR6X isn't going to give you THAT much more performance that it will touch upon 3080 territory but at the same time they can market it to consumers like the next best thing. Like GDDR6X as a bullet point sounds like upgrade on paper. And ofc a few more cores. And since the 3080 is probably the most sought after card they don't want another 2070 Super situation where there's so little difference between that and a 2080 - which made the latter cards (non supers) redundant.

That and a lot of PC gamers haven't got a 3XXX series card and a refresh will entice people to buy one even though a lot of people know the next generation is coming in the same year.