I think a lot of the core issues are generally due to in-house engines.

Horizon Zero Dawn for example... Developed in an in-house engine... Ran like arse initially on PC. Dayz Gone... Developed on UE4, runs great. Now there are some exceptions like DMCV and such but I think that more often than not, in-house engines is one of the big reasons why PC ports can be subpar until well after launch. Especially as the more generalized engines such as Unreal Engine are built from the ground up for various platforms.

Sapphire RX 6600 Pulse with 8GB memory pictured and listed at 590 EUR, launches October 13th

https://videocardz.com/newz/sapphire-rx-6600-pulse-with-8gb-memory-pictured-and-listed-at-590-eur-launches-october-13th

Essh

AMD CEO Lisa Su awarded with IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-ceo-lisa-su-awarded-with-ieee-robert-n-noyce-medal

Well deserved

Intel Arc graphics card with DG2-128 GPU might feature 6GB memory, leaked photo suggests

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-arc-graphics-card-with-dg2-128-gpu-might-feature-6gb-memory-leaked-photo-suggests

Core i9-12900K at CPU-Z, CB20, CB23, GB5 - compared vs 11900K, 5950X, 5900X, 5800X

https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/pw87i0/core_i912900k_at_cpuz_cb20_cb23_gb5_compared_vs/

Now this is based on rumoured leaks so take it with a grain of salt as always

USB Type-C 2.1 Spec is Out and It Boasts Significant Improvements

https://wccftech.com/usb-type-c-2-1-spec-is-out-and-it-boasts-significant-improvements/

"This is all thanks to the new USB Type-C 2.1 revision and of course, the biggest change is the 240W spec bump that we have witnessed"

That is quite impressive as you could power gaming laptops through one of these connectors.

Embarrassingly Bad: HP Pavilion $1430 Prebuilt Gaming PC (TG01-1160XT Review)

Looks like HP is competing against dell for the worst prebuilts... The fact that a 2060 Super costs more than a 3060 on HPs websites is insane! To the extent where according to GN, you can buy a 2060 Super at todays prices and might be better off building the rest of the PC yourself with better parts and still might save some money. Least there are some prebuilts that are good like the ones from newegg that Steve reviewed previously and the ones that I suggested.

The Monday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has two new sales:

• The new Weekly Sale is full of Metroidvania games up to 80% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210927_weekly_sale
• Annapurna Interactive will offer its games with up to 75% discounts during the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210927_annapurna_sale
• And the Hack'n'Slash RPG Sale with its up to 90% discounts will last another 2 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210922_rpg_month_hacknslash

Steam has two daily deals:

• Train Simulator 2021 is 60% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/24010/Train_Simulator_2021/
• And Barony is 67% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/371970/Barony/

There are several new deals at Humble:

• There's a new Humble Bundle: the Dream Teams Bundle, with up to 6 games to get during the next 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/dream-teams
• And at the Humble Store:
  • Slitherine puts its games up to 80% off during the next 4 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/slitherine-publisher-sale/
  • Publisher Survios offers its VR games with up to 85% discounts for the next 4 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/survios-publisher-sale/
  • And the Indie Hits Sale brings up to 90% discounts during the upcoming 4 days. There are keys for Steam and GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/indie-hits-sale/

And Fanatical has two deals:

• The new Star Deal is Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster, 45% off during the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/shin-megami-tensei-iii-nocturne-hd-remaster
• And the BundleFest is still going on. You chouls check out the new bundles: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

BattlEye anti-cheat confirms Steam Deck support
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/battleye-anti-cheat-confirms-steam-deck-support/
Epic Games announced yesterday that Easy Anti-Cheat now has native support for Linux and MacOS, and also works with Wine and Proton, the compatibility layers used to run Windows programs on Linux. The practical effect is that any game using Easy Anti-Cheat, like Apex Legends, Day by Daylight, and Halo, should run just fine on the Steam Deck at launch.
Not to be outdone, BattlEye announced today that it too will run on Steam Deck software out of the gate.

Steam beta suggests you won't be able to revert to old game builds much longer
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/steam-beta-suggests-you-wont-be-able-to-revert-to-old-game-builds-much-longer/
The option to revert to an older build of a game has been an undocumented feature of Steam for a while now, but as SteamDB notes, the latest beta changes how the client connects to its content delivery network, removing the access customers had to previous versions of their games.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Latest version of RPCS3 brings major graphical fixes for God of War 3, Ascension, inFamous 2 & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/latest-version-of-rpcs3-brings-major-graphical-fixes-for-god-of-war-3-ascension-infamous-2-more/
The RPCS3 team has released a brand new version of the best Playstation 3 emulator that is currently available for PC, RPCS 3. This latest version packs major graphical fixes for God of War 3, God of War Ascension, inFamous 2 and more.
>> There's a link to the emulator in the article.

First mods for Kena fix Ultra Wide support, add FOV, offer 48fps cut-scenes
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/first-mods-for-kena-fix-ultra-wide-support-add-fov-offer-48fps-cut-scenes/
Ember Lab has just released Kena: Bridge of Spirits and the first mods for it have appeared online. These first mods fix add Ultra Wide support, offer new FOV settings, and offer 48fps versions of the pre-rendered cut-scenes.
>> Check the article for the descriptions of the different mods and their links.

Mass Effect 3 Legendary Edition Community Patch released
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/mass-effect-3-legendary-edition-community-patch-released/
Earlier this week, we informed you about a Community Patch for Mass Effect Legendary Edition. That patch featured fixes, tweaks and improvements for the first game/remaster. And today, the modding team has released a Community Patch for Mass Effect 3 Remastered/Legendary Edition.
Similarly to the Community Patch for the first remaster, this new one aims to fix, tweak and improve numerous things in Mass Effect 3 Remastered. As such, we highly recommend downloading and installing it.
In addition to the Community Patch, a separate mod called the Community Framework has also been included. The goal of the framework is to allow for modification of NPCs without the need for compatibility patches.
>> Available from Nexus Mods.

Mod turns Mass Effect's reapers into Among Us imposters just for the memes
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/mod-turns-mass-effects-reapers-into-among-us-imposters-just-for-the-memes/
Warning: the above video gets very loud about ten seconds in, watch those speakers. It shows a new mod for Mass Effect Legendary Edition, the basic description for which is straight-to-the-point: "This mod turns all Sovereign-class reapers in Mass Effect 3 into Among Us imposters."
Okay I guess. The reaper capital ships are one of Mass Effect 3's great spectacles, two kilometre high battleships with a giant cannon that can take vast amounts of punishment. Why they're now giant Imposters stomping around like the Stay-Puft marshmallow man... well, creator and regular Mass Effect modder Mentlegen went straight for a copypasta explanation, which I think first appeared on reddit about seven months ago in Among Us flavour, but has been around the internet a lot longer.

Someone is working on a Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Remaster in Unreal Engine 5
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/someone-is-working-on-a-harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-remake-in-unreal-engine-5/
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is an action-adventure game that came out in 2002. And from the looks of it, YouTube’s ‘FakeFace’ is currently working on a fan remaster of it in Unreal Engine 5.
This remaster uses the assets from the original game. Thus, you should not expect better 3D models. However, FakeFace has improved the animations, and has implemented a number of new effects. For instance, there is now a new weather system.
Do note that this remaster is in an early development stage. Right now, it only has one map and features some basic gameplay mechanics. Still, this is better than most Unreal Engine 4/5 projects we’ve featured (which were just maps/environments creations). Therefore, I believe FakeFace deserves some extra exposure for this work.
Now I don’t really know whether he will be able to finish this remaster. This is obviously a huge project for a single person. Still, I hope he will further polish it, add some more gameplay mechanics, and release a demo of it.

Super Mario Eclipse Mod for Super Mario Sunshine available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/super-mario-eclipse-mod-for-super-mario-sunshine-available-for-download/
Level Select has just released the Super Mario Eclipse Mod for Super Mario Sunshine. This is basically a romhack and you can run it on PC via the Dolphin Nintendo GameCube emulator.
(...)
The game now has new secrets, and supports multiple playable characters. Furthermore, it presents an all-new expanded story, crazy new gimmicks, exciting new moves and abilities, and references to your favorite Gamecube era Mario Games.
Now I don’t know whether Nintendo will attempt to take down this fan project. Nevertheless, and as always, I recommend downloading it while you still can. Do note though that this is the first public demo and not the final/full version.

This Red Dead Redemption 2 Megapack adds 13 lore-friendly Mexico map expansions
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-red-dead-redemption-2-megapack-adds-13-lore-friendly-mexico-map-expansions/
Siemreaper has released a Megapack for Red Dead Redemption 2, featuring 13 lore-friendly Mexico map expansions. This pack intends to make the installation of these Mexico map expansions easier, and we highly recommend downloading it.
(...)
You can also find 5 expansions from AClassySliceOfToast (under the Requirements section). Additionally, the Mexico on Minimap mod shows Nuevo Paraiso under New Austin.
You can download this Mexico Megapack from here. Also note that you will need Lenny’s Mod Loader, Script Hook RDR2 and Red Dead Beta – Out of Bounds.

GAMING NEWS

PC demo released for Yoko Taro’s card game, Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/pc-demo-released-for-yoko-taros-card-game-voice-of-cards-the-isle-dragon-roars/
Square Enix has just released a PC demo for Yoko Taro’s upcoming card game, Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars. This demo features its prologue, revealing what happened on the day before the events of the game.
>> You'll find it on Steam.

Life is Strange: Remastered Collection releases on February 1st, 2022
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/life-is-strange-remastered-collection-releases-on-february-1st-2022/
Square Enix has announced that Life is Strange: Remastered Collection will release on February 1st, 2022. This collection contains both Life is Strange Remastered and Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered.

Bright Memory Infinite does Unreal Engine 4 justice in these new 4K screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/bright-memory-infinite-does-unreal-engine-4-justice-in-these-new-4k-screenshots/
FYQD has released three new 4K screenshots for its upcoming Unreal Engine 4-powered action FPS, Bright Memory Infinite. Bright Memory Infinite looks amazing, and it’s coming to PC later this year.

Monday news, part two:

Serene, 'tiny' MMO Book of Travels goes live in October
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/serene-tiny-mmo-book-of-travels-goes-live-in-october/
Book of Travels sounded really intriguing when we got our first proper look at it in late 2020. It's a "tiny" MMO, without conventional quests and plotlines: Instead, it promises a "collaborative and friendly roleplaying experience" in a serene world where players are living their lives. There will be conflict and combat, but it will be rare and impactful rather than simply a repetitive mechanic driving character advancement.
It was expected to launch into Steam Early Access in August 2021, but at the last minute developer Might and Delight hit the pause button, saying they realized during closed beta testing that they needed more time before the public rollout. Now the studio has settled on a new launch date, revealed today as October 11.

Ubisoft issues takedown request of 'speculative' Nvidia database leak
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ubisoft-issues-takedown-request-of-speculative-nvidia-database-leak/
Nvidia set gamer hopes alight earlier this month when a leaked GeForce Now database "revealed" games including Titanfall 3, a Half-Life 2 remaster, and a PC version of God of War. Nvidia quickly shot it all down, though, saying that the titles in question were speculative, for "internal tracking and testing." (...)
But now the interest is picking up again thanks to Ubisoft, which issued a DMCA takedown notice to SteamDB operator Pavel Djundik, who had a copy of the list on Github. Djundik removed the list as requested, but of course multiple copies of the list were posted elsewhere on the site, with links quickly shared following Djundik's deletion.

Blizzard is working on 'character lockouts' bug in Diablo 2: Resurrected
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/blizzard-is-working-on-character-lockouts-bug-in-diablo-2-resurrected/
Yesterday's launch of Diablo 2: Resurrected was not the smoothest rollout ever. Shortly after it went live, reports of disappearing characters began rolling in. Blizzard took the game offline for a spot of "unscheduled maintenance," and a couple hours later it appeared that everything was sorted.

Amazing Halo Infinite bugs are already rolling in
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/amazing-halo-infinite-bugs-are-already-rolling-in/
(...) Magical bugs have already started rolling in from the latest Halo Infinite technical test running this weekend. Behold, the self-duplicating wet floor sign (as shared by natdog805 on Reddit)

This new Dwarf Fortress video has me more excited than ever for the graphical update
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-new-dwarf-fortress-video-has-me-more-excited-than-ever-for-the-graphical-update/
I've been patient since March 2019, when Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams announced that the game would be coming to Steam alongside a brand new graphical interface. Adams has released a steady stream of update videos and screenshots since then, showing the work in progress, but this latest one has finally pushed me into making grabby motions with my hands and mouthing "give it to me now" at my monitor. This massive overhaul of Dwarf Fortress is looking—and just as importantly, sounding—fantastic.

GOG users aren't happy about Hitman's online requirements
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/gog-users-arent-happy-about-hitmans-online-requirements/
While the earlier Hitman games have been available on GOG for a while, IO Interactive's recent entries making up the World of Assassination trilogy were not. The first of them, Hitman – Game of the Year Edition, arrived on GOG this week and currently has a 70% discount, but was not received quite as well as Agent 47's other outings.
With an overall rating of 1.4 stars out of 5, it's the lowest-rated Hitman on GOG by a fair margin, with even Hitman: Absolution scoring a flat 4 stars out of 5. Most of the user reviews are critical of the newer Hitman for the same reason: "This game is not DRM free in any meaningful sense", as Sheershaw puts it in a one-star review.

In Overwatch 2 Bastion loses self-repair and tank mode, gains a hat
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/in-overwatch-2-bastion-loses-self-repair-and-tank-mode-gains-a-hat/
As part of the 2021 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Blizzard went into some detail on the changes coming to Bastion in Overwatch 2. For starters there's the visual redesign, which character art director Arnold Tsang said was about remaking the omnic with "sleeker, more modern materials" as well as, yes, adding a hat. Bastion's abilities and ultimate have also been reworked.

Four years in, Foxhole now has Foxholes
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/four-years-in-foxhole-now-has-foxholes/
After four years of early access development, MMO shooter Foxhole has added Foxholes. The latest update, Entrenched, overhauled mechanics surrounding digging in and building bunkers in Foxhole. Already quite extensive, players can now makes new shapes of defenses, add searchlights to bunkers, large radar facilities, and much more customizable lines of sandbags, barbed wire, and tank traps.

Grind the herbs yourself in alchemy simulator Potion Craft
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/grind-the-herbs-yourself-in-alchemy-simulator-potion-craft/
Who's in the mood for a little slice-of-life game about being an alchemist in a fantasy world? I'm sure one of you is, and I am, so here's Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator. It's a game where you do all the work of being a magical alchemist, including physically interacting with the tools. Those leaves don't just express their own oils, you'll have to get the mortar and pestle out to mash them up yourself.

Co-op RTS DwarfHeim tunnels out of Early Access this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/co-op-rts-dwarfheim-tunnels-out-of-early-access-this-month/
Class-based, cooperative RTS DwarfHeim comes out on September 27, ending a little under a year in Early Access for the unique game. It'll launch with a big 1.0 patch featuring a pretty hefty slew of new stuff: Tunneling for miners, new UI for survival mode, more colorful trolls, and a bit more. You can find the release announcement on Steam.

Dagon is a free, immersive cosmic horror adventure
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dagon-is-a-free-immersive-cosmic-horror-adventure/
The apparently very generous and talented people over at Bit Golem have let loose a free horror adventure on Steam, an adaptation of the short story Dagon by H.P. Lovecraft. It's a game that takes place somewhere inside the morphine-addled mind of a former ship's officer, and in that way it's very much the "100% faithful adaptation of the original story" that it claims to be. Dagon takes about 30 minutes to complete.

Plug and program to match waveforms in this puzzler inspired by synthesizers
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/plug-and-program-to-match-waveforms-in-this-puzzler-inspired-by-synthesizers/
Here's a thematic looking puzzler for those of you who love the technical: The Signal State, a logic game that uses the methods inspired by modular synthesizers. In it, you're a machine tech repairing parts in order to rebuild farm equipment to produce necessary food.

Wizards of the Coast is making a big-budget G.I. Joe game
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/wizards-of-the-coast-is-making-a-big-budget-gi-joe-game/
Mega-toy brand Hasbro has, through its games division Wizards of the Coast, opened a videogame studio that is "led by industry veterans from WB Games and other AAA studios". That's according to the job description attached to several listings for new roles. The studio, just referred to as "New Raleigh-Durham Studio", will be making a G.I. Joe game as its first project.

Netflix film Kate is getting a game next month
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/netflix-film-kate-is-getting-a-game-next-month/
Kate is a Netflix Original about an assassin with 24 hours to live. It traces Kate (because that's the protagonist's name) as she tries to find a cure for a poison she's copped, working to evade the Tokyo criminal underworld along the way. I don't know if it's good or not, but I do know that it's getting a game adaptation in the form of Kate: Collateral Damage.

Here's when New World unlocks in your time zone
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/new-world-release-time-date-steam-unlock/
If you're needing to fill an MMO void in your life then you won't have much longer to wait to play New World. It finally comes to PC via Steam on September 28 after lengthy delays and is Amazon's first major game release—besides Crucible, but the less said about that the better Both beta sessions were received mostly positively, so we have high hopes for its success.

AMD 4700S CPU Reviewed: Defective PS5 Chips Find New Life

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-4700s-desktop-kit-ps5-cpu-review

Now there are a few ways to look at this. If you skim through the results, you would think that the CPU is a super potato but the way to look at this is to ignore all the gaming benchmarks because the 3090 is being bottlenecked by the PCI-E Gen 2 interface and only look at the CPU benchmarks.

The most interesting thing is the difference in latency between DDR4 and GDDR6. If you ever wonder why Desktops don't use GDDR6 as ram for the CPU... Well this is why... (Lower the better)

As for the CPU performance, while it's single threaded is only slightly lower than 3800X, it's multi-threaded is only slightly ahead of the 1800X. Due to the low cache and high memory latency, it makes sense. With console optimization and added hardware decompression blocks and such, it's probably perform somewhere between Zen + and Zen 2. Suffices to say, the CPU won't be an issue for the consoles this gen. The dream would have been to pair that up with an Nvidia GPU but that would have probably added another $100 to the price so probably not worth it.

Quite interesting results. Tbh since these consoles are aiming at high resolutions with low/mid range GPU's.. A CPU that performs around a 2700X is good enough to not be a bottleneck. Like most games are pushing for higher resolutions like 1440P and above with low framerate caps. I.e. 30 FPS with highest settings and 60FPS for performance. At which point these consoles are mostly GPU bound.

Kinda wished both made GPU's larger but that would have increased cost so it is what it is. A Nvidia GPU would have been great but it would have added extra complexity in design, materials and cost. But yeah Nvidia already burned the bridges with Sony and MS before on earlier consoles, so another colab is very unlikely to ever happen again which is unfortunate xP

So this 4700s is closest thing to what's in PS5 and Series X?

Yea it's literally the CPU that's inside the PS5 with the GPU disabled. (Probably defective)

Yeah, I don't think they'll forget that anytime soon, specially since AMD also gives them a cheap/capable x86 processor along the way. Nvidia only has Nintendo which, given their current approach to gaming consoles, will be a great platform to show off their DLSS tech withthe Switch 2... if they can convince Nintendo to use a modern SoC with a capable GPU.

Although Nvidia will have to design one that's more focused on gaming than computing first.

Pretty much. And Nvidia is going in a different direction with their SOC's (using ARM) and they're not really interest or invested in X86. And AMD specializing in the tech for years, and offers competitive prices it was no brainer choice for the current gen consoles. Iirc Nvidia really screwed MS with their pricing with the OG Xbox and they did the same with Sony with the PS3, where they essentially dumped a load of old chips into them lol.

Granted mobile tech is moving at breakneck speeds. X86 is here is stay for most use cases aforementioned future. For consoles at the very least. Outside of Nintendo.

I think Nintendo will. Coming from their previous releases they always launch consoles with specs that meet standards once established. Like they released the Wii U when HD TV's were years into becoming mainstream and now 4K TV are. They'll surely be looking into more capable SOC's from Nvidia. Like anything that doesn't support DLSS would be a massive fail imo from a new console that is going to last another 6+ years. Especially since these mobile chips are always constraint/ limited by power.