Metroid Dread leaked online and already playable on Yuzu. Running on a GTX1050Ti. 

The game isn't even out yet :s Dem leaky ships.

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam has several new sales, including the new weeklong deals:

• The new daily deal is Bad North: Jotunn Edition, that has a demo and it's 60% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/688420/Bad_North_Jotunn_Edition/
• The first Midweek Madness deal is Breathedge, 33% off until Friday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/738520/Breathedge/
• Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr gets a 75% discount until Friday 8: https://store.steampowered.com/app/527430/Warhammer_40000_Inquisitor__Martyr/
• And here are some of the weeklong deals:
  • The Night Way Home | 帰り道 is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1671550/The_Night_Way_Home/
  • Nowhere Prophet gets a 40% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/681730/Nowhere_Prophet/
  • The VR Only Nevrosa: Escape is 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/563550/Nevrosa_Escape/
  • Helheim Hassle, that has a demo, gets a 66% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1095120/Helheim_Hassle/
  • The Dwarves is 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/403970/The_Dwarves/
  • And the last one is Legends of Eisenwald, that gets a 90% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/246760/Legends_of_Eisenwald/

The Humble Store has three new sales:

• Idea Factory puts its games up to 75% off during the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/idea-factory-publisher-sale/
• Publisher Humble Games also puts its games up to 75% off during the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/humble-games-sale/
• And the Classic Games Sale brings up to 90% discounts during the next 6 days. There are keys for Steam and GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/classic-games-sale/

And Fanatical has two new sales:

• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is 32% off during the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/nickelodeon-all-star-brawl
• And Team 17 puts its games up to 90% off during the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/team17-digital-ltd

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AMD's new GPU driver promises big gains in Far Cry 6
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/amds-new-gpu-driver-promises-big-gains-in-far-cry-6/
This is a big week for software releases. Windows 11 is now officially out and available as a free upgrade to millions of PCs, and on Thursday, Ubisoft will release Far Cry 6 to both PC and console. Related, AMD says you'll get a sizable performance boost in Far Cry 6 by installing its new Adrenalin 21.10.1 driver, which is also tuned for Windows 11.
(...)
In addition to being optimized for Far Cry 6, the 21.10.1 driver package is also tuned for Battlefield 2042 (open beta) and Naraka: Bladepoint. The same goes for PUBG, which has been out for what feels like forever—AMD is claiming up to an 11% increase in performance at 4K with ultra settings, on a Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card.
>> Available from here.

The Epic Games Store finally gets achievements next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-epic-games-store-finally-gets-achievements-next-week/
Good news, achievement hunters. The Epic Games Store is finally getting cheevos, adding Epic Achievements to at least six games next week, with more to come in future.
Epic announced the new feature in a blog post earlier today, unveiling how its particular version of the popular feature will work. Epic Achievements will award varying amounts of XP, the amount depending on what tier: Bronze (5-45 XP), Silver (50-95 XP), Gold (100-200 XP) and Platinum (250XP), with Platinum itself is reserved as a once-per-game cheevo for earning 1000 XP in a single game. It's a similar scheme as Sony's Trophies system on PlayStation.

Windows 11 Killer networking bug may slow connection speeds in some games
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/windows-11-killer-nic-udp-bug/
A launch day bug in Windows 11 may cause issues with devices featuring Intel's Killer networking. Cited as a compatibility issue, some devices with Killer networking may drop User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets "under certain conditions", which may mean a loss of speed or failure to load on some websites, during streaming, or while playing games.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

-Empty-

GAMING NEWS

Official launch trailer released for Crysis Remastered Trilogy
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/official-launch-trailer-released-for-crysis-remastered-trilogy/
Crytek has released the official launch trailer for Crysis Remastered Trilogy. Crysis Remastered Trilogy will release on October 15th, exclusively on Epic Games Store.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Update 1.3.2 is 20GB in size, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/assassins-creed-valhalla-update-1-3-2-is-20gb-in-size-full-patch-notes/
Ubisoft has revealed the full patch notes for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s upcoming update, Update 1.3.2. According to the team, this patch will release tomorrow and will be 20GB in size on the PC.

NVIDIA DLSS can improve performance by up to 3X in F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nvidia-dlss-can-improve-performance-by-up-to-3x-in-fist-forged-in-shadow-torch/
TiGames and bilibili have just released F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch on the PC. The PC version uses Ray Tracing in order to enhance the game’s reflections, global illumination and caustics. And it appears that NVIDIA DLSS is doing an excellent job here at increasing its overall performance.

Tuesday news, part two:

Clint Hocking says Far Cry 2's villain was Far Cry 1's hero
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/clint-hocking-says-far-cry-2s-villain-was-far-cry-1s-hero/
Far Cry 2 is one of those games that, even thirteen years later, remains a touchstone for a certain kind of FPS design. (...)
A fan theory that's been knocking around for years is that the Jackal is in fact the protagonist of the original game and Far Cry: Instincts, Jack Carver. Well, thanks to Far Cry 2 director Clint Hocking, it's no longer a theory.

Amazon takes aim at New World AFK abusers
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/amazon-takes-aim-at-new-world-afk-abusers/
Amazon's New World MMO is still a monster, surpassing 913,000 concurrent players on Sunday night, and that means it can still be very difficult to get into the game. To help alleviate some of that pressure Amazon is making changes to its AFK detection system to help detect and boot "bad faith AFK players."

Elden Ring producer says game now in final stages, has 'no errand quests' and 'unusual map'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/elden-ring-map-comments-producer/
With Elden Ring releasing on January 21 next year, FromSoftware has been keeping relatively quiet since the last previews in August. Producer Yasuhiro Kitao gave a few brief comments to Famitsu during Tokyo Game Show, though, and reaffirmed that Elden Ring is in the "final stages of development" and that FromSoftware is "moving forward quietly."

Popular Warcraft 3 mod Legion TD returns after 12 years with a standalone sequel
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/popular-warcraft-3-mod-legion-td-returns-after-12-years-with-a-standalone-sequel/
The first time I laid eyes on Legion TD 2 was in 2016, when the developers launched a Kickstarter campaign to support its development. But its history goes back a lot further than that—all the way to Legion TD, a Warcraft 3 mod released in 2009. Development of the standalone successor began in 2014, Early Access followed the successful Kickstarter campaign, and on October 1 it finally went into full release on Steam.

Facebook went down for hours today, affecting Oculus headsets
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/facebook-oculus-down/
(...)
Facebook owns VR headset maker Oculus, and controversially requires Oculus Quest users to log in with a Facebook account. In numerous Reddit threads, many Quest owners say they have been able to use their headsets during the outage—to play VR games on Steam, for instance—but some say they can't load their Oculus libraries, and those who just took a Quest 2 out of the box have reported that they're unable to complete the initial setup.

Retro horror spookfest EEK3 returns this Friday
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/retro-horror-spookfest-eek3-returns-this-friday/
Geoff Keighley might control the slew of summer games showcases at this point. But October firmly belongs to indie horror developers, with a frightful stream of retro spooks set to surface this Friday as part of the Haunted PS1's EEK3 showcase.

New World bots flood fishing spots, so players bring boars to kill them
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/new-world-bots-flood-fishing-spots-so-players-bring-boars-to-kill-them/
Amazon Games' MMO New World has had a successful first week, attracting just under a million players in its first weekend. Success, of course, attracts the vultures: the bloodsuckers that lie in wait for the merest sniff. (...)
Well, the New World has its pioneering bots and the activity they're drawn towards is fishing: specifically, catching rare fish (thanks, Icy Veins). For some reason the bots are uniquely suited to this activity because they can tell when a cast will land a normal or a rare fish—and if it's the former, they immediately yank back their rod.

Mikael Nermark, former Starbreeze CEO, dies aged 50
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/mikael-nermark-former-starbreeze-ceo-dies-aged-50/
Former CEO of Starbreeze Studios Mikael Nermark has died aged 50. Avalanche Studios founder and friend Christofer Sundberg announced the news in a blog post.
>> D.E.P.

Here's when Far Cry 6 unlocks in your time zone
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/far-cry-6-unlock-time/
When does Far Cry 6 unlock on PC? Another big bad has taken control of a predictably beautiful landscape in Ubisoft's open-world series, and that means we've got weapons and vehicles to pilfer, question marks to tick off, and another unsavoury type with a lesson to learn.

Alan Wake's 4K remaster is out now
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/alan-wakes-4k-remaster-is-out-now/
It's been 11 years since Alan Wake last took a trip to Bright Falls. But today the tortured writer makes his return with the release of Alan Wake Remastered, shining a new light on Remedy Entertainment's torch-slinging thriller all over again: there's a new trailer above.

AMD Radeon RX 6600 Final Specifications and Official Performance leaked

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-6600-final-specifications-and-official-performance-leaked

It looks about right other than Ray Tracing performance. I suspect while in 1080p, it will be on par with a 3060 and the higher resolution you go, the worse the performance will get. And the Ray Tracing games that were tested are very light on Ray Tracing performance. As usual, I suspect Nvidia will roflstomp it in real Ray Tracing games. With the 3060 giving you 12GB of Vram on top, there is really no reason to get AMD GPUs in the budget tier even if you can find them at MSRP as they will age very poorly in basically every regard unless you need a GPU now.

Proton Experimental expands NVIDIA DLSS support on Linux to DirectX 11 titles

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/10/proton-experimental-expands-nvidia-dlss-support-on-linux-to-directx-11-titles

Windows 11's New and Improved Storage Stack Receives Public Documentation

https://compusemble.substack.com/p/windows-11-storage-stack-iorings

"In other words, this will allow Windows, or third party applications using this feature, to submit batch I/O requests, as opposed to serialized requests, as has been the case until now. This will allow advanced storage devices, such as NVMe SSDs, to achieve their full bandwidth potential. "

Now that it's out, it's only a matter of time until third party games start implementing it

Original Xbox Emulation on the PC - HUGE improvements are here | MVG

Why I continue to love emulators and PC gaming.

Windows 11 Initial Review

Alright I upgraded my computer to Windows 11 Pro/Education (as they were already on Windows 10Pro or Education). Initially when I tried to upgrade, it gave me an error with an error code and was stuck at 71% with the installation assistant which is better than Windows 10 which just said something happened and fuck all after. But after searching the error code, as the upgrade was so new, it wasn't much help. But I figured that because my computer was in Windows 10 20H1 which passed the compatibility check btw, I probably needed to update to 21H1. So I did and then the upgrade went smoothly. It was a bit stuttery at first but after 5-10 minutes, it smoothed itself out and been good since then.

After 10 seconds of using the start menu at the center, I went ahead and put it back to the left.

So here's my experience after upgrading

The good:

- Search has been vastly improved. Like I am not even joking. When I search refresh rate in Windows 10 for example, it just opens the settings. In Windows 11, it brings you to the exact settings page. It's still not perfect but I am able to find the correct names of files and such in my computer as well which Windows 10 struggled with.

- Very smooth and snappy

- New sounds are great

- Lots of minor animations and attention to detail. New wallpapers are great.

- Battery status has a lot of usage details and which apps are using the most amount of battery.

- The new snipping tool is really good. It's more smoother than the one in 10 and it's more accurate. Best of all, you can just save and it will come up with a new name for you instead of needing to smash buttons on your keyboard.


The Meh:

- The new settings is gonna take a while to get used to

- No tab feature yet for file explorer

- Folders no longer have previews

- Start Menu still has a lot of bloat but unlike Windows 10, they aren't installed so gets a Meh instead of a Bad. You can uninstall them of course.

- Honestly the widgets panel is kinda useless. Why not let me drag the widgets and put them onto the desktop instead?

The Bad:

- Right Click is pretty wtf. Lets say you want to access Nvidia Control Panel. In Windows 10, you right click the desktop and click on Nvidia Control Panel. In Windows 11, you right click, then click on "Show More Options" and then it brings back the Windows 10 right click and you click on Nvidia Control Panel. Are you telling me multi-billion dollar company with the top engineers around the world couldn't figure this out? Like yes, it has to do with developers needing to rebuild their functions for the new right click but come on MS. This is just sad.

- Accessing some settings such has GPU hardware scheduling freezes the computer for a brief second.

Overall, it's more so getting used to things than anything else. I don't notice any performance differences but I only used it for a day. I might post more thoughts if there are any care worthy changes.

I can't upgrade to Windows 11 yet. The health check app says my PC is compatible for windows 11 upgrade, the update menu in settings says it's not compatible and I should should use the health check app... Guess it will sort itself out in a few days.

AMD smashes through 30% CPU usage barrier in Steam hardware survey leaving Intel's ambitions resting on Alder Lake

https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-smashes-through-30-CPU-usage-barrier-in-Steam-hardware-survey-leaving-Intel-s-ambitions-resting-on-Alder-Lake.568900.0.html

Intel really needs Alder Lake S to be good otherwise... RIP


ASUS Z690 motherboards listed by Canadian retailer, starting at 222 USD

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-z690-motherboards-listed-by-canadian-retailer-starting-at-222-usd

I remember when Hero motherboards used to be cheap... Now they cost almost $700 CAD... Feelsbadman

^Times change, and it's usually not for the better.

Anyway, I don't know how long it's been up, but Noctua has a page for their ASUS collaboration and they make some claims about how the card perform in terms of cooling and noise:

https://noctua.at/en/asus-geforce-rtx-3070-noctua-edition-graphics-card

"The Noctua Edition of ASUS’ GeForce RTX 3070 is the first graphics card to feature Noctua fans and a heatsink that has been co-engineered by Noctua. By switching from the stock three 92mm fans to two of Noctua’s award-winning NF-A12x25 120mm units and by tailoring the heatsink to make the most out of the fans’ superior aerodynamic performance, thermals and acoustics of ASUS’ original TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3070 could be improved significantly for the Noctua Edition, making it the quietest card in its class."

Not much of an improvement in the temps. when the fans are set to mid or high, but the card should be a lot quieter.

The games for Humble Choice October 2021 have been revealed.

^Thanks for sharing. There are two or three games I'd gladly take, but the rest are quite meh, at least for my tastes.