Friday news, part two:

Eidos Montreal shifts to a four-day working week
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/eidos-montreal-shifts-to-a-four-day-working-week/
Eidos Montreal, the studio currently working on Square Enix's Guardians of the Galaxy adaptation, has announced it's begun transitioning towards a four day working week.
>> I wonder if that also means no more crunch...

Apex Legends unleashes the Monsters Within for this year's Halloween event
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/apex-legends-unleashes-the-monsters-within-for-this-years-halloween-event/
Just when you thought nothing in Apex Legends could be scarier than trying to climb through ranked matchmaking, Respawn's battle royale announces another year of Halloween festivities. And this time around, our dear old Legends are unleashing their darkest sides in the Monsters Within event.

Diablo 4 gets a new game director
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/diablo-4-gets-a-new-game-director/
Diablo 4's new game director is Joe Shely, a longtime Blizzard veteran who previously worked as a designer on multiple World of Warcraft expansions before becoming a senior game designer on Diablo 3. Shely has been on the Diablo 4 team since 2017, serving as the "overall caretaker" of the game's combat design, and also headed up development of the playable Diablo 4 demo seen at Blizzcon in 2019.

Vanguard guns appear in Call of Duty: Warzone, then disappear
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/vanguard-guns-appear-in-call-of-duty-warzone-then-disappear/
Call of Duty: Warzone Season 6 is a biggie and, as ever, has arrived with a nice mix of new content and bugs. The latest patch arrived with two new Vanguard weapons which, apparently, weren't supposed to be there. The M1 Garand and the STG 44 appeared in the game's Gunsmith section with their descriptions and a tag indicating they're from Vanguard and, although they apparently couldn't be equipped in loadouts, that didn't stop players working out how to use them.

How to stop Far Cry 6 from opening a Twitch browser tab when you quit playing
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/how-to-stop-far-cry-6-from-opening-a-twitch-browser-tab-when-you-quit-playing/
Greetings from Yara! I've started playing Far Cry 6 and along with battling the fascist forces of Anton Castillo I've also been wrestling with a bit of irritation. Whenever I quit the game to desktop, it automatically opens a tab in my browser and loads the Twitch Far Cry 6 category page.
I guess the implication is: you've just played Far Cry 6, so you must now be in the mood to watch other people play Far Cry 6! Well, no, I'm not. It's irritating and intrusive, not to mention presumptuous. If it's happening to you, too, here's how to get it to stop.

Genshin Impact developer reveals new game, beta sign-ups start this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/honkai-star-rail-announced/
Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo has announced that it's working on a new game called Honkai: Star Rail, and sign-ups for its closed beta event start on October 8.

Destiny 2 is removing another destination and an entire campaign next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/destiny-2-is-removing-another-destination-and-an-entire-campaign-next-year/
The Destiny Content Vault, launched in 2020 with the Beyond Light expansion, is a place where Bungie can store "less actively played" destinations and activities. According to the studio, the Vault is necessary so that it can add new content without making the game unmanageably bloated. When the Vault first went live at the start of Destiny 2 Year 4, Bungie moved Mars, Io, Titan, Mercury, the Leviathan, and pretty much all their associated content went into it. Today we learned that in February 2022, when Year 5 gets underway, the Forsaken campaign and Tangled Shore destination will also be added to the vault. Which is to effectively say deleted from the game. The Dreaming City location, thankfully, is being spared for now.

Get off the bench and play Super Mega Baseball 3 for free this weekend
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/get-off-the-bench-and-play-super-mega-baseball-3-for-free-this-weekend/
Time to stop riding the pine and step up to the plate. Super Mega Baseball 3 is free to play on Steam from now until October 11. That's not just the demo, it's the full game. And if you like it, it's on sale for 50% off until October 21.

A lot of Battlefield 2042 beta players want the old generic soldiers back
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/battlefield-2042-specialists-reaction/
When Morgan got his hands on Battlefield 2042's beta, it reminded him why he loved the series in the first place, but the beta's reception hasn't been all positive. 2042's new specialists (characters with unique gadgets that replace the old class system) are interesting in function, but some players think they make it difficult to tell who is who on the battlefield, and what role each player is actually filling.

This psychedelic 3D platformer about a cool duck costs a single dollar
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/toree-2-impressions/
Play Kirby long enough and you'll get used to the formula: What starts out as a wholesome platformer about an adorable mascot always ends with Kirby killing some sort of reality-bending eldritch abomination. Years later, here I am playing Toree 2, a charming platformer about an adorable duck trying to get his ice cream cone back, pulling from the '90s N64 aesthetic and awash in bright colors and catchy tunes. I'm just hopping and bopping up this little volcano tower towards the finish line and—what's this? A giant demonic face is rising out of the lava below and slowly approaching me? This feels...right.

In the demo for Succubus you eat a fetus for hit points
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/in-the-demo-for-succubus-you-eat-a-fetus-for-hit-points/
Here are some of the things I did in the hour I spent playing the demo for Succubus.
(spoilers)
Succubus is a spin-off of Agony, the horror game set in Hell released by Madmind Studio in 2018. Unlike Agony, which was mostly about avoiding combat, this is a full-on action game complete with a wheel of weapons and power, a rage meter, and a kick like the one in Dark Messiah only not as good. You play Vydija, a "demonic priestess of lust" out for revenge on the demons who wronged you.

Two of the Yakuza series' masterminds have left Sega
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/two-of-the-yakuza-series-masterminds-have-left-sega/
Toshihiro Nagoshi, creator of the Yakuza series, and Daisuke Sato, the series' producer, have both announced their departure from Sega and from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the team within Sega responsible for the Yakuza games.

'Kids should not be spending in FIFA full stop,' says EA
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/kids-should-not-be-spending-in-fifa-full-stop-says-ea/
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, time to put some money in Electronic Arts' hat. FIFA 22 rocks up on PC, as ever, in a disappointing form. The main new gimmick, hypermotion technology, is only on the 'next-gen' consoles—and next time around it might not even be called FIFA—but one element persists: FIFA Ultimate Team, and the ongoing conversation about how EA monetises the thing.

Halo Infinite leak shows a Forge with full scripting features
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/halo-infinite-leak-shows-a-forge-with-full-scripting-features/
When Forge first arrived in Halo 3, it was a simple thing for moving boxes around existing levels. But according to a recent leak, Halo Infinite's version of the venerable editor is arriving with remarkably powerful scripting tools—turning the once-simple map editor into a game-making tool in its own right.

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy coming later this year with 'modern gameplay enhancements'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/grand-theft-auto-the-trilogy-confirmed/
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition is real, and it will be out later this year. The trilogy, made up of Grand Theft Auto 3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas, will feature "across-the-board upgrades including graphical improvements and modern gameplay enhancements" in all three games, but Rockstar promised they will also maintain "the classic look and feel" of the original games. That's not much to go on, but Rockstar said that further details will be revealed "in the coming weeks."

And now, it's time to check the deals at GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• The Weekly Sale features Business and Tyconn games up to 80% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20211004_weekly_sale
• And there's also an SNK Sale, with up to 70% discounts during the next 3 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/snk_sale
• The Midweek Sale, with crime and stealth games up to 90% off, will last another 22 hours: https://www.gog.com/promo/20211006_midweek_sale
• The Weekend Sale is full of Beat'em'up games up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20211008_weekend_sale
• And, to celebrate ScummVM's 20th anniversary, there's a sale with the games that it supports during the weekend: https://www.gog.com/partner/scummvm

+Steam

• The first deal is Muse Dash, 83% off until Sunday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/774171/Muse_Dash/
• Death's Door will be 34% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/894020/Deaths_Door/
• The Subnautica Ultimate Collection is going to be 37% off until the 11th (the individual games are 50 and 25% off respectively): https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/21469/Subnautica_Ultimate_Collection/
• As you may know, Phoenix Point: Year One Edition is free to try during the weekend and also 50% off until Monday 11: https://store.steampowered.com/app/839770/Phoenix_Point_Year_One_Edition/
• The Indie Cup Celebration brings up to 90% discounts until the 11th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/indiecup2021
• Prison Architect is 75% off until Monday (the DLCs are up to 40% off): https://store.steampowered.com/app/233450/Prison_Architect/
• The Asmodee Publisher Weekend Sale brings up to 80% discounts until Monday 11: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/asmodeepublisherweekend
• Publisher 11bit Studios also puts its games up to 80% off until Monday 11: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/11bitsale2021
• And of course, there's also the weeklong deals.

What else do you want? Go! Go and have a happy and gaming weekend.

XFX, ASRock and PowerColor Radeon RX 6600 graphics cards pictured

https://videocardz.com/newz/xfx-asrock-and-powercolor-radeon-rx-6600-graphics-cards-pictured


Pat Gelsinger: Intel Will Be ‘More Ecosystem-Friendly’ Than Nvidia

https://www.crn.com/slide-shows/components-peripherals/pat-gelsinger-intel-will-be-more-ecosystem-friendly-than-nvidia

"And even better than that, we’re going to make integrated and discrete work together. So if you have three [execution units] worth in the integrated [GPU], then you have 10 EUs worth in the discrete, we’re going to give you 13 EUs worth, and you’re only going to buy 10 EUs worth in the discrete GPU, and you’re going to qualify one product that [works] seamlessly between those two.”

That would certainly be interesting, especially in mobile. But I have to see it before I can fully judge how that will work.

If this is a proper remaster, I'll be excited to play GTA SA with modern graphics but with no gameplay shots and coming out so soon... I get the feeling it's gonna end up as a skip.

Why does this remind me of packets of Cigarettes; warning you the dangers of smoking, lol. EA... never change.

Talking about remasters been playing Alan Wake on chapter 5 atm and having a blast with it. The last time I played it was about 10 years ago and it still holds up well today. While the graphics are a still bit dated (even with redone textures and models) and chunky animations, I love the story and unique combat using light offensively/defensively against the Taken. Really makes me excited for the sequel.

@Captain_Yuri same would replay the trilogy if they gave it some effort. Would be amazing if they updated the in-game assets like character models and stuff. But yeah, no footage and it being a trilogy kinda gives me vibes that this is going to be just a simple HD port with maybe some upgraded textures or something.

Some more news

AMD Radeon RX 6600 Non-XT 3DMark Time Spy Benchmark Leaks Out, Slightly Slower Than The NVIDIA RTX 3060

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-6600-non-xt-3dmark-time-spy-benchmark-leak-slightly-slower-than-the-nvidia-rtx-3060/



Sounds like a skip to me.


PCIe 6.0 Specification Progress Now At Final Draft, Data Transfer Speeds As High As 128 GB/s

https://wccftech.com/pcie-6-0-specification-progress-now-at-final-draft-data-transfer-speeds-as-high-as-128-gb-s/

Won't gonna need this for a long time but still crazy transfer rates!

R* launcher exclusive and they are removing the OG's from Steam tho...

We also don't know if those remasters will be any better than the previous ports, as well as the OST's for each game being fully intact and not edited (because they were fucking lazy with license renewal). 

I expected the worst and to me it's pretty much happened for one part at least (being exclusive to a sodding client I've no desire to use and I don't like the fact that they are using it primarily for data logging). 

Yea I get the feeling it ain't gonna be very good... Especially how they are including mobile...

Once up on a time, rockstar made over 10+ games in a single generation. From GTA to Bully to Midnight Club to Manhunt to Max Payne and the list goes on. In a single generation!

Now we have GTA V across 3 generations and it feels like they are gonna half ass both GTA V and GTA Trilogy remaster. Such a shame!

I miss when publishers were actually good and released good OG games consistently. Fast forward to now and I hate the majority of them, cannot trust them with anything, let alone DRM, exclusivity deals, mod support or even regional pricing...

You know it's sad when me expecting a normal release without any of the bs listed above, is akin to asking for the sodding moon to these companies.

Both Nvidia and AMD (remmeber the very first APUs and how they'd do crossfire with a GPU with similar configuration?) made similar statements in the past. It doesn't work.

Rockstar likes to hype their products, yet this one has gone mostly unnoticed and only confirmed a few weeks before launch. So yeah, I don't have much faith in this ports. 

First thing they should do if they are really that invested in taking care of the kids is to add more safety measures to their microtranstactions, but we know how this things go.

One thing Alan Wake 2 will benefit the most, if Remedy uses a similar gameplay, is from ray tracing. That coiuld be something worth being experienced!

I really, really, doubt they'll go the extra mile to license all the songs again. At best they'll try to get new songs added that made it for the lack of the originals, but that will depend on the budget they've been given it and how much they care... and given that they'll only made the games available from their own store (on PC), I'm not very optimistic.

But well, we know consoles are their main target and PC is only an afterthought so maybe where the games being locked only to their own store is no base for how much work has gone into them.