That Raptoreum name was new to me and I checked: it's barely one month old. It's way too soon to get worried about it given that we don't know if this new BS will be one of the successful cryptos or if it will disappear before the year ends. Remember the vrypto that used storage to work? We no longer hear about it and neither prices nor availability were affected by it... at least not much.

Still, it sucks that they're now also going after CPUs after.

It's a shame to not get all the features given the short lifespan those cards will have (one extra CPU release and then Intel will likely move to a new socket as usual).

But yeah, PCIe 4.0 and DDR4 will lower the cost of those motherboards, making them a good option for mid and low end customers that will likely use them with a 12600(K) or lower type of CPU.

It's the Friday news, all in one post

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Epic Store gives away two items:

• The first is the former Borderlands 2 DLC Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-shot Adventure: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/tiny-tinas-assault-on-dragon-keep-a-wonderlands-one-shot-adventure
• And the second one is the Rogue Company Season Four Epic Pack: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/rogue-company--season-4-epic-pack

And the next week they'll give away three: Guild of Dungeoneering, KID A MNESIA EXHIBITION and Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) .

The Humble Store has two new sales:

• The Europa Universalis franchise is up to 75% off during the next 3 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/europa-universalis-franchise-sale/
• And Curve Digital puts its games up to 90% off during the next 6 days. There are keys for Steam and GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/curve-digital-sale/

Fanatical keeps celebrating its anniversary with the Big Birthday Bash Sale. This could be the last weekend so check it out if you haven't, or if you want to check if something new has been added since the last time.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AMD's Radeon vulnerability haul shows why you should always update your GPU drivers
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/amds-radeon-vulnerability-haul-shows-why-you-should-always-update-your-gpu-drivers/
AMD disclosed 27 vulnerabilities in its Radeon graphics driver on Tuesday, 18 of which are of high severity. But not to worry, AMD has mitigated every single one of them in various recent driver versions, which should serve as good a reminder as any to update your graphics card's drivers regularly.
The disclosure on the AMD security website is quite the haul of potential exploits or weaknesses affecting the AMD Graphics Driver for Windows 10. If left unpatched, these could lead to escalation of privileges, denial of service, information theft, or kernel access exploits.
AMD rolled out mitigations back with driver version 20.7.1, and drivers past 21.4.1 will contain all the relevant bug fixes. We're on driver version 21.11.2 today, which puts any regularly updated PC far clear of these exploits.
>> Security issues aside, the latest drivers only features improvements for Battlefield 2042.

Microsoft is finally pushing out the Windows 11 update that solves AMD's performance problem
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/microsoft-is-finally-pushing-out-the-windows-11-update-that-solves-amds-performance-problem/
Microsoft has released a cumulative update (KB5007215) for Windows 11, and with it, AMD can finally put the ropey performance at launch to bed. The fix for the L3 Cache problem has been resolved, and should now be rolling out to machines everywhere, along with security updates and patches for other Windows 11 problems.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

-Empty-

GAMING NEWS

Closed Beta for free-to-play tactical-action PvP shooter, CROWZ, launches on November 14th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/closed-beta-for-free-to-play-tactical-action-pvp-shooter-crowz-launches-on-november-14th/
ThumbAge has announced that the Global Beta Test for its upcoming FPS game, CROWZ, will launch on November 14th. As the press release reads, the Beta Test will feature a single game mode called “Blood Zone” and Sellrain Valley map for massive play.

Activision apologises as Call of Duty: Vanguard removes bloodstained Quran pages
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/activision-apologises-as-call-of-duty-vanguard-removes-bloodstained-quran-pages/
Call of Duty: Vanguard has not impressed so far, and has now stumbled into a controversy over a thoughtless use of the Quran. The holy text of Islam, the Quran is considered by many Muslims to be the literal word of god and, as such, disrespecting it in any way is considered an insult. In Vanguard's Zombies mode, during a section where the player is going through Stalingrad, pages of the Quran are scattered on the floor and in some cases stained with blood.

15 years after Oblivion, Skyrim Anniversary Edition throws in free horse armor
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/15-years-after-oblivion-skyrim-anniversary-edition-throws-in-free-horse-armor/
Skyrim Anniversary Edition has arrived, with a few freebies for people who own Skyrim Special Edition and more than 500 extras for those willing to buy the new edition. But there's an added bonus, which is also a long-running meme—the famous (and at the time, controversial) horse armor from Oblivion is free for Skyrim via the Creation Club.

GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition radio stations are missing over 20 songs
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/gta-trilogy-definitive-edition-radio-stations-are-missing-over-40-songs/
A question that's been on our minds since the announcement of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition is whether the radio stations will have all the same songs as the original versions did. Grand Theft Auto 4 already lost some of its songs due to music licences expiring, so how will the older games fare? Updated story: A tracklisting provided by Rockstar omitted some of the songs on GTA's radio stations. This story has since been corrected.

Ubisoft lowers price of Rainbow Six Extraction, offers free co-op passes for friends
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ubisoft-lowers-price-of-rainbow-six-extraction-offers-free-co-op-passes-for-friends/
Rainbow Six Extraction isn't out yet, but Ubisoft is already issuing a major discount. Previously planned to be a $60 game, Extraction will launch on every platform at $40. Ubisoft also announced that every copy of Extraction will come with two "Buddy Pass tokens" that'll allow friends to download a trial version of the game valid for 14 days.

Major balance changes coming to 14 Destiny 2 exotics, including Vex, Whisper and Sleeper
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/major-balance-changes-coming-to-14-destiny-2-exotics-including-vex-whisper-and-sleeper/
Bungie has long since learned that in the absence of major content drops, the next best thing is a big fat balance patch. Destiny 2's forthcoming major expansion, The Witch Queen, won't land until 22 February 2022, but players will have the celebratory 30th Anniversary Pack to help alleviate the longueurs of this extended season. The pack launches on 7 December, bringing with it a bunch of nostalgically-themed gear and a new dungeon activity that will reward the infamous exotic rocket launcher Gjallarhorn. Today, Bungie also announced that a slew of nerfs and buffs are coming to the combat sandbox as part of a major balance patch.

Battlefield 2042 won't have voice chat at launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/battlefield-2042-wont-have-voice-chat-at-launch/
Battlefield 2042 introduces a 32-player tactical mode called Hazard Zone, which I described as 'Escape From Tarkov Lite' in my early BF2042 impressions. It's a squad-v-squad race to acquire randomly scattered data drives and escape alive. Communication feels vital in a mode like that, so it's slightly surprising that there's no squad VOIP system in Battlefield 2042 right now.

Bethesda just dropped heaps of new Starfield concept art
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/bethesda-just-dropped-heaps-of-new-starfield-concept-art/
Bethesda hosted a Skyrim 10th Anniversary Concert today, but it also looked forward to its next big RPG: Starfield. At the end of the broadcast, Todd Howard introduced composer Inon Zur, who has provided scores for the likes of Fallout 76, Outriders, Dragon's Dogma and Dragon Age II. What followed was a performance of the 'Starfield Suite' by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Skyrim Anniversary Edition is causing crashes by running too efficiently
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/skyrim-anniversary-edition-black-screen-after-loading-bug/
In preparation for Skyrim Anniversary Edition, and the modpocalypse expected to follow its release, I trimmed my mod load down to a respectable handful. Essentials like Alternate Start - Live Another Life and some additional followers, including Inigo and Lucien. I started a new game and everything was fine, until I quit to do some actual work and then tried to reload that game on my lunch break. A black screen, with the music still playing, was all I got.

Rockstar Games Launcher keels over and all its PC games are down
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/rockstar-games-launcher-keels-over-and-all-its-pc-games-are-down/
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy is being sold on PC through the Rockstar store, which uses the Rockstar Games Launcher: a desktop app much like Battle.net or UPlay or the others. Unfortunately, shortly after Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy's release yesterday, the Rockstar Games Launcher went on the fritz and has now been down for 16 hours.
Update: We've now been able to get the Rockstar Launcher running in offline mode, and can access and play the GTA Trilogy titles. GTA Online and Red Dead Online remain offline.

Let's finish by taking a look at what we'll find this weekend at GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• The new Weekly Sale is full of platformer games up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20211108_weekly_sale
• The Midweek Sale features games with permadeath with up to 85% discounts during another 22 hours: https://www.gog.com/promo/20211110_midweek_sale
• THQ Nordic celebrates its 10th anniversary putting its games up to 75% off until Monday: https://www.gog.com/partner/thqnordic
• Remember that, because of the THQ Nordic anniversary, they're giving away Outcast 1.1. You still have roughly 70 hours to claim it: https://www.gog.com/game/outcast
• The Made in Poland Sale features up to 90% discounts until Monday: https://www.gog.com/partner/made_in_poland
• Thunderful Publishing put its games up to 88% off: https://www.gog.com/partner/thunderful
• Publisher Toge Productions celebrates the launch of 2 new games with a sale that will last until November 17: https://www.gog.com/partner/toge_productions
• There's a new Flash Deal: We Happy Few will be 90% off during the next 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/game/we_happy_few
• And Idea Factory launches 11 games and lots of DLCs for them on the store with up to 70% discounts until the 19th of November: https://www.gog.com/promo/20211112_launch_promo_idea_factory

+Steam

• The first daily deal is Roguebook, 35% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1076200/Roguebook/
• The second daily deal is Crazy Machines 3, 90% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/351920/Crazy_Machines_3/
• The first weekend deal is The Ascent, 25% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/979690/The_Ascent/
• Orcs Must Die! 3 will also be 25% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1522820/Orcs_Must_Die_3/
• Barotrauma, still in Early Access, will be free to try and 75% off until the 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/602960/Barotrauma/
• Bandai Namco puts its One Piece games on sale, up to 85% off until Monday 15: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/one_piece_franchise
• And of course, there's also the weeklong deals.

So yeah, that's all. Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

Intel Alder Lake-P Core i7-12700H CPU Benchmarks Leak, Up To 35% Faster Than The Fastest AMD Ryzen 5000H & 11th Gen CPUs

https://wccftech.com/intel-alder-lake-p-core-i7-12700h-cpu-benchmarks-leak-up-to-35-faster-than-the-fastest-amd-ryzen-5000h-11th-gen-cpus/


Various AIO CPU Coolers Tested With Intel’s Alder Lake LGA 1700 CPUs, Older Models Show Insufficient Thermal Contact

https://wccftech.com/various-aio-cpu-coolers-tested-with-intels-alder-lake-lga-1700-cpus-older-models-show-insufficient-thermal-contact/


As GTA Trilogy PC is pulled, dataminers discover it contains missing music and ‘holy grail’ dev notes

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/as-gta-trilogy-pc-is-pulled-dataminers-discover-it-contains-missing-music-and-holy-grail-dev-notes/

What a shit show

I just bought a $329 Nvidia RTX 3060 for $329, and all I had to do was wait nine months in line

https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/11/22776567/evga-line-queue-to-get-nvidia-rtx-3000-graphics-card-works

Evga queue is the saving grace of this industry as they continue to sell near 2020 MSRP

Watch this go free to play within a year. Ubi keeps trying to push this left field spinoff and the community keeps telling them they aren't interested. Both sides seem dug in and I wonder how well it will end up selling.

At least they're doing that right. I hope they've fixed their soldering problem.

Oh! So they're lowering the price in an attempt to apease the fanbase and bring them to the game? I thought it was because they knew the game was sh!t and no one would buy it at full price.

Not that one thing excludes the other, mind you.

So GTA Definitive and the internet's reaction to it is making for some good comedy:

I think I'll pass.