FFVII Remake’s poor PC performance might be because it’s a debug build
https://www.pcgamesn.com/final-fantasy-7-remake/pc-performance-debug
After over a year and a half of waiting, Final Fantasy VII Remake is finally out on PC as an Epic Games Store exclusive – but players aren’t happy, with many reporting poor performance, stuttering, and the lack of graphics options. Worse still, modders digging into the port’s files have found that Square Enix seems to have released a debug build.

Mass Effect 4 Will Use Unreal Engine 5
https://gamerant.com/mass-effect-4-unreal-engine-5/
Mass Effect 4, the next game in the beloved-yet-controversial Mass Effect franchise, is easily one of the most highly-anticipated games currently in development. Fans of BioWare's library of games are hungry for any information about the project, but Mass Effect 4 is some ways off, so details are scant. One particular aspect of Mass Effect 4 has garnered a lot of attention, which is the engine it'll run on. It seems Mass Effect fans finally have an answer, as Unreal Engine appears to be BioWare's choice.

A new Ghostbusters game with the classic team is “definitely happening”
https://www.pcgamesn.com/ghostbusters-new-game-classic-cast
None other than Winston Zeddemore himself, Ernie Hudson, has confirmed that a new Ghostbusters game is “definitely happening” and will be based around the classic team – last seen in 2019’s Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered and in last month’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife movie.

Nixxes is already helping to patch Sony’s PC games
https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/mustafa-mahmoud/nixxes-is-already-helping-to-patch-sonys-pc-games/
2021 saw PlayStation engage in an acquisition spree, buying a wide breadth of video game companies and bringing them under the Sony umbrella. One such company was Nixxes – PC specialists who were purchased in order to help with PC ports of Sony games. Just months after the acquisition, the fruits of their labour have already begun to bear.

Steam's new Store Hubs make browsing for games a whole lot more pleasant
https://www.pcgamer.com/steams-new-store-hubs-make-browsing-for-games-a-whole-lot-more-pleasant/
Remember those "experiments" that Steam Labs is conducting? It's been awhile since we last talked about them, but it was basically a beta testing system for new features on Steam that users could opt into or not, depending on their interest in whatever's being offered. Most of the new features are for making the great mass of games on Steam more manageable, through better recommendations or more flexible ways to browse.

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen gets its very own Long War overhaul
https://www.pcgamer.com/xcom-2-war-of-the-chosen-gets-its-very-own-long-war-overhaul/
In 2017 we described the Long War 2 as "a must-play reinvention of XCOM 2" that changes up the brilliant turn-based strategy game in ways that both slow and deepen the campaign against the alien occupation of Earth. As the title suggests, it was a followup to the Long War, an also-excellent mod for the 2012 XCOM: Enemy Unknown. And now the sequel has a sequel, as Long War of the Chosen, a port of the Long War 2 mod for the XCOM 2: War of the Chosen expansion, is live on Steam.

Elite Dangerous carrier interiors have shops, NPCs, and crew quarters
https://www.pcgamesn.com/elite-dangerous/fleet-carrier-interior-concourse
Getting your hands on a Drake-class fleet carrier in Elite: Dangerous is no small task, but it’s about to become even more rewarding. Frontier Developments has revealed some alpha footage of the fleet carrier interiors that are coming to Elite Dangerous: Odyssey early next year, providing a short walk-through of the space game’s grandest capital ships.

There's still time to join the The 12th Semi-Annual PC Secret Santa Event.

If you are also wondering what's it's like to play the game before you install the mods that fixes the game... Here is a quick gameplay snippet on a 3090 system:

https://streamable.com/jifdfj

And thanks to EGS not having any forum support, you have to rely on either Square Enix's official support page or go into Final Fantasy VII page on Steam, you know the ps1 port...

Ubisoft deletes customer's account with paid games due to inactivity

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/riru24/ubisoft_deletes_customers_account_with_paid_games/

Why do I not buy anything from Uplay? Cause Ubisoft is shat. Now ubisoft claims they are just following GDPR policy but as no one else seems to be doing this... That sounds nonsense.

That only really applies to TSMC but Samsung and even Intel are also facing shortages. While Covid might not be the main cause of the water shortages, it does affect TSMC's backup plan which is to get the water shipped to the fabs from elsewhere. Covid is also affecting shipping docks and supply routes so you have shipping containers waiting for extended periods of time with cargo as well as issues with delivery trucks being delayed.

It's true that the watter issue only affects TSMC but, given how big they are in the semiconductor business, the effects are noticed elsewhere. Samsung is still relatively small and Intel has found itself using "old" tech as they took a long time to move past their 14nm process, and neither Samsung nor Intel problems are Covid related, but the result of their own doing.

The container situation is also the result of our own doing, with companies relocating its production facilities in China or south-east Asia for its cheap production costs. The problem is that the route isn't balanced, a lot more containers come from there to North-America and Europe than the other way around, and the result is that, with no one carrying empty containers back to Asia, there's a shortage of them. Yes, Covid accelerated and even made problem more evident, but it didn't create it. It's quite a facepalm situation, if you ask me.

Cargo ports having troubles to keep up with the work is also a result of the previous explanation. Too many things get imported from Asia and the ports have reached a point where they lack room to store more containers, which is why California announced that they'd start issuing fines to the companies that didn't pick their containers within a time period.

Samsung and Intel may be small by comparison to TSMC but they are still very much key players. Covid also does affect them because Covid affects supply chain as well as employees. They can make the wafers but those needs to be shipped to facilities to different manufacturers around the world which then needs to be repackaged and made into products. And every time a new covid variant comes into play, countries start re-enforcing their quarantine rules and such. It halts the entire process down because a new Covid Variant = People getting sick = lockdown rules getting re-enforced = supply chain delays = shortages.

The container problem isn't just a China/South East Asia problem. It's a world wide problem. The main ports in California for example are still backed up and they got backed up exponentially since Covid started. Covid may have not created the problem but that's not the issue. Covid is the straw that broke the camels back and until it goes away or we manage it, the camel ain't gonna recover.

Alert: Alex sent his clips over for us to check out and, yeah, the PC port of FFVIIR is terrible. He captured this using an RTX3090 + 10900k at just 1080p and it's a mess. The smooth presentation was central to its story telling and this version compromises it. https://t.co/wE9Wj1OAEz

— John Linneman (@dark1x) December 17, 2021

Looks like another terrible port out of the gate. Thanks SE.

Hearing ME4 being far off makes me sad, however when it does come out.. at least its going to look darn great visually (at least one hopes!).

Ubisoft Boss Claims NFTs Are Here to Stay
https://gamerant.com/ubisoft-nfts/
After Ubisoft revealed its new blockchain technology entitled Quartz, the company stated how it planned to use the tech in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. The video detailing Quartz that was posted to YouTube has since received a great deal of backlash and subsequently, Ubisoft has released a cosmetic NFT (non-fungible token) into Breakpoint that requires players to have logged over 600 hours into the game to redeem. Now, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot is claiming that the NFT technology is here to stay.

Psychonauts 2 studio has begun work on multiple “new projects”
https://www.pcgamesn.com/psychonauts-2/double-fine-new-game
After creating one of the best games of the year, Psychonauts 2 developer Double Fine Productions has now shifted its focus to the future – and is apparently “splitting up into various teams” to work on multiple “new projects”, although there’s a possibility none of them are Psychonauts 3.

Alleged photo of ASUS GeForce RTX 3090 Ti TUF graphics card packaging leaks out

https://videocardz.com/newz/alleged-photo-of-asus-geforce-rtx-3090-ti-tuf-graphics-card-packaging-leaks-out


LG launches UltraGear 17G90Q gaming laptop with GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q

https://videocardz.com/press-release/lg-launches-ultragear-17g90q-gaming-laptop-with-geforce-rtx-3080-max-q


Cyberpunk 2077 modder, keanuWheeze, adds a fully functional Metro System mod with 19 explorable stations in first and third person view

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/3560

Modders do what devs don't

What's the equivalent of rtings for audio equipment? I'd like to upgrade my audio but barely know my head from my ass there.

Square Enix Files Trademark for Long-Forgotten 90s Platformer Gex
https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2021/12/18/gex-trademark-filed/
As spotted by Gematsu, the application was filed on December 15th, per the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s website, with Square Enix listed as the owner. Gex was previously owned by Eidos Interactive, which became parent company of Crystal Dynamics in 1998. When Eidos Interactive became a Square Enix property in 2009, Gex came with it.

Scientists taught a petri dish of brain cells to play pong faster than an AI
https://www.pcgamer.com/scientists-taught-a-petri-dish-of-brain-cells-to-play-pong-faster-than-an-ai/
New Scientist reports that a team in Australia has been growing these small puddles of brain and now one has learnt to play Pong, in fairly impressive time.
Can't wait until I'll have to feed and water my PC.

Major GOG bug is preventing PCs from going to sleep
https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/mustafa-mahmoud/major-gog-bug-is-preventing-pcs-from-going-to-sleep/
No matter how stringent you are with squashing bugs,and how much time you spend playtesting a new build of a game or any piece of software, some bugs will inevitably fall through the cracks. Such is the case with the PC game client GOG Galaxy, which is currently preventing PC displays from turning off.

Nvidia 497.29 driver brings GTFO and Horizon Zero Dawn DLSS support
https://www.neowin.net/news/nvidia-49729-driver-brings-gtfo-and-horizon-zero-dawn-dlss-support/
It is new driver time for Nvidia graphics users. The green team today brought forth the GeForce Game Ready 497.29 WHQL driver, adding support for the 1.0 release of GTFO out of early access as well as the recent DLSS implementation to Horizon Zero Dawn.