The irony is that if it wasn't for the GPU clown fiesta, this would be one of best generations to get into PC gaming. With Sony and many other developers porting games to PC, with Xbox buying studios where games will only be available on PC and Xbox, PC gamepass being incredible deal, CPU space having fap worthy competition and the list goes on.

Instead we get nonsense like 6500XT and a 3090 Ti which have no purpose in life other than to make the respective companies more money. Meanwhile, a Series S will age better than a 6500XT and a 3090 Ti will get roflstomped by a 4070 in 6-8 months.

First List Of Steam Deck Verified Games Revealed
https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/first-list-of-steam-deck-verified-games-revealed
The first list of Steam Deck Verified games has been revealed. Although the list hasn't technically been unveiled by Valve, various games have a "SteamDeckVerified" tag within their Steam app IDs, which marks them as games confirmed to have been tested with Valve's upcoming handheld.

Deck Verified:

• Aliens: Fireteam Elite
• Ape Out
• Castle Crashers
• Celeste
• Circuit Superstars
• Cuphead
• Dark Souls 2
• Dark Souls 3
• Death Stranding
• Death's Door
• Dishonored
• Final Fantasy 1 Pixel Remaster
• Guacamelee! 2
• Gunfire Reborn
• Hollow Knight
• Hot Wheels Unleashed
• Into the Breach
• Mad Max
• Manifold Garden
• Mark of the Ninja Remastered
• Noita
• Portal 2
• Psychonauts 2
• RAD
• Record of Lodoss War -Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-
• Remnant: From the Ashes
• Risk of Rain 2
• Rogue Legacy 2
• Sable
• Scarlet Nexus
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
• Super Mega Baseball 3
• Tetris Effect Connected
• The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (Repentance expansion is NOT Linux native, however)
• The Messenger
• Total War: Warhammer 2
• Tunche
• Webbed

Have issues but run:

• Among Trees (default controller config doesn't work, controller glyphs don't match, text input doesn't invoke software keyboard)
• Black Skylands (default controller config doesn't work, external controllers not supported)
• Bravely Default 2 (text input doesn't invoke software keyboard, cross saves not working, external controllers not supported)
• Cats in Time (text input doesn't invoke software keyboard, external controllers not supported)
• Cookie Clicker (text not legible)
• Crypt of the Necrodancer (default controller config doesn't work, controller glyphs don't match)
• Dyson Sphere Program (default controller config doesn't work, controller glyphs don't match, text input doesn't invoke software keyboard, text not legible, external controllers not supported)
• Factorio (default controller config doesn't work, controller glyphs don't match, text input doesn't invoke software keyboard, text not legible, external controllers not supported)
• Farming Simulator 19 (controller glyphs don't match, text not legible)
• Inscryption (default controller config doesn't work)
• NieR:Automata (text input doesn't invoke software keyboard, text not legible, external controllers not supported)
• Plants vs. Zombies GOTY (text input doesn't invoke software keyboard, external controllers not supported)
• RimWorld (text input doesn't invoke software keyboard)
• Rise of the Tomb Raider (text input doesn't invoke software keyboard, device compatibility warnings shown)
• Season of Mystery: The Cherry Blossom Murders (text input doesn't invoke software keyboard, cross saves not supported, external controllers not supported)
• Slay the Spire (controller glyphs don't match, devs are working on Steam Input)
• Stormworks: Build and Rescue (default controller config doesn't work, controller glyphs don't match, cross saves not supported)
• Subnautica (default controller config doesn't work, controller glyphs don't match, cross saves not supported, external controllers not supported)
• Swords of Legends Online (launcher issues, default controller config doesn't work, controller glyphs don't match, text input doesn't invoke software keyboard, external controllers not supported)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (text not legible, external controllers not supported)
• Tomb Raider 2013 (launcher issues)
• Tribes of Midgard (text not legible)
• Valheim (controller glyphs don't match, text not legible)
• War Thunder (launcher issues, text not legible)

Does Not Run:

• Arizona Sunshine (VR title)
• Budget Cuts (VR title)
• Job Simulator (VR title)
• Persona 4 Golden (ProtonDB users report it can run under Proton though)
• theBlu (VR title)

Note: The Deck does not support VR.

I did chuckle

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Epic Store's new free game is Relicta: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/relicta
Next week, the free game will be "DAEMON X MACHINA".

GOG has a new Special Sale: True Classic Gems with up to 90% discounts until next Monday: https://www.gog.com/promo/classics.

Steam has a new daily deal: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1137300/Sherlock_Holmes_Chapter_One/.

There is a new Humble Bundle: the Brain Tickler Bundle, featuring up to 6 games to get during the next 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/brain-tickler-bundle.

And Fanatical has two new sales:

• There are 7 new flash deals: https://www.fanatical.com/en/flash-game-sale
• The new Star Deal is Distant Worlds: Universe, 92% off during the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/distant-worlds-universe

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Unreal Engine 5 Early Access Game Starter Kit available for free download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/unreal-engine-5-early-access-game-starter-kit-available-for-free-download/
Epic Games has just released an Unreal Engine 5 Early Access Game Starter Kit for free, meaning that everyone can go ahead and download.
According to Epic Games, this kit is ideal for those picking up Unreal Engine 5 for the first time. Additionally, it’s a great tool for indie developers looking to try out all the new features in Unreal Engine 5.
>> You can get it from here (you have to register).

Google is testing a Windows app that lets you play Android mobile games on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/google-is-testing-a-windows-app-that-lets-you-play-android-mobile-games-on-pc/
Google Play apps are coming to PC this year courtesy of a standalone Windows app, Google Play Games. The company recently released the beta in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan, and plans to follow up soon by extending access to other countries.
>> Cool for those who want to play Diablo Immortal on PC...

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

A quarter century later, Final Fantasy 7 is no longer locked to 15 fps on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/a-mere-25-years-later-final-fantasy-7-is-no-longer-locked-to-15fps-on-pc/
Originally released on PlayStation in 1997, Final Fantasy VII was within a year ported to Windows PCs and released in June 1998. It's a bit long-in-the-tooth, sure, but has always had a dedicated community of modders doing bits and bobs: one nut has proven especially tough to crack, however. The game is locked at 15 frames per second.
(...)
Anyway: Speaking of which, move over Final Fantasy VII Remake! Thanks to the work of the FFNx modding project, the original Final Fantasy 7 has been modded to run at 60 fps.

GAMING NEWS

God of War PC Update 1.0.2 released, full patch notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/god-of-war-pc-patch-1-0-2-released-full-patch-notes-revealed/
Santa Monica and Jetpack Interactive have released the second PC patch for God of War. Update 1.0.2 is a small patch that fixes two bugs and adds two error messages. So yeah, don’t expect any major enhancements or improvements.

Here are the official PC requirements for Total War: Warhammer 3
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/here-are-the-official-pc-requirements-for-total-war-warhammer-3/
Creative Assembly has revealed the official PC system requirements for Total War: Warhammer 3. According to the team, the game will require 120GB of free hard-disk space. As such, make sure you have enough free hard-disk space in case you are planning to buy/play it.
PC gamers will at least need an Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 series CPU with 6GB of RAM. Creative Assembly has also listed the Nvidia GTX 900, AMD RX 400 series and Intel Iris Xe Graphics as the minimum required GPUs.
>> That's a lot of storage.

WWE 2K22 is officially coming to PC on March 11th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/wwe-2k22-is-officially-coming-to-pc-on-march-11th/
2K Games today announced the full set of features for WWE 2K22 and released its official announcement trailer. In addition, the publisher confirmed that the game will be coming to the PC on March 11th, 2022.

LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga will release on April 5th, gets a gameplay overview trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/lego-star-wars-the-skywalker-saga-will-release-on-april-5th-gets-a-gameplay-overview-trailer/
Warner Bros, TT Games, the LEGO Group and Lucasfilm Games today revealed that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will release on April 5th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the teams released a new gameplay overview trailer that you can find below.

Thursday news, the short part two:

XCOM 2 art director's new studio aims to spark 'a golden age of turn-based games'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/xcom-2-art-directors-new-studio-aims-to-spark-a-golden-age-of-turn-based-games/
We liked XCOM 2 an awful lot, awarding it a whopping 94% in our 2016 review—the kind of score we don't hand out lightly. So we'll definitely be keeping an eye on happenings at a new studio called Bit Reactor, announced today by co-founder Greg Foertsch, formerly the art director at XCOM and Civilization studio Firaxis.

Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific season 2 delayed so Activision can fix more bugs
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/call-of-duty-warzone-pacific-season-2-delayed-so-activision-can-fix-more-bugs/
Activision is delaying Call of Duty: Warzone's next season by a few weeks to focus on fixing bugs. The publisher announced in a blog post today that Vanguard and Warzone Pacific season 2 launch has been pushed from February 2 to February 14—a lovely day for a Warzone update.

Halo Infinite hotfix did not fix the Big Team Battle matchmaking problem
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/halo-infinite-hotfix-did-not-fix-the-big-team-battle-matchmaking-problem/
Halo Infinite's Big Team Battle multiplayer mode hasn't been working as intended for quite some time now: Large matchmaking parties have trouble getting into games, and when players do get in, they're often disconnected. A patch for the problem went live today, making "minor service adjustments to improve Big Team Battle matchmaking," but sadly it turns out those adjustments were a little too minor.

AMD 6500XT draws more power than 1650 Super while being slower

12 game average:

Total System Power:

Turing has been pretty interesting against RDNA 2. The "16" series GPUs seem to be more power efficient while performing pretty well in Raster while a 2080 Ti can keep up with a 6900XT if the game has heavy enough Ray Tracing effects.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU matches mobile RTX 3080 in leaked OpenCL benchmark

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3070-ti-laptop-gpu-matches-mobile-rtx-3080-in-leaked-opencl-benchmark

Intel’s Next Gen Bitcoin ASIC called BZM2: Built on 7nm, 137 GigaHash/sec at 2.5 W

https://www.anandtech.com/show/17218/intels-next-gen-bitcoin-asic-called-bzm2-built-on-7nm-137-gigahashsec-at-25-w

We need someone to launch a non-ASIC equivalent for Ethereum and other crypto horscrap so that GPU prices can start to fall to reasonable levels, not more bitcoin chips.

And AMD has released some very questionable cards over the years, most of them by accident or necessity (they couldn't do something better), but the 6500XT is going to the hall of fame of bad cards from them. And the worst part is that ithey've done like this on purpose.

Microids inks video game publishing agreement with ViacomCBS Consumer Products to produce 3 new games based on iconic cat, Garfield
https://www.microids.com/us/microids-inks-video-game-publishing-agreement-with-viacomcbs-consumer-products-to-produce-3-new-games-based-on-iconic-cat-garfield-us/
Paris, January 20, 2022 – The French video game publisher Microids and ViacomCBS Consumer Products have inked a deal to produce three original games based on the globally recognized famous cat, Garfield. Under the deal, Microids and ViacomCBS Consumer Products will create brand-new adventures with the famous orange cat spanning across different video game genres.

Activision’s CEO wants Xbox to revive Guitar Hero and Skylanders
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/activisions-ceo-wants-xbox-to-revive-guitar-hero-and-skylanders/
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has said he’d like to see Microsoft bringing back some currently ‘retired’ series once its acquisition deal has been completed.

What's more is that Phil Spencer has named several old franchises to revive, namely King’s Quest, Guitar Hero, and HeXen.

Xbox CEO Phil Spencer on reviving old Activision games as Microsoft positions itself as tech’s gaming company
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/01/20/xbox-activision-blizzard-phil-spencer/
But it will also be adding an element that newly minted CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer sees as core to Microsoft’s strategy for consumer acquisition: A slew of video games and long-abandoned franchises.

Edit #1:

Mary Skelter 2 – Gets a restoration patch
http://blog.ghostlight.uk.com/post/mary-skelter-2--gets-a-restoration-patch
We are also aware that many of you have been disappointed to miss out on the purge corruption minigames from the console version. After speaking to our partners we are very pleased to say we are now able to provide a way for those who want to experience the game with these included.

Edit #2:

Them's Fightin' Herds developer (Mane6) acquired by Modus Games
https://forums.themsfightinherds.com/index.php?threads/mane6-modus-games-dev-update-6.2401/
Mane6, the development team behind Them's Fightin' Herds, has been acquired by publisher Modus Games!