Yup. And on't forget that, for that price, you can now get a 5900X that gives you more cores/threads and more L3 cache than a regular 5800X.

It will be interesting to see the reviews.

Yeah, I saw that thread the other night, along with a bunch of people that had virtually no clue what a 1080ti was and how well it still holds up today.

The only times my 1080ti doesn't hold up, is when it's a bad port job, that and games badly cobbled together (or suffering memory leaks like Cyberpunk). 

SE don't really give much of a damn when it comes to their PC ports, that's why they aren't that much afraid to jack up their prices, because they know ppl will buy day 1.

So glad I decided to stop bothering with them anymore, because they don't appear to be doing any better from their PC side (price/perf/settings/port quality etc).

It's probably devs, but I also think it's their engine as well. 

Let's go for the Friday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Itch's massive charity bundle raised over $6.3 million for Ukraine
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/itchs-massive-charity-bundle-raised-over-dollar63-million-for-ukraine/
Itch's Bundle for Ukraine, the latest in what's becoming an extremely welcome trend of massive charity bundles on the indie storefront, wrapped up today after raising over $6.3 million for charities supporting the people of Ukraine.
Organised by Necrosoft Games director Brandon Sheffield, the Bundle for Ukraine collected just shy of a thousand games (including, full disclosure, my own) for a tenner in support of two charities working in Ukraine during Russia's ongoing invasion: The International Medical Corps and Voices of Children.

The Humble Store features a... Humble Games Publisher Sale! It brings up to 75% discounts during the next 6 days and all the keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/humble-games-publisher-sale/.

Fanatical has two new flash deals and a new bundle:

• The first flash deal is Resident Evil Village, 59% off during the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/resident-evil-village
• Azur Lane: Crosswave - Complete Deluxe Edition Bundle gets a 70% deal during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/azur-lane-crosswave-complete-deluxe-edition-bundle
• And the new BYO Nitro Bundle 2 features 18 games to choose your 1, 5 or 10 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-nitro-bundle-2

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Thomas the Tank Engine is in Elden Ring now
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/thomas-the-tank-engine-is-in-elden-ring-now/
What is it with Thomas the Tank Engine? The grinning, googly-eyed locomotive is everywhere: Monster Hunter: World, Kingdom Hearts 3, Fallout 4, Resident Evil 2, hell, he's even in Valheim. And now, courtesy of the new Tree Sentinel Thomas Mod, he has taken his inevitable place in Elden Ring.
A Tree Sentinel is an optional boss in Elden Ring who appears very early in the game—you can see one almost as soon as you step out into the world. And they're hard to miss: They're large, armored humanoids riding large, armored steeds and packing shields and battleaxes that are disproportionately massive even compared to the Sentinels' outsized frames. Bluntly intimidating, in other words, at least when you first encounter them.

GAMING NEWS

Supermassive’s latest game, The Quarry, is coming to PC on June 10th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/supermassives-latest-game-the-quarry-is-coming-to-pc-on-june-10th/
2K Games has announced Supermassive’s new cinematic game, The Quarry. In order to celebrate this announcement, the publisher has also shared its debut trailer that you can find below.
>> Ryuu96 made a thread about this announcement.

FromSoftware hasn’t fixed the “Dark Souls” security issues in Elden Ring [UPDATE]
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/fromsoftware-hasnt-fixed-the-dark-souls-security-issues-in-elden-ring/
Back in February 2022, FromSoftware and Bandai Namco took the PVP servers of Dark Souls down due to some security/hack issues. The companies claimed that these RCE security issues would be fixed in Elden Ring. However, and as some players discovered, the security exploit issues are still present in Elden Ring.
UPDATE:
The tweet with the video demonstration has been deleted. On the other hand, Twitter user luke_yui claimed that FromSoftware has actually resolved the aforementioned security issues. As such, we are flagging this as false. That is until someone else verifies these security exploit claims.

Hogwarts Legacy releases in Holiday 2022, first gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/hogwarts-legacy-releases-in-holiday-2022-first-gameplay-trailer/
Warner Bros has released the first gameplay trailer for Hogwarts Legacy, detailing its gameplay mechanics. Hogwarts Legacy is a third-person immersive, open-world action RPG, developed by Avalanche.
>> And it won't have microtransactions nor online co-op.

Rooted is a new survival game, inspired by The Last of Us and using Unreal Engine 5
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/rooted-is-a-new-survival-game-insipired-by-the-last-of-us-and-using-unreal-engine-5/
An indie team is currently working on a brand new survival game that is inspired by The Last of Us using Unreal Engine 5, called Rooted. While this game is in a really early development stage, you can find below some prototype videos.

New short gameplay footage surfaces for action RPG, Thymesia
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-short-gameplay-footage-surfaces-for-action-rpg-thymesia/
OverBorder Studio has shared a new video, featuring one minute of gameplay footage from its upcoming action RPG, Thymesia. This short gameplay video showcases the game’s dodge mechanics.

Genshin Impact Update 2.6 releases on March 30th, adds new map expansion
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/genshin-impact-update-2-6-releases-on-march-30th-adds-new-map-expansion/
miHoYo has announced that Update 2.6 for Genshin Impact will release on March 30th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the team has also released a new trailer that you can find below.

Here are 10 minutes of gameplay from Ghostwire: Tokyo PC with Ray Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-10-minutes-of-gameplay-from-ghostwire-tokyo-pc-with-ray-tracing/
IGN has shared a video, showcasing ten minutes of gameplay footage from the PC version of Ghostwire: Tokyo. As we’ve already reported, the PC version will support ray-traced shadows and reflections, and both of these Ray Tracing effects are enabled in this video.

GeForce RTX 3070 vs. Radeon RX 6700 XT, 50 Game Benchmark

Of course, you can't have an hardware unboxed video without downplaying Nvidia such as with Vram despite the results showing how little amount of games it actually affects and how easy it is to circumvent. It's why I don't generally bother watching their reviews but just looking at the data.

Russian warehouse employees imprisoned after the theft of 20 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Graphics Cards

https://wccftech.com/russian-warehouse-employees-imprisoned-after-theft-20-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3070-ti-cards/

Friday news, part two:

Fortnite gets Doctor Who's TARDIS and a bundle of themed modes
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/fortnite-gets-doctor-whos-tardis-and-a-bundle-of-themed-missions/
Fortnite is getting a Doctor Who crossover, but perhaps not the way you think. Rather than tossing in some new skins, Epic's gone for more of a Doctor Who "experience."

David Gaider's musical RPG appears on Steam with a new title
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/david-gaiders-musical-rpg-appears-on-steam-with-a-new-title/
In 2019, former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider unveiled his new studio, Summerfall Studios, and its first project, a mythological musical adventure game called Chorus. Much has changed since then, including the title, which was re-revealed today by publisher Humble Games as Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical.

This frantic co-op spaceship game mixes the best parts of FTL and Overcooked
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-frantic-co-op-spaceship-game-mixes-the-best-parts-of-ftl-and-overcooked/
I've seen a lot of episodes of Star Trek but never one in which Captain Picard frantically runs down a corridor of the Enterprise carrying a torpedo and crashes right into Worf, who is headed the opposite direction to stuff a ticking bomb into an incinerator. Bumping and shoving, they eventually manage to pass each other in time for Picard to load and fire the torpedo.

Hearthstone's next expansion will take players on a Voyage to the Sunken City
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/hearthstones-next-expansion-will-take-players-on-a-voyage-to-the-sunken-city/
Hearthstone's next expansion has been revealed as Voyage to the Sunken City, an expedition to the ancient city of Zin-Azshari, the home of "beautiful sights and terrifying danger."

Elden Ring dataminer reveals what NPCs are hiding under their masks
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/elden-ring-dataminer-reveals-what-npcs-are-hiding-under-their-masks/
Varre, Elden Ring's infamous introductory NPC who informs you that you lack a maiden, has a surprisingly punchable face. I know that, because YouTuber Zullie the Witch found Varre's character creator information buried within Elden Ring's files and recreated him in their latest video, alongside the rest of the game's more secretive characters.

Amazon Games says it 'made a mistake' with Lost Ark's March update
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/amazon-games-says-it-made-a-mistake-with-lost-arks-march-update/
(...)
In a new announcement, Amazon Games explained that, "We made a mistake releasing the March game update too quickly after launch. Data we analyzed alongside Smilegate RPG from their previous launches projected that a larger portion of players would have reached the level required to challenge Argos. However, we overlooked certain variables, such as players spending more time on horizontal content and the price of honing materials increasing due to bots and real-money transactions."

Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone hosts a mini-AMA on Twitter
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/stardew-valley-creator-eric-barone-hosts-a-mini-ama-on-twitter/
Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone announced today that he is now self-publishing the game on Android devices, meaning that he's taken full publishing responsibility across all digital platforms.
After making the announcement, he invited followers to ask him questions "about anything," promising that he would answer as best he could. And boy, did people take him up on the offer.

Big changes are coming to Total War: Warhammer 3 in the 1.1 update
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/big-changes-are-coming-to-total-war-warhammer-3-in-the-11-update/
Ahead of its arrival next month, Creative Assembly has detailed what we can expect from Total War: Warhammer 3's first major update, 1.1, which includes some significant changes to the Realm of Chaos and the factions fighting over the daemonic souls contained within.

Street Fighter 5 receives 'definitive update' featuring cel-shaded visuals
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/street-fighter-5-receives-definitive-update-featuring-cel-shaded-visuals/
Capcom recently teased Street Fighter 6, as part of the series' 35th anniversary celebrations, and has now announced what will probably be the last major update for Street Fighter 5. It arrives March 29 and is described as the 'definitive update', and adds some unexpected but great-looking features: prime among them being a cel-shading filter that makes the game look absolutely gorgeous and like a descendant of the much-missed Alpha series.

And now we've reached the part where we take a look at the deals available at GOG and Steam during the weekend:

+GOG

• The Weekly Sale features Visual Novels and jRPGs up to 80% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220314_weekly_sale
• The Syberia franchise will be up to 85% off during another 3 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220311_syberia
• The Midweek Sale is full of relaxing adventures up to 90% off until Sunday: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220316_midweek_sale
• The Atari games sale and its up to 75% discounts will last until Monday: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220317_special_promo_atari_publisher_weekend.
• There are three new flash deals, all of them featuring WORMS games: Worms W.M.D and Worms: Armageddon are 80% off, and Worms World Party Remastered 85% off, all during the next 70 hours.
• And the Weekend Sale features Hack'n'slash games up to 85% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220318_weekend_sale

+Steam

• The new daily deal is Axis & Allies 1942 Online, 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/898920/Axis__Allies_1942_Online/
• The first Weekend Deal is Inscryption, that has a demo and it's 30% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092790/Inscryption/
• Europa Universalis IV will be 75% off until the 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/236850/Europa_Universalis_IV/
• Warhammer: Vermintide 2 gets an 80% discount until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/552500/Warhammer_Vermintide_2/
• Paradise Killer will be 40% off until March 23: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1160220/Paradise_Killer/
• RimWorld is 10% off until March 27: https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/
• EA puts its games on sale, featuring up to 90% discounts until the 28th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/ea-publisher-sale
• And of course, there's also the weeklong deals.

That's all folks! Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

Humble has released the Stand With Ukraine bundle, all of the proceeds will go to Razom for Ukraine, International Rescue Committee, International Medical Corps, and Direct Relief; you can select which organization to donate to. 

Games included are Back 4 Blood, Satisfactory, Metro Exodus, Fable Anniversary, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Quantum Break, Expeditions: Viking, and many more.

Woah! It's an expensive bundle but, with 122 games & DLCs, and given some of the games included in it, it's well worth it.

Thanks for sharing.

Not bad list of games but I'll skip.

Apple M1 Ultra Chip Is Nearly 3 Times Bigger Than AMD’s Ryzen CPUs, Benchmarks Show Desktop Intel & AMD CPUs Still Ahead

https://wccftech.com/apple-m1-ultra-chip-is-nearly-3-times-bigger-amd-ryzen-cpus-benchmarks-show-intel-amd-cpus-still-ahead/

Lol Apple. $4000 M1 Ultra that's slower than much cheaper x86 CPUs and effectively a potato against Nvidia GPUs. M1 is only really good in power limited scenarios such as on laptops when you are using battery only. M1Pro can last 20 hours where it's impossible to get any x86 based laptop to get anywhere close let alone with similar performance on battery. But the moment you plug it in or have it go against desktop components? RIP

M1 Ultra costs $4000. You can buy a scalped PC for less while having much better performance.


Microsoft announce Xbox Cloud Gaming for Steam Deck with Edge

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/03/microsoft-announce-xbox-cloud-gaming-for-steam-deck-with-edge/

Now all we need is Gamepass on Steam


NVIDIA ‘hopped up’ for GTC 2022, the company set to announce Hopper GPU architecture next week

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-hopped-up-for-gtc-2022-the-company-set-to-announce-hopper-gpu-architecture-next-week

I don't know why Apple thinks that chip is worth that much money, but it doesn't matter. They know that they'll sell it because it's Apple and people will buy it regardless of how it compares to the competition.

I'd rather use those $4000 to have an excellent all-around PC that beats whatever Apple machine that houses the M1 Ultra 9 out of 10 times. And I'll still get some spare change.

Since Hopper seems to be only for business and such, not a gaming product, it will be less exciting for us. Nonetheless, But it can still give us an idea of where is Nvidia going.