Tuesday news, part two:

CD Projekt says new Unreal Engine 5 Witcher game won't be 'exclusive to one storefront'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/cd-projekt-says-new-unreal-engine-5-witcher-game-wont-be-exclusive-to-one-storefront/
The biggest surprise of today's Witcher 4 announcement (that's just what we're calling it until it has a title) is not that it's happening—of course it's happening—but that CD Projekt is switching from its in-house developed REDengine to Unreal Engine 5. REDengine, in various iterations, was used in The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3, and Cyberpunk 2077, but its time is clearly up: CD Projekt said in the announcement that the switch to a new engine signals the start of "a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games."
>> You'll have to scroll to the end of the article to find the store comment, in a wording that made Chazore suspicious in the Ryuu thread posted in the previous post.

George RR Martin didn't hide his initials in Elden Ring on purpose, apparently
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/george-rr-martin-didnt-hide-his-initials-in-elden-ring-on-purpose-apparently/
As part of our ongoing quest to find out what exactly George RR Martin did for Elden Ring, the man himself has now denied strapping his own initials onto the game's demigod characters. Major characters like Godrick, Ranni, Radahn, and Melina all have beginning letters that coincidentally or not, align with his own. But this wasn't a decision he made, Martin insisted in his latest blog post.

Sony acquires Jade Raymond's new Haven studio
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/sony-acquires-jade-raymonds-new-haven-studio/
In March 2021, Assassin's Creed co-creator and former Stadia Games and Entertainment head Jade Raymond announced that she'd launched a new studio called Haven. The studio was "independent" but backed by Sony, and its first project was described as a "new IP for PlayStation."
It sounded very much like a PlayStation studio in all but name, and now it's official: PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst announced today that Sony has acquired Haven.
>> SegaHeart made a thread about it.

Starship Troopers: Terran Command gets delayed to June
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/starship-troopers-terran-command-gets-delayed-to-june/
Starship Troopers: Terran Command is an RTS based on the 1997 Paul Verhoeven movie—it was announced in 2019, received a playable demo last year, and was due for release this month. It's now been delayed until June for "polish", with a new post on the game's Steam page announcing a new release date of June 16, 2022.
>> It did look like it could benefit from a delay. We'll see what they're able to do with the extra time.

World of Warcraft's Mage Tower is returning, for good this time
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/world-of-warcrafts-mage-tower-is-returning-for-good-this-time/
Blizzard has announced that the Mage Tower is returning to World of Warcraft as a permanent fixture in Azeroth. You can access it on the Broken Shore from March 29.

Fortnite raised $36M for Ukraine relief in under 48 hours
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/fortnite-raised-dollar36m-for-ukraine-relief-in-under-48-hours/
Epic Games and Microsoft have managed to raise a staggering $36 million in less than 48 hours, which will go towards humanitarian relief in Ukraine.
Over the weekend, both companies pledged that the proceeds from any real-money purchases made in Fortnite between March 20 and April 3 would go to a selection of relief funds: Direct Relief, UNICEF, UNWFP and the UN Refugee Agency. More organisations will also be added to the list "in the coming weeks." It's proven to be the perfect time to make the pledge. Chapter 3 Season 2 also landed on March 20, meaning players are already turning up in droves to pick up the latest battle pass and new cosmetics.
>> It doesn't feel right to congratulate Fortnite but... well done, Fortnite players.

Hopper is a monster!

The jump to N4 is quite a surprise, but I wonder about the yields givern how massive the chip is. Not that price will be a problem, of course, but I doubt they're very good.

Also, they've doubled the CUDA cores again. We'll see if that also applies for Lovelace.

Today's morning has been ... different. The good news is that, because of that, I'm already home (yay!), the bad news is that I'd have most of the news done by now, but today I haven't even started. Let me eat something and I'll start working on them.

Needless to say, they'll come a bit later than usual.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 3D V-Cache CPU Benchmarks Leak Out, Up To 9% Faster Than Ryzen 7 5800X

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7-5800x3d-3d-v-cache-cpu-benchmarks-leak-out-up-to-9-faster-than-ryzen-7-5800x/

Now geekbench isn't really a good CPU benchmark so hopefully it's much faster in actual games otherwise, it may as well be a flop.

Intel introduces ATX 3.0 and ATX12VO 2.0 standards, 12VHPWR 600W power connector for next-gen GPUs is now official

https://videocardz.com/press-release/intel-introduces-atx-3-0-and-atx12vo-2-0-standards-12vhpwr-600w-power-connector-for-next-gen-gpus-is-now-official

Alienware 34 QD-OLED Monitor | 7 Myths Busted

Some interesting quirks about the monitor that people should know about QD-OLED tech going forward. Not a big deal but still interesting.

Ok, here come the Wednesday news! (with a full belly):

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Guild Wars 2's number of active players has more than doubled in the last 3 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/guild-wars-2s-number-of-active-players-has-more-than-doubled-in-the-last-3-years/
Guild Wars 2's third expansion, End of Dragons, appears to have gone down well with its community. To the extent that, in a giant post detailing what's next for the game, the studio also takes a moment to celebrate the game's popularity of late.
"We're seeing incredible growth in the community," writes ArenaNet. "In fact, the number of active Guild Wars 2 players has more than doubled over the last three years. This growth has helped Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons outsell our previous expansion, Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire."
>> More about that "giant post" in the second news post.

GOG has two new flash deals:

• Heroes of Hammerwatch gets a 65% discount during the next 46-ish hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/heroes_of_hammerwatch
• And Guacamelee! 2 - Complete will be 86% off until Friday as well: https://www.gog.com/en/game/guacamelee_2_complete

Steam has two new daily deals:

• Dungeon Deathball is 40% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/861330/Dungeon_Deathball/
• And My Lovely Daughter is 65% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/580170/My_Lovely_Daughter/

Fanatical has gone back to its usual self, and that means that there's a new Star Deal: Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin Deluxe Edition will be 45% off duirng the next 48-ish hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/monster-hunter-stories-2-wings-of-ruin-deluxe-edition

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Zelda: Ocarina of Time fan-made PC port is out now
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/zelda-ocarina-of-time-fan-made-pc-port-is-out-now/
Nearly 25 years since its original release, Zelda: Ocarina of Time finally has a PC port. Called Ship of Harkinian, the port uses reverse-engineered code created by the aptly titled Zelda Reverse Engineering Team, while also adding a bunch of new features and improvements befitting a PC debut. It arrives weeks before its scheduled April release window.
New features include HD graphics and widescreen support. It'll play nice with both keyboard and controller, and the latter has rumble and gyroscope functionality. Oh, and modding is in too. In its announcement, the creators of Ship of Harkinian—known as Harbour Masters—also promised forthcoming support for 60fps, text-to-speech, twin-stick camera controls, HD models and audio, and more.

GAMING NEWS

Warner Bros has removed Denuvo from Mortal Kombat 11
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/warner-bros-has-removed-denuvo-from-mortal-kombat-11/
Warner Bros and NetherRealm Studios have released a new patch for Mortal Kombat 11 that removes the Denuvo anti-tamper tech. Mortal Kombat 11 came out in 2019, meaning that it took almost three years in order to remove this protection system.

Elden Ring Patch 1.03.2 released, fixes the infinite death loop hack exploit
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/elden-ring-patch-1-03-2-released-fixes-the-infinite-death-loop-hack-exploit/
FromSoftware has just released a brand new update for Elden Ring. According to the release notes, Update 1.03.2 addresses a number of bugs. And yes, this patch also resolves the infinite death loop hack exploit that surfaced last week.

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has been delayed until Spring 2023
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/suicide-squad-kill-the-justice-league-has-been-delayed-until-spring-2023/
Sefton Hill, Creative Director and co-founder at Rocksteady Games, has announced that Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has been delayed until Spring 2023. The game was originally targeting a 2022 release date.

Wednesday news, part two:

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin's luscious hair is ruining the game
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/stranger-of-paradise-final-fantasy-origins-luscious-hair-is-ruining-the-game/
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has been causing more chaos than protagonist Jack can reasonably kill. It's another classic Square Enix port, by which I mean it's filled with tiny technical hiccups and frustrating issues that make the game a total pain in the ass to play. But beyond the obvious hiccups, the game seems really poorly optimised.

The future of Guild Wars 2: ArenaNet announces return of Season 1, and teases next expansion
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-future-of-guild-wars-2-arenanet-announces-return-of-season-1-and-teases-next-expansion/
It's been a few weeks now since Guild Wars 2 launched its third expansion, End of Dragons. Now, in a lengthy post, ArenaNet has outlined what's next. It's a pretty massive list of upcoming stuff, from the return of the game's first Living World season, to a new story set on a new map in the expansion's Cantha region, and, biggest of all, the confirmation that a fourth expansion will happen.

This beautiful mountainside city builder has a devastating twist: avalanches
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-beautiful-mountainside-city-builder-has-a-devastating-twist-avalanches/
In some city building games you might have to divert highways around inconvenient hills or smooth out a few inclines so you can place buildings, but Laysara: Summit Kingdom is a whole new ballgame. The settlements you build and manage in Laysara are set high on a mountain among steep cliffs, treacherous terrain, extreme weather events, and all the logistical supply chain problems that come with constructing a nearly vertical city.
>>***com***

Ubisoft shows off ZooBuilder, a prototype AI designed to animate animals
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ubisoft-shows-off-zoobuilder-a-prototype-ai-designed-to-animate-animals/
Ubisoft has shown off its ZooBuilder AI tool, a project that the publisher has mentioned before in its early stages. It is essentially software that can be fed video footage of animals, which it will then analyse frame-by-frame, before constructing animated skeletons from the visual data. This thing builds lions. Kinda.

EA's new PGA Tour game is delayed by a full year
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/eas-new-pga-tour-game-is-delayed-by-a-full-year/
Electronic Arts announced in early 2021 that a new PGA Tour golf game was in the works—the first new PGA Tour game since Rory McIlroy PGA Tour in 2015. Details were light, but EA said a few months later that it would be out in spring 2022. In November 2021, however, EA said that it was "shifting the launch date," which today it nailed down to a full year delay—EA Sports PGA Tour is now slated to be out sometime in spring 2023.

Minecraft Preview is the new standalone beta application for Bedrock
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/minecraft-preview-is-the-new-standalone-beta-application-for-bedrock/
Beta versions of Minecraft Bedrock for Windows now have their very own standalone application, Minecraft Preview, free for Minecraft owners and Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Change may be scary, but this one honestly sounds like a real improvement over the headaches that the old Minecraft beta process has always caused me.

Former Mass Effect boss Casey Hudson is working on a new 'triple-A' sci-fi game
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/former-mass-effect-boss-casey-hudson-is-working-on-a-new-triple-a-sci-fi-game/
Former BioWare general manager Casey Hudson has revealed more about what's going on at his new Humanoid Studios outfit, and it sounds exactly like what you might expect from the project director of Mass Effect: "A multi platform AAA game, focusing on character-driven narrative in an all-new science-fiction universe."

CD Projekt rep responds to Witcher 4 Lynx speculation with an enthusiastic nod
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/cd-projekt-rep-responds-to-witcher-4-lynx-speculation-with-an-enthusiastic-nod/
CD Projekt dropped yesterday's big videogame news in the form of a confirmation that The Witcher 4 (that's not the official title, but we're sticking with it for now) is in development. (...)
But then others pointed out that the medallion looks more like that of the Lynx School, a new school established after the events of The Witcher 3 by members of the School of the Cat and Geralt's hothead pal Lambert. A distinctly post-Witcher 3 setting would be a good fit for a follow-up game, and the the ears in the teaser image are definitely more pronounced than those of the standard Cat medallion. The only problem: The Lynx School is fanfic, and has no basis in either the Witcher novels or videogames.

Elden Ring's latest glitch lets the horse take flight
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/elden-rings-latest-glitch-lets-the-horse-take-flight/
Elden Ring speedrunners were forced to scramble for a new strategy when the game's 1.03 patch hit last week. That update heavily nerfed various speedrunning crutches used by record holder Distortion2, which has naturally led to a scramble to find better ways to break the game. Elden Ring players may already have found an answer: make the horse fly.

Massive Apex Legends leak supposedly reveals over two years' worth of new maps and legends
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/massive-apex-legends-leak-supposedly-reveals-over-two-years-worth-of-new-maps-and-legends/
Christmas came real early for the Apex Legends leak and datamining community, with a Google Drive folder packed with screenshots and footage of unreleased maps, legends, weapons and cosmetics appeared on the ApexUncovered subreddit yesterday morning.

New Witcher game's director addresses crunch: 'Never on my watch!'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/new-witcher-games-director-addresses-crunch-never-on-my-watch/
The director of the upcoming Witcher game has tried to quell concerns of crunch culture at CD Projekt Red.
Jason Slama—who's been serving as the director on standalone card game Gwent for the last few years—announced in a tweet that he would be taking up the helm as director for the newest game in the Witcher saga (thanks, Gamespot). Along with announcing his new role, Slama was encouraging people to apply for an array of roles that are currently going at the studio.
>> We'll see.

Warzone adds famous soldier Snoop Dogg and overhauls Rebirth Island
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/warzone-adds-famous-soldier-snoop-dogg-and-overhauls-rebirth-island/
Call of Duty: Warzone players have strong feelings about many aspects of the game, but perhaps the most fundamental split is over the maps: are you an OG Verdansk operator, or more into Rebirth Island's hectic style of play? That debate will be freshly fuelled with today's major update, running alongside an event called Rebirth Reinforced, that overhauls Rebirth Island's layouts, looks, and adds new elements.

You can play Far Cry 6 and its Stranger Things crossover for free this weekend
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/you-can-play-far-cry-6-and-its-stranger-things-crossover-for-free-this-weekend/
If you've yet to set foot on Far Cry 6's island of Yara, this week will be your chance to give Ubisoft's open-world adventure a shot for free.
From March 24 until March 27, Far Cry 6 will be free to download and play. It can be preloaded right now from Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store, meaning you'll be able to dive straight in when the free trial opens up later in the week. Ubisoft has timed the whole thing to coincide with the release of the slightly bizarre crossover with the Netflix show Stranger Things.

AMD has always said that the benefits of the extra cache would be for games, not other tasks and not benchmark tools like geekbench. So, an 9% increase in that benchmark isn't too bad, specially when you look at it and realize that the single core result is the same and the increase is only for the multi-core one... and the 5800X3D has lower all-core clocks than the 5800X.

Maybe, probably, it won't reach the claimed 15% increase, but it could end being close to it.

FSR 2.0 compatible GPU's and recommendations

https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/23/22993152/amd-fsr-2-0-xbox-nvidia-gpus

Looks like my aging GTX 1070 still has some juice in the tank lol.

Same for me and my 1080ti, but youch for those 900 series users hoping for this (and I've seen some around reddit/Steam forums previously hoping for FSR 2.0 support for their 970/980's).

Would feel for the people with high end Maxwell GPU's like the 980Ti. Since its not even that old ('kay maybe in the PC space it is) and is stilll quite a capable card.

As for your 1080Ti. Yeah, that was a great investment. Pascal was a great architecture from Nvidia back when it launched 2016. The cards were darn good at launch and still pretty much holds its own today in modern titles. And that before things like FSR 2.0 and TAA U, which do breathe new life in older/less performant hardware. Great stuff for those with still capable PC's and are holding out for the next generation of graphics cards.