The issue is even during idle, you can hear the high pitched sounds from the fan. Only when the fan basically stops spinning, it's good but that's essentially unusable in games. Idk why anyone at Valve thought it was a good idea to put that fan in but I suppose it's lessons from a first gen device.

I don't think they could have cooled the Deck without a fan in it. The question is why they didn't go with a fan with better acoustics.

I hope for the latter, but knowing Intel's history, I fear for the former to be true.

The fact that Raja is leading this and Intel Arc feels all too familiar with pre-RDNA Radeon tells me everything I need to know. Raja is like 343... Over-promise and under deliver every time.

@Bolded: That would be Peter Molyneux in a nutshell

And yes, like I stated before, Intel Arc GPUs feel like they're the smaller Vega GPUs with a launch delay of a couple years.

Maybe Intel competes with 3050. Bloody thing is $500 CAD ($400 USD). 

Nah Molyneux did make a lot of great games in back his hey-day. Theme Park, Black and White, Fable etc etc. Only the last couple of decades he's washed up and basically cons and weasels his way through the industry with; vaporware, predatory freemium games and now with NFT's in them.

It does feel like Arc is undercooked and late and its unfortunate its taking them this long to release. Tbf to them it is Intel's first dGPU release for consumers so they'd have to get it right or it and its brand is DOA. But yeah if current benchmarks are anything to go by its a little disappointing that it can barely keep up with current AMD/Nvidia GPU's never mind anything new from them.

Yeah, back in the 90's when he was head of Bullfrog Molyneux was genuinely a great game designer, and to lesser degree when he was head of Lionhead, but since then, he's always gotten way ahead of himself.

To me, due to the additional functions of the chips, it feels more like Arc are supposed to be Workstation GPUs, not gaming GPUs. As such, I think they compare more to AMDs CDNA line of GPUs than RDNA GPUs. And CDNA is a more direct follow-up to GCN as it's much more comparable to that architecture afaik.

But Intel will sell those by the truckload anyway, as I'm sure they'll make OEMs an offer they can't refuse with those chips, especially as bundles with their CPUs and/or other Intel products.

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Black Desert Online Remastered is free to own on Steam until April 13th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/black-desert-online-remastered-is-free-to-own-on-steam-until-april-13th/
Pearl Abyss is currently offering its MMORPG, Black Desert Online, for free. From today and until April 13th, PC gamers can visit its Steam store page and acquire their free copy. Since this is a “free to own” offer, you will be able to keep the game yours forever, and play it whenever you want.

The new free games at the Epic Store are two:

• Rogue Legacy: https://store.epicgames.com/es-ES/p/rogue-legacy
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter: https://store.epicgames.com/es-ES/p/the-vanishing-of-ethan-carter

Next week, the free games will be Insurmountable and XCOM 2.

Steam has two new deals:

• The Captain will be 25% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1721530/The_Captain/
• And the Early Access title House Party will get a 40% discount until April 13: https://store.steampowered.com/app/611790/House_Party/

And there's a new Humble Bundle: the Industrious Sim Bundle, featuring up to 9 games during the next 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/industrious-sims-bundle.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

GOG is returning to its 'Good Old Games' roots
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/gog-is-returning-to-its-good-old-games-roots/
In 2012, the online retailer formerly known as Good Old Games rebranded itself as GOG and began selling current releases, while promising to remain committed to DRM-free distribution and the absence of regional pricing. While GOG continued adding older games to the catalogue, they sat alongside more up-to-date releases. (A look at the banner on top of GOG.com today shows Horizon Zero Dawn beneath a rerelease of The Wheel of Time, which first came out in 1999.) Today, GOG announced a plan to "come back to our classic roots".
Don't expect the name to change again or those new releases to vanish from the shop. Instead, the aim is to make classic games more visible and the first step is a "revival of [the] Good Old Games concept". The newly added Good Old Game tag highlights more than 500 games, each of which is over a decade old and widely considered a classic, though you're welcome to quibble with the specifics of individual games.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

-Nothing-

GAMING NEWS

Remedy is officially working on remakes of Max Payne & Max Payne 2
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/remedy-is-officially-working-on-remakes-of-max-payne-max-payne-2/
Remedy Entertainment has announced that it will remake the iconic Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne games in a new development agreement with Rockstar Games.
>> At least these remakes will be made by a competent studio, unlike the GTA remasters. Anyway, Ryuu96 has made a thread about it.

Thursday news, part two:

Classic first-person spellcaster The Wheel of Time gets resurrected by GOG
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/classic-first-person-spellcaster-the-wheel-of-time-gets-resurrected-by-nightdive/
As an avid Wheel of Time nut, it's safe to say that I was channelling delight when I found out that ye olde Wheel of Time game has launched on GoG in remastered form, courtesy of GOG and Nightdive Studio.

Trying to kill children in Lego Star Wars reveals surprisingly useful exploit
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/trying-to-kill-children-in-lego-star-wars-reveals-surprisingly-useful-exploit/
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga adheres to the old videogame tradition of preventing the player from killing children. If you whack them with a lightsaber, they take the impact from the hit, but don't pop into Lego bits like other enemies in the game. So, naturally, players are comboing young Anakin Skywalker, and other kids, from one part of the map to another to save time.

Elden Ring player discovers easy counter to one of Malenia's nastiest attacks
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/elden-ring-malenia-cheese-strategy/
Of every challenging boss fight FromSoftware has thrown at players over the years, I don't think I've seen one inspire more groaning than the Malenia fight near the end of Elden Ring. She has basically everything that makes a fight hard in Souls games. She hits incredibly hard, dashes toward players who try to run from attacks, and won't be staggered by your meager hits. At least, not with conventional attacks. A month after release, an Elden Ring player has discovered the easiest counter we've seen so far for one of her deadliest attacks: a pot.

Elden Ring players are reverse farming AFK PvPers
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/elden-ring-players-are-reverse-farming-afk-pvpers/
Usually, if you want to farm for runes to level up in Elden Ring, you go wipe out a dozen enemies over and over until you're satisfied. It turns out, this is too much for some players who'd rather not have to press any buttons to get runes. These players are squatting in impossible-to-reach spots in the world and luring invaders in for easy runes while they're alt-tabbed or completely AFK.

Blizzard removes pro-Russia war symbol from Zarya skins in Overwatch
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/blizzard-removes-pro-russia-war-symbol-from-zarya-skins-in-overwatch/
The Overwatch Anniversary Remix event kicked off yesterday with in-game rewards including a range of fan-favorite skins. But users on Reddit and the Blizzard forums quickly noticed that at least a couple of them have been subtly altered: The "Z" that was previously on Zarya's Arctic and Siberian Front skins is no longer there.

Dying Light 2 will get new game plus mode later this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dying-light-2-will-get-new-game-plus-mode-later-this-month/
Techland's Dying Light 2 arrived in early February and, as zombie-bashing parkour-em-ups go, is pretty great: our own Chris Livingston gave it 84%, mainly because he couldn't get enough of drop-kicking dudes off tall buildings. The developer has said it plans to support the game for years to come, and the list of features requested by the community includes a photo mode, new difficulties and, perhaps most of all, a new game plus mode.
Lead game designer Tymon Smektała recently said "Those are definitely things that are on the table currently and that are being worked on. I don’t want to go into too many specifics here… but very soon, people will start seeing those things being added in one form or another into the game."

Saudi Arabia now owns 96% of SNK
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/saudi-arabia-now-owns-96-of-snk/
Mohammad bin Salman is the crown prince of Saudi Arabia: the leader of a country that represses human rights, a man linked to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and a fan of China's Xinjiang re-education camps. He is also now, via the Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC), the ultimate owner of the iconic gaming developer and publisher SNK.
>> Segaheart made a thread about this.

The Matrix Awakens dev says the switch from UE4 to UE5 was 'very smooth'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-matrix-awakens-dev-says-the-switch-from-ue4-to-ue5-was-very-smooth/
Gears 5 developer The Coalition came out with a demo for The Matrix Awakens at the State of Unreal event yesterday. It's one of the first examples of a game designed and built in Unreal Engine 5, and we have to say, UE5 games are looking stunning.
(...)
Xbox News spoke to Kate Rayner, The Coalition's studio technical director, who expresses her amazement at how easy the transition was for the team. "The biggest surprise to me was how finished the engine was, and how easy it was to bring UE4 content into UE5 seamlessly."