Price will stil be the nº 1 reason to go for one card or another. Also, given that CPUs are also incresing their TDP, you should add another 50W to those numbers.

Some cool new features on the way from Google. Lens and Assistant are getting some upgrades and while we're still waiting on a commercial product, Glass 2.0 is on the horizon. The live transcription demo at the end was pretty cool.

AMD Drivers are fine... And have been fine since the frame-pacing issue got resolved years ago.

Crypto crashing. BTC down 12% and ETH down 20% but so is everything.

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

This week, the Epic Store is giving away three games (there's one more than expected):

• Jotun: Valhalla Edition: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/jotun
• Prey (2017) : https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/prey
• And Redout: Enhanced Edition: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/redout-enhanced-edition

And next week, the announced free game will be... a mystery!

Steam has two new deals:

• The daily deal is .hack//G.U. Last Recode, 70% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/525480/hackGU_Last_Recode/
• And publisher/developer Abbey Games celebrates its 10th anniversary with a range of discounts that go from 25 to 75% until May 18: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/10-years-of-abbey-games

There's a new Humble Bundle, the Handheld PC Power Bundle, featuring up to 8 games perfect for portable PCs during the next 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/handheld-pc-power-bundle.

And Fanatical's new Star Deal is the Beamdog RPG Pack, 88% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/beamdog-rpg-pack.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This 40GB Texture Pack for Fallout 76 overhauls virtually every texture
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-40gb-texture-pack-for-fallout-76-overhauls-virtually-every-texture/
Modder ‘takatoriyama’ has released a must-have Texture Pack for Fallout 76, called Radrose 76 Ultra-High-Definition Overhaul. According to the modder, this is a comprehensive Ultra-High-Resolution texture replacement that is optimized for 4K UHD displays.
Radrose 76 updates almost all of the game’s textures (or to be more precise, over 85% of all in-game textures). Additionally, it includes all Atom Store items and updates through Update 7 (2022/04/13). Not only that, but it comes with optional “Radiance” materials and textures that can provide a subtle glow effect on useful items.
Going into more details, the texture sizes range between 2X and 8X the original. Moreover, a few textures are the same resolution as the originals but with improved detail and aliasing. The modder has also hand-edited (or mashed up with real-world photographic assets) over a thousand upscaled textures.

Dragon Age Origins gets a remaster mod, available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/dragon-age-origins-gets-a-remaster-mod-available-for-download/
Dragon Age fans, here is something for you today. Dalishious has released a must-have remaster mod for the first Dragon Age game, Dragon Age: Origins.
According to the modder, the purpose of this mod is to make Dragon Age Origins look a little less dated, while still maintaining its memorable style and feeling.
In order to achieve something like that, the modder upgraded the game’s textures via AI techniques. Moreover, he included some mesh replacements. Players can also find some new character creation presets and options. Not only that, but there are headmorphs for most NPCs, more vibrant tints for character skin, hair and eyes, and a few cutscene replacements with a more cinematic feel.
>> Careful, this mod needs another mod to work.

Metroid 64 fan project is coming to PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/metroid-64-fan-project-is-coming-to-pc/
Metroid 64 is one of the great mysteries of the N64 era. Beyond a few screenshots, nothing came of what would've been the first 3D Metroid game, though in hindsight perhaps it was for the best: the series had a triumphant return on GameCube with the excellent Metroid Prime, and all was well. Last week, however, Kotaku discovered that indie developer Luto Akino isn't ready to put the Metroid 64 dream to bed, and is building his own Metroid game in the tech, style and design that an N64 version might have had.
Now, these kinds of projects often end up on PC, but just to confirm that this wasn't one of those undertakings where the game was being made for actual N64 console cartridges, we reached out to Akino, who confirmed that "it's for PC," adding that "perhaps it would be good to change the '64' for something else, but the truth is that it adds strength, sentimentality and helps the player immerse directly in that time."

GAMING NEWS

New gameplay footage surfaces for horror FPS, Ripout
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-footage-surfaces-for-horror-fps-ripout/
Pet Project Games and 3D Realms have released a new gameplay snippet of their upcoming horror FPS, Ripout. This snippet showcases the game’s lighting which, according to its devs, will play a crucial role in the game’s overall atmosphere.

Starfield and Redfall have been delayed until the first half of 2023
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/starfield-and-redfall-have-been-delayed-until-the-first-half-of-2023/
Bethesda has just announced that both Starfield and Redfall have been delayed until the first half of 2023. According to the company, the dev teams of these two games need a bit more time in order to polish them.

The Division 2 Title Update 15 released, full patch notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-division-2-title-update-15-released-full-patch-notes-revealed/
Ubisoft has just released Title Update 15 for Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, and revealed its full patch notes. According to the changelog, Title Update 15 introduces a brand-new progression feature, Expertise.

Thursday news, part two:

Cute crab game gets a trailer and coins the term 'Shellslike'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/cute-crab-game-gets-a-trailer-and-coins-the-term-shellslike/
Aggro Crab is a studio that's quickly built up an image of not being one to take itself too seriously. After its fluorescent satirical dungeon-crawler Going Under, where you battled the demons of failed tech startups, the studio published the equally bizarre 'escape from a weirdo on a train' game Subway Midnight. But the off-kilter themes shouldn't belie the artistic merits of these games: they're filled with striking visuals and great ideas.

Card Shark, the game about cheating, social mobility, and getting stabbed by peasants, arrives on June 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/card-shark-the-game-about-cheating-social-mobility-and-getting-stabbed-by-peasants-arrives-on-june-2/
Devolver Digital announced today that Card Shark, the game of cheating at cards, climbing the ranks of society, and trying not to be murdered like a dog, will finally arrive on June 2.

Ubisoft CEO on buyout rumors: "We have everything we need to remain independent"
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ubisoft-ceo-on-buyout-rumors-we-have-everything-we-need-to-remain-independent/
Addressing rumors that private equity firms may be looking to acquire French publisher Ubisoft, CEO Yves Guillemot said during today's year-end investors call that the company has "everything we need to remain independent."

Gunbrella seamlessly combines exactly the two items you'd think
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/gunbrella-seamlessly-combines-exactly-the-two-items-youd-think/
Gunbrella combines a gun and an umbrella, and makes one wonder why no-one's done it before. A seriously slick-looking 2D platformer for developer Doinksoft, with Devolver Digital on publishing duties, the game is built around rapid switches between blasting enemies and using the umbrella's defensive and movement capabilities.

The Final Boss is a free, Papers, Please-style tale about the drudgery of running an evil empire
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-final-boss-is-a-free-papers-please-style-tale-about-the-drudgery-of-running-an-evil-empire/
What does the evil overlord do when they're not stomping adventurers into the last save? A whole lot of paperwork, according to free little pencil-pusher The Final Boss.

The new Need for Speed is coming from a racing development dream team
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-new-need-for-speed-is-coming-from-a-racing-development-dream-team/
The Need for Speed series has a long history and, within it, there are amazing highs alongside the lows. For me the greatest era for the games was when EA put Criterion on it, then best-known for the Burnout series, who produced several standout entires including Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit—a top-notch action racer, and arguably the best in the series.
However good the games were, Need for Speed has always shifted units, although in recent years it really felt like they've just been spinning their wheels. The last instalment, 2019's Need for Speed Heat, was completely fine but didn't feel like anything special and, in a world where Playground's now raced through five Forza Horizons, just didn't have that excitement factor. Clearly publisher EA thinks something needs changing, too, because now it has moved the series from previous developer Ghost Games over to two of its internal studios that, for racing fans, can only be called a dream team: Codemasters and Criterion.

Epic is going to release the Unreal Editor for Fortnite in an attempt to out-Roblox Roblox
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/epic-is-going-to-release-the-unreal-editor-for-fortnite-in-an-attempt-to-out-roblox-roblox/
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has revealed that Epic will, later this year, release the Unreal Editor for Fortnite. "The full capabilities that you’ve seen [in Unreal Engine] opened up so that anybody can build very high-quality game content and code and deploy it into Fortnite without having to do a deal with us," Sweeney says in a new interview with FastCompany. "It’s open to everybody."

And we're all very sad because of it

By the way, PCGamer has an article explaining what's happened, in case someone wants to know: https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-cryptocurrency-market-is-experiencing-an-unprecedented-crash/

This could actually be big news. Hopefully they treat their creators a lot better than the Roblox people do.

NVIDIA announces May 23 Computex 2022 Keynote, the company will present ‘the latest products for gamers’

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-announces-may-23-computex-2022-keynote-the-company-will-present-the-latest-products-for-gamers

Since Jensen won't be part of the keynote, I highly doubt it will be Lovelace.

As GPU prices go down AMD desperately pre-announces a new game bundle

https://videocardz.com/newz/as-gpu-prices-go-down-amd-desperately-pre-announces-a-new-game-bundle

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 is ‘just as good’ as NVIDIA DLSS 2.0, according to the first review

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-fidelityfx-super-resolution-2-0-is-just-as-good-as-nvidia-dlss-2-0-according-to-the-first-review

I would wait for DF as we have seen tech press hype up FSR 1.0 as DLSS killer as well but in reality, FSR 1.0 was shat. Now that FSR 2.0 is out, the tech press are hyping up FSR 2.0 to be the DLSS killer and also comparing FSR 2.0 to FSR 1.0 and showing how shat FSR 1.0 really is. I am sure FSR 2.0 can be very close to DLSS similar to TAAU but I think DF will show how DLSS continues to be better in complex situations.

With that being said, the good thing about FSR 2.0 is that it's better than checkerboard rendering. So any devs that are still thinking to use that should use FSR 2.0 instead.

I knew it was gonna happen but I still hate to see it