Let's go with the Friday news, all in one post:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has quite a few sales this weekend:

• The first flash deal is the Cultures 1+2 pack, 70% off during 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/cultures_12
• The second, and last, flash deal is Mount & Blade: Warband, 75% off during the same 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/mount_blade_warband
• The Weekly Sale brings up to 75% discounts until the end of next Monday:
• To celebrate the 7th anniversary of The Witcher III, the games of the franchise are up to 85% off until May 22: https://www.gog.com/promo/2022_witcher_anniversary
• Keep in mind the The Witcher Goodies Collection giving away, that will last another 55 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_witcher_goodies_collection
• The Midweek Sale is full of point'n'click and adventure games with up to 90% discounts for another 2 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220518_midweek_sale
• The Weekend Sale features games from Kalypso up to 80% off until the end of Monday: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220520_weekend_sale
• Publisher Microids puts its games up to 90% off until May 25: https://www.gog.com/promo/2022_microids
• The Bethesda Sale, featuring up to 80% discounts, will last until May 26: https://www.gog.com/partner/Bethesda

Steam has quite a lot new sales as well:

• The first daily deal is Hood: Outlaws & Legends, 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/927350/Hood_Outlaws__Legends/
• The second daily deal is 112 Operator, 77% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/793460/112_Operator/
• Midnight Ghost Hunt, still in Early Access, will be 20% off during the weekend: https://store.steampowered.com/app/915810/Midnight_Ghost_Hunt/
• State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition will be free to try and 67% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/495420/State_of_Decay_2_Juggernaut_Edition/
• The Expeditions Franchise Sale will be up to 80% off until the 23rd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/ExpeditionsFranchise
• The Paradox Publisher Weekend brings up to 80% discounts: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/paradox
• The Sniper Ghost Warrior Franchise Sale features up to 82% discounts until Monday 23: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/SGW/sale/2022
• The Cerebral Puzzle Showcase brings up to 85% discounts until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/CerebralPuzzleShowcase
• The Social Deduction Fest features up to 70% discounts until May 25: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/Konami/sale/socialdeductionfest
• And of course, there's also the weeklong deals.

Keep in mind that this is Humble Store's Spring Sale last weekend, because it will only last 4 more days.

And Fanatical has a new Star Deal: Little Nightmares II is 58% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/little-nightmares-ii

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

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GAMING NEWS

First screenshot for the upcoming horror game, The Callisto Protocol
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/first-screenshot-for-the-upcoming-horror-game-the-callisto-protocol/
GameInformer has released the first screenshot for the upcoming horror game, The Callisto Protocol. In case you weren’t aware, The Callisto Protocol is a new story-driven, single-player survival horror game from the creators of Dead Space.

The Iron Giant fights in MultiVersus because it's an 'alternate universe' director says
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-iron-giant-fights-in-multiversus-because-its-an-alternate-universe-director-says/
In MultiVersus, the Smash Bros-like platform fighter with a roster of classic Warner Bros. characters, the Iron Giant is not the gentle-hearted pacifist of the 1999 film. He's a combatant right alongside Superman and can, presumably, violently toss his enemies off the stage into oblivion. Although his moveset hasn't been revealed yet, his inclusion in a game about cartoon characters murdering each other has sparked some criticism over the game's latest trailer.

Marvel Snap is the first game from former Hearthstone director Ben Brode's new studio
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/marvel-snap-is-the-first-game-from-former-hearthstone-director-ben-brodes-new-studio/
In 2018, Hearthstone game director Ben Brode abruptly left Blizzard, saying that he was moving on to start a new company. Later that year, Brode revealed his new endeavor as Second Dinner, saying he was "looking forward to designing, programming, and actually creating things again." And today, Second Dinner's first big project was finally revealed as Marvel Snap, "a revolutionary game experience" for mobile devices and PC.

The Future Games Show returns in June
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/future-games-show-summer-2022-announcement/
The Future Games Show is returning this summer, showcasing over 40 games on PC and consoles. The show will be broadcast on Saturday, June 11, kicking off at 12 pm PDT (3:00 pm EDT, 20:00 BST) on Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and GamesRadar.

An Arizona dad is suing Blizzard over his kid's $300 Hearthstone bill
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/an-arizona-dad-is-suing-blizzard-over-his-kids-dollar300-hearthstone-bill/
As reported by Polygon, an Arizona father has brought a potential class action lawsuit against Blizzard over the sale of Hearthstone card packs to minors.
Lawyers of the father, Nathan Harris, filed a complaint in the Superior Court of Orange County on behalf of his daughter and other minors who have bought Hearthstone's randomized card packs. Harris' suit alleges that his daughter used his credit and debit cards to spend over $300 on card packs between 2019 and 2021. The suit argues that Blizzard's lack of refund policy and parental controls is in breach of "disaffirmation law," or the right to renounce a contract, as it applies to minors through the California Family Code.

The mad lads at Bungie are finally giving Destiny 2 players more storage space
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-mad-lads-at-bungie-are-finally-giving-destiny-2-players-more-storage-space/
Tucked away in the patch notes of the latest This Week at Bungie, a longstanding Destiny 2 community request has at least partially been fulfilled: Every Guardian is getting 100 extra storage slots in their vault, bringing the total to 600.

EVE Anywhere is taking space spreadsheet gaming to the cloud
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/eve-anywhere-is-taking-space-spreadsheet-gaming-to-the-cloud/
CCP Games has launched a cloud-based browser client for EVE Online called EVE Anywhere, which allows players to commit their sci-fi white collar crimes through Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown crashes into 2023
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-crashes-into-2023/
The open-world supercar racing game Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown was announced in 2020, and a year later was scheduled for a release in 2022. Sadly for fans of the long-running series, that's not going to happen, as publisher Nacon has announced that it won't arrive until sometime in 2023.

Blizzard nerfs $25 Hearthstone card
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/blizzard-nerfs-dollar25-hearthstone-card/
A new Hearthstone balance patch brings a number of changes to Blizzard's long-running CCG, most notably to Drek'Thar, which has been nerfed considerably: Its battlecry now summons just one minion from a player's deck, instead of two. It's a notable change not just because of the reduction in power, but because it includes the card that Blizzard was selling by itself for $25 in April.
>> The players that bought it have received a refund.

Darktide will have a playable psyker class
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/darktide-will-have-a-playable-psyker-class/
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is following in the footsteps of the Vermintide series, which are four-player co-op games where players choose from various thematically appropriate classes. While we saw an ogryn, a zealot, and two veterans in the release date trailer, a cover story in the latest issue of Edge Magazine confirms a psyker will be another option.

Ace Combat scores the dream collaboration with Top Gun
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ace-combat-scores-the-dream-collaboration-with-top-gun/
Ace Combat recently celebrated 25 years (and announced a new one's in the works). While reporting on that I mused about how the best thing Bandai Namco could do for Ace Combat 7 would be the fantasy collaboration with Top Gun: Maverick. Well, clearly someone over at Bandai Namco is a PCG fan because those beautiful suits have done it.

And, just like that, another week has come to an end. Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

ASRock’s Next-Gen X670E Taichi Motherboard Pictured, X670E Taichi Carrara AM5 Motherboard Confirmed Too

https://wccftech.com/asrock-next-gen-x670e-taichi-carrara-motherboards-pictured-confirmed-amd-am5-ryzen-7000-cpus/

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Graphics Card Specs, Performance, Price & Availability – Everything We Know So Far

https://wccftech.com/roundup/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4080/

PC Graphics Card Scalping Has Died Off (For Now)

https://www.pcmag.com/news/pc-graphics-card-scalping-has-died-off-for-now

wccftech create "news" out of every single rumor they come across... Just like RedGamingTech.

True but, as long as we remember to use the necessary amounts of salt, they give us something to talk about.

One thing I wonder is since the X670 is basically just two B650, does it come with twice the DDR5 channels? Would be nice for the big APUs to have that much bandwidth, imagine having something like 8CPU cores and 24 CU on an 170W APU, that would actually come close to the 6600 in terms of performance. with enough CPU performance for future GPU upgrades if the APU isn't enough anymore.

Apple shipped me a 79-pound iPhone repair kit to fix a 1.1-ounce battery

https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/21/23079058/apple-self-service-iphone-repair-kit-hands-on

Feels unnecessarily complicated? I think at that point, I'd just go to an authorized repair center and have them replace the battery which I suppose is the point that Apple is trying to make with this complicated battery replacement kit. You want Right to Repair? Sure, we will supply you with DIY kits that are too complicated for most people so they have to do it the usual way anyway...

That would certain be an interesting idea but idk if AMD will go that route anytime soon since they could sell you a dGPU instead. But maybe later down the line, that would be pretty nuts.

Yeah, that's their whole point. With that said, I hope it backfires and a lot of people will ask them for the repair kit because that doesn't look cheap, especially with shipping.

Given the leaked diagram for an Asus board, I doubt AMD wil go that route as well

https://videocardz.com/newz/leaked-asus-x670-prime-pcb-diagram-for-amd-ryzen-7000-cpus-confirms-this-motherboard-has-it-two-chipsets

I expected the two chipsets to be together in the same package, not split and so far away one from the other.

I just hope those chipsets don't require active cooling like initial X570 boards. It is also very strange having two chipsets which suggests AMD is trying to add in additional IO capabilities but they aren't integrating that directly into the CPU. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I don't think they'll require active cooling, specially with one of them being just below the only PCIe slot (weird). Otherwise, that chip will get toasty ver, very soon.