The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam has two new deals and a new range of weeklong deals:

• The first Midweek Sale features Besiege with a 66% discount until Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/346010/Besiege/
• MudRunner and SnowRunner are son sale, 80% off the first one and 40% the later. Both deals will last until the 2ns of June.
• And here's a small sample of the weeklong deals:
  • Nobody Saves the World gets a 20% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432050/Nobody_Saves_the_World/
  • Delivery from the Pain:Survival / 末日方舟:生存 is 35% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/685340/Delivery_from_the_PainSurvival/
  • Blasted Road Terror gets a 50% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/603330/Blasted_Road_Terror/
  • Tacoma is 60% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/343860/Tacoma/
  • Heroes of Annihilated Empires gets a 75% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4800/Heroes_of_Annihilated_Empires/
  • And the last one is Prison Run and Gun, 90% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/436390/Prison_Run_and_Gun/

The Humble Store ha a new Publisher Sale featuring Frontier Developments, with up to 80% discounts during 6 days (tho some may end earlier). All the keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/frontier-publisher-sale/

And Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Pathfinder: Kingmaker Imperial Edition, 64% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/pathfinder-kingmaker-imperial-edition
• And the new BYO Mega Bundle comes with 18 games to choose for your 1, 5 or 10 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-mega-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Modder brings Super Mario 64's timeless platforming to Garry's Mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/modder-brings-super-mario-64s-timeless-platforming-to-garrys-mod/
Step aside, Gordon Freeman. City 17 has a new iconic videogame mascot to act as its saviour—and this one doesn't need a crowbar to smash in Combine heads.
This is G64, a project that fully ports Super Mario 64's titular jumpman into Garry's Mod. Now, Mario's shown up countless times on the GMod Workshop before, but G64's kicker is that it perfectly recreates the original game's player controller inside the Source sandbox, letting you bound around the game's maps like it's 1996 all over again.

GAMING NEWS

The Division 2 Title Update 15.1 released, full patch notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-division-2-title-update-15-1-released-full-patch-notes-revealed/
Ubisoft has just released a brand new update for Tom Clancy’s The Division 2. According to the release notes, Title Update 15.1 fixes a number of issues that plagued the game. In addition, the team will launch the game’s Fairview Crew Apparel event on June 2nd.

Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed releases on August 30th + PC System Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/destroy-all-humans-2-reprobed-releases-on-august-30th-pc-system-requirements/
THQ Nordic has announced that Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed will release on August 30th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the publisher has also released a new trailer and revealed the game’s official PC system requirements.

No Man’s Sky Leviathan Update 3.91 is out and here are its full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/no-mans-sky-leviathan-update-3-91-is-out-and-here-are-its-full-patch-notes/
Hello Games has released a brand new update for No Man’s Sky. According to the release notes, the Leviathan Update 3.91 packs a number of fixes for bugs that plagued the game.

Tuesday news, part two:

This adorable WIP project is like Townscaper with castles
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-adorable-wip-project-is-like-townscaper-with-castles/
Ruined castles on lonely hills are hardly a rare sight in games. But never have they looked so delightful as procedural artist Anastasia Opara's generative ruins, which promise to one day let us cobble together our own delightful diorama forts.

After a year of silence, Blizzard president says Warcraft 3: Reforged info is coming 'soon'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/after-a-year-of-silence-blizzard-president-says-warcraft-3-reforged-info-is-coming-soon/
Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has responded to a fan request for information on Warcraft 3: Reforged (opens in new tab), saying that the team will say something in the next month. "You'll hear something from them soon (in June)," Ybarra posted on Twitter.

Diablo Immortal reportedly won't be released in Belgium or the Netherlands because of loot boxes
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/diablo-immortal-wont-be-released-in-belgium-or-the-netherlands-because-of-loot-boxes/
Diablo Immortal arrives later this week on mobile devices and, somewhat unexpectedly, PC, in an open beta that was revealed in April. Unless you like in Belgium or the Netherlands, that is, in which case you won't have access to the game—legitimately, at least.
>> We should be more like Belgium and the Netherlands..

Valorant's 'consecutive map streaks' problem is finally fixed, Riot says
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/valorants-consecutive-map-streaks-problem-is-finally-fixed-riot-says/
If it seems like you're not seeing map repeats as much as you used to in Valorant these days, you can take comfort in the knowledge that it's not your imagination. In a new deep dive on the challenges of "map diversity," developer Riot Games explains how it's gone about improving Valorant's map randomization, which was a bigger challenge than you might think.

V Rising developers talk about the 'journey' to full release
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/v-rising-developers-talk-about-the-journey-to-full-release/
Thrilled that their game has reached over one million copies sold, the developers of V Rising have posted a blog outlining their next steps towards a future release for the indie survival-RPG-but-you're-vampires game. "The Stunlock team could not have possibly imagined how many of you were out there, ready to awaken from your crypts and step into this little world we’d created," they said.

Use musical scales and magical melodies to solve puzzles in Sonority
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/use-musical-scales-and-magical-melodies-to-solve-puzzles-in-sonority/
Taking a step away from the usual spatial, programming, and logic challenges that most commonly appear in adventure puzzle games, Sonority is a clever new indie that focuses instead on the basics of music. The building blocks of puzzles are instead music notes ranging, quite literally, across the scale. As you play the notes are combined into melodies and ranges that create magical effects.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 studio drops Heart of Russia DLC over Russian invasion of Ukraine
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/euro-truck-simulator-2-studio-drops-heart-of-russia-dlc-over-russian-invasion-of-ukraine/
SCS Software announced the Heart of Russia DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2 in March 2021, promising to open up the nation—with some limitations, allowing for the sheer size of the place—to more in-depth exploration. But today the studio announced that, in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it has decided not to release the expansion.
>> A shame, but understandable given the circumstances.

Iron Harvest, the 1920s mech RTS, is getting a free 'World Map Campaign' update
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/iron-harvest-the-1920s-mech-rts-is-getting-a-free-world-map-campaign-update/
Iron Harvest is essentially a World War 1 RTS, except that instead of developing primitive, unreliable tanks, the powers involved developed clunky, steam-powered battlemechs. (...)
Today the studio announced that another major update is on the way that will add a new "World Map Campaign mode" for singleplayer combat against the AI. It's not campaign in the story-driven sense, but more like a game of Risk or Axis and Allies: Beginning from a particular starting point, players will square off against AI enemies in a straight-ahead war for world domination. Along with the premade starting conditions, custom scenario creation is also available.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 launch shifts to June 15th, new card reportedly slower than GTX 1050 Ti

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1630-launch-shifts-to-june-15th-new-card-reportedly-slower-than-gtx-1050-ti

Rumor: NVIDIA plans to launch GeForce RTX 4090 in August, RTX 4080 in September and RTX 4070 in October

https://videocardz.com/newz/rumor-nvidia-plans-to-launch-geforce-rtx-4090-in-august-rtx-4080-in-september-and-rtx-4070-in-october

The Korea Times: "Samsung Display to close LCD business"

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2022/05/419_330008.html

Good riddance. The age of OLED is upon us!

Samsung starts producing microLED commercial displays in Slovakia

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2022/05/419_330008.html

Google confirms it has acquired microLED startup Raxium

https://siliconangle.com/2022/05/04/google-confirms-acquired-microled-startup-raxium/

As OLED becomes more and more main stream, the next tech leap is MicroLED for companies. But will be a very long time until those become affordable. I think for displays thats $1000+. At a minimum, you should be looking for Mini-LED but I think waiting for OLED screens is a better bet for "long" term.

Quite pointless, if you ask me. At this point, Nvidia should just keep producing 1050Ti or, taking a page from AMD's nasty book, rebranding the 1050Ti to 1630 and call it a day.

A bit misleading, to be honest. Samsung will still use LCD panels for its TVs, but instead of just doing them themselves, they'll bought them from their Chinese competitiors because they're cheaper. After all, they're already doing it.

But hey, the bigger the production of OLEd/QD-OLED, the more the costs will fall, which is good for all of us.

I do think that it was needed to be updated as while gaming performance may have not improved, support for newer technologies such as modern decoders, HDR and such is a welcome edition. I just wished they went with Ampere as that one has AV1 decode and HDMI 2.1 instead of Turing.

Well Samsung Electronics and Samsung Displays are two different subsidiaries. Samsung Display manufacturers panels who then sells to Samsung Display and other companies like Sony while Samsung Electronics sells TVs and etc who sources panels from Samsung Display and other panel manufacturing companies. Samsung Electronics will continue to use LCD panels from other companies while Samsung Display will go full on OLED.

Yes, I know how this big corporations work. LG, Philips, etc. work the same way. Hell, Samsung even ha a subsidiary called Samsung Heavy that builds ships and, I kid you not, will develop floating nuclear power plants! (see this fore the non-believers)

Still, the result is the same I said, you'll still find LCD TVs from Samsung in the stores, the only difference being that all of them will use panels from other companies.

Good morning, guys. What's better than starting the day with a new competition? With two, of course!

*** NEW CONTESTS ***

Win 1 of 5 Noctua NH-D15 cooling bundles
https://www.club386.com/win-1-of-5-noctua-nh-d15-cooling-bundles/
or https://gleam.io/NcHxX/win-1-of-5-noctua-nhd15-cooling-bundles

Each winner will get a NH-D15 chromax.black CPU cooler, NA-HC3 chromax.black.swap heatsink covers and NA-SAVP3 chromax anti-vibration pads. You'll be able to choose the colour of the pads.

Win an Intel Core i9-12900KS processor
https://www.club386.com/win-an-intel-core-i9-12900ks-processor/
or https://gleam.io/rQ9xY/win-an-intel-core-i912900ks-processor


There's only one of these.

Both competitions are WORLDWIDE.

Good luck!

The news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Tekken 7 is the best-selling game in the series in 26 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/tekken-7-is-the-best-selling-game-in-the-series-in-26-years/
Tekken 7 has officially shifted over nine million copies, cementing itself as the best-selling game in the series.
It's managed to beat out Tekken 3's 26-year record as the series bestseller, which stood at 8.5 million copies. The only other game to come close to those numbers was Tekken 5 at 8.2 million copies sold, which makes Tekken 7's milestone all the more impressive. Creator Katsuhiro Harada also revealed that the series has reached a cumulative total of 53 million copies sold.

GOG comes with four flash deals and two Midweek Sales:

• The first flash deal is Observer: System Redux, 40% off during 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/observer_system_redux
• The second flash deal is the Dragon's Lair Trilogy, 50% off until Friday: https://www.gog.com/en/game/dragons_lair_trilogy
• Ocean's Heart is the third flash deal, with a 60% discount until June 3: https://www.gog.com/en/game/oceans_heart
• And the last flash deal is Warhammer: Chaosbane Slayer Edition, with a 75% discount for 46 hours as well: https://www.gog.com/en/game/warhammer_chaosbane_slayer_edition
• The first Midweek Sale comes with a mix of games with up to 86% discounts during 4 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220601_midweek_sale
• The second Midweek Sale features family friendly games with up to 90% discounts until Sunday: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220601_childrens_day

Steam has two new daily deals and a new Midweek Madness deal:

• The first daily deal is Just Shapes & Beats, 35% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/531510/Just_Shapes__Beats/
• The second daily deal is Project Warlock, that has a demo (and another one for Project Warlock II), 80% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/893680/Project_Warlock/
• The Midweek Madness deal is the The Dark Pictures Franchise, with between 34 and 67% discounts until Friday: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/TheDarkPicturesFranchise

Fanatical will refresh its Star Deal in an hour, and I'll update this post with it (or not), but it also has a new bundle. Edited with the Star Deal and a new sale:

• The new Star Deal is Total War: WARHAMMER III, 30% off during 45 hours (or Friday's nromal refresh time): https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/total-war-warhammer-iii
• The new Crystal VR Collection BYOB comes with 27 titles to choose for your 3, 4, 5 or 10 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/crystal-vr-collection-build-your-own-bundle
• There's also a Warhammer Skulls Festival of Video Games with loys of games and DLCs on sale with up to 80% discounts. You can also get a scratchcard if you spend over 5€ (but they don't state what prizes you can get): https://www.fanatical.com/en/franchises/warhammer

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Here is your first look at Zelda Ocarina of Time on PC with Ray Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/here-is-your-first-look-at-zelda-ocarina-of-time-on-pc-with-ray-tracing/
DarioSamo, the man behind the amazing Ray Tracing Mod for the unofficial PC port of Super Mario 64, has released some screenshots and a short video from an upcoming Ray Tracing Mod for Zelda Ocarina of Time.
These screenshots and video showcase some cute real-time dynamic shadows. The original version of Zelda Ocarina of Time did not feature any real-time dynamic shadows. As such, this is the first time we see something like that in this classic Zelda game.

Skyrim Special Edition gets a 4K Texture Pack for animals and creatures
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/skyrim-special-edition-gets-a-4k-texture-pack-for-animals-and-creatures/
Modder ‘XilaMonstrr’ has released a new 4K Texture Pack for Skyrim Special Edition that overhauls all animals and creatures. This pack is based on Bellyache’s Classic Animal and Creature Retextures, and basically upscales all of those textures in 4K.
Going into more details, this 4K Texture Pack features various textures for almost all animals and creatures. Below you can find the number of textures offered for each creature.

V Rising mods let you zoom all the way in and hide the UI
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/v-rising-mods-let-you-zoom-all-the-way-in-and-hide-the-ui/
Vampire survival game V Rising is a certified hit, quickly springing onto Steam's top 10 most-played list and selling over a million copies in its first week of early access. But the game tends to keep you at arms length, with a camera that looks down at your vampire from above and doesn't let you zoom all the way in to fully enjoy your exquisite castle or the vast open world. It can also be a little hard at times to navigate through the map and see threats lurking on the roads ahead, and the UI, while not overbearing, makes taking great screenshots a bit difficult.
Some cool mods have popped up that change that. ModernCamera removes the zoom limit so you can scroll your view way, way in. At floor level, you can even adjust the camera's angle so you're looking at your vampire head-on instead of top-down. You probably won't want to fight zoomed in all the way—aiming spells is tricky and it's easy to lose track of mobs—but it is quite bracing to run down the roads and through the woods in wolf form with the camera following behind you instead of peering down at you.
Another mod, HideInterface, binds the F11 key to toggle the UI on and off, which pairs nicely with the camera mod and allows you to take great screenshots of your vampire and your carefully decorated castle. Not everything bears close-up scrutiny, naturally, since the game wasn't meant to be looked at this closely from such a low angle (your castle definitely does not have a roof, for example). But if you've been wanting to show off your vampire and your lair, these two mods work great together.

GAMING NEWS

Sonic Frontiers gets a gameplay teaser trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/sonic-frontiers-gets-a-gameplay-teaser-trailer/
SEGA has released a new gameplay teaser trailer for the next mainline Sonic game, Sonic Frontiers. This teaser trailer can give you a glimpse at what the game currently looks like, and how it plays. However, and since this is a teaser trailer, it does not reflect the quality of the final product.
>> Xxain made a thread about this yesterday.

God of War Patch 1.0.12 adds support for AMD FSR 2.0
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/god-of-war-patch-1-0-12-adds-support-for-amd-fsr-2-0/
Santa Monica Studio and Jetpack Interactive have released a new patch for the PC version of God of War that adds support for AMD FSR 2.0. AMD FSR 2.0 uses temporal upscaling techniques, so it should look as good as NVIDIA’s DLSS.

The news 2:

This summer's Future Games Show will be hosted by The Witcher 3's Geralt and Yennefer
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-junes-future-games-show-will-be-hosted-by-the-witcher-3s-geralt-and-yennefer/
As we announced earlier this month, our sister site GamesRadar is returning with the Future Games Show this June. As always there'll be a boatload of games across console and PC to feast your eyes upon, with 40 games being showcased from the likes of Team17, Thunderful and Amanita Design.

Final Fantasy 14's director apologises for making his main class broken in PvP
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/final-fantasy-14s-director-apologises-for-making-his-main-class-broken-in-pvp/
Final Fantasy 14 (opens in new tab) director Naoki Yoshida has apologised for some recent PvP balance changes that just so happened to make black mage—well known to be his main class—absolutely cracked out of the wazoo.

Monument Valley is finally coming to PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/monument-valley-is-finally-coming-to-pc/
Monument Valley is a simple, visually striking, and vaguely sad tale about a princess on a quest for forgiveness. It was released in 2014 for iOS and Android devices, and it was wonderful—one of my favorite mobile games of all time. Eight long years later, it, and the 2017 sequel, are finally coming to PC in the updated Panoramic Edition, with a new PC-specific control scheme and updated graphics supporting ultrawide displays.

These classic point-and-click adventures just got updated 25 years later
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/these-classic-point-and-click-adventures-just-got-updated-25-years-later/
It's not very often that a game studio releases an update for a 25-year-old videogame, but developer 2.21 has done it for Little Big Adventure 2—released in North America as Twinsen's Odyssey—to mark its 25 anniversary in June.

Elden Ring secretly made its twin boss fights easier
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/elden-ring-secretly-made-its-twin-boss-fights-easier/
FromSoftware nerfed some of Elden Ring's trickiest boss fights without telling anyone. Several twin bosses, like the twin Crystalians or Mad Pumpkin Heads, have had their aggression dialed back to make those fights much easier to manage as a solo player. The change was made in patch 1.04 but wasn't clear in the patch notes. Dataminer king bore found the changes in April and Illusory Wall demonstrated it in their latest video.

World of Warcraft wants you to promise you'll be nice to people
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/world-of-warcraft-wants-you-to-promise-youll-be-nice-to-people/
World of Warcraft wants you to agree to be nice to other players with the introduction of a social contract.
It was introduced in the PTR a couple of weeks ago and was fully implemented with patch 9.2.5 which landed earlier this week. "Azeroth is a living world full of people like you—other players with different backgrounds, cultures, experiences and histories who have all come together to play World of Warcraft," the contract's introduction reads. "Every player deserves to have a world that they feel safe in, so please take a minute to read our social contract."

Super Bomberman R Online is shutting down after just 18 months
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/super-bomberman-r-online-is-shutting-down-after-just-18-months/
A little over a year after release, Konami has announced it's calling time on Super Bomberman R Online.
The bomber battle royale was launched as a free-to-play game in May 2021, but it's struggled to find and maintain an audience. SteamDB shows that the game has been hovering around 200 concurrent players since September, with the game's all-time peak being around 7,000 at launch. For a game that's intended to have 64 players in a single match, it's not great. Steam reviews regularly criticise a lack of ability to find games, plus key features like partying up with friends being locked behind a paywall.

JPR: GPU market is slowing down, shipments decreased by -19% year-to-year

https://videocardz.com/press-release/jpr-gpu-market-is-slowing-down-shipments-decreased-by-19-year-to-year

Nvidia continues to dominate while AMD and Intel fight for scraps. Still surprising how much % Intel has managed to secure with entry level GPUs.

AMD Ryzen 7000 ‘AM5’ Motherboards From B650 To X670 Rumored To Start at Around $130 US & Go As High As $500 US

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7000-am5-x670e-x670-b650e-b650-a620-motherboard-prices-start-under-100-us-go-as-high-as-500-us/

NVIDIA Claims Ampere A100 Offers Up To 2x Higher Performance & 2.8x Efficiency Versus AMD Instinct MI250 GPUs

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-claims-ampere-a100-offers-up-to-2x-higher-performance-2-8x-efficiency-versus-amd-instinct-mi250-gpus/

NVIDIA Shows off ConnectX-7 at ISC 2022: Next-Gen Switch With 8 Billion Transistors

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-connectx-7-isc-2022-7nm-process-8-billion-transistors/