Oh yea, forgot GTA V was a PS3 game. That makes the situation even worse T_T

Yea I think sadly, PC has ironically been on the forefront of GaaS even before mobile. Games like WoW, LoL, Dota, Runescape, Battleon, Neopets, Habbo Hotel, Second Life etc were huge GaaS well before mobile gaming became a thing. Just that when smartphones took off, GaaS types of games really blew up. And with the games that you mentioned, it only really increased while many others comes and goes.

And what's more annoying is services like Gamepass, as great of a value that is, only encourages GaaS model and with Playstation coming up with more expensive tiers and their investor meetings, they will soon join them. We will see where it all ends up but the one bad thing that might happen if the GaaS model fails for publishers is that they may be forced to sell or close studios. I think because Avengers and Babylon's fall flopped for SE, those were at least partly the reason why they sold their western studios. If this was EA, they would just close them. Hopefully other companies at the very least don't go all in cause that would be a disaster if it flops for them.

Yea I am all over the place with indies. Some look great while others look meh. The problem is there's so many indie games coming out each day that it's hard to keep track but yea, there are certainly some that look great.

I do wonder how hard it is to create a proper RTS. I know we have some great looking indie RTSes coming out but I do hope they get things right. Cause the past attempts at RTS from indies had a lot of core issues such as pathing which for RTS games, makes them unplayable.

Saints Row metacritic scores are out

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-5/saints-row?ref=hp

66 and keeps getting lower

NVIDIA Hopper H100 With 4th Gen Tensor Core Is Twice As Fast Clock-For-Clock, Frequency Delivers 30% Performance Gain

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-hopper-h100-4th-gen-tensor-core-twice-as-fast-clock-for-clock/

TSMC to Begin 3nm Chip Production Next Month

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tsmc-initiates-3nm-chips-production-next-month

Intel Fixing Its Driver Mess | Arc GPUs

Long road ahead but least they are taking steps in the right direction.

AMD Provides First Look At Aldebaran “CDNA 2” Instinct MI200 Series MCM GPU Block Diagram

https://wccftech.com/amd-provides-first-look-at-aldebaran-cdna-2-instinct-mi200-series-mcm-gpu-block-diagram/

Birentech Details China’s Most Powerful GPU, The Biren BR100: 1074mm2 on 7nm, 77 Billion Transistors, Up To 2.8x Faster Than NVIDIA Ampere at 550W

https://wccftech.com/birentech-china-most-powerful-gpu-biren-br100-architecture-disclosed-2-8x-faster-than-nvidia-ampere/

2.8x "Faster" in Ai workloads that is.

Intel Details Ponte Vecchio GPU & Sapphire Rapids HBM Performance, Up To 2.5x Faster Than NVIDIA A100

https://wccftech.com/intel-details-ponte-vecchio-gpu-sapphire-rapids-hbm-performance-up-to-2-5x-faster-than-nvidia-a100/

Everyone shitting on A100 day apparently...

Once again, the Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

MultiVersus was July's biggest-selling game, ousting Elden Ring from the top spot
https://www.pcgamer.com/multiversus-was-julys-biggest-selling-game-ousting-elden-ring-from-the-top-spot/
Warner Bros' character brawler MultiVersus has taken the industry by storm since it arrived in open beta last month. But the scale of its popularity was recently confirmed by analytics group NPD, which reported that Multiversus was the top-selling video game of last month, despite only landing on Steam on the 19th.

2D isometric horror adventure game, STASIS, is free to keep on GOG
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/2d-isometric-horror-adventure-game-stasis-is-free-to-keep-on-gog/
The Brotherhood is currently offering for free its 2D isometric horror adventure game, STASIS. For the next three days, PC gamers can visit the game’s GOG store page and acquire their free copy.
STASIS is a point-and-click, sci-fi, horror adventure game played from a unique isometric perspective. According to its description, the game intertwines a gruesome narrative with retro adventure gameplay.
>> You have 70 hours to claim it: https://www.gog.com/en/game/stasis

GOG starts the week with a bang, and not just becuase of the free game:

• The GOG Sale has begun! You'll be able to find up to 90% discounts on more tha 3500 games until September 5th. Check it out
• And there's also a booklet with highlighted discounts... and also some free games. Learn more here: https://www.gog.com/en/news/oh_wow_check_the_gog_sale_special_deals_booklet_right_now

Steam's offerings are more boring, with only two new deals:

• Thunder Tier One will be 40% off during the next 19 hours: https://store.steampowered.com/app/377300/Thunder_Tier_One/
• And NEBULOUS: Fleet Command, still in Early Access, gets a 20% discount until Sunday, 28: https://store.steampowered.com/app/887570/NEBULOUS_Fleet_Command/

There are three deals at Humble

• At Humble Bundle we find the Valiant VR Bundle, with up to 7 games to get during the next 18 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/valiant-vr
• And at the Humble Store there are two more sales:
  • The End of Summer Sale has launched with lots of games from lots of publishers on sale during the next 15 days. Check out some of them here: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/summer-sale-2022/
  • And there's a 48 hours sale starring Deep Rock Galactic, 55% off: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/deep-rock-galactic

Fanatical's Summer Sale enters its final 24 hours with new flash deals and bundles:

• The Star Deals are: Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters (28% off), Jurassic World Evolution 2 - Deluxe Edition (60% off), Evil Genius 2: World Domination Deluxe Edition (63% off) and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (78% off)
• The three bundles, which were available when the Summer Sale started and make a comeback during 3 days, are: The Jackbox Quintpack (5 games, 50% off), S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete Bundle (3 games, 66% off) and Rimworld with all expansions (1 game + 2 DLCs, 12% off), but the last one hasn't been fully reactivated yet.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

It's probably already too late to clean up your gaming habits for Steam's upcoming 'year in review'
https://www.pcgamer.com/its-probably-already-too-late-to-clean-up-your-gaming-habits-for-steams-upcoming-year-in-review/
SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik recently unearthed evidence of a "year in review" feature similar to those offered by Spotify or Nintendo in the Steam API. Djundik provided a screenshot of the evidence, as well as a brief description of the feature, supposedly set to arrive with the end-of-year Winter Sale.
The screenshot provided by Djundik includes playtime across various platforms like Linux, Mac, Windows, and the Deck, as well as peripheral information like controller and VR playtime. The total playtime for a whole year seems like an especially sobering metric⁠—I spend a lot of time on Steam, it's gonna be like being reminded of how much of your life is spent sleeping or on the toilet.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New version of the Playstation 5 emulator, Kyty, available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-version-of-the-playstation-5-emulator-kyty-available-for-download/
Developer InoriRus has released a brand new version of the first Playstation 5 emulator, Kyty. According to the developer, it’s possible to run some simple games for PS4 and homebrews for PS5 now with this emulator.
Naturally, and since this emulator is in a very early stage, players may encounter graphics glitches, crashes, freezes and low FPS. And no, don’t expect to be playing the latest PS5 triple-A games with this emulator.
Kyty can also emulate Sony’s previous console, the Playstation 4. Thus, Kyty is currently the fourth PS4 emulator that is in active development. The other three are Spine, fpPS4 and GPCS4. All three of them are still in an early development stage.

Here is Red Dead Redemption running with more than 100fps on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-is-red-dead-redemption-running-with-more-than-100fps-on-pc/
The team behind the best Xbox 360 emulator, Xenia, has released a brand new version that comes with some impressive performance increases in numerous games. As such, PC gamers can now experience the first Red Dead Redemption with more than 60fps.
YouTube’s ‘Emulators & Gameplay HD’ has shared the following video, showcasing Red Dead Redemption running on the latest Xenia Canary version. In order to capture this footage, the YouTuber used an Intel i9-12900K with an NVIDIA GeForce 3080Ti.
As we can see, the game could run with more than 137fps at times. This of course happens in big and empty areas. Inside towns, the framerate averages between 60-90fps. This is still impressive considering the game was originally locked at 30fps on consoles.

Take a look at The Witcher 3 with Reshade Ray Tracing & over 100 mods
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/take-a-look-at-the-witcher-3-with-reshade-ray-tracing-over-100-mods/
Digital Dreams has shared a new video, showcasing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with Reshade Ray Tracing and over 100 mods. This video also highlights BlitzFX; a graphical overhaul that integrates modern state-of-the-art rendering techniques into the game.
Going into more details, BlitzFX adds contact hardening soft shadows, as well as screen space contact and distant shadows. Additionally, it improves sun and water rendering, as well as anti-aliasing on vegetation and tonemapping. Do note that this isn’t a Reshade mod. Instead, this is a custom DirectX effect injector.
Alongside BlitzFX, Digital Dreams used the Phoenix Lighting Mod and their own Beyond All Limits Reshade Ray Tracing Mod.
>> The video is almost 10 minutes long and you'll find a link with all the mods used in the article.

Be a remarkably bad cop in remarkably good Half-Life 2 mod Entropy: Zero 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/be-a-remarkably-bad-cop-in-remarkably-good-half-life-2-mod-entropy-zero-2/
Outrageously ambitiousHalf-Life 2 megamod Entropy: Zero 2 is out, letting you experience a campaign in the boots of the Combine bad guys. You're the Bad Cop, protagonist and alien overlord collaborator, and your job is to tail Gordon Freeman through Nova Prospekt prison before taking a journey to track down resistance fighter Dr. Judith Mossman in a snowy northern facility.
If you're a Half-Life 2 player I'm sure you know how that goes. Either way, you'll play through a shockingly detailed campaign, fully voiced, fully choreographed, that takes something like 7-10 hours to beat. Frankly, it's on the quality of many games we considered big to mid-budget 20-some years ago.
Oh, and there's Portal shenanigans afoot and an Aperture science facility involved. You get a turret buddy. Naturally, the Portal turret buddy is named Wilson, because everyone who watched Tom Hanks in Castaway has had that indelible concept scratched upon their brain.

Doom meets Devil May Cry in this acrobatic action mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-meets-devil-may-cry-in-this-acrobatic-action-mod/
If you've ever played Doom and felt like your feet touch the ground too much, then prepare to leap and dash your way to hell and back in The False Angel, a spectacular mod for Doom II that's launching later this week.
The mod has you assume the role of Victoria Noire, a "once regular human" whose abilities have been enhanced with some celestial technology. Heavily inspired by Devil May Cry, the mod introduces a wide range of new, ridiculously powerful weapons to Doom. This include ranged weapons like high-powered assault rifles, sniper-rifles, and rapid-fire pistols. But the mod also adds melee weapons, like a pair of blades Victoria can use to slash up enemies and what appears to be some kind of chainsaw-spear for carving at-a-distance.

GAMING NEWS

Six minutes of in-game cutscene from the Unreal Engine 5-powered game, Black Myth: Wukong
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/six-minutes-of-in-game-cutscene-from-the-unreal-engine-5-powered-game-black-myth-wukong/
Game Science has released a new video for its upcoming Unreal Engine 5-powered action-adventure game, Black Myth: Wukong. This video features 6 minutes in-game cutscene, and all the characters in this video make their first appearances.
>> This is not the video that TallSilhouette shared this weekend.

New Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 single-player gameplay trailer confirms the appearance of a specific villain
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-single-player-gameplay-trailer-confirms-the-appearance-of-a-specific-villain/
A new short gameplay trailer from the single-player campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has appeared online. This trailer features 15 seconds of gameplay footage, and confirms the appearance of a specific villain.

Monday news, the second part:

Boneraiser Minions gives the Diablo Necromancer fantasy a roguelike twist
https://www.pcgamer.com/boneraiser-minions-gives-the-diablo-necromancer-fantasy-a-roguelike-twist/
Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a screen packed with enemies, feeling overwhelmed and outgunned, and thought to yourself "boy, I sure wish a friendly horde of skeletons, zombies, and pumpkinhead guys was fighting on my behalf so I could focus on picking up milkbones instead of shooting?" If so, Boneraiser Minions would like a word.

Ooblets is oobing its full 1.00B release in Septoobler
https://www.pcgamer.com/ooblets-is-oobing-its-full-100b-release-in-septoobler/
After two years in early access and six years in development, Ooblets is doing a casual cha-cha into full release on September 1st, 2022. The whimsically casual and cute Ooblets is a combination of creature-collecting, farming, and life sim with a funky story and a lot of weirdo characters to meet. The quirky adventure comes by way of indie developer/publisher duo, Glumberland.

A retro publisher is updating Ikki, which literally defined the bad yet fun game
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-retro-publisher-is-updating-ikki-which-literally-defined-the-bad-yet-fun-game/
Reviewing the video game Ikki in the mid-1980s, Jun Miura coined a new word: kusoge, literally meaning crap game—or in modern translation: "shit game." Kusoge became a rallying cry of gamers ever since, used in Japan as a widespread label for the games they loved to hate. The games so bad, so janky, that they somehow became good. In the 40 years since, bad games have become an art form.
(...)
Now original Ikki publisher Sunsoft is bringing back Ikki in a revised release called Ikki Unite, set to release on Steam before the end of 2022. Sunsoft hopes Ikki Unite will be closer to the original design vision of Ikki, primarily by expanding its previous two cooperative players to 16, letting you stage a proper peasant uprising. So get ready to fight monkeys and locusts and ninjas with clubs, sickles, and bamboo spears.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits Steam release will include a big anniversary update
https://www.pcgamer.com/kena-bridge-of-spirits-steam-release-includes-big-anniversary-update/
Gorgeously animated action-adventure journey Kena: Bridge of Spirits will come to Steam next month, and will get a pretty hefty Anniversary update to boot. The 2021 action game was released on the Epic Games store, but comes to Steam on September 27th. This was detailed in a new trailer, posted to YouTube.

This lo-fi horror game basically has you playing an extra in the X-Files
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-lo-fi-horror-game-basically-has-you-playing-an-extra-in-the-x-files/
Like Security Booth: Director's Cut's indie horror contemporary, The Mortuary Assistant, it isn't just the job simulator its laconic title might imply. There's an undercurrent of horror and intrigue to the seemingly mundane premise that really makes it sing. The first person horror game launched in expanded form on Steam on August 19.

Y'all seen this fashion police game where you shoot people with a sewing machine?
https://www.pcgamer.com/yall-seen-this-fashion-police-game-where-you-shoot-people-with-a-sewing-machine/
You might have missed this when it came out the other week, but Fashion Police Squad is a delightfully colorful little arena shooter from the indie devs at Mopeful Games. In it you're Sergeant Des, and with sewing machine gun in hand you're charged with uncovering a conspiracy of fashion crimes.

You might have missed Hell Pie, a gross-out 3D platformer that spits in God's face
https://www.pcgamer.com/hell-pie-is-a-gross-out-3d-platformer-that-spits-in-gods-face-you-might-have-missed/
Sometimes a game asks a fundamental, philosophical question that humans have struggled with since the dawn of time. Like, "What is the best way to get to the top of this towering fountain of liquid feces, and why is it by swinging from a fat cherub on a chain?"
Combining a surprisingly adroit 3D platformer with an absolute dump truck full of potty humor, Hell Pie puts you in the capable hooves of Nate, the Demon of Bad Taste. Called during a lull in his busy day by his stern but groovy boss, Satan, Nate finds himself in the unenviable position of being responsible for gathering the ingredients for the lord of darkness's birthday pie.

Destiny x Fortnite crossover datamined
https://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-x-fortnite-crossover-datamined/
Exploding out of the Destiny 2 datamining scene this weekend is an utterly unexpected crossover: Destiny 2 and Fortnite. Destiny 2 dataminer Ginsor has posted a screenshot to Twitter of what pretty credibly looks like Fortnite-inspired armor sets for Destiny 2. The skins look to be extremely Destiny-fied versions of Black Knight, Catalyst, and Omega skins.

We like how you can watch dancing in PUBG's 19.1 patch
https://www.pcgamer.com/we-like-how-you-can-watch-dancing-in-pubgs-191-patch/
Okay so embedded above and on YouTube there's the trailer for PUBG: Battlegrounds (opens in new tab)' 19.1 patch, where they added a bunch of neat guns and equipment and their Assassin's Creed crossover. The new update takes players back to the map Haven, and infuses it with some neato new weapons that fill cool niches and an Assassin's Creed crossover that puts nefarious company Abstergo in the spotlight.
However, I would like to draw attention to this feature of the new patch. The one where you can watch other peoples' teams pull off their sick dance moves, complete with getting tuned in to their music and having your character cheer them on.

Build giant monsters out of parts and battle them in Kaiju Klash
https://www.pcgamer.com/build-giant-monsters-out-of-parts-and-battle-them-in-kaiju-klash/
Sometimes, a tremendous battle of gigantic monsters is exactly what you need. Godzilla incinerating Tokyo with his atomic breath, King Kong absconding with beautiful women, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man stomping on New York (I say he's an honorary kaiju, come at me).
They've long been a source of inspiration for games large and small, so much so that there's even a kaiju-themed game jam hosted by Itch.io. One of the entries features the best name for a videogame in the history of videogames—a kaiju dating sim called Let's Smash.

Slime Rancher 2 wrangles its way onto PC next month
https://www.pcgamer.com/slime-rancher-2-wrangles-its-way-onto-pc-next-month/
Slime Rancher 2, the sequel to Monomi Park's 2017 hit about farming amorphous gelatinous blobs, will squelch onto PC in early access in September.
It's a direct sequel to the original game, continuing the slime wrangling adventures of Beatrix LeBeau, and featuring a similar mixture of exploration, building, farming, and of course, collecting sparkling slime poo to sell for cash. But Slime Rancher 2 will move away from the first game's setting of the Far Far Range, to a new location named Rainbow Island. It's also significantly prettier than the original, which was pleasant enough visually, but had fairly basic environments.

I want a (good) remake of Nebulus. Loved the C64 and Amiga versions in the '80s:

Sad, but I'd be lying if I said that's unexpected.

Who knows, maybe the user score will be better than that.

I don't remember where I read it, but last week I read that Intel discovered 43 bugs in their drivers just from GamersNexus' review alone. Their testing teams should be ashamed.

And yeah, long road ahead.

Isn't FEZ a bit like that?

Here's a couple news/articles I didn't post before that may be of interest, for very different reasons:

Latest Windows security update is locking users out of their PCs
https://www.pcgamer.com/latest-windows-security-update-is-locking-users-out-of-their-pcs/
If you're planning on downloading the latest Microsoft Security Update for Windows, it's a good idea to have your BitLocker key ready to go. According to The Register (opens in new tab), users who download the update are having quite a few issues, including being completely locked out of their PCs on restart.

The latest Windows security update for Secure Boot DBX released nearly two weeks ago on August 9 and since then has been giving users all sorts of problems. Not unlike the last security patch for Windows 11 (opens in new tab). Dubbed KB5012170, this update comes with fixes for exploits that could allow unauthorised code to run during the boot process, so it's important for security, especially when Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is used.

And because I'm sure that some will like to know about them:

Holy heck, there are a lot of strategy RPGs on PC now
https://www.pcgamer.com/holy-heck-there-are-a-lot-of-strategy-rpgs-on-pc-now/
I'm not sure if you've noticed, but there have been a truly startling number of strategy and tactics RPGs released not just this year, but in recent years as well, with a lot more scheduled for the near future. Without even trying I was able to find well over a dozen of them fresh in the pot, ready to drink, or percolating for the near future. The sleeping subgenre, largely confined to consoles and mobile by a complacent or uncaring set of publishers, has exploded onto PC full force.

(...)

The success of Fire Emblem: Awakening in 2012—and every Fire Emblem since—has finally well and truly translated into releases that come to PC. Starting a few years ago, as far as I can tell, a lot of indies just said "Well, shit, they never put these on PC, so I'll make my own!" Now development is so much simpler and the genre so much more popular that we're getting semi-retired industry pioneers—the creator of freaking Fire Emblem, for example—back in the SRPG-making game. Enough of that, though. Let's get to the games.

Between the review embargo, the bugs, the cheap digs at "capitalism" and "check your privs", I dunno why the devs even bothered with Saints Row.

Also found this nugget of shit:

Kinda makes sense, given how their audience wasn't to happy with the game's first preview, with the devs simply labelling any criticism as "haters".

So we got Voilition devs acting almost like Ooblet devs, only these guys are releasing a mediocre and buggy AAA game and asking a high price. 

So glad I dodged yet another bullet, thanks to EGS exclusivity. 

Lmao oh how the great have fallen. I hope Rockstar sees Saints Row as a warning cause if they put shit like this in GTA VI... Oh boy...

Didn't you egt the memo lol?.

R* have "cleaned up their act" and their "frat behaviour", and the new protag of the upcoming GTA is going back to being a single character and it will be a Latina gal, which could very well mean us seeing yet another "Rey" character (you know, the "I'm strong, don't need to earn my power/respect of others" kind of female protag, like we've been seeing in movies thus far (prey movie also comes to mind recently on that subject). 

I don't think I can really trust the AAA industry to really write good characters that aren't trying to pander to some particular group, let alone an audience in their 30-40's.

SR reboot feels like it's trying to target millennials and anti-capitalists/ Warriors, and EA was mucking around with the Sims with their semi recent update to earn brownie points, I wouldn't put it past R* to listen to the smaller crowd instead of the ppl that have been playing their games for nearly 3 decades now. 

)for the record, I'm not saying EA shouldn't have added that update, I just feel like they are abusing that particular crowd to earn brownie points, just like every corp on the planet when pride month is on and they change their avatars to Pride colours, it just reeks hollowness). 

I know some folks really hate the "go woke, go broke" line, but ppl are really getting fed up of poorly written characters, movies, comics and shit and since gaming is taking a bit of a hit on all sides, we don't really need writing to take an even bigger hit, so a smaller less caring audience (I'm going to be honest, they don't, warriors and the like have hardly cared for what came before, because they already show that they love rewriting history, which also means they cannot respect prior text/media) can bask in some shallow veiled win for a short period of time, and a win that won't even matter in the long-run, because those corps would dump them when another gen of gamers rolls around the corner anyways (just like hoe we're getting dumped from games like SR for example). 

Seeing some devs straight up call previous/current fans "haters" for not agreeing with your lazily written slop is just setting a toxic and ugly example of new-age devs thinking it's cool to run your mouth on social media, and getting rewarded/applauded for it/ This is why PR and marketing exist, because devs aren't well coerced in keeping their mouths shut when someone criticises their baby (even if their baby turned out to be ass ugly and poorly written millennial crap). 

I'm not going to shed a tear for Vio though. They've made two duds in a row, the devs that made the old SR games clearly aren't there anymore, and these new devs love to call fans like me "haters", and then release slop like this, even after the 7 month delay and Epic games cash injection. Nah man, fuck'em, I actually hope Embracer takes the IP away from them or closes them, because I believe they deserve it for talking shit and now they get hit (I've so little tolerance for devs running their mouths on social media, just like the ooblet's devs, no dev should get that angsty, just zip the mouth and work on your game, your code speaks louder than insults on twitter).