Sorry, I'm late. These are Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam doesn't have the usual weeklong deals (after all, they'll start the Autumn/Halloween Sale with today's refresh), but that's no problem for having some new deals:

• The new daily deal is an Eastern European Games Sale, with up to 75% discounts: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/devplay
• The Resident Evil Halloween Pack features the last four games with a 64% discount until October 27. The individual games discounts go from 25 to 70% and will last until November 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/28394/2022_Resident_Evil_Halloween_Pack/
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition will be 75% off until the 31st of October: https://store.steampowered.com/app/489830/The_Elder_Scrolls_V_Skyrim_Special_Edition/
• The The Guild franchise goes on sale with up to 80% discounts until October 31: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/THQNordic/sale/TheGuildFranchiseSale
• Golden Light will be 50% off until November 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1245430/Golden_Light/
• And Disco Elysium - The Final Cut will be 75% off until November 7: https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/

The Humble Store has two new sales:

• The Indie Hits Sale features up to 90% discounts during 6 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG and 1 for EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/indie-hits-sale/
• And the Halloween Sale, that features all kind of games, comes with up to 90% discounts during... well, depends on the game, but between 5 and 10 days from what I've seen. There are keys for Steam, GOG EGS and UPlay: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/halloween-sale/

And Fanatical

• The new Star Deal is DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT, 54% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/death-stranding-director-s-cut
• 505 Games puts its catalog on sale with up to 91% discounts during 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/505-games
• And the new BTO Nitro Bundle 3 comes with 19 titles to choose for your 1, 5 or 10 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-nitro-bundle-3

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This Resident Evil 2 Remake Mod will add support for NVIDIA DLSS 2, AMD FSR 2.0 & Intel XeSS
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/this-resident-evil-2-remake-mod-will-add-support-for-nvidia-dlss-2-amd-fsr-2-0-intel-xess/
Modders ‘Praydog’ and ‘PureDark’ are currently working on a mind-blowing mod for Resident Evil 2 Remake that will add support for NVIDIA DLSS 2, AMD FSR 2.0 and Intel XeSS.
This is huge news as Resident Evil 2 Remake never supported any of the aforementioned upscaling techniques. And although there is no ETA on when this mod will come out, you can find below a video that showcases it in action.
In theory, this mod may allow the modders to implement these upscaling techniques in other games too.

GAMING NEWS

Street Fighter 6 Closed Beta build has been leaked online
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/street-fighter-6-closed-beta-build-has-been-leaked-online/
It appears that the closed beta build for Street Fighter 6 has been leaked online, allowing everyone to – illegally – get access and test this new fighting game.

CRISIS CORE –FINAL FANTASY VII– REUNION gets new beautiful 4K screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/crisis-core-final-fantasy-vii-reunion-gets-new-beautiful-4k-screenshots/
Square Enix has released a new set of beautiful 4K screenshots for CRISIS CORE –FINAL FANTASY VII– REUNION. These screenshots showcase some of the game’s characters, as well as some environments and combat sequences.

Tuesday news, part two:

It just got much easier to find the best mods in Teardown
https://www.pcgamer.com/it-just-got-much-easier-to-find-the-best-mods-in-teardown/
Voxel-based destruction sim Teardown got its 1.2 update today, and it promises to make the process of discovering mods even easier. The new featured mods list is curated by Teardown's devs at Tuxedo Labs, and highlights all sorts of "new maps, tools, vehicles, mini-games and more" to spare you the trouble of rummaging through the thousands of mods that already exist for the game.

Diablo 3 took so long to get rid of its auction house because 'it was on the box'
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-3-took-so-long-to-get-rid-of-its-auction-house-because-it-was-on-the-box/
Three former Blizzard and Blizzard North grandees gave a panel talk this past weekend at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, discussing the Diablo series and their respective roles in its history. Matt Householder was a producer, Matt Uelmen did music and sound design, while Jay Wilson had various roles before becoming lead designer on Diablo 3.
(...)
The most interesting element of the auction house was that, when it was decided to get rid of it, Blizzard began to panic internally about something that seems relatively minor. It was on the box as a selling point.
(...)
Then, the delay between decision and action: "The reason we did not get rid of it right away when we saw it was a problem was legally we didn't think we could because it was advertised on the boxes…" said Wilson.

'Activision's effect on Blizzard was like a frog in a boiling pot of water' says former Blizzard director
https://www.pcgamer.com/activisions-effect-on-blizzard-was-like-a-frog-in-a-boiling-pot-of-water-says-former-blizzard-director/
(...)
"Activision's effect on Blizzard was like a frog in a boiling pot of water," said Wilson. "Early on it felt like nothing. Later, as business models progressed for products, it became more and more… the products that were newer, that were making money, had enormous amounts of pressure on them to produce…
"Like Heroes of the Storm: they were just crushed in meetings with Activision where they were always talking about the bottom line, how to pull more out of that… Diablo 3 wasn't affected too much because we were very solidly a premium boxed model."

Terraria becomes the first indie hit to break 1M positive user reviews on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/terraria-becomes-the-first-indie-hit-to-break-1m-positive-user-reviews-on-steam/
We liked Terraria so much we reviewed it twice: Once in 2011, when it was new, and then again in 2018, when we found that it was "still one of the best adventures out there." In case that's not sufficient testament to both its quality and its durability, Terraria has now pulled in over one million positive user reviews on Steam, becoming the first indie game to do so.

Fallout 4 is getting a free 4K update next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-4-is-getting-a-free-4k-update-next-year/
Amidst the big celebration of the 25th anniversary of the original Fallout, Bethesda has announced that Fallout 4 is getting a free "next-gen update" in 2023—and yes, it's coming to PC.

The best Fallout game was almost just an expansion pack
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-fallout-game-was-almost-just-an-expansion-pack/
Not that we can't still argue over it from time to time, but Fallout: New Vegas is widely regarded as the best Fallout game in the 25-year history of the series, not to mention one of the best RPGs of all time. That's especially unusual since New Vegas wasn't made by Interplay, the original creator of the series, or Bethesda, who took over the license, but by Obsidian Entertainment, who made a single Fallout game and then never touched the series again.
But Obsidian's RPG masterpiece almost wasn't a standalone Fallout game. According to Todd Howard, Fallout: New Vegas was originally planned as just "a big expansion pack" for Fallout 3.

'Sexual assault' custom game mode reveals a glaring Overwatch moderation problem
https://www.pcgamer.com/sexual-assault-custom-game-mode-reveals-a-glaring-overwatch-moderation-problem/
Overwatch 2 has seen an influx of user-created custom game modes since its free-to-play launch earlier this month. Like a lot of FPS games with custom server browsers, Overwatch 2's custom games can be named anything allowed by Blizzard's word filters and character limit. However, that hasn't prevented a mode called "Sexual Assault Simulator" from showing up, which sparked Twitter user Lynn MBE to post a PSA for anyone who might encounter it.
>> If Blizzard has a filter for which words can be used, how the f*ck did "sexual" pass that filter?

V Rising, the other vampire survival hit of 2022, is going free to play for Halloween
https://www.pcgamer.com/v-rising-the-other-vampire-survival-hit-of-2022-is-going-free-to-play-for-halloween/
The Bloodfeast is coming to the hit indie vampire survival game V Rising, and while that sounds ominous and potentially horrific, what it means in practical terms is that you can play the game for free this weekend.
>> And it's also 20% off until November 7.

Explore endless roads in this beautiful driving game that runs in your browser
https://www.pcgamer.com/explore-endless-roads-in-this-beautiful-driving-game-that-runs-in-your-browser/
(...)
Slow Roads is an endless procedurally generated driving game that's free to play in your browser. Its developer goes by Anslo, who recently posted a video of their game running to Twitter, announcing that the project was ready to share. The video shows off the game running with different environments, and times of day, and it's immediately very clear that this is quite an impressive effort that really pushes browser based gaming.
>> It's boring, but it actually works quite well.

Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin is back online, but original Dark Souls is offline forever
https://www.pcgamer.com/dark-souls-2-scholar-of-the-first-sin-is-back-online-but-original-dark-souls-is-offline-forever/
Two months after Dark Souls 3's servers sprung back to life, and nine months after the servers for the entire Souls series went offline, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin (SOTFS) is back online. And that's pretty much where the good news ends.
The original version of DS2, which runs on DX9 and lacks the additions and reconfigured encounters of SOTSF, will have to wait a little longer to get its servers back up and running. From said only that base DS2's online features would be back online "at a later date," which is a scarily elastic timespan.
Still, it's a better prognosis than the one given to Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (the original, pre-remaster version of DS1): that game won't be coming back online at all.

Elden Ring patches its patch after Endure spell proves too enduring
https://www.pcgamer.com/elden-ring-patches-its-patch-after-endure-spell-proves-too-enduring/
Elden Ring recently received a 1.07 update, which was one of the most major attempts FromSoftware has made to deal with the porous line between PvE and PvP in these games. It came with an absolute boatload of changes aimed at multiplayer balance, and decoupled PvE and PvP weapon balancing (albeit, this mainly involved buffing weapons in PvE). It all got a bit live service for a moment.
Possibly too live service, because now the developer's rushed out a patch to the patch, re-tweaking some values and acknowledging that some weapons weren't functioning quite as an Elden Lord might like. Prime among them is the Ash of War art Endure, which had its effect lengthened and let you poise through attacks with decreased damage and respond with an almighty thwack. The direction of this art has now been reduced after Tarnished got a bit too poise-happy, with the buff having "a greater impact on the game balance than expected."

Creative Assembly vows investigation after 'deeply concerning and serious' allegations of workplace abuse
https://www.pcgamer.com/creative-assembly-vows-investigation-after-deeply-concerning-and-serious-allegations-of-workplace-abuse/
Creative Assembly, maker of the Total War series and upcoming shooter Hyenas, has responded to allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct against one of its former employees. The company says it will investigate the matter and is calling for former employees to reach out if they have testimonies that could aid the investigation.

In a new Marvel card game, you kill Uncle Ben to get Spider-Man
https://www.pcgamer.com/in-a-new-marvel-card-game-you-kill-uncle-ben-to-get-spider-man/
Marvel Snap is a new free-to-play card game set in everyone's favourite superhero universe, and it's got some considerable pedigree behind it. The game has been developed by former Hearthstone director Ben Brode’s studio Second Dinner Studios, and is out now on mobile and PC. It goes for a shorter, more action-packed match experience than the likes of Hearthstone: games are over quickly, you play a lot of them, and it showers you with freebies.

AMD rumored to launch Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-rumored-to-launch-radeon-rx-7900-xtx-graphics-card

Rambus announces availability of PCIe Express 6.0 interface subsystem

https://videocardz.com/press-release/rambus-announces-availability-of-pcie-express-6-0-interface-subsystem

AMD Radeon RX 7000 cards reportedly not using PCIe Gen5 “12VHPWR” connector

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-7000-cards-reportedly-not-using-pcie-gen5-12vhpwr-connector

NVIDIA Partners Quietly Launch GeForce RTX 3060 with 8GB (128-bit) Memory

https://www.techpowerup.com/300248/nvidia-partners-quietly-launch-geforce-rtx-3060-with-8gb-128-bit-memory

The one to skip basically

Lol what a shit show... All the engineering effort that went into creating the 4090... A GPU that's 70% faster than a 3090 in Raster while maintaining sub 60C while barely ramping up the fans... Cucked by the need to put a shitty connector onto it that has the potential to at best, to turn your GPU into a brick or at worst... Set your PC on fire...

Even though I believe AMD should make it easier to differentiate the cards by its name, like they did with the 6800 and the 6800XT, not too different from Nvidia's regular and Ti cards), I actually prefer this option than going with the 7950XT name we saw rumored.
At least it leaves room for the (inevitable) revision model in a year or so.

Going with regular 8xpin power connectors doesn't sound too bad given what's going on right now, but it will be very weird if there's a card with four of those.

Well, we still don't have SSD nor GPUs that use the 5.0 standard so, it will take a while before this one is needed.

I'm going to play devil's advocade here: the 3090Ti launched with the same 16-pin connector and adapters, and it actually used more power than a 4090, yet we didn't have so many stories about this at the same time. So yeah, the adapters may not be good enough, but there seems to be something else at play. I wonder if the fixed transients, that cause smaller power spikes at the expense of them lasting a bit longer, may have something to do with it.

In any case, it may be a good idea to way until you can get a new PSU with a 16-pin power conector before getting a 4090 card. You may save yourself some troubles.

Fuck yes

I think the 7950XT name is reserved for the rumored Navi 3X, which is supposed to come with 2 GPU chips or chiplets instead of just one - but it's a smaller one to not have the TDP explode.

I don't think I've had tears of joy like this in a LONG time!

Yea insane announcement. I enjoyed AoM's single player a lot more than AoE so this is great news.