NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Laptop GPU TGP & Clocks Leak: Up To 200W 4090 16 GB, 4080 12 GB, 4070 8 GB, 4060 8 GB, 4050 6 GB

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-40-laptop-gpu-tgp-clocks-leak-up-to-200w-4090-16-gb-4080-12-gb-4070-8-gb-4060-8-gb-4050-6-gb/

200 watt for GPUs on a laptop is pretty crazy.

It’s Over 9000! Intel Core i9-13900KS Becomes The First CPU To Achieve 9 GHz Frequency World Record

https://wccftech.com/its-over-9000-intel-core-i9-13900ks-becomes-the-first-cpu-to-achieve-9-ghz-frequency-world-record/

Under LN2 of course

AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU Prices Drop To $238.99 US At Amazon

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-5-7600x-cpu-prices-drop-to-238-99-us-at-amazon/

Pretty good pricing. Should have been this to begin with.

Inno3D confirms GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4070 in EEC filing

https://videocardz.com/newz/inno3d-confirms-geforce-rtx-4070-ti-and-rtx-4070-in-eec-filing

Pleas don't have dumb pricing

That's something I don't like from Steam, the pop-ups telling us that friend X has started playing game Y. Don't get me wrong, I get the idea behind it, to let you know which games your friends are playng so you can join if the game has multiplayer, but I barely payed attention to what game it was about.

And I say it in past tense because it ended up pissing me so much that I actually changed my status to offline/disconnected just to get rid of them.

Laptops are crap, end of.

Dark Forces with TheForceEngine is a real joy to play!

https://theforceengine.github.io/downloads.html

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Today's free game on the Epic Store is: Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/fallout.

GOG has three things for us:

• First of all is a new CONTEST with HyperX, with the chance to win an HyperX Pulsefire Haste - Wireless Gaming Mouse plus 5 games. The deadline is the 25th. Learn more here: https://www.gog.com/en/news/gog_x_hyperx_contest_advent_calendar_stage_3
• If you purchase the game NORCO (-30%), you'll get a Goodie Pack for free. This deal ends with the Winter Sale. Learn more here: https://www.gog.com/en/news/winter_sale_special_claim_awesome_norco_goodie_pack_for_free
• And there's a Winter Sale's Indie Day which is... an excuse to highlight some indie titles that are going to be on sale for the duration of the Winter Sale, 11 days. Learn more about some of them, as well as the bundle you can build, here: https://www.gog.com/en/news/winter_sales_indie_day

Steam... well, we know what's going to happen in roughly 2 hours. Actually, scrap that, it will probably take more than that because Steam will likely collapse, as usual.

The Humble Store has a new 48-hours Ubisoft deal. This time it's Immortals Fenyx Rising, 80% off during another 41 hours. The keys is for UPlay: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/immortals-fenyx-rising.

Fanatical hasn't updated its Star Deal and won't do for another couple hours, but there's a new Flash Deal with Ubisoft: Far Cry 5 is going to be 87% off during the next 41 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/far-cry-5.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 22.12.2 (RX 7900)
https://videocardz.com/driver/amd-radeon-software-adrenalin-22-12-2-rx-7900
Highlights
This driver only supports Radeon RX 7900 series.
Fixed Issues

• Corruption may be encountered when using Virtual Super Resolution with multi-display configurations.
• A system crash may be observed when changing display modes with 4 display configurations.
• While loading Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales™ an app crash or driver timeout may occur after enabling ray tracing settings.
• Improvements to power usage during hardware accelerated video playback. Further power efficiency improvements are planned for future releases.

>> Well, at least they're starting to fix things.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Duke Nukem Forever 2001 Restoration Project available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/duke-nukem-forever-2001-restoration-project-available-for-download/
And it’s finally here. Mighty Foot Productions has just released the First Slice Version of the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 Restoration Project.
The First Slice Version features the first chapter, which has 9 levels (and one secret level). Moreover, it has 12 unique weapons, a map editor, as well as a multiplayer/deathmatch mode.
For those unaware, Duke Nukem Forever Restoration Project is a restoration project for the leaked 2001 version of Duke Nukem Forever. The team will attempt to recreate what 3D Realms showcased in its “fake” E3 2001 trailer.

New screenshots and gameplay clips from the Dark Souls 3 prequel mod, Dark Souls: Archthrones
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-screenshots-and-gameplay-clips-from-the-dark-souls-3-prequel-mod-dark-souls-archthrones/
The modding team behind the prequel mod for Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls: Archthrones, has released some new screenshots and gameplay clips from it.
In Dark Souls Archthrones, players will be able to access its five worlds via the Nexus of Embers. Players will encounter numerous bosses, and they will also be able to find some allies. Additionally, the mod will have a reimagined version of Lothric and other Dark Souls locales.
It’s also worth noting that Dark Souls Archthrones will have elements from Demon’s Souls. As such, players can expect a world layout, soul form, world tendency, and more. Its dev team also plans to add many new enemies, NPC questlines and many secrets to find.

Here are some cool Halo 2, Halo 3, Battlefield 4, Fallout 3 & Halo 5 map remakes for Halo: Infinite
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/here-are-some-cool-halo-2-halo-3-battlefield-4-fallout-3-halo-5-map-remakes-for-halo-infinite/
Over the past month, modders have been remaking a lot of maps for various games in Halo: Infinite. As such, we’ve decided to share these cool map remakes of Halo 2, Halo 3, Battlefield 4, Fallout 3 and Halo 5 that you can download and play.

GAMING NEWS

The Witcher 3 Next-Gen PC Hotfix #2 released, does not improve performance or CPU utilization
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-witcher-3-next-gen-pc-hotfix-2-released-does-not-improve-performance-or-cpu-utilization/
CD Projekt RED has just released the second hotfix for the PC version of The Witcher 3 Next-Gen. Unfortunately, though, this hotfix does not improve overall performance or the CPU utilization/optimization issues.

Thursday news, part two:

Atari CEO makes 'friendly offer' to acquire control of struggling games publisher
https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-ceo-makes-friendly-offer-to-acquire-control-of-struggling-games-publisher/
Wade Rosen, CEO of Atari, has made a bid to acquire control of the company after it reported "a liquidity shortfall and additional financing requirements" in its recent half-year financial report.
In a press release, Atari stated that a "friendly offer" had been "initiated to acquire control and increase the managing shareholder's capacity to support the Company's development ambitions". As part of this Atari's CEO "intends to further strengthen his interest in Atari's capital in order to support the Company with rolling out its transformation strategy."

Baldur's Gate 3 reveals new Jaheira actor
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-reveals-new-jaheira-actor/
Larian Studios announced earlier this month that Baldur's Gate OGs Minsc and Jaheira will be returning for Baldur's Gate 3. Last week, the studio revealed that Minsc will be voiced by Matt Mercer, best known as the lead DM of Critical Role, and today it confirmed that Tracy Wiles will take up the role of Jaheira.

Angry gamers sue Microsoft to stop Activision Blizzard acquisition
https://www.pcgamer.com/angry-gamers-sue-microsoft-to-stop-activision-blizzard-acquisition/
Microsoft is facing yet more opposition to its planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Not from Sony this time, nor the FTC, but a group of 10 aggrieved Call of Duty fans, who have filed a lawsuit (via Reuters) opposing the deal.
The lawsuit echoes some of the points made by the FTC (opens in new tab) in its opposition to the acquisition, filed earlier this month: That "there are only several independent game publishers in the world that are capable of making the highest production quality and most graphics-intensive videogames that can be mass marketed and are highly anticipated among gamers," and that increasing consolidation of those companies is bad for gamers, employees, and the business world as a whole.
>> Angry gamers or angry Sony players?

Blizzard admits 'the need to do better' with World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-admits-the-need-to-do-better-with-world-of-warcraft-dragonflight/
(...)
"In planning out the road ahead following the release of Dragonflight, we've been mindful of the duty we owe our players to nurture this living world and, frankly, the need to do better than we have at times in the recent past. Our goal for Dragonflight is that there should always be something right around the corner, with a new update hitting our test realms shortly after the last one is live and in your hands."

Blizzard's survival game team has 'doubled in size' and BlizzCon is coming back
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzards-survival-game-team-has-doubled-in-size-and-blizzcon-is-coming-back/
Blizzard President Mike Ybarra has published his end-of-year update, summarising all the major developments at the company in the last year. Citing 2022 as a "great year" for Blizzard, the blog includes a rundown of the company's recent achievements, a few mind-boggling stats like "12 billion hours of Blizzard games were played last year", and a fair amount of discussion regarding Blizzard's attempts to improve its work culture.

Gloomwood's final update of the year adds a pub and lets you quicksave
https://www.pcgamer.com/gloomwoods-final-update-of-the-year-adds-a-pub-and-lets-you-quicksave/
New Blood Interactive's dank Thieflike has received its final update of the year, slipping several new features into the game's pocket like a cutpurse who's taken one too many blackjacks to the head.

AMD Ryzen 7000 prices in free fall, Ryzen 9 7950X drops to $569

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-ryzen-7000-prices-in-free-fall-ryzen-9-7950x-drops-to-569

Pretty much what happens when you go full greed mode on a product that was only the fastest for like 3 weeks. While these discounts fix one part of their greed, it doesn't yet fix the second part which is the motherboard prices. What AMD should have done is released two configurations, B650 and X670 with the difference being PCI-E Gen 5. Instead they went full retard mode and released 4 different motherboard configs: B650, B650E, X670, X670E while Intel had their Z690 motherboards costing only $200 vs AMD's $500 X670E. So high end buyers will just get Raptor Lake cause it's the fastest while value buyers will stick with AM4 cause Gen 5 is restricted to E boards and why upgrade to get only 5% faster gaming performance vs 5800X3D while keeping the same pci-e gen?

AMD Radeon RX 7900 ‘22.12.2’ Drivers To Improve Video Playback Power Usage Amongst Other Fixes

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-7900-22-12-2-drivers-to-improve-video-playback-power-usage-amongst-other-fixes/

Good that they fixed that issue but still a long way to go

AMD Ryzen 7000 Non-X CPU Benchmarks Leak: Ryzen 9 7900 On Par With 12900KS, Ryzen 7 7700 & Ryzen 5 7600 Cover The Mainstream

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7000-non-x-cpu-benchmarks-leak-ryzen-9-7900-ryzen-7-7700-ryzen-5-7600/

Intel Reorganises its Graphics Chip Division, Raja Koduri Seemingly Demoted

https://www.techpowerup.com/302446/intel-reorganises-its-graphics-chip-division-raja-koduri-seemingly-demoted

Certainly a big money sink. Hopefully Intel doesn't close it's GPU division anytime soon cause we do need a third player.

Good that people are catching on to AMDs lies. While I do suspect Radeon will eventually fix their drivers and improve performance closer to their 45% target, all they have shown during their announcement is how dirty and miss leading they can be. They gotten a lot of good will from Ryzen and RDNA in the past which they decided to throw away in favor of creating hype. While $1000 may not seem as much money as Nvidia's prices, it's still a lot of money to pay for a broken product (Not that I am suggesting getting a 4080). If you ever need an example of Radeon being shady or an example why Nvidia has better drivers than Radeon, we can all point to RDNA 3.

Steams winter sale is live

Oh, yeah!

It doesn't happen often (first time I remember), but...

We're cheaper than the US!
(Vat here is 21%.)