Woo! It certainly is. A bit more than what I'd like to spend on a CPU but I guess it will age better than a 5600X will. Will be the first time I get a near TOTL CPU for gaming so quite happy with my purchase. Hopefully my 360mm AiO can handle the heat.

And now the hard part, getting a graphics card that meets my needs and budget lol. Fingers crossed the 4070 and 7800XT aren't priced to shit. Or the other current GPU's gets a deep price cut. Then maybe think about a new PSU (oh no).

Cool, yeah I guess for a hobby, watching/reading stuff and some work its not a bad expense. And is a nice, easy slot in upgrade. Just need a bios update or two to get it ready for the new processor.

Apparently the VCache really helps for MMO's and big map multiplayer games like Warzone which is one of the reasons why I kinda wanted one.

Curious to see the new zones and main city. Hopefully they fix the lag fest in some updates lol. And I think I saw that. It might be for people who haven't subbed in a while because iirc there was an offer where you purchase the regular version and you get a month's play for free.

Yea it will certainly age really well. It's only like 5% slower than Zen 4 in gaming which is crazy fast and it's not like there's any real benefit to going to pci-e gen 5 or ddr5 just yet. So sticking with 5800X3D and pairing up with a 4070 or 7800XT will last you a good while.

The Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

GOG has three new Deals of the Day and a new Weekly Sale:

• The first DotD is Furi, 70% off during 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/furi
• The second DotD is Hitman: Blood Money, 80% off until Wednesday: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hitman_blood_money
• And the third and last DotD is Syberia II, with a 90% discount until February 1st: https://www.gog.com/en/game/syberia_2
• The new Weekly Sale features up to 85% discounts until next Monday: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20230130_weekly_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• The daily deal is Chorus, that has a demo, 63% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1153640/Chorus/
• And GRIME, that also has a demo, will be 33% off until the 5th of February: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1123050/GRIME/

There are two new deals at Humble:

• At Humble Bundle there's the new Survival Instinct Bundle, with 7 games to get during the next 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/survival-instinct
• And the Humble Store features a Flash Deal with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, 60% off during another 2 hours. The keys are for Steam and EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/tiny-tina-winter-sale-featured-deals/

And Fanatical has three new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Far Cry® 6 Game of the Year Edition, 66% off during 48 hours. Needless to say, the key is for UbiConnect: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/far-cry-6-game-of-the-year-edition
• The former is part of an Ubisoft Sale, featuring up to 86% discounts during 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/ubisoft
• And Deep Silver also puts its games on sale, with up to 90% discounts during 13 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/deep-silver

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Steam launches a new 'Discovery Hub' dedicated to DLC
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-launches-a-new-discovery-hub-dedicated-to-dlc/
Steam has a multitude of systems for recommending games to people as accurately and precisely as possible. Now it's looking to do the same with DLC through a new personalized hub called—get ready for it—DLC Discovery Hub.
The DLC Discovery Lab is the latest new feature to come out of Steam Labs, an experimental playground that Valve uses to corral and test new features for Steam. In previous years, it's given us things like the Interactive Recommender, Community Recommendations, a personalized news hub, and extended search options; this latest feature is designed to connect you with additional content for games you already own.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New Red Dead Redemption 2 HD Texture Packs improve birds & reptiles
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-red-dead-redemption-2-hd-texture-packs-improve-birds-reptiles/
Modder ‘WickedHorseMan’ has released two new HD Texture Packs for Red Dead Redemption 2. These new packs overhaul the textures of all reptiles and birds.
Going into more details, the first pack overhauls the textures of Alligator, Iguana, Toad, Turtle, Snake and Snapping Turtle. On the other hand, the second pack enhances the textures of all birds.
>> There are some screenshots of the mods.

Cyberpunk 2077 gets new high-resolution textures for Johnny Silverhand, Jackie, Panam & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/cyberpunk-2077-gets-new-high-resolution-textures-for-johnny-silverhand-jackie-panam-more/
Modder ‘XilaMonstrr’ has released new HD Texture Packs for CD Projekt RED’s latest action-adventure game, Cyberpunk 2077. These packs will improve the textures of a number of main characters.
Going into more details, the following packs will overhaul the textures for Johnny Silverhand, Jackie, Panam, Dexter, Ripperdocs and 8ug8ear. There is also an HD Texture Pack for the world map, and we highly recommend downloading that too.
>> Again, there are only some screenshots.

Unreal Prototype Remaster in Unreal Engine 4 available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/unreal-prototype-remaster-in-unreal-engine-4-available-for-download/
Now here is something that completely passed under my radar. Last year, YouTube’s “exo7341” released a prototype remaster of the first classic Unreal game in Unreal Engine 4. And this is so cool that it definitely deserves your attention.
I know, I know, shame on me for not discovering this project earlier. However, you should also be ashamed for not informing me about something this cool. So yeah, shame on you too.
But anyway, this Unreal Prototype Remaster features seven maps. From what I could see, the Vortex Rikers, Rrajigar Mine and Depths of Rrajigar are almost finished. On the other hand, Kran Deck 4, Outpost 3J, Bluff and Nali Castle are full of placeholder textures. This is kind of a bummer as I’d love to see an updated version of the Nali Castle.
Now what’s cool here is that exo7341 has implemented proper gameplay mechanics. There are also numerous enemies in the finished maps with AI routines. And yes, this prototype gives you weapons in order to fight them.
>> There's a short (less than 3 minutes) video of the mod.

This mod for a 20-year-old Star Wars game recreates the series' iconic duels with its best lightsaber combat
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-mod-for-a-20-year-old-star-wars-game-recreates-the-series-iconic-duels-with-its-best-lightsaber-combat/
First released in 2009, the absolutely massive Jedi Academy mod Movie Duels dropped its sixth major update at the beginning of January. The project aims to recreate iconic lightsaber duels from throughout Star Wars history with Jedi Academy's peerless lightsaber combat system.
(...)
I didn't even realize there was anyone making single player Jedi Academy mods like this, and at first glance parsed Movie Duels as a simple map and model pack. I dusted off my Steam version of Jedi Academy, downloaded the whopping three-file, eight gigabyte mod, and dropped everything in the Game Data folder of my Jedi Academy install (the mod handily runs off its own .exe in there).
And quite frankly? This thing rocks. The first map I loaded into was a recreation of the Star Forge observation deck, the final boss arena from Knights of the Old Republic. There's nothing to do here at the moment, but it will likely feature in an upcoming KotOR-themed duel pack hinted at in the mod's UI.
>> There's a two and a half minute video of the mod.

This 4GB Fallout 4 HD Texture Pack overhauls almost all of its creatures
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-4gb-fallout-4-hd-texture-pack-overhauls-almost-all-of-its-creatures/
Modder ‘Blackwolf24’ has released a 4GB must-have HD Texture Pack for Fallout 4. According to its description, this HD Texture Pack overhauls almost all of the game’s creatures.
Contrary to other HD Texture Packs, this one brings brand new textures to the table. As such, all of the game’s creatures are now more detailed than ever. There are some very minor artistic changes but I don’t mind as the new textures look significantly better.
>> There are some comparison screenshots, and the author of the article has forgotten to add the link to the mod, at least as I'm writing this.

GAMING NEWS

Horizon Forbidden West Multiplayer Alpha gameplay leaked online
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/horizon-forbidden-west-multiplayer-alpha-gameplay-leaked-online/
It appears that some alpha gameplay footage for the Horizon Forbidden West Multiplayer game has leaked online. According to reports, this gameplay footage is from a 2020 alpha build.

Here are some brand new beautiful 4K screenshots for Forza Motorsport
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/here-are-some-brand-new-beautiful-4k-screenshots-for-forza-motorsport/
A few days ago, Microsoft released some brand new 4K screenshots for the next Forza game, Forza Motorsport. Forza Motorsport will release later this year, and these screenshots will give you a glimpse at its graphics.

Like a Dragon: Ishin! will have Denuvo, official PC requirements revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/like-a-dragon-ishin-will-have-denuvo-official-pc-requirements-revealed/
SEGA has shared the official PC system requirements for Like a Dragon: Ishin!, and revealed that the game will be using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech.
According to the specs, PC gamers will at least need an Intel Core i5-3470 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 with 8GB of RAM. Do note that the game requires CPUs that support the AVX and SSE4.2 instruction set.

The very long second part of the Monday news:

That procgen road trip game is getting a genre-shifting prequel
https://www.pcgamer.com/that-procgen-road-trip-game-is-getting-a-genre-shifting-prequel/
Road 96, 2021's procedural road trip sim, is getting a prequel. Road 96: Mile 0 takes place a little bit before the politically tumultuous times of the first game, putting you in the shoes of a pair of teenage protagonists from opposite sides of the tracks. You'll play Zoe and Kaito—characters from the original Road 96 and Lost in Harmony, another of the developer's games, respectively—as they roam the "luxurious condominium" of White Sands, where Kaito's parents work and where Zoe fits right in.

Overwatch 2 director: New ranked system suffers from 'poor comprehension,' will change in future seasons
https://www.pcgamer.com/overwatch-2-director-new-ranked-system-suffers-from-poor-comprehension-will-change-in-future-seasons/
A lot of Overwatch 2 players aren't happy with the sequel's new ranked mode, and Blizzard is starting to agree. In a new blog post meant to address recent player complaints, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller said improvements to Competitive mode, including "more clarity" around what ranks mean, are coming over the next several months.

The Dead Space remake will blur out 'disturbing scenes' if you want it to
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-dead-space-remake-will-blur-out-disturbing-scenes-if-you-want-it-to/
Dead Space (opens in new tab) is a disturbing game. One of its most iconic moments is the discovery early on of the helpful hint, "Cut off their limbs," scrawled on the wall in blood. It's a famously violent, frightening gore fest from start to finish. But if you're not into that sort of thing, a new filter in the Dead Space remake will give you the option to blur out the worst of it.

Bungie reveals technical culprit behind Destiny's vanished triumphs and 20-hour downtime
https://www.pcgamer.com/bungie-reveals-technical-culprit-behind-destinys-vanished-triumphs-and-20-hour-downtime/
In the company's This Week at Bungie or TWAB update, the Destiny developer clarified the series of events that led to a number of players missing in-game titles, a bug that required a rollback of player progress and 20 hours of downtime for the popular looter shooter/MMO/Guardian-em-up game (credit to Massively Overpowered for the spot).

Slay some demons with the power of rock in Power Chord's full release
https://www.pcgamer.com/slay-some-demons-with-the-power-of-rock-in-power-chords-full-release/
Delightfully-themed Demonic Deckbuilder Power Chord has unleashed its mightiest lineups, arriving out of Early Access and into a full release. In Power Chord you "Assemble Earth's mightiest musicians, each with their own unique cards and gear, to fight your way through the hordes and destroy the only guitar powerful enough to reopen the scratch between worlds."

17-year-old D&D Online is getting a 'mini expansion' this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/17-year-old-dandd-online-is-getting-a-mini-expansion-this-year/
First spotted by Massively Overpowered, Standing Stone Games, developer of the long-running D&D-based MMO, Dungeons & Dragons Online, just revealed its 2023 roadmap for the game. Standing Stone is celebrating D&D Online's 17th anniversary with a new free dungeon and three character archetypes, as well as a "mini-expansion" launching sometime between April and June.

Who's up for a bit of WW2 Tactics? Second Front releases this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/whos-up-for-a-bit-of-ww2-tactics-second-front-releases-this-week/
There are people of a certain kind who will play any game which is set in World War 2 and has hexagons at least once. I am one of them. Thus it is with excitement I tell you that Second Front, a tactical, turn-based WW2 strategy wargame from studio Hexdraw and publisher Microprose, will release on January 31, 2023.

28-year-old shareware shooter Terminal Velocity is coming back
https://www.pcgamer.com/28-year-old-shareware-shooter-terminal-velocity-is-coming-back/
In 1995, Terminal Reality released a flight sim with simplified controls closer to an FPS that let you fly over alien planets in a souped-up space jet. You zapped enemy installations and ships, flew through tunnels into each planet's core, and tried not to get totally disoriented when you went upside down. It was a good time, and one of the only shareware games I ever owned the full version of.
Terminal Velocity is about to return in a "Boosted Edition" that's being remastered by the same studio, and promises to include "smoother gameplay, upscaled graphics, a fast framerate, and improved sound, as well as achievements".

Check out this Ultima-style RPG with a modern indie flair
https://www.pcgamer.com/check-out-this-ultima-style-rpg-with-a-modern-indie-flair/
Here's an RPG I'm gonna toss at you for for an odd reason: it looks in many ways like a game that came straight out of the '90s. Aside from a more modern pixel art style and a lighting engine, Caves of Lore could well be a lost game from the days of the later Ultima games.

Ubisoft rumored to be working on multiplayer Far Cry as well as inevitable Far Cry 7
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-rumored-to-be-working-on-multiplayer-far-cry-as-well-as-inevitable-far-cry-7/
According to sources cited by Insider Gaming, Ubisoft has two Far Cry games currently in development—a mainline singleplayer sequel, and a separate multiplayer spin-off, though they began as a single project.

Choose-your-own-murder game Loretta comes out next month
https://www.pcgamer.com/choose-your-own-murder-game-loretta-comes-out-next-month/
The store description calls Loretta, "a psychological thriller that makes the player an accessory to the heroine's crimes, leading her through a self-crafted nightmare." It's essentially a point-and-click adventure where you're a 1940s housewife who has committed murder, with flashbacks letting you decide how exactly that happened and then how you're going to cover it up.

The Kerbals are doing some cute animations on the basics of spaceflight
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-kerbals-are-doing-some-cute-animations-on-the-basics-of-spaceflight/
Kerbal Space Program is releasing a series of tutorials in the weeks leading up to the February 24th, 2023 release of Kerbal Space Program 2. Rather than explicit game tutorials, however, these are primers in the very basics of spaceflight presented for those who might not be rocket design enthusiasts and/or actual NASA engineers and/or astrophysicists.

This rendercore shoot 'em up is the first Vampire Survivors riff to really make me feel something
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-rendercore-shoot-em-up-is-the-first-vampire-survivors-riff-to-really-make-me-feel-something/
I liked Vampire Survivors, a lot. Indeed, we all liked it so much that it inspired a wave of imitators, some with genuinely bright ideas and clever twists. Picayune Dreams, though, which recently got a beefy free demo on Steam, is the first one to take that horde mode, bullet hell gameplay in a new direction, to repurpose it instead of just following the leader (credit to Alpha Beta Gamer for the spot).

A free Per Aspera expansion lets you urbanize a green, verdant Mars
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-free-per-aspera-expansion-lets-you-urbanize-a-green-verdant-mars/
Mars terraforming simulator Per Aspera has released a new, free DLC called Home about making Mars more livable. New features expand the process of terraforming Mars to include deeper, broader coverage of flora and larger, more habitable open-air cities for Earth's population to move into.

A surreal first person adventure based on a cult animated series just dropped its first gameplay trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-surreal-first-person-adventure-based-on-a-cult-animated-series-just-dropped-its-first-gameplay-trailer/
On Friday, Peruvian artist Joel Guerra revealed a new trailer for ENA: Dream BBQ, a first-person adventure and adaptation of his staggeringly popular series of YouTube shorts starring the character of the same name.

Dead Island 2 will have cards instead of a skill tree
https://www.pcgamer.com/dead-island-2-will-have-cards-instead-of-a-skill-tree/
It's wild to think that Dead Island 2 may only be a few months away. (...)
In a recent quickfire interview with Game Informer (via the NME), Dambuster's lead narrative designer Khan and creative director James Worrall answered 86 questions about Dead Island 2, covering its Los Angeles location, attention-grabbing trailer, and how the skill system will work, among other things.

Fight through the Greek afterlife with blade and shot in this grimy, gilded FPS
https://www.pcgamer.com/fight-through-the-greek-afterlife-with-blade-and-shot-in-this-grimy-gilded-fps/
"Slay hordes of creatures on the black sands of Purgatory and sell their gold-stained corpses to craven priests," Perish's description on Steam begins. "Kill magnificent bosses and use the proceeds to gain access to Elysium, a place of cosmic revelations." Say no more, I'm in.

Warzone 2's wiping DMZ progress and players don't quite know how to feel about it
https://www.pcgamer.com/warzone-2s-wiping-dmz-progress-and-players-dont-quite-know-how-to-feel-about-it/
Call of Duty is trying out something new with DMZ, and the reaction is all over the place. It's a server wipe of faction tiers (i.e. completed missions) and players' inventories, which is fairly common in this style of RPG-lite shooter but new to Call of Duty.

Microsoft says Sony isn't telling the truth to EU regulators about Call of Duty
https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-says-sony-isnt-telling-the-truth-to-eu-regulators-about-call-of-duty/
The back-and-forth between Microsoft and Sony over the former's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues. This time, Microsoft chief communications officer Frank Shaw has taken to Twitter to accuse Sony of misleading EU regulators over Microsoft's plans for the Call of Duty franchise in the event the acquisition goes through.
>> I don't know if it's true, but I have the feeling that the EU regulators won't like to be lied and that, if proven, Sony may face further problems because of it.

Krafton belatedly realises making every game PUBG-related may not be a great strategy
https://www.pcgamer.com/krafton-belatedly-realises-making-every-game-pubg-related-may-not-be-a-great-strategy/
Krafton, the South Korean mega-publisher that owns PUBG: Battlegrounds and most recently released The Callisto Protocol, has published a strategy note about 2023 (spotted by Eurogamer) that's based on a talk livestreamed to its employees.

AMD Has Not Released A New Radeon Driver For RDNA 2 “Radeon RX 6000” GPUs In 2 Months

https://wccftech.com/amd-has-not-released-a-new-radeon-driver-for-rdna-2-radeon-rx-6000-gpus-in-2-months/

The clock is ticking AMD... They have certainly undid any theory that suggested AMDs driver support is as good as Nvidia but this is getting insane.

Swiss retailer reveals ‘warranty scores’ for GPU/motherboard brands

https://videocardz.com/newz/swiss-retailer-reveals-warranty-scores-for-gpu-motherboard-brands

It does say to ignore the Dell % in the original tweet. The warranty case duration is much more interesting.

Intel is planning a major update for its Arc Control software, new driver next month

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-is-planning-a-major-update-for-its-arc-control-software-new-driver-next-month

AMD might be planning an even cheaper A620 motherboard chipset

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-might-be-planning-an-even-cheaper-a620-motherboard-chipset

This is part of the main hub city of Valdrakken, and above the main chunky pillar to the right is where all the dragon aspects chill out at the top (for main story missions regarding the aspects portion of the story).

Wrathion has his own citadel, but atm it's still being overrun with primalist enemies, so you're stuck atm doing dalies for him and his Uncle, Sebellion.

Valdrakken is where you'll mostly be hanging out for the auction house and especially the crafting tables (the new crafting does actually require you to use those tables specifically for some recipes).

There's also the town near the south of the continent where the Tuskarr hang out and you can do their daily soup feast quest for some neato stuff and a buff. The main story Q's are great and some of the side Q's and dailies are nice, and this expac is most definitely alt character friendly, and atm your alts now have a way faster means of getting raid-tier level gear, without having to actually do the raid (though it is a slight step below actual raid-tier gear, gotta keep those die-hard raiders happy I guess?). 

And yeah, I do believe if you get the normal version you still get that month free, but I bought Raven a copy of the digi deluxe so he could get that extra 30 days free on top of the month, because that seemed like the better deal of getting as much game time as possible.

I forget which server I'm on, but I'm assuming you're from the UK like me, and Raven is already on my server and guild, so if you ever wanna join in, I can give you the server name and even enchant some writs for your gear to start you off and show you around, and also craft you a set of high item slot bags.

@Chazore Nice sounds good, will give you a heads up should I return to WoW. Yeah I am, on an EU server (can't remember which one).

It does look like a cool new city and area. The new race/class spices things up a little too. Hope combat rogue is in a good spot. They were fairly situational in PVP but S/A tier in mythic+ in SL. I'd be happy so long as there isn't another crappy the covenant system, which was trash.. should be fun exploring new things and dungeons when I get back into it.

Let's not forget the Lens Flare effect... which is one of the most absurd things you can add intentionally as it doesn't happen in the real world.

It happens in, well, lenses. I suppose the idea is that you're watching footage through a film camera, which also explains film grain, chromatic aberration, and motion blur.

DoF is a real thing due to Rayleigh scattering so I keep it on, though often in games it happens far closer than it does in real life since game environments are rarely that big.