Friday news, the second (and last) part:

The Finals is holding a closed beta next month, here's how to sign up to try our most anticipated FPS of 2023
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-finals-closed-beta/
The Finals, a multiplayer FPS from the ex-Battlefield devs at Embark Studios, is holding a closed beta test soon. That's exciting news, considering we haven't heard much about the game since its last closed test in October. The closed beta will run a full two weeks, from March 7 to March 21.

Ukraine wants Valve, Microsoft, and Sony to stop selling Atomic Heart in the country
https://www.pcgamer.com/ukraine-wants-valve-microsoft-and-sony-to-stop-selling-atomic-heart-in-the-country/
Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation says it will ask Valve, Microsoft, and Sony to halt the sale of Atomic Heart in Ukraine, and will urge "limiting" its distribution in other countries because of the "the potential use of money raised from game purchases to conduct a war against Ukraine."
>> He may succeed in limiting the sales in its country, but that will be all.

The best multiplayer FPS you haven't played is $16 right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-multiplayer-fps-you-havent-played-is-dollar16-right-now/
If you'd told me two years ago that a cowboy-themed FPS set in the late 1800s would completely take over my competitive gaming life, I would've looked at you very confused. Yet here I am, 455 hours into Hunt: Showdown and still loving its smart extraction format, antique arsenal of six shooters and lever-action rifles, and balanced permadeath consequences.
Despite never rising to the levels of Apex Legends or Warzone, Hunt has remained quietly popular, receiving regular updates through years of early access and full release. Crytek is celebrating Hunt's fifth anniversary this month by discounting the game to just $16 (down from $40).

Dreamlight Valley players have been investigating a potato mystery for months
https://www.pcgamer.com/dreamlight-valley-players-have-been-investigating-a-potato-mystery-for-months/
For several months, Disney Dreamlight Valley players have been trying to solve an in-game mystery that revolves around a seemingly-useless golden potato. In the past week, one useless mystery potato has become two, and now the spuds are even morphing into potions with no obvious no end in sight.

This shooter looks like if Max Payne literally went to hell
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-shooter-looks-like-if-max-payne-literally-went-to-hell/
It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Max Payne, so it should come as no surprise that I'm intrigued by this new game from Strange Scaffold, the maker of oddities including An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs, Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, and Witch Strandings. It's called El Paso, Elsewhere, and it's a "third-person horror-shooter-slash-love-story" about a man with a gun, a taste for pills, and a talent for moving at very slow speeds, even when he's diving through the air.

Our most anticipated game of 2023 is launching August 31
https://www.pcgamer.com/our-most-anticipated-game-of-2023-is-launching-august-31/
At Sony's February 23 State of Play presentation, Larian revealed the precise launch date of our most anticipated game of 2023, Baldur's Gate 3. It also revealed the casting of veteran character actor J.K. Simmons as General Ketheric Thorn, one of its main antagonists and "a seemingly invincible necromancer leading an army of the dead toward the city of Baldur's Gate."

Spooky! Bungie just made Destiny 2's phenomenal Witch Queen campaign free for everyone
https://www.pcgamer.com/spooky-bungie-just-made-destiny-2s-phenomenal-witch-queen-campaign-free-for-everyone/
In a surprising but frankly smart move, Bungie has today made The Witch Queen expansion free to all players. Not in perpetuity, though: You only have until February 27 at 9 am PST to play through the missions and grind out some of the 14 pieces of exotic armor and weapons that it includes. Here's the spiel from Bungie:

Destiny 2: Lightfall launch trailer finally shows The Traveller and The Witness kicking the crap out of each other
https://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-2-lightfall-launch-trailer-finally-shows-the-traveller-and-the-witness-kicking-the-crap-out-of-each-other/
There's an iconic moment in the movie Apocalypse Now when Robert Duvall's character surveys the chaos and carnage around him and ruefully says "someday, this war's gonna end." That's roughly where I am on the Destiny 2: Lightfall prelease schedule, bombarded daily by massive screeds detailing new features, but also very much enjoying the info blitz. Today it's the Lightfall launch trailer, which just dropped as part of Sony's latest State of Play showcase.

Steam's most-wanted sex game is trapped in development hell
https://www.pcgamer.com/steams-most-wanted-sex-game-is-trapped-in-development-hell/
There's only one adult game in the ranking of Steam's 100 most-wishlisted games and it's at number 25, above Homeworld 3, Darkest Dungeon 2, and Redfall. This is Operation Lovecraft: Fallen Doll, a 3D, Unreal Engine-powered game described on its Steam page as "a Cthulhu mythos inspired sex simulator and third-person sandbox."
(...)
One volunteer who worked on Operation Lovecraft as a translator complained on the Steam forum, "the biggest issue with this project is the numerous times they have 'rebuilt' the game. I believe the original project started in 2017 and have changed scope over the past 5 years several times [...] The last straw for me was when they attempted to make this an online game despite objection from the vast majority of supporters. I'm not going to sugarcoat it for them, from my perspective, this project might as well be a scam at this point."

John Romero honoured alongside the teacher who made world's first edutainment game
https://www.pcgamer.com/john-romero-honoured-alongside-the-teacher-who-made-worlds-first-edutainment-game/
John Romero, famous for his work on Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein and, ah, Daikatana, is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Not for his hair, which remains inexplicably snubbed by awards committees across the globe, but for his entire career up to this point. At the annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) in March, Romero will take home the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on "iconic and genre defining first-person shooters" over the years. We are still making plenty of Doom clones, after all.
Romero isn't the only one being honoured. The judges will also give a posthumous "special award" to Mabel Addis, regarded as the first female game designer, who died in 2004. Addis worked as lead designer on The Sumerian Game in 1964, using her knowledge of ancient history to design something that paved the way "for game elements that wouldn’t become mainstream for decades".

That postmodern Lemmings-like where a Shiba Inu saves humanity is getting a PC version and a limited-time demo
https://www.pcgamer.com/that-postmodern-lemmings-like-where-a-shiba-inu-saves-humanity-is-getting-a-pc-version-and-a-limited-time-demo/
Remember that weird, Lemmings-like game from last night's Sony State of Play? The one where you're a Shiba Inu guiding a stomping throng of humans through a blocky, abstract landscape? I hope so, because if you don't it means I experienced some kind of religious hallucination. Regardless, something Sony neglected to mention is that the game is bound for PC as well as PlayStation. Humanity has a Steam page, and a release date of May 2023 (the same as on console).

I'm excited that BioWare is 'trying something new' with Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, but for the love of god actually tell us something
https://www.pcgamer.com/im-excited-that-bioware-is-trying-something-new-with-dragon-age-dreadwolf-but-for-the-love-of-god-actually-tell-us-something/
Following the purported Dragon Age: Dreadwolf leak from a few weeks ago, I was hoping that BioWare might consider spilling the beans, maybe even just a couple of beans, to give us an idea of what it's actually making here. But no, instead we get a "Game Design 101" blog that describes, in granular detail, the process of prototyping skill trees, without giving us even a single bean.

Let's finish the news with the GOG and Steam deals for the weekend:

+GOG

• These are the four Deals of the Day, that will last the whole weekend:
  • Fabled Lands, that has a demo, is 50% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/fabled_lands
  • Bridge Constructor Trains, a DLC, gets a 74% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/bridge_constructor_trains
  • Sigma Theory: Global Cold War is 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/sigma_theory_global_cold_war
  • The last one is Yono and the Celestial Elephants, also with an 80% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/yono_and_the_celestial_elephants
• The Weekend Sale features up to 90% discounts during 3 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20230224_weekend_sale
• Publisher Slitherine puts its games up to 80% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_slitherine_sale
• There is a Strategy Games Sale with up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_strategy_sale
• And the Roll With It Sale brings RPG games up to 90% off during the next 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_roll_with_it

+Steam

• The Atelier Franchise is on sale with up to 67% discounts until February 28: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/KOEITECMO/sale/atelier2023
• Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate, that has a demo, gets a 25% discount until the 2nd of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1972440/Shotgun_King_The_Final_Checkmate/
• Cult of the Lamb is also going to be 25% off until the 2nd of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1313140/Cult_of_the_Lamb/
• Arcade Paradise will be 30% off until next Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1388870/Arcade_Paradise/
• Noita gets a 50% discount until the 2nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/881100/Noita/
• Propnight will be free to play during the weekend and also 75% off until Thursday, 2nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1549180/Propnight/
• The last one is SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising, 75% off until, once again, March, 2nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/528230/SYNTHETIK_Legion_Rising/

And that's it. Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D is 6% faster in gaming than Core i9-13900K according to leaked AMD review guide

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-ryzen-9-7950x3d-is-6-faster-in-gaming-than-core-i9-13900k-according-to-leaked-amd-review-guide

6% faster than 13900k and 16% faster than 7950x. Take it with a grain of salt as it's a first party benchmarks but still, looking pretty good and really, it is how Zen 4 should have launched imo. What's interesting is there are some games where the 7950X3D performs worse than 7950X likely due to game not switching CCDs.

Atomic Heart Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis Review

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/atomic-heart-benchmark-test-performance-analysis/5.html

Once again we see the 3080 being faster than it should be compared to it's positioning during launch as with 1440p or 1080p, Radeon was a sure fire win at lower resolutions but these days, the 3080 is able to keep up with a 6900XT in various titles that we have seen. My theory is that when the Ampere/RDNA 2 launched, we saw that the 30 series having a cpu overhead in various games at the time at lower resolutions. But as techpowerup pairs their GPUs with a 13900k, it brute forces the driver overhead and shows us what Ampere can really do.

A770 is also performing quite well with DX12 titles. The fact that you can buy a A750 (usually around 8-10% within A770) for $250 and have similar performance to a $350-$400 6700XT/3060Ti is nuts.

AMD Preps New 1.0.0.7 Chipset Driver Optimized For Ryzen 7000 3D V-Cache CPUs

https://wccftech.com/amd-preps-new-1-0-0-7-chipset-driver-optimized-for-ryzen-7000-3d-v-cache-cpus/

It will be interesting to see if reviews back up those results or AMD has been a bit too optimistic.

Gimme a custom GPU with one of Suigi's OC's on the back and I will sell my very soul for one.

Wow. Your sould is quite cheap, Chazore .

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 3D V-Cache CPU Gaming Benchmarks Leak, Up To 35% Faster Than i9-13900K

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-9-7950x3d-3d-v-cache-cpu-gaming-benchmarks-leak-up-to-35-percent-faster-than-i9-13900k/

The results are kind of strange as it's paired with a 3090 so you wouldn't think CPU would be such a big factor in those games but here we are. As always, take it with a grain of salt. Those who skipped Zen 4 launch really won though cause boy those CPUs were unimpressive as I predicted.

$6600 Nightmare Prebuilt Gaming PC - Corsair & Origin Genesis Review

Imagine spending $6600 for a PC with 5800X3D + B550 + 3080 10GB with water cooling of all things. Now they originally bought the pc last year so that's why it's old parts but still, even at the time of writing, that entire setup even if you bought every part from a scalper wouldn't make sense. But that's Origin PC for you. But the value isn't the only problem as there's other issues such as the PC having a custom water cooling with 12 fans yet the out of the box fan curve is set to go up to 100% fan speed at 40C. So it sounds like a jet engine as soon as you open a chrome tab lmao. Fun video to watch.

Mysterious NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Graphics Card With Dual-Slot & Blower-Type Cooler Spotted

https://wccftech.com/mysterious-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090-graphics-card-with-dual-slot-blower-type-cooler-spotted/

Intel 4 Process Is Production-Ready, Pushing Towards 18A In 2024 With First Test Chips Already Produced

https://wccftech.com/intel-4-process-is-production-ready-pushing-towards-18a-in-2024-with-first-test-chips-already-produced/

So AMD's own results say 6% faster than a 13900K and 16% faster than a 7950X with a 4090, and these leaked results say 12% faster than a 13900K (so double that AMD results( and 18.4% over a 7950X (only 2.4%)...

The results are interessting, and it's quite curious how they differ from the leaked official benches, surely because of the GPU, RAM and other bits of choice playing a role.

Oh, well, two more days until the reviews are published and we get to see the whole picture.

As for that Corsair/Origin PC, I saw the video yesterday and what a f*cking mess. Annoyingly loud and with the GPU running 1GHz slower than out of the box. It's just as bad as some of the Dells PC they've tested in the past, but for other reasons. $6600 for that is a scam.

You would think that, but the GPU alone would be expensive, and Suigi's prices all the more lol.

For real though, Suigi ain't cheap, but I really love their style.

You should still ask for more. The card should come, at the very least, with an autograph.