Friday news, part two:

2022's best detective game is getting a new case this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/2022s-best-detective-game-is-getting-a-new-case-this-month/
Every morning I go through my email and find various announcements from game developers, publishers, and PR firms. There's always lots of news about expansions, season passes, release dates, events, game updates, and betas, and they're almost always perfectly straightforward: a few paragraphs of text and a link to a trailer, a Steam page, a website, or a presskit.
Almost always. Today I received a rather unusual email, not from a game's PR but from a game's character, and it hints at a mystery we'll get to unravel later this month.

The voice of Claptrap becomes the voice of Pisstrap in Postal 2's surprisingly big 20th Anniversary Update
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-voice-of-claptrap-becomes-the-voice-of-pisstrap-in-postal-2s-surprisingly-big-20th-anniversary-update/
(...)
That may in part be why, 20 years after Postal 2 first came out, developer Running With Scissors has released a new update creatively entitled the 20th Anniversary Update. And it's not just a handful of minor fixes and tweaks: This is a significant reworking of the game that incorporates the fan-made xPatch, improves Steam Deck compatibility (for the record, Postal 2 is rated as "playable" on Steam Deck), adds the Paradise Lost expansion as a new game mode, "Ludicrous" difficulty, and something called the Cat Launcher "as a cheat-only weapon."

Blizzard asks Diablo 4 fans to 'come slam our servers' in May
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-may-playtest/
Diablo 4 will be playable to anyone for another weekend to test server stability in May, Blizzard announced in a stream today.
The Diablo 4 "Server Slam" playtest will go from May 12 through May 14 and will let you earn the previous beta rewards as well as a new one for defeating the world boss, Ashava.

[Deep breath] Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Warlords of New York Expansion Year 5 Season 1 Broken Wings Descent Mode will be on public test servers tomorrow
https://www.pcgamer.com/deep-breath-tom-clancys-the-division-2-warlords-of-new-york-expansion-year-5-season-1-broken-wings-descent-mode-will-be-on-public-test-servers-tomorrow/
I hope I have this right, because it's gotten a bit complicated since I last checked: Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Warlords of New York Expansion Year 5 Season 1 Broken Wings Descent Mode is coming in early June. And if you play Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Warlords of New York Expansion on PC, you can get an early look at Descent Mode (in Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Warlords of New York Expansion Year 5 Season 1 Broken Wings) tomorrow.
>> That tomorrow is today, April 21st.

The Division Heartland is a spinoff that mixes extraction shooter with survival elements in small town America
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-division-heartland-is-a-spinoff-that-mixes-extraction-shooter-with-survival-elements-in-small-town-america/
The Division Heartland was announced in 2021 as a free-to-play shooter that "will provide an all new perspective on the universe in a new setting." Details beyond that were basically non-existent but I speculated at the time that it would be a battle royale of some sort. Today we got our first proper look at it in a "developer deep dive video," and it seems that I was a little off the mark.

Stop the 'prophetic birth of a new miracle child' in this deeply weird Metroidvania
https://www.pcgamer.com/stop-the-prophetic-birth-of-a-new-miracle-child-in-this-deeply-weird-metroidvania/
The 2019 Metroidvania Blasphemous is a "great, oppressive experience," we said in our 70% review, despite our criticism of its depth and variety. And soon it will have a sequel, as revealed by developer The Game Kitchen at the recent Indie World Showcase. In Blasphemous 2 The Penitent One is awakened from his final rest "and thrust back into the endless cycle of life, death, and resurrection."

If Diablo 4's not your thing, Men of War 2 is having an open beta on the same weekend
https://www.pcgamer.com/if-diablo-4s-not-your-thing-men-of-war-2-is-having-an-open-beta-on-the-same-weekend/
The big beta news of the day is the surprise "server slam" for Diablo 4, an open-for-all test set to run May 12-14. But if you're looking for something different to do, the upcoming World War 2 RTS Men of War 2 is also having an open beta over that very same weekend.

Hooray, a Street Fighter 6 demo just dropped! Oh wait, PC gamers can't play it until next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/street-fighter-6-demo/
Capcom just hosted its final Street Fighter 6 showcase before its June 2 release. We were treated to some extra deets on the story-focused World Tour mode, Fighting Grounds mode, some bits of training, and ways the game is being super newbie friendly. Oh, and Lil Wayne was there too. The end of the presentation dropped the (slightly spoiled) surprise that a demo was dropping right after this livestream.
Unfortunately, those of us on PC and Xbox are going to have to wait to join in on the fun. The demo's only available for people on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 for the first week. Everyone else will have access from April 26 and presumably up until launch.
>> Given that PC is the main platform for Capcom nowadays, I wonder if this decision is due to technical reasons or a gift from Sony.

Street Fighter 6 isn't out yet but it's already announced its first 4 DLC characters
https://www.pcgamer.com/street-fighter-6-year-1-dlc/
Capcom premiered its final Street Fighter 6 showcase on April 20, giving us a further look into the fighting game's various modes and surprising us with a demo—albeit one that PC gamers have to wait an extra week to play. The game may still be six weeks away but the developer has already unveiled the first four DLC characters who will be added to the roster over the coming year.

Massive Dota 2 patch makes the map 40% bigger, changes the UI, matchmaking, so much other stuff it's basically Dota 3 now
https://www.pcgamer.com/massive-dota-2-patch-makes-the-map-40-bigger-changes-the-ui-matchmaking-so-much-other-stuff-its-basically-dota-3-now/
It's not every day Dota 2 gets a new map. In fact, it's pretty much just today. The New Frontiers Update brings Dota 2 up to version 7.33, and it's a hefty patch that changes the matchmaking algorithm, alters the interface, adds a new hero type, makes a heap of balance changes, and expands the map by 40%.

This new football game may well give EA a run for its money (sorry PES)
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-new-football-game-may-well-give-ea-a-run-for-its-money-sorry-pes/
Football videogames used to be ten-a-penny. Really. Back in the 16- and 32-bit days FIFA and Winning Eleven / Pro Evolution Soccer were on the scene, but so were a raft of competitors: Actua Soccer, Virtua Striker, Sensible World of Soccer, Kick Off 2, and real oddities like Libero Grande (where you play a match as one player on the team). As technology improved EA's FIFA and Konami's PES came to dominate and, while there was still the odd effort from leftfield, football game fans picked one of the two sides.
(...)
But wait. Ultimate Football League was announced several years ago, from the studio Strikerz Inc, and from the start has talked a good game, and shown off a clip here or there, without ever quite being ready to get into the nitty gritty of the action. Over the last few weeks it has and it looks much better than I ever expected: Good enough in fact that, while it won't be able to compete with EA Sports FC in terms of mainstream reach and sheer marketing heft, it could well be a viable alternative for football fans who don't quite gel with EA's series.

The Lemmings-alike where you're a Shiba Inu saving humankind is out in weeks and has a buckwild new trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-lemmings-alike-where-youre-a-shiba-inu-saving-humankind-is-out-in-weeks-and-has-a-buckwild-new-trailer/
Humanity, the Lemmings-like game from the Tetris Effect devs that I'm still not convinced didn't come to me in a fever dream, has gotten a release date. It'll be out on Steam on May 16.

Deathloop exists because Dishonored 3 ain't happening
https://www.pcgamer.com/deathloop-exists-because-dishonored-3-aint-happening/
Deathloop: Now there's one that came and went. Though the game was received very positively and many still swear by it now (...)
Just a hunch but, going on what Arkane founder Raphaël Colantonio said in a recent interview, it probably was something along those lines. Deathloop's concept came from wanting to make a "small game" before the next huge project. "Bethesda wanted us to do something," Colantonio told RPS in a new interview. "They didn’t quite know where we were going after Dishonored. 'Do we want Dishonored 3? I don’t know, let’s make something simple and short before, and let’s see.'"

Bad news: Your progress from the last Diablo 4 beta doesn't carry over into May's server slam, and you'll have to hit level 20 all over again to get the new reward
https://www.pcgamer.com/bad-news-your-progress-from-the-last-diablo-4-beta-doesnt-carry-over-into-mays-server-slam-and-youll-have-to-hit-level-20-all-over-again-to-get-the-new-reward/
As Blizzard playfully teased earlier this week, we're getting another Diablo 4 playtest next month. That's great, but if you were hoping to carry your progress over from the March beta, you're out of luck. The developer revealed in its blog post that not only are your beta characters gone for good, but any character created during the May 12 - May 14 server slam will also be deleted before the full game releases.

And now, let's take a look at the weekend deals from GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• There are five new Deals of the Day, that will last until Monday:
  • Lunistice, that has a demo, is 20% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/lunistice
  • Panzer Knights is 35% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/panzer_knights
  • PolyClassic: Wild gets n 88% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/polyclassic_wild
  • NeuraGun, still in development, is 90% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/neuragun
  • And NeverSynth is also going to be 90% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/neversynth
• The Weekend Sale brings up to 90% discounts during 3 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20230421_weekend_sale
• The Kawaii&Kowai Sale features up to 85% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_kawaii_kowai_sale

+Steam

• Publisher Gamera Games also celebrates its 5th anniversary on Steam with discounts, up to 90% off. Some deals will last until the 25th, but other will last quite more, until at least May 3rd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/gameragamesanniversarysale2023
• Frozen Flame, still in Early Access, gets a 25% discount until the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/715400/Frozen_Flame/
• The Early Access Turbo Golf Racing, a Rocket League-like game but with golf, will be free to try during the weekend and 50% off until next Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1324350/Turbo_Golf_Racing/
• Publisher Supergiant puts its games on sale with up to 80% discounts until Thursday, 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/supergiantgames/sale/supergiant
• The Alien Day Sale puts the Alien games up to 80% off until April 27, except for Fireteam Elite, that will be free to try during the weekend and on sale until the 1st of May: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/alienday2023
• Green Hell will be 30% off until the 28th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/815370/Green_Hell/
• Publisher Techland puts its games on sale featuring up to 90% discounts. Be warned, while most of the games will be on sale until May, 1st, for some obscure ones (Xpand Rally) it will be a lot less, until this next Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/Techland/sale/TechlandPublisherWeekend2023
• And the Xbox Game Studios Publisher Sale brings up to 82% discounts until the 4th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/XGS_Publisher_Sale_2023

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

AMD Radeon RX 7600S RDNA3 laptop GPU tested, 6% slower than RTX 4060 without raytracing

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-7600s-rdna3-laptop-gpu-tested-6-slower-than-rtx-4060-without-raytracing

AMD Ryzen Z1 APUs For ASUS ROG Ally Handheld Come In Two Flavors: Z1 Extreme With 8 Cores & Z1 With 6 Cores

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-z1-apus-for-asus-rog-ally-handheld-come-in-two-flavors-z1-extreme-with-8-cores-z1-with-6-cores/

Interesting looking cheap cooler

Japanese Retailer Offers Free Intel Arc A750 Graphics Card With NVIDIA’s RTX 4090 Purchase

https://wccftech.com/japanese-retailer-offers-free-intel-arc-a750-graphics-card-with-nvidia-rtx-4090-purchase/

Like I get it, probably need to clear out those unsold inventories and 4090s are certainly still selling quite a lot but just lol

A decent result for the 7600S in raster considering it's the cut-down version of a chip that's a half-node behind. I assume the 7700S should come a few percent ahead in raster at the same TDP while still being a little cheaper to manufacture.

I watched it the other day because I remembered reading the announcement of the cooler and thinking that it could be quite good. And it's a good performer, but with an awful installation system.

Noctua or beQuiet, that also make top down coolers, could take a page from this an greatly improve the way it's installed by simply adding holes through the heatsink to fasten the nuts. After all, for those that overclock the RAM, a cooler should be worth it.

Being Japan, I'm going to guess that they're trying to appeal to the collectionists out there that would enjoy having an Intel card to add to their collection without having to buy and use one.

US retailer is now giving away $100 Steam Gift cards with all GeForce RTX 40 GPUs

https://videocardz.com/newz/us-retailer-is-now-giving-away-100-steam-gift-cards-with-all-geforce-rtx-40-gpus

Of course it's MicroCenter but that would essentially make the price of the 4070 $500. At which point that might actually be a good deal. But promotions like this generally means that it ain't selling which is good because it's sending Nvidia the correct message. Assuming nothing shits up, at this rate, RTX 5000 might launch with good price to performance ratio outside of flagship.

As good as that may sound, it also comes off as desperate to move stock, which also doesn't give good signs for that card selling either. 

I've already seen enough YT vids of the 4070 so far to figure that it's a bust in terms of sales.

[PSA] Star Wars Jedi: Survivor now retroactively included with 7000-series X3D chips

https://www.reddit.com/r/bapcsalescanada/comments/12uie44/psa_star_wars_jedi_survivor_now_retroactively/

I called Canada Computers and even though I bought it on the 13th, they gave me the code!

Man, living close to a Microcenter store must be awesome given how quickly they resort to discounts, bundles or gift cards to sell more hardware.

That makes the cards look a bit more enticing, but I don't think it will be enough for most users. Nvidia has simply made a terrible mistake judging the market, thinking that people would be ok paying pandemic/crypto pricess for GPUs in regular conditions, and the market has given them the middle finger. And until Nvidia accepts that and takes action lowering the price, things won't change much for them.

Of course, you'll probably post the rumred price of the 4060Ti later today and, if that happens to be real, we'll then see if price is the only factor hurting Nvidia's sales or if the small performance jump also plays a role.

AMD has done a good thing here, which doesn't always happen.

Congratulations to you and hopefully also Mummelmann.

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU Burns Up, Kills Itself & The ASUS X670 Motherboard

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-cpu-burns-up-kills-itself-the-asus-x670-motherboard/

Me who has Asus X670E + 7800X3D cpu

Least it sounds like Steve from GN is on it which also means this isn't just a one off and there have been multiple reports of it. If it's just a BIOS issue, then it's not a big deal cause I updated mine to the latest version and everyone else should do the same. But we will see!

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Might Be Priced At $399 US, Same Pricing As 3060 Ti With 3070 Ti Performance

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-ti-priced-at-399-us-same-pricing-3060-ti-3070-ti-performance/

Pretty good price and performance uplift but needs more than 8GB of vram at that price. If it comes with 16GB which we know Nvidia can do, then despite it's 128 bit bus and pci x8, it would have more than enough vram to overcome many issues. Least this does show that low sales are starting to affect their decisions if it pans out to be true.

AMD Ryzen 8000 APU Leaks: Zen 5 In Fire Range & Strix Point Families, Hawk Point With Zen 4 & RDNA 3.5

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-8000-apu-leaks-zen-5-in-fire-range-strix-point-families-hawk-point-with-zen-4-rdna-3-5/

I'll post this cause I am sure someone else will anyway if I don't. But since it's MLID and his track record of getting virtually everything wrong with his last reliable leaks being RDNA 2, I'd rather believe the hobo down the street than his leaks.

Intel XeSS Let’s You Enjoy Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City With Over 70% Faster Performance On Arc GPUs

https://wccftech.com/intel-xess-lets-you-enjoy-cyberpunk-2077s-night-city-with-over-70-percent-faster-performance-on-arc-gpus/

Took them long enough to add in XeSS