Yeah, but why hold onto a market you clearly aren't going to make much from over the long-term, the more you keep going hardcore into shafting your customers?.

Like this is it, the past 3-4years have been Nvidia going more and more into sicko mode against customers, seeing what they will/won't tolerate, and their focus on the Crypto bros and AI markets and Ai cars are showing this.

Yes 80% of the market, but what else are they actually doing within that market that isn't DLSS branding out the wazoo, a 4090 barely many can afford, and a whole stack that are just price horribly and not doing much compared to last gen cards?. You can have that market share, but you ain't going to have it in 100 years, like it's been written in stone or something.

I know where their interests lie, because if it was us, truly us, the gamers, they wouldn't be going this hardcore into giving us the worst line-up and experience and relying so damn hard on one piece of tech to carry their perf metrics along. Like remember hairworks?, where's that at?.

I'm not saying Nvidia is going to leave overnight, like turn the lights off "we're done lads", but look at how it took Konami years to fcuk themselves out of the core gaming market. There is only and truly so much fucking around you can do as a corp to your customer base, before you either fuck off to another market and test those customers out, or reform and treat your existing customers fairly, before they decide to just straight up move on.

What I'm trying to say is, we cannot have a repeat of this gen and last gen ad infimum, because it's not going to pay off, and the course of relying on the band aid of DLSS won't last long either, before people start to notice, and DLSS won't be here for 50yrs either, so they'll need to come up with some new marketing gimmick to keep ppl hooked, and that song and dance can also only go on for so long.

Also, like you pointed out with the data centers, they still made more there than with gaming, and yes, while it's no small chunk, it's still small when you look at the rising tech of AI and the general scope of where we're headed, it'll only get smaller as time goes on (remember how we were once the money makers of the industry?, well mobile now dwarfs PC and console gaming combined, and again, it'll only get smaller as time goes on). 

Let's go with the Friday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Fanatical has a new Star Deal and a new bundle:

• The new Star Deal is The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, 58% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-great-ace-attorney-chronicles
• The new Prestige Collection BYOB features 19 titles to choose to make your 2, 3 or 4 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/prestige-collection-build-your-own-bundle
• Also, you may be interested in the Golden Bundle, and the chance to win $2,000 worth of PC games and ebooks, or be one of the 100 runners up and get a a $5 coupon. Learn more here: https://www.fanatical.com/en/blog/explaining-golden-bundles-winners-and-more

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Unreal Engine 5.2 Burned Dead Forest Tech Demo Released
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/unreal-engine-5-2-burned-dead-forest-tech-demo-released/
MAWI United has released a brand new amazing Unreal Engine 5.2 tech demo that PC users can download right now. This tech demo features a 2sqkm procedural burned forest that users can freely roam.
According to the team, this tech demo takes full advantage of Unreal Engine 5’s Lumen and Nanite techs. The entire 2sqkm forest is made up of billions of Nanite triangles of custom photogrammetry scanned trees, plants, rocks, debris etc.
>> There are two videos of the demo.

You're going to start getting 'Epic Rewards' on the Epic Games Store
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-rewards-announcement/
Starting today, the Epic Games Store has a rewards program called, predictably, "Epic Rewards." No sign-up is required to participate: Two weeks after you make an eligible purchase on the Epic Games Store, you'll receive 5% back in the form of "Rewards" which can be spent on future EGS purchases.
5% of a $60 game is $3, which is nothing to sneeze at, unless you're currently experiencing seasonal allergies like I am. I sneezed at it twice.
As with all of these things, terms and conditions apply. One of those conditions is that Rewards eventually expire, but they've got a long shelf life: two years after you receive them. (25 months to be exact.)

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This woman married 63 people in Stardew Valley, including, uh, Zoro from One Piece, and she refuses to stop there
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-woman-married-63-people-in-stardew-valley-including-uh-zoro-from-one-piece-and-she-refuses-to-stop-there/
I don't know what the partner cap on polyamory is, but this determined Stardew Valley player has definitely surpassed it by marrying 63 people simultaneously. If you have clocked the fact that there are not 63 people in the entirety of Pelican Town, Calico Desert, or Ginger Island from update 1.5, then you will not be surprised to hear that this was achieved with a hell of a lot of mods.
Streamer Yinny has posted quite a lot of modded Stardew Valley videos (many of which involve sexual dialogue mods so do beware the links) and last year undertook the challenge of simultaneously marrying 23 people in Stardew Valley. She achieved that feat with Free Love, a mod which allows you to have multiple spouses. I expected "multiple" to be, you know, like three maybe.
But even 23 was not enough for Yinny, who has now gone on to marry a total of 63 people in Stardew Valley. She's shown off her entire village (and then some) of spouses, who march into bed together each night with a full earthquake of plip plop footsteps and holy hell is it a sight to behold.

Fans mourn as Activision stomps COD mod project two years in the making: 'Any chance we had of feeling that arcadey style of Call of Duty again is gone'
https://www.pcgamer.com/fans-mourn-as-activision-stomps-cod-mod-project-two-years-in-the-making-any-chance-we-had-of-feeling-that-arcadey-style-of-call-of-duty-again-is-gone/
A fan-made COD client two years in the making has been suddenly and summarily squelched by Activision lawyers. SM² was a modding project that aimed to create a "Call of Duty client … with all new features, weapons, perks, streaks, maps, QOL changes and more," until one of its team members received a cease & desist letter from Activision last Wednesday. SM² began life in 2021 as a way to make its creators' "dream Call of Duty game," a mish-mash of systems, maps and modes from a range of CODs. It seemed to be trucking along pretty well, too: Its https://sm2.gg/devblog-4/">most recent devblog update (now only available via the Wayback Machine after the Activision takedown) was from April 21, and informed fans that the project would be making the switch from the original Modern Warfare 2 engine to the Modern Warfare 2019 engine, "for technical reasons".

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gets a first-person mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-gets-a-first-person-mod/
Modder ‘trevix’ has released a must-have first-person mod for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. This mod will allow you to explore the world of Hyrule via a first-person perspective.
Going into more details, this mod removes the UI elements on Purah’s pad Camera app. However, the game will automatically switch to a third-person perspective during combat, jumping and swimming.
>> There's a less than 2 minutes video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Sony details its future PC strategy for its first-party games
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/sony-details-its-future-pc-strategy-for-its-first-party-games/
In the past couple of years, Sony released numerous of its first-party games on PC. And while most of these releases were commercial successes, Sony seems willing to retain the big gap between the PS5 and PC releases of its first-party games.

The second, long and last part of today's news:

UK chancellor wags his finger at CMA after Activision acquisition block, urging it to 'understand its wider responsibilities'
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk-chancellor-wags-his-finger-at-cma-after-activision-acquisition-block-urging-it-to-understand-its-wider-responsibilities/
The UK government sure does seem to be a bit antsy about the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) decision to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Two days ago, a gaggle of MPs asked the market regulator if it had not, perhaps, been a bit shortsighted when it decided to stop the deal, and now Jeremy Hunt—the Chancellor of the Exchequer (equivalent to the US Treasury Secretary)—has stuck his oar in too (via The Telegraph).

Wizard of Legend is getting a sequel with 'improved 3D graphics, an expanded storyline, and even online multiplayer'
https://www.pcgamer.com/wizard-of-legend-is-getting-a-sequel-with-improved-3d-graphics-an-expanded-storyline-and-even-online-multiplayer/
Wizard of Legend, the isometric dungeon crawler that we said "is probably the closest we're ever going to get to a good Avatar: The Last Airbender game," was a hit, selling more than 500,000 copies shortly after it launched in 2018. Now a sequel is on the way, revealed today by publisher Humble Games as "an entirely new" experience being developed by Children of Morta studio Dead Mage.

Creator of defunct skyship MMO Worlds Adrift is trying again with a co-op survival game where 'your skyship is your home in the clouds'
https://www.pcgamer.com/creator-of-defunct-skyship-mmo-worlds-adrift-is-trying-again-with-a-co-op-survival-game-where-your-skyship-is-your-home-in-the-clouds/
If you miss the sandbox of floating islands, customizable airships, and grappling hooks found in Worlds Adrift—the MMO from Bossa Games that shut down in 2019—you're about to get another chance to sail the winds and swing around. The developer of I Am Bread and Surgeon Simulator are taking another stab the sky with a new co-op survival game coming next year.

An environmentalist brawler is the second Black Game Developer Fund game that Humble will publish
https://www.pcgamer.com/an-environmentalist-brawler-is-the-second-black-game-developer-fund-game-that-humble-will-publish/
Humble launched the Black Game Developer Fund in 2020 with a pledge of $1 million per year toward projects from Black indie devs, and the program has since funded over 30 games. BGDF funding doesn't guarantee that Humble will go on to publish the game itself, but the company did ink a deal with upcoming BGDF-funded game Protodroid DeLTA, and now it's done the same with a second game.
Breeze in the Clouds, a game about a corgi who winds up on an adventure in a "weather world," will also be published by Humble, the company announced during its 2023 Humble Showcase.

Stray Gods is a musical RPG where your choices also change the chorus
https://www.pcgamer.com/stray-gods-is-a-musical-rpg-where-your-choices-also-change-the-chorus/
Story-based RPG Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical turned up at the Humble Games showcase today to share a deeper look at its choice-driven narrative and some words from studio co-founders David Gaider, Dragon Age's former lead writer, and Liam Esler about how choices also affect the music in the moment.

Developer of The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story reveals new base building RTS
https://www.pcgamer.com/developer-of-the-mageseeker-a-league-of-legends-story-reveals-new-base-building-rts/
One of the moodier trailers shown at the Humble Games Showcase today was for Cataclismo, a new base building tower defense RTS from Digital Sun, developer of The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story.

System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition shows off a major visual upgrade in new screens: 'All cinematics, textures, characters and weapon models have been updated'
https://www.pcgamer.com/system-shock-2-enhanced-edition-shows-off-a-major-visual-upgrade-in-new-screens-all-cinematics-textures-characters-and-weapon-models-have-been-updated/
The System Shock remake is almost here, which makes this a fine time to recall that developer Nightdive Studios is also working on an update of System Shock 2. The System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition, as it's formally known, won't be a full do-over like the upcoming remake of System Shock, but it does promise to make Irrational's great immersive sim look and play as well as it possibly can.

Fortnite has dropped Trios mode with zero explanation, and fans aren't happy
https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnite-has-dropped-trios-mode-with-zero-explanation-and-fans-arent-happy/
The launch of Fortnite's newest season brought with it the addition of Ranked play, and if you're genuinely surprised that Fortnite—the biggest battle royale in the world—is only just now getting a Ranked mode, trust me, you're not alone. Alas, it comes at a price, as the arrival of Ranked play means the Trios mode is gone.

The Matzah brawl: Jewish moms judge The Sims' latest culinary addition
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-matzah-brawl-jewish-moms-judge-the-sims-latest-culinary-addition/
The Sims has added some long-requested culinary items to its world: Matzah / matzo ball soup and challah bread. Recent years have seen the game strive to improve its representation of diverse cuisines, with Arab, Asian and Latin American foods added, and Matzah ball soup is a traditional Jewish dish that is basically chicken soup dotted with delicious dumplings. The soup can be served anytime but is especially associated with the holiday of Passover, and the campaign to add it was mostly led by community member Hufflepom.

You'll be able to finish post-apocalyptic CRPG Broken Roads as a pacifist
https://www.pcgamer.com/post-apocalyptic-crpg-broken-roads-can-be-finished-as-a-pacifist/
"Today we're announcing that Broken Roads will offer pacifist playthroughs for certain character builds," developer Drop Bear Bytes announced in its latest dev blog, "meaning the game can be completed without combat or killing anyone—if you make the appropriate choices along the way, that is."

Take-Two CEO says AI-created hit games are a fantasy: 'Genius is the domain of human beings and I believe will stay that way'
https://www.pcgamer.com/take-two-ceo-says-ai-created-hit-games-are-a-fantasy-genius-is-the-domain-of-human-beings-and-i-believe-will-stay-that-way/
Take Two recently released its results for the financial year ending March 31, and what got everyone excited was not the hugely impressive $5.3 billion in net bookings, but its own prediction of $8 billion in the financial year 2025 (which starts in April 2024, thanks accountants). "Several groundbreaking titles" will apparently be the near-$3 billion difference makers, one of which may be Ken Levine's Judas, but of course what everyone's wondering is whether this is the first sniff of a GTA 6 release window.
After the results there was an investor Q&A during which Take-Two's CEO Strauss Zelnick fielded a bunch of mostly operational questions (shareholders don't tend to ask if GTA 6 will feature a co-op campaign). One of these questions was about the emergence of AI tools of various stripes, and how Take-Two was planning to incorporate them into its development pipelines.

I can't get enough of this railroad sim's cute and cosy vibes
https://www.pcgamer.com/i-cant-get-enough-of-this-railroad-sims-cute-and-cosy-vibes/
There's something oddly reassuring about the enduring love we have for trains and the games that let us guide them through the world. Even in 2023, the romantic attachment persists. For as long as I've been playing games, trains have been a constant, from casual puzzlers to dense management sims. And now there's another one that's piqued my interest. Station to Station has a bit of the latter, but is more of a relaxing, minimalist romp—a light-weight puzzler with a few sim elements and lots of style.

Platinum just dropped free DLC for a decade-old game
https://www.pcgamer.com/platinum-just-dropped-free-dlc-for-a-decade-old-game/
The Wonderful 101 was first released in 2013 as a Nintendo Wii U exclusive and, remarkably enough, ten years later is still the last game to have been directed by Hideki Kamiya (thanks mainly to the cancellation of Scalebound). (...)
The game was resurrected in 2020 thanks to a crowdfunding campaign and, shortly afterwards, The Wonderful 101: Remastered found its way to various platforms including Steam (where the user reviews are 'very positive'). Part of the campaign were additional game modes offered as stretch goals which, to be honest, I'd completely forgotten about: But Platinum did not. Today saw the release of The Wonderful One: After School Hero Part 1 out of nowhere, which was originally announced as 'Luka's first mission'. After School Hero Part 2 will complete it, and release next week on May 26. Both DLCs are free.

After Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy, PowerWash Simulator's gonna hose down SpongeBob Squarepants
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-tomb-raider-and-final-fantasy-powerwash-simulators-gonna-hose-down-spongebob-squarepants/
I'm increasingly convinced that the PowerWash Simulator devs are just seeing what they can get away with at this point. Hot on the heels of that free Tomb Raider DLC and the equally free Final Fantasy 7 Remake add-on that let you hose down a Guard Scorpion, FuturLab has announced a DLC that will let you finally clean up… Bikini Bottom. Like, from SpongeBob.

And these are the weekend deals at GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• There are seven new Deals of the Day, that will be available until Monday:
  • Decision: Red Daze is 50% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/decision_red_daze
  • Fantasy Tavern Sextet - Vol.1 New World Days gets a 52% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/fantasy_tavern_sextet_vol1_new_world_days
  • Agarest: Generations of War Zero is 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/agarest_generations_of_war_zero
  • Hero of the Kingdom II also sports an 80% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hero_of_the_kingdom_ii
  • Euphoria: Supreme Mechanics has a 90% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/euphoria_supreme_mechanics
  • Inquisitor’s Heart and Soul, still in development, is also 90% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/inquisitors_heart_and_soul
  • The last one is Hell Division, with a 93% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hell_division
• There's a new GIVEAWAY: Fiendish Freddy's Big Top o' Fun will be free to keep during 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/game/fiendish_freddys_big_top_o_fun
• The giveaway is part of the Throwback Entertainment Publisher Sale, with up to 70% discounts during 3 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_throwback_entertainment
• And the Weekend Sale brings Paradox Interactive titles up to 80% off during 3 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20230519_weekend_sale

+Steam

• Cities: Skylines will be free to try during the weekend and 70% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/Cities_Skylines/
• Super Bunny Man gets a 25% discount until the 23rd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/673750/Super_Bunny_Man/
• V Rising, still in Early Access, will be 20% off until next Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1604030/V_Rising/
• Isonzo gets a 45% discount until the 25th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1556790/Isonzo/
• Barn Finders, that has a demo, will be 50% off until May, 25th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/991170/Barn_Finders/
• Unity of Command II gets a 75% discount until Thursday, 25th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/809230/Unity_of_Command_II/
• The METRO franchise goes on sale with up to 85% discounts until the 25th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/MetroFranchise
• And the last one is Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, that will be fre to try during the weekend and 85% off until May, 25th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2221490/Tom_Clancys_The_Division_2/

And done! You'll have to wait until the next time for more. Until then, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

Yea I do agree with your scenario much more although it is still pretty unlikely unless Radeon finds another lightning in a bottle.

What do you mean they aren't going to make much more in the long term? They legit made 1.8 Billion dollars in a single quarter because of gaming during a recession. They are coming out with new features every generation in gaming that the competition can't even keep up with. They popularized Ray Tracing, then they came out with DLSS 2 which still has has no equivalence, then they came out with DLSS 3 which also has no equivalence not to mention Reflex, now they are pouring R&D into neural texture compression, path tracing and plenty of other things related to gaming. They wouldn't pour so much R&D into gaming if they weren't here to stay. If anything, they would be the least innovative when it comes to gaming if what you are saying is true but they have been the opposite.

What you should be asking is what the competition is doing to gain a chunk of that 80% that Nvidia has. What innovate features has either Radeon or Intel come up with that gives Nvidia a run for their money? It also sounds like you keep thinking DLSS is the only reason anyone buys Nvidia but the fact of the matter is that people buy Nvidia because first and foremost, the Raster performance is competitive if not faster than the competition. DLSS, Ray Tracing and Reflex are the cherry on top that makes people choose Nvidia when Raster is similar or close enough. So if Nvidia has competitive pricing vs the competition with competitive Raster performance and good amount of vram along with all the Nvidia features that has no equivalence, why would people choose the competition?

The reality is that Nvidia does what the market gives them the opportunity to do. RDNA 2 was very competitive so what does Nvidia do? Makes their cards equally if not more competitive. RDNA 3 is not all that competitive so what does Nvidia do? Exploit the market. If there is more competition from AMD or Intel, Nvidia will react accordingly as proven by Ampere. And the reason is because they are here to stay. And yes, Ai and all that are big money makes but this isn't one or the other situation. Nvidia can have gaming and Ai because they make so much money that they can make profit on both.

Intel Arrow Lake-HX Enthusiast Laptop CPU Test Tool Spotted, Comes In BGA 2114 Design

https://wccftech.com/intel-arrow-lake-hx-enthusiast-laptop-cpu-test-tool-spotted-bga-2114-design/

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Is Crazy Popular, Newest 3D V-Cache CPU Sold Almost Twice As Much As 5800X3D

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-is-crazy-popular-3d-v-cache-cpu-sold-2x-5800x3d/

In Germany that is

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 to cost €329 in Europe

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-to-cost-e329-in-europe

Slightly more than the US version

I hope they finally can keep the power draw in check. While it's not too much of an issue on Desktop, it really hurts them in mobile and especially server.

That's basically just with VAT added.

Speaking of the 4060, I'll get this laptop probably next month: Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA507NV-LP031W - Jaeger Gray | Livré demain - Krëfel (krefel.be)

CPU: Ryzen 7 7735HS

GPU: RTX 4060

16GB (2x8) RAM

Already 200€ off, so 1349€

What do you guys think?

Looks good to me. I have been seeing some Lenovo 3070 Ti laptops around that price range in Canada so idk if there's any in your area. But it sounds like a good deal for such a newly specd laptop

Biggest improvement is in textures and vram. Medium quality textures now look good and high texture settings are now do able for 8GB vram GPUs as long as you set the texture streaming to normal or fast. I think normal is a tad noticeable in some scenarios while fast is not all that noticeable. Still plenty of issues that need to be dealt with however.

Here laptops with a 3070Ti basically start at 2000€ and a 3070 is also at least 1600€. Basically the only other viable choice would have been this one (the rest around that price are all 3060s or even 3050s), a 16-inch version  with an RX 7600S and slightly better screen instead for 1399€ - but it lacks the second M.2 slot apparently (it's mentioned on the other model that it has an extra slot, but no mention on this one), which I really need.

Edit: Just read the description and there it's mentioned that it has an empty M.2 slot. So yeah, both are really great at that price point, now I'm not sure which one to buy...

Then yea, you can't really go wrong with either.