The long second part of the Monday news:

Minecraft 1.20 Trails & Tales update is launching on June 7
https://www.pcgamer.com/minecraft-120-trails-and-tales-update-is-launching-on-june-7/
The big feature list for Minecraft 1.20 has been known for a while, and test builds have been available for a few months, with the only remaining mystery being its release date. The next Minecraft update is happening sooner than I'd expected: Trails & Tales is coming on June 7.

Fairgames promises 'emergent sandbox gameplay' in competitive PvP heists
https://www.pcgamer.com/fairgames-promises-emergent-sandbox-gameplay-in-competitive-pvp-heists/
Are heist games in vogue? The extraction shooter genre has heist-like qualities, and several literal heist games are on the way: Payday 3 and Monaco 2, probably GTA 6 next year, and now Fairgames (technically called "Fairgame$"), a "competitive heisting experience" in which players will target the ill-gotten wealth of the world's billionaires and, presumably, try to extract it without being taken out by rival gangs of heisters.

Lionsgate really wants to make a big-budget John Wick videogame: 'There's a ton of energy around it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/lionsgate-really-wants-to-make-a-big-budget-john-wick-videogame-theres-a-ton-of-energy-around-it/
In November 2022, Lionsgate said it was interested in turning the Keanu Reeves action film series John Wick into "a big AAA game." That's still very much the case: The company said in its most recent earnings call that there's no specific action on that front at this point, but it's eager to make it happen.

The Last of Us multiplayer development reportedly slowed as Naughty Dog says the project needs 'more time'
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-last-of-us-multiplayer-development-reportedly-slowed-as-naughty-dog-says-the-project-needs-more-time/
Back in June 2022, when Naughty Dog finally confirmed that The Last of Us was coming to PC, it also announced that a new, standalone multiplayer game based on The Last of Us was in development too. It was originally meant to be an expansion for The Last of Us 2, but Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann said at the time that it had "evolved beyond the team's ambition," and so the decision was made to turn it into a standalone game instead. Platforms weren't announced at the time, although we speculated that the live service aspects of the game would make it a good candidate for a PC release.
More information was promised for 2023, and today we got it, but it's probably not what any TLOU fan was hoping for. Naughty Dog announced Friday that the game isn't ready to be shown yet, and apparently won't be for a while to come.

My favorite Elder Scrolls-like RPG ran bafflingly badly on Steam Deck, but a small, surprising tweak has doubled its performance
https://www.pcgamer.com/my-favorite-elder-scrolls-like-rpg-ran-bafflingly-badly-on-steam-deck-but-a-small-surprising-tweak-has-doubled-its-performance/
I make it no secret that I love Dread Delusion, a chunky, retro RPG in a stunning alien world with body horror-fueled societies clinging to life on the asteroids orbiting a small, blood-red star. Despite its throwback looks and a green "verified" badge however, it used to just tank my Steam Deck, rarely cresting above 30fps and typically hovering around 25. A recent early access update has vastly improved those numbers, and the culprit was so simple I can still barely believe it.
(...)
In addition to the big performance uplift, the Cadaver Keep update has also seen another expansion of Dread Delusion's main quest, bringing it one step closer to its full 1.0 release. That's the best news of all for me, because no matter how much I love this game, I can't keep playing it piecemeal. We've reprinted the full Cadaver Keep patch notes down below:

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum studio says sorry for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum game
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-gollum-studio-says-sorry-for-the-lord-of-the-rings-gollum-game/
After a brutal reaction from reviewers and players alike—"Misery! Misery! Curse Daedalic. Curse it and crush it! We hates it! We hates it forever!" one Steam user wrote in an appropriately in-character review—Daedalic Entertainment has apologized for the sorry state of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and says it will continue working on the game to ensure that it meets "its fullest potential."

Original Fallout co-creator finally explains what made him leave the sequel: 'I made an IP from scratch that nobody believed in except the team, and my reward for that was more crunch'
https://www.pcgamer.com/original-fallout-co-creator-finally-explains-what-made-him-leave-the-sequel-i-made-an-ip-from-scratch-that-nobody-believed-in-except-the-team-and-my-reward-for-that-was-more-crunch/
Veteran RPG creator Tim Cain has continued his campaign to pull back the curtain on CRPG history through a series of quite lovely and informative blogs on YouTube. Yesterday, he hit us with the surprising reveal that the original Fallout, which Cain co-created, was a low priority "B-tier" project for publisher Interplay during much of its development, and that video serves as background for today's topic: why Cain and fellow developers Leonard Boyarsky and Jason Anderson left the development of Fallout 2 before its release.
Update 5/27/23: Tim Cain has followed up his prior two videos with a third further elaborating on his experience, asking viewers to approach his stories "with nuance," and stating that "things aren't as black and white in these stories as you make them out to be.

The first 1,000 Diablo IV players to Hardcore level 100 get their name on a statue
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-first-1000-diablo-iv-players-to-hardcore-level-100-get-their-name-on-a-statue/
The first 1,000 people to reach level 100 in Diablo IV, and then tweet to @Diablo with proof, will get their usernames "immortalized on a statue of Lilith." Hardcore being, of course, the mode where if you die then your character is straight-up deleted and gone forever. There are going to be so, so many salty highlights of people losing a hardcore character while trying for this challenge—which will stay open until September or until 1,000 people claim it.

One of my favorite D&D videogames is still getting beefy updates after 21 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/one-of-my-favorite-dandd-videogames-is-still-getting-beefy-updates-after-21-years/
Ever since talking to prolific Neverwinter Nights module builder Luke Scull, I've been on a Neverwinter Nights kick, working through some of the huge backlog of high-quality user-made campaigns for Bioware's 2002 RPG. While playing Swordflight, a standout hardcore, ambitious mod, I logged in one day to notice new UI elements, graphics options, and quality-of-life changes, stuff that just wasn't there before. Surely Beamdog isn't still updating its 2018 Enhanced Edition re-release, right?
As reported by Gaming on Linux, that's exactly what's happened. Beamdog's patch summary characterizes the update as "a year-long love effort" by community developers clippy, Daz, Jasperre, Llareth, niv, Soren, tinygiant, and virusman, packaged by the company into an official update for the game. The full patch notes are honestly too extensive to repost in full here, and can be found on Beamdog's official website.

They're finally doing a game where the Warhammer 40K Orks go full Mad Max
https://www.pcgamer.com/theyre-finally-doing-a-game-where-the-warhammer-40k-orks-go-full-mad-max/
Angry, green, and obsessed with speed: An upcoming combat racer set in the Warhammer 40,000 takes on the Kult of Speed, those Orks obsessed with driving fast and blowing things up that players love. The team-based shooter pits two rival groups of speed freeks against each other as they race to and then fight over objectives on a large map in their ramshackle, terrifying, explosively-fueled deathtrap tanks, cars, trikes, and buggies.

Total War: Warhammer 3's latest free hero is Warhammer's original posterboy
https://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-warhammer-3s-latest-free-hero-is-warhammers-original-posterboy/
As part of update 3.1.0, Total War: Warhammer 3 has another free legendary hero. Last time it was the Kislevite vampire Ulrika Magdova, and this time it's a hard counter to undead like her: Harald Hammerstorm, also known as Harry the Hammer, a Chaos Warrior who specializes in killing anything that rises from the grave.

Prehistoric farming RPG Roots of Pacha returns to Steam following development dispute
https://www.pcgamer.com/prehistoric-farming-rpg-roots-of-pacha-returns-to-steam-following-development-dispute/
After two weeks of being unavailable for purchase, paleolithic farming sim Roots of Pacha has returned to sale on Steam. The game was originally delisted by Valve following a legal dispute between publisher Crytivo and developer Soda Den, seemingly begun over contract stipulations in the publishing agreement.

Knights of the Old Republic Remake shows faint, flickering sign of life in publisher report
https://www.pcgamer.com/knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-shows-faint-flickering-sign-of-life-in-publisher-report/
First reported by Insider Gaming, quiet mega-publisher the Embracer Group recently released its full year report for April 2022-March 2023, and that report lists the now legendarily fraught Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic Remake as a project under active development in the subhead "Announced PC/Console Releases as of May 24, 2023."

Bandai Namco officially announces Bryan Fury for Tekken 8, after accidentally announcing Bryan Fury for Tekken 8
https://www.pcgamer.com/bandai-namco-officially-announces-bryan-fury-for-tekken-8-after-accidentally-announcing-bryan-fury-for-tekken-8/
Bryan Fury is coming to Tekken 8, Bandai Namco has revealed. Twice.
Everyone's favourite deranged zombie cyborg was confirmed for Tekken 8's character roster at this year's Combo Breaker fighting tournament, held over the weekend. The announcement came in the form of a trailer, viewable above, with the tagline "A wildcard for violence and destruction".

Crowdfunding website Fig is no more
https://www.pcgamer.com/crowdfunding-website-fig-is-no-more/
Video game crowdfunding platform Fig, which helped to fund the development of games like Psychonauts 2 and Homeworld 3, is no longer online.
As reported by RPS, the news was shared by Double Fine and Blackbird Interactive, who issued updates shortly before the website's shutdown. "We've been informed that the Fig website is going to be brought offline on Sunday, May 28th," wrote Double Fine's community manager Harper Jay on the Psychonauts 2 Fig page, adding "that means we're going to have to shift our communications to a different hub." Likewise, Homeworld 3's publisher Gearbox published a similar post on its official website, stating "We are committed to continuing to provide you with consistent updates and visibility into Homeworld 3 through alternative channels."

You know it's bad when DLSS 3 reduces framerate in some games

NVIDIA introduces ULMB2 (Ultra Low Motion Blur 2) as free upgrade to some 1440p 360Hz G-Sync monitor

https://videocardz.com/press-release/nvidia-introduces-ulmb2-ultra-low-motion-blur-2-as-free-upgrade-to-some-1440p-360hz-g-sync-monitor

ASUS Shows Off Concept GeForce RTX 40 Graphics Card Without Power-Connectors, Uses Proprietary Slot

https://wccftech.com/asus-shows-off-geforce-rtx-40-graphics-card-without-power-connectors-uses-proprietary-slot/

Doubt it will be the standard anytime soon but it is interesting

MSI has a simple solution for 12VHPWR cable problems

https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-has-a-simple-solution-for-12vhpwr-cable-problems

That's kind of neat. The connector part is yellow and when you plug it in fully, the user should not see any yellow left

Intel shows off 16-core/22-thread Meteor Lake CPU in generative AI content demo'

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-shows-off-16-core-22-thread-meteor-lake-cpu-in-generative-ai-content-demo

NVIDIA reveals ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) game characters powered by generative AI tech

https://videocardz.com/press-release/nvidia-reveals-ace-avatar-cloud-engine-game-characters-powered-by-generative-ai-tech

NVIDIA GH200 GPU Debuts On The Grace Hopper Superchips, New HGX Servers Revealed Too

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-gh200-gpu-debuts-grace-hopper-superchips-new-hgx-servers-revealed/

Yeah, that Asus connector won't go anywhere.

MSI's answer to the power with the 16-pin connector issue is very simple and effective. But it's not a solution, it's only a mitigation.

Nvidia's engineering continues to be insane! Especially since this is a free update for some existing G-sync monitors.

I mean, if by some you mean a total of two monitors which already supported HDR and strobing at 240-300 Hz, so it's not surprising that a firmware update could get both to strobe at 360 Hz.

Well the tech behind it is much more interesting than that otherwise it wouldn't look much different than other monitors in terms of clarity yet it does.

I don't know, I think most people worth their salt already match strobing to framerate and refresh rate when they play, or the ghosting would be insane, so not like it's reinventing the wheel. In the end, while the 360 Hz strobing is nice, otherwise it feels like another pointless G-Sync certification badge.

However, I might be being too harsh here because LCDs drive me irrationally mad. Such a poor picture quality overall compared to everything else that exists. Imagine we could have had plasma monitors with perfect motion clarity and actual good colors and even no mouse micro stuttering. Instead, we have 500 Hz LCD screens that look like a blurry mess and it's just sad.

Better to just wait for high-refresh OLEDs IMO, or go for an OLED with BFI.

Can AI calculate CEO's cringe factor? 

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10
 
(Click here for top 100)

The Witcher 3 has sold 50 million copies
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-witcher-3-has-sold-50-million-copies/
Obscure cult classic The Witcher 3 has sold 50 million copies, according to developer CD Projekt.
In a video summarising the company's Q1 financial results (presented in Polish with English subtitles) CD Projekt CFO Piotr Nielubowicz stated "I would like to make an announcement which fills us with pride: The Witcher 3 has now been purchased by over 50 million gamers". Nielubowicz further states this puts the studio's seminal RPG "among the top ten best-selling video games in history" a stat which is "based upon publicly available data".

GOG has a new cyberpunk themed sale: the Neon Dreams Sale features up to 90% discounts during 6 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_neon_dreams_redux.

Steam has several new deals and new weeklong deals:

• Do Not Feed The Monkeys 2099 will be 15% off until June 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1964040/Do_Not_Feed_the_Monkeys_2099/
• The Hello Neighbor Franchise Sale features up to 80% discounts until Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/neighborfranchise
• Town of Salem 2, still in Early Access, is going to be 10% off until the 2nd of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2140510/Town_of_Salem_2/
• Chucklefish celebrates its 12th anniversary with a sale featuring up to 80% discounts until June, the 5th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/chucklefish2023
• Timberborn will be 20% off until the 7th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1062090/Timberborn/
• AER gets a 90% discount until June, 12th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/331870/AER_Memories_of_Old/
• And these are some of the weeklong deals:
  • Yokai Art: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons gets a 25% deal: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812060/Yokai_Art_Night_Parade_of_One_Hundred_Demons/
  • Final Upgrade will be 40% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/919260/Final_Upgrade/
  • STASIS is half its price: https://store.steampowered.com/app/380150/STASIS/
  • Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town, that has a demo, gets a 60% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1097110/Willy_Morgan_and_the_Curse_of_Bone_Town/
  • This Is the Police is going to be 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/443810/This_Is_the_Police/
  • And the last one is Pro Cycling Manager 2018, with an 85% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/704230/Pro_Cycling_Manager_2018/

And Fanatical has launched several new bundles, including six game bundles (that I'm not going to list). Check them out here.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 535.98
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-535-98
Highlights

Game Ready for Diablo IV

What’s New in Release 535

• Support for CUDA 12.2.
• Adds the latest performance improvements, bug fixes, and driver enhancements.

Fixed Issues

• Applying GeForce Experience Freestyle filters cause games to crash [4008945]
• Monitor may briefly flicker on waking from display sleep if DSR/DLDSR is enabled. [3592260]
• [SOLIDWORKS 2023] rendering issues when Enhanced Graphics Performance is enabled [4050712]
• [MAGIX Vegas Pro] Preview not working properly on some notebooks [4067005]
• [TouchDesigner] Degraded performance using Vulkan [3952439]
• [Nsight Tools] Abnormal termination that previously required a reboot [4056470]

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Community Patch 1.5.1 Released
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/mass-effect-legendary-edition-community-patch-1-5-1-released/
The Mass Effect Community Patch Team has released a new Community Patch for Mass Effect Legendary Edition. This Community Patch is only for the first ME LE game, and below you can find its complete changelog.
>> It's a long changelog.

GAMING NEWS

Silent Hill: Ascension gets a cinematic story trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/silent-hill-ascension-gets-a-cinematic-story-trailer/
Konami has released a cinematic story trailer for Silent Hill: Ascension. Silent Hill: Ascension is a Silent Hill spin-off that is developed by Genvid Technologies, Bad Robot Games, Behaviour Interactive, and DJ2 Entertainment.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Dev Builds Leaked Online
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/stalker-2-heart-of-chornobyl-dev-builds-leaked-online/
It appears that two dev builds of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl have been leaked online. According to the logs, each of these dev builds is around 190GB in size, and they are most likely playable.

The news, part two:

CD Projekt shoots down Sony acquisition rumor: 'CD Projekt is not for sale,' CEO says
https://www.pcgamer.com/cd-projekt-shoots-down-sony-acquisition-rumor-were-not-in-such-talks/
CD Projekt has shot down a persistent rumor that it is in talks with Sony about an acquisition deal, saying unequivocally that no such negotiations are taking place.

Darktide brings in the Chaos Spawn and two new levels
https://www.pcgamer.com/darktide-brings-in-the-chaos-spawn-and-two-new-levels/
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has updated its plague-zombie-shootin cooperative action with two new missions, a new monstrous enemy, and a tweak to how cosmetics are handled. This is the 10th major update since Darktide's botched launch, and brings a very iconic Warhammer baddie who also featured in previous Fatshark fantasy game Warhammer: Vermintide 2.

This sci-fi RTS gameplay trailer is so good it sparked an argument about realistic deep-space combat on Reddit
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-sci-fi-rts-gameplay-trailer-is-so-good-it-sparked-an-argument-about-realistic-deep-space-combat-on-reddit/
Hardcore sci-fi RTS Falling Frontier released a gameplay new trailer today showcasing ship-to-ship combat over the gas giant Saturn, and it's so impressive that it's got people on Reddit arguing about the realism of its depictions of combat between capital ship moving at relativistic speeds.

More than a year after launching into early access, the 'tiny MMO' Book of Travels is just about ready to starting releasing new content
https://www.pcgamer.com/more-than-a-year-after-launching-into-early-access-the-tiny-mmo-book-of-travels-is-just-about-ready-to-starting-releasing-new-content/
Despite making a strong impression when it debuted in 2021, the peaceful "tiny MMO" Book of Travels struggled to find an audience. Layoffs at developer Might and Delight quickly followed, and while the studio promised that work on the game would continue, it was easy to assume that it would eventually be forgotten, and slide quietly into oblivion.
But it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. In August 2022 Might and Delight laid out ambitious plans for the future, and in a recent Steam update the studio said that it's just about ready to "put out new gameplay content, and expand the world of Braided Shore."

Former DICE dev says Battlefield 2042 had a hard deadline and 'never stood much chance being great at launch'
https://www.pcgamer.com/former-dice-dev-says-battlefield-2042-had-a-hard-deadline-and-never-stood-much-chance-being-great-at-launch/
(...)
Since the recent release of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which appears to be this year's punching bag, developers have been sharing their own stories about the titles they worked on that didn't turn out great, but which they loved elements of anyway. For senior backend engineer Joakim Bodin, now at Epic but until recently of DICE/EA, that game is Battlefield 2042.
"This game had many iterations, and the deadline never changed much, so never stood much chance [of] being great at launch," said Bodin on Twitter, appending a picture of the game's metascore of 68. "I'm proud though to have pushed hard to have this game have full cross play, progression and (mostly) commerce. Its online systems will serve future titles well."

AI-generated story and dialogue is not going to work, says Dragon Age creator David Gaider: 'A lot of effort is going to be wasted on this'
https://www.pcgamer.com/ai-generated-story-and-dialogue-is-not-going-to-work-says-dragon-age-creator-david-gaider-a-lot-of-effort-is-going-to-be-wasted-on-this/
Procedural generation is a powerful tool for games. From Minecraft's endless worlds, to Borderlands' "87 bazillion" guns, to Shadow of Mordor's countless orc captains, a system that can create new, semi-randomised content on the fly can enormously extend replayability.
Inevitably, in this era of renewed interest in AI-driven generation, companies are looking at whether that idea can be pushed forward into new frontiers. Does the increased sophistication of chatbot ChatGPT, for example, suggest that dialogue and story in games could be procedurally generated too? According to David Gaider—the man who created the world and story of Dragon Age—the answer is a firm "no". And he knows because BioWare tried it.

Venerable Minecraft server gets shuttered, before the old guard got back together to save it
https://www.pcgamer.com/venerable-minecraft-server-gets-shuttered-before-the-old-guard-got-back-together-to-save-it/
The world of Minecraft custom content is so large that it supports countless different ways of playing the game, from all-out anarchy to prescribed roleplay. And then there's things like Mineplex. First appearing in 2013 and subsequently becoming one of the most popular custom servers around, Mineplex's schtick is custom minigames and multiplayer maps and it was so big it used to set records for player numbers. That popularity had dwindled in recent years, however, until on May 16 an announcement was made out of the blue: Mineplex would be closing its doors.

The Sims is getting rid of a photo bug but players just want the photo bug left alone: 'Who snitched?!?'
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-sims-is-getting-rid-of-a-photo-bug-but-players-just-want-the-photo-bug-left-alone-who-snitched/
Look, the Sims community can be a bit odd. I've just been reading a thread about the joys of flirting with married men with single female sims to knock out a particular baby achievement ("they won’t move out of their house so them and their wife are just stuck there hating each other") , before discovering that one of the current dramas is over an undoubted bug that Sims players would prefer is left untouched. Don't fix that problem, EA!