Unreal showing off some more (models, physics, rendering):

The faces still need work, but this was before Metahuman Animator was ready.

Definitely see the uncanny valley, but they did brilliantly to try and hide it.

One of the more interesting gaming chairs out there as it moves based on what's happening in game or when watching a movie. It costs $2300 USD but honestly, that's cheaper than I was expecting for a chair with tech like this lol.

Intel To Host Innovation 2023 Event on 19th September: Meteor Lake, Raptor Lake Refresh & Alchemist+ Expected

https://wccftech.com/intel-to-host-innovation-2023-event-on-19th-september-meteor-lake-raptor-lake-refresh-alchemist-expected/

Raptor Lake Refresh will be meh but the other two could be interesting

NVIDIA CEO, Jensen Huang, Says Next-Gen GPU Will Be Made By TSMC

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-says-next-gen-gpu-will-be-made-by-tsmc/

Welp there goes the Samsung hopium

It won't be Samsung nor Intel, that some speculated it could be the chosen one because Huang said he was impressed with its new process nodes.

The Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

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

• These are the four DotD, available until Wednesday:
  • Endling - Extinction is Forever will be 45% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/endling_extinction_is_forever
  • Yuppie Psycho: Executive Edition gets a 60% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/yuppie_psycho_executive_edition
  • Artico is going to be 65% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/arctico
  • And Westerado: Double Barreled gets a 70% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/westerado_double_barreled
• The Weekly Sale brings up to 80% discounts during the next 6 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20230605_weekly_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• ONE PIECE ODYSSEY will be 35% off until June, 11th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/814000/ONE_PIECE_ODYSSEY/
• And Outward Definitive Edition will be 75% off until the same 11th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/794260/Outward_Definitive_Edition/

The Humble Store has two new sales:

• The Idea Factory Sale brings up to 80% discounts during 4 days. All the keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/idea-factory-publisher-sale/
• The Legends of the Old Sale brings up to 85% discounts during 4 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG(2), EGS and UPlay: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/legends-of-old-sale/

And Fanatical has a Star Deal and a Sale:

• The Star Deal is Golden Light, that started yesterday, will be 75% off for another 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/golden-light
• And Disney Interactive puts its games on sale with up to 79% discounts during up to 12 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/disney-interactive

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Valve wouldn't host Dolphin on Steam because it 'can't sit in judgement' on Nintendo's fight against emulators
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-wouldnt-host-dolphin-on-steam-because-it-cant-sit-in-judgement-on-nintendos-fight-against-emulators/
Last week Nintendo managed to block the Steam release of the Gamecube and Wii emulator Dolphin. Initial reports had it that this was a DMCA takedown, but it soon emerged that—as Dolphin is not yet available for download on Steam—Valve had contacted Nintendo in advance, and been rewarded with a warning shot across the bows.
Valve spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle subsequently confirmed to The Verge that this legal letter came about because Valve had contacted Nintendo. “Given Nintendo’s history of taking action against some emulators, we brought this to their attention proactively after the Dolphin team announced it was coming soon to Steam".

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Street Fighter 6 Mod lets you skip the grind and instantly get the classic costumes
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/street-fighter-6-mod-lets-you-skip-the-grind-and-instantly-get-the-classic-costumes/
A couple of days ago, Capcom revealed a Classic Outfit Pack for Street Fighter 6, covering all of the game’s 18 characters. These classic outfits can be earned while playing the World Tour mode, however, players need to grind in order to unlock all of them. Thankfully, though, there is a mod that lets you skip the grind and grants you immediately these classic costumes.
>> The article has the official trailer for the classic outfits.

Street Fighter 6 just got a VR Mod on PC that you can download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/street-fighter-6-just-got-a-vr-mod-on-pc-that-you-can-download/
Praydog has just released a new version of the RE Engine Framework Mod that adds VR support for Street Fighter 6. This is a truly amazing mod, and you can find below a video that showcases it in action.
What’s funny here is that the game does not officially support VR on any platform right now. And, ironically, this VR Mod looks so good that it could easily pass as an official VR implementation.
>> Just to be clear, you won't be playing in 1st person, it's just a different camera. The video showing the mod in action is a bit over 1 minute long.

This Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered Mod lets you play as Venom from PS5’s exclusive Spider-Man 2
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-marvels-spider-man-remastered-mod-lets-you-play-as-venom-from-ps5s-exclusive-spider-man-2/
As you may know, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be releasing exclusively, at least for now, on PS5 in Fall 2023. However, PC gamers can already get a taste of Venom thanks to this Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered Mod.
Created by AgroFro, this mod brings the iconic symbiote suit to the first Spider-Man game. What’s also cool here is that this mod adds the ability to glide, something that players will be able to do in Spider-Man 2. And, from the looks of it, web swinging appears to be faster.
Unfortunately, the modder was not able to add any new/custom combat moves. Thus, your combat skills and abilities will be exactly the same with the vanilla game. That’s a bummer, but hey… at least we got the gliding.
>> There's an almost 5 minutes video of the mod.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones gets an unofficial patch that completely fixes its mouse camera issues
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/prince-of-persia-the-two-thrones-gets-an-unofficial-patch-that-completely-fixes-its-mouse-camera-issues/
Modder ‘Dawid Freeman’ has released a must-have unofficial patch for Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. This patch completely fixes the broken mouse camera look, implements proper 4xMSAA support, and restores the game’s gore effects.
Going into more details, this unofficial patch removes the annoying auto-centering of the camera in static cameras and when you run. Moreover, it adds support for diagonal camera movement, and completely removes the mouse deadzones. As a result of these changes, the game now feels great when using a mouse.
It’s also worth noting that the game now supports DX11. As such, PC gamers can now use Reshade in order to further enhance the game’s graphics.
>> There's an over 10 minutes long video.

This Skyrim VR Mod turns Bethesda’s RPG into a Call of Duty game
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/skyrim-vr-mod-turns-bethesdas-rpg-into-a-call-of-duty-game/
Modder ‘MixedMartialArtist’ has released an amazing new mod for Skyrim VR that turns Bethesda’s RPG into a Call of Duty game. This mod will completely change the way you play Skyrim VR, and we highly recommend downloading it. Going into more details, this COD Mod adds to the game two semi-auto rifles, two bolt-action rifles, one assault rifle, two submachine guns, two light machine guns and one rocket launcher.
According to the modder, each of these weapons will have different reload rates, magazine sizes, rate of fire, damage, critical damage, recoil, mobility, and distance damage reduction.
In VR, you will also be able to aim down the sights of each weapon. In order for these iron sights to be aligned, though, you need to have VRIK installed with hand scale set to 1.0. Furthermore, you can turn off auto-aim to make your shots more consistent.
>> There's a less than 1 minute video showing how ridiculous this mod is.

Take over an annoying Skyrim shopkeeper's shop with this mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/take-over-an-annoying-skyrim-shopkeepers-shop-with-this-mod/
In a poll of Skyrim's most annoying NPCs I suspect Nazeem the walking meme would score pretty high ("Do you get to the Cloud District very often?"), along with Cicero the jester, Whiterun's shouty god-botherer Heimskr, and that one kid in Solitude who says, "I thought adventurers were supposed to look tough?" Spare a hateful thought for Belethor though, the sleazy owner of Belethor's General Goods in Whiterun, who condescendingly says, "Dooo come back," when you leave his store.
Belethor also says, "Everything's for sale my friend. Everything. If I had a sister I'd sell her in a second." That seems to have given prolific modder wSkeever an idea. Belethor's Sister is a quest mod for Skyrim Special Edition that reveals the pawnbroker really does have a sister, named Lelaegh, and he really did sell her. Your job is to track Lelaegh down, rescue her, and then help her take control of her deadbeat brother's shop.
Finding Lelaegh isn't easy. The trail of people who have bought and sold her leads through various existing merchant NPCs and dungeons until finally you have to travel to the Soul Cairn from the Dawnguard DLC, which means you'll need to do a chunk of that questline or be willing to use Skyrim's console commands ("coc DLC01SoulCairnOrigin" will teleport you there direct).
Finally, helping Lelaegh take over Belethor's General Goods requires dealing with Whiterun merchants who own shares in it like, yes, Nazeem. (If you've already killed him in your playthrough, that might be a problem.) Once you do, you'll be able to take joint ownership of the shop, which will result in weekly payouts as well as a series of radiant quests to help Lelaegh get the business booming.
>> There's a less than 4 minutes video of the mod.

New Elden Ring Mod adds new weapons with special movesets
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-elden-ring-mod-adds-new-weapons-with-special-movesets/
Modder ‘Hotbite’ has released a new weapons mod pack for Elden Ring. According to the modder, the Eternal Blades Mod adds new weapons with special movesets, as well as new custom sheaths and visual effects.
Going into more details, this pack adds the Sword saint Style, the Divine Blade and the Ashina Style. The modder also plans to add Isshin the sword sain and Demon Wolf in future versions.
>> There's an over 8 minutes long video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Battlefield 2042 Update 5.0 releases on June 7th & here are its full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/battlefield-2042-update-5-0-releases-on-june-7th-here-are-its-full-patch-notes/
DICE has announced that Update 5.0 for Battlefield 2042 will release on June 7th, and shared its full patch notes. According to the changelog, this new patch will pack a number of QoL improvements, and will add a new map, weapons and gadgets.

Hogwarts Legacy June 2nd Update released, packs numerous performance optimizations, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/hogwarts-legacy-june-2nd-update-released-packs-numerous-performance-optimizations-full-patch-notes/
Avalanche Software has released the June 2nd Update for Hogwarts Legacy which packs numerous performance optimizations and improvements.

Here are some brand new beautiful 4K screenshots for STALKER 2
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/here-are-some-brand-new-beautiful-4k-screenshots-for-stalker-2/
It appears that a new set of beautiful 4K screenshots for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has been leaked online. These screenshots are not from the recently leaked dev builds, and appear to be really polished.

Here are 25 minutes of leaked gameplay footage from The Crew Motorfest
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-25-minutes-of-leaked-gameplay-footage-from-the-crew-motorfest/
This weekend, Ubisoft held an Insider Program Testing for The Crew Motorfest. And, as you may have guessed, a video has been leaked, showcasing 25 minutes of gameplay footage from it.

Monday news, the very long part two:

These Jedi: Survivor stats confirm that Star Wars fans are incredibly boring
https://www.pcgamer.com/these-jedi-survivor-stats-confirm-that-star-wars-fans-are-incredibly-boring/
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor might have launched with significant performance issues, but that hasn't stopped the game proving enormously popular with fans of Star Wars and big-budget action adventures alike. To give you some sense of how far across the galaxy the game has reached, developer EA has released a bunch of stats detailing players' adventures on Koboh and beyond.

Pathfinder's ambitious Diablo 4 competitor launches its Kickstarter campaign
https://www.pcgamer.com/pathfinders-ambitious-diablo-4-competitor-launches-its-kickstarter-campaign/
Tabletop RPG Pathfinder has already spawned a series of successful CRPGs, in the form of Pathfinder: Kingmaker and its sequel Wrath of the Righteous. But the latest game based on the Pathfinder ruleset is an ARPG that points its weapons squarely at Diablo, and the Kickstarter campaign for this bold fantasy upstart has just launched.

Yep, the perfect way to lure me back to a co-op survival game is by adding fishing poles and over 50 types of fish to catch
https://www.pcgamer.com/yep-the-perfect-way-to-lure-me-back-to-a-co-op-survival-game-is-by-adding-fishing-poles-and-over-50-types-of-fish-to-catch/
Survival game Icarus launched back in December of 2021, and since then developer RocketWerkz has not been sitting idle. The studio has delivered an impressive number of small updates, missions, and tweaks to Icarus every single week, along with bigger expansions and features along the way.
While it's been a minute since I've played Icarus, the latest update immediately solidified my weekend plans. Sorry, Diablo 4, your demons are gonna have to wait. I'm going fishing on planet Icarus.

GTA Online's next free update will add a new mercenary group that you can join to fight its old mercenary group
https://www.pcgamer.com/gta-onlines-next-free-update-will-add-a-new-mercenary-group-that-you-can-join-to-fight-its-old-mercenary-group/
Back in the halcyon days of 2018, a squad of PC Gamer's top men went toe-to-toe with operatives of Merryweather Security, a major security contractor and PMC in GTA Online. It did not go well: One of our elite crew, under withering minigun fire, described the situation as "hot bullshit," shortly after which everything went completely south and an ignominious L was taken.
All these years later, it's almost time for payback. The next free GTA Online update, San Andreas Mercenaries, will give players the opportunity to join up with the Los Santos Angels, a new group of "elite pilots and ex-military operators" led by Charlie Reed, an expert mechanic and ace pilot who's looking to take on some "lucrative work" (aka crime) and push back against the dominance of Merryweather.

Praise the King of All Cosmos, the best Katamari Damacy game is now on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/praise-the-king-of-all-cosmos-the-best-katamari-damacy-game-is-now-on-pc/
Katamari Damacy is a difficult game to describe—it's about rolling a ball around strangely earthly playgrounds to collect up a random and expanding assortment of stuff, starting with thumbtacks and paperclips and working your way up to crabs and buckets and cars and houses and entire skyscrapers. But it's also about, like, love and joy and consumerism and maybe innocence? If there is one thing Katamari Damacy is definitely not, it's subtle, which is why I was completely caught off guard by We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie's release on Steam on June 1.

After watching the explosive documentary on Disco Elysium's legal battle, I can't fathom how Disco Elysium 2 will ever be made
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-watching-the-explosive-documentary-on-disco-elysiums-legal-battle-i-cant-fathom-how-disco-elysium-2-will-ever-be-made/
Gaming YouTube channel People Make Games has released a massive two-and-a-half hour-long investigation into the legal battle over new-school PC gaming favorite, Disco Elysium, which has seen the game's creative leads go to war with developer ZA/UM's corporate ownership for control of the game and its future sequel.

Diablo 4's fastest XP farm works just like it did in the betas
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4s-fastest-xp-farm-works-just-like-it-did-in-the-betas/
Diablo 4's first XP farm is here and it looks like an exceptional way to suck the fun out of the new open world action RPG.

Blaseball, the bizarre, beautiful sports gambling horror sim, is ending forever
https://www.pcgamer.com/blaseball-the-bizarre-beautiful-sports-gambling-horror-sim-is-ending-forever/
The first season of Blaseball—not baseball—ended with the opening of the Forbidden Book. A solar eclipse immediately followed; the umpires' eyes turned white, the Moab Desert disappeared into a gaping Hellmouth, and star player Jaylen Hotdogfingers burst into flames. That was the beginning, not the end, of the deep, awesome weirdness that was the hallmark of the browser-based sports gambling horror sim—a later season ended "with a goddamn JRPG boss fight"—but three years later, the strange beauty has finally run its course.

The relaunch of this defunct medieval survival MMO is met with 95 cry-laugh emojis, 74 poops, 62 clowns, 42 letters spelling S-C-A-M, and 35 optimistic thumbs up
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-relaunch-of-this-defunct-medieval-survival-mmo-is-met-with-95-cry-laugh-emojis-74-poops-62-clowns-42-letters-spelling-s-c-a-m-and-35-optimistic-thumbs-up/
It's always a bummer when an MMO, or any multiplayer game, gets shut down and goes forever dark. That was the fate of medieval survival sandbox Life is Feudal: MMO, which entered early access in 2018 but closed its doors barely three years later, apparently due to financial issues and disagreements between developer Bitbox and its publisher, Xsolla.
So you'd expect hardcore fans of the realistic medieval MMO to react with joy and excitement upon hearing Life is Feudal has a new publisher that's bringing the game back. Right?

Please observe a whole symphonic orchestra recording the Vampire Survivors soundtrack
https://www.pcgamer.com/please-observe-a-whole-symphonic-orchestra-recording-the-vampire-survivors-soundtrack/
From a pure comedy standpoint, like a kind of farcical slapstick angle, Vampire Survivors really is the gift that keeps on giving. (...)
Now a professional symphony orchestra recorded fully scored, composed, and conducted soundtrack music for its second DLC, Tides of the Foscari, complete with conductor and soloist credits. You can watch a video of it happening.

EA is doing some vague nonsense on Nike's NFT platform
https://www.pcgamer.com/ea-is-doing-some-vague-nonsense-on-nikes-nft-platform/
Nike, never one to pass up a cynical corporate cash-in, obviously made its own "web3" platform last year, debuting the .Swoosh "digital community experience" in November and selling a bunch of boxes of randomized virtual shoes in its beta period. "Build your collection," it advertises, "Display, trade, or wear your Nike Virtual Creations in video games and immersive experiences."
Now one of gaming's very own cynical corporate cash-grabbers, Electronic Arts, is getting in on the "immersive experiences" to do something vague involving its games and Nike's blockchain-powered .Swoosh platform.

Boy howdy that new Hunt: Showdown gator is an absolute hoss
https://www.pcgamer.com/boy-howdy-that-new-hunt-showdown-gator-is-an-absolute-hoss/
Wild and weird shooter Hunt: Showdown has a new boss in town and she is just about the biggest gator I can think of. Rotjaw, an absolutely huge alligator, will be joining the world of Hunt as the newest threat to player Hunters as they fight each other over the right to take her down first. Which I'm sure everyone is thrilled about, right? Fighting a monster gator in a swamp, on its own turf, where there isn't much at all you can do to slow it down and it has every advantage?

After 13 years, Amnesia: The Dark Descent got Steam Workshop support out of nowhere
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-13-years-amnesia-the-dark-descent-has-gotten-steam-workshop-support-out-of-nowhere/
In a surprise move, Frictional Games has introduced Steam Workshop support for its foundational horror game, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The change came four days before the launch of the latest game in the series, The Bunker, and brings The Dark Descent more in line with later games from Frictional like Soma and Amnesia: Rebirth.

The demo for this dusty survival strategy city builder was surprisingly brutal
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-demo-for-this-dusty-survival-strategy-city-builder-was-surprisingly-brutal/
Upcoming post-apocalyptic survival strategy game Homeseek, set to release in the late summer or early fall of this year, has a demo out on Steam that's surprisingly savage. You really just... don't get to save everyone.

Elden Ring dataminer uncovers alternate early game characters in a renamed Limgrave
https://www.pcgamer.com/elden-ring-dataminer-uncovers-alternate-early-game-characters-in-a-renamed-limgrave/
It's only been a little bit over a year since Elden Ring came out, but so much of it is already seared into my brain. Much like leaving the sewers in Oblivion for the first time and greeting Cyrodil, that first glimpse of Limgrave is an iconic gaming moment, but at some point in development it wasn't Limgrave at all, but apparently "Tenebrae."

Diablo 4's first big patch is here, and it's almost entirely game balance tweaks
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4s-first-big-patch-is-here-and-its-almost-entirely-game-balance-tweaks/
Hello everyone, we're still two days from the release of Diablo 4 and I'm already tired to trying to keep up with class balance tweaks. It has been negative two (-2) days since launch, sorry, two days since early access launch for people who paid more and two days until proper launch and we've got our first patch and it's... almost entirely nerfs and buffs. Class balance tweaks!
>> The race to level 100 already has a winner.

Diablo 4 hotfix deals with 'Darcelpocalypse', a bug that endlessly multiplied one elite enemy
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-hotfix-deals-with-darcelpocalypse-a-bug-that-endlessly-multiplied-one-elite-enemy/
Diablo 4 has a fetch quest in the Scosglen region called Stolen Artifice, in which an NPC named Merryn sends you out from Braestaig to retrieve an item from a thief called Darcel. It's a runic charm that was being used to help an ailing mother and child recover, until Darcel and his thugs stole it. The jerks.

Diablo 4 has two expansions cooking already
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-has-two-expansions-cooking-already/
(...)
Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson gave a wide-ranging interview to Kinda Funny about the game's early reception and, while discussing the live service element, casually mentioned that the team is now working on not one, but two expansions for the game. Fergusson said that the working process for Diablo 4 had to take account of the fact the game's development is intended to be a marathon rather than a sprint, and Blizzard didn't want a situation where the game launched and the team who made it was burned out.
"So you have to build your team and your structure around a way you can do that sustainably, because you're kind of always shipping in a way," said Fergusson. "As I sit here we're about to launch the main game, we're finishing up season one, we're working on season two, we're working on expansion one, we're kicking off expansion two… we're working on that now [laughs] and we haven't even launched the game."

Ubisoft will show off Assassin's Creed Mirage, Avatar, and The Crew Motorfest this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-will-show-off-assassins-creed-mirage-avatar-and-the-crew-motorfest-this-month/
Ubisoft has released one of those classic teasers for a show of teasers and trailers, which I know you all love to watch. The Ubisoft Forward Live 2023 announcement trailer nonetheless lets us know that we'll be able to see Assassin's Creed, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and The Crew Motorfest—and an extremely vague teaser game. Those will show up at Ubisoft Forward Live, which takes place at 10am PDT on June 12th, 2023, during what was once E3 time. But is no longer E3 time, except it's still definitely basically E3 time because every publisher is going to have a big show and announce stuff. Just not in one place at the same time.

NVIDIA DLSS plugin for Unreal Engine to feature a new “G” preset

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-dlss-plugin-for-unreal-engine-to-feature-a-new-g-preset

AMD confirms Ryzen 8000 AM5 desktop series will feature Zen5 CPU and Navi 3.5 GPU architectures

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-confirms-ryzen-8000-am5-desktop-series-will-feature-zen5-cpu-and-navi-3-5-gpu-architectures

"The company has confirmed its 4-year plan to keep the socket until at least 2026. AMD did not confirm its plans for Ryzen 8000 before, but the company did mention it will launch the next-gen CPU core architecture in three variants: Zen5, Zen5c and Zen5 with 3D V-Cache. According to the company, this product is to utilize 4nm and 3nm nodes."

Certainly sounds like a revised RDNA 3 architecture likely with fixes. Hopefully their flagship will have Vcache on both CCDs so we don't have to deal with the scheduler circus that plagued 7950X3D.

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D drops to the lowest price of $406

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-drops-to-the-lowest-price-of-406

AMD Radeon RX 6800 16 GB GPU Drops Below $400 US, 6800 XT 16 GB Below $500 US

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-6800-16-gb-gpu-drops-below-400-us-6800-xt-16-gb-below-500-us/

Certainly hard to argue the value of RDNA 2 these days. Both are easy choices over Lovelace. Realistically 4070 and up is when Lovelace can start to make sense be below that, RDNA 2 is easy recommendation.

Intel PowerVia technology shows 6% performance gain on Meteor Lake E-core test chip

https://videocardz.com/press-release/intel-powervia-technology-shows-6-performance-gain-on-meteor-lake-e-core-test-chip

Well, at least now we know that there won't be a Zen4+ launch as some speculated. That's good certainly good.

$3500 USD, 2 hour battery