The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

(Impressive performance of Starfield given that those are all preorders. Anyway, click here for the top 100)

Steam has 6 new deals as well as new weeklong deals:

• The Tomb Raider fracnhise is on sale with up to 89% discounts until June, 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/franchise_tomb-raider
• GTFO will be 33% off until June, 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/493520/GTFO/
• NEEDY GIRL OVERDOSE will be 50% off until, in theory, the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1451940/NEEDY_GIRL_OVERDOSE/
• ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights also gets a 50% discount until the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1369630/ENDER_LILIES_Quietus_of_the_Knights/
• Black Desert is going to be 50% off as well, and also until the same Thursday, 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/582660/Black_Desert/
• The Escapists Franchise Sale comes with 80% discounts until he 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/escapistsfranchisesale
• And these are some of the weeklong deals:
  • Witch Explorer is going to be 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1758920/Witch_Explorer/
  • Family curse gets a 40% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2166640/Family_curse/
  • Pocket Cars, still in Early Access, will be 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1170720/Pocket_Cars/
  • Chroma Squad features a 75% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/251130/Chroma_Squad/
  • The Count Lucanor is 80% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/440880/The_Count_Lucanor/
  • And the last one is Unforgiving - A Northern Hymn, with a 90% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/747340/Unforgiving__A_Northern_Hymn/

The Humble Store has three new sales:

• The Fantastic Physiscs Sale comes with up to 85% discounts during 6 days. There are keys for Steam, EGS and the Rockstar thing: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/fantastic-physics-sale/
• The Bugs & Beasts Sale features up to 90% discounts during 6 days. All the keys are for Steam, except for DLC (but not the game) that's also available for GOG and EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/bugs-beasts-sale/
• And the Assetto Corsa Summer Sale will put the games and DLCs of the series up to 80% off during 13 days. All the keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/assetto-summer-sale/

Fanatical has a new Star Deal: Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is going to be 36% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/dlc/monster-hunter-rise-sunbreak.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Resident Evil 4 Remake gets an incredible AI-powered Ada Wong Voice Mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/resident-evil-4-remake-gets-an-incredible-ai-powered-ada-wong-voice-mod/
ProMontreal and Destructo have released an incredible AI-powered mod for Resident Evil 4 Remake that replaces Ada Wong’s voice. By using AI tools, the modders were able to come close to the voice of the original actress, and the results are truly mind-blowing.
What’s also incredible here is how “passionate” the new AI dialogue lines actually are. And believe me, I don’t want to criticize the voice actress of Ada Wong from RE4Remake. However, her voiceline delivery was flat and lifeless.
Seriously, just watch the following video. You’d expect the game to feature this voice-acting by default. Instead, here we are with modders using AI to even improve voice dialogues.
>> There's a roughly 9 minutes long video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Here’s the real reason why Final Fantasy 16 is not on PC at launch
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/heres-the-real-reason-why-final-fantasy-16-is-not-on-pc-at-launch/
Final Fantasy XVI will release in a couple of days, exclusively on PS5. However, the game’s producer Yoshi-P has shared some details about its PC version. And yes, Final Fantasy 16 will be officially coming to PC at a later date.
In a recent livestream, Yoshi-P claimed that the development team wanted to make a PC version, but couldn’t create an experience with seamless loading in time for launch.

This may be our first look at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/this-may-be-our-first-look-at-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-2023/
It appears that the first screenshots from the new COD 2023 game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, have been leaked online. These screenshots are of low quality, and showcase remakes of the Terminal and Scrapyard multiplayer maps.

Unreal Engine 5-powered Jusant has a playable demo on Steam
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/unreal-engine-5-powered-jusant-has-a-playable-demo-on-steam/
Last week, DON’T NOD revealed its upcoming action-puzzle climbing game, Jusant. Powered by Unreal Engine 5 and using both Nanite and Lumen, Jusant has a playable demo on Steam that you can download right now.

Star Wars Outlaws & Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will be exclusive to Ubisoft Store, not coming to EGS or Steam
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-outlaws-avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-will-be-exclusive-to-ubisoft-store-not-coming-to-egs-or-steam/
Ubisoft has revealed that Star Wars Outlaws & Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will be exclusive to Ubisoft Store at launch. As such, these two highly anticipated games will not be available on Epic Games Store or Steam.
>> On one hand, you have to admire Ubisoft's commitment to make their store big and successful. On the other hand, those games will sell like crap on PC.

Cyberpunk 2077 Title Update 1.63 released, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/cyberpunk-2077-title-update-1-63-released-full-patch-notes/
CD Projekt RED has just released Title Update 1.63 for Cyberpunk 2077, and shared its complete changelog. This patch resolves the DLSS 3 Frame Generation issue we reported in April 2023. As such, owners of the RTX 40 series GPUs will finally be able to enable and enjoy the game’s Path Tracing effects on AMD’s CPUs.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor Update 6 released, does not bring any performance improvements, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/star-wars-jedi-survivor-update-6-released-does-not-bring-any-performance-improvements-full-patch-notes/
Respawn has just released Title Update 6 for Star Wars Jedi Survivor. This new patch brings a number of bug fixes and tweaks. However, it does not pack any performance improvements or additional optimizations.

Tuesday news, part two:

Dragon's Dogma lead says Final Fantasy 16's thrilling combat is his 'personal masterpiece'
https://www.pcgamer.com/dragons-dogma-lead-says-final-fantasy-16s-thrilling-combat-is-his-personal-masterpiece/
Final Fantasy 16's battle director has called the upcoming RPG his "personal masterpiece," with one of his biggest priorities making the combat approachable to fans and newcomers alike.

The Callisto Protocol’s first and last story expansion finally arrives next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-callisto-protocols-first-and-last-story-expansion-finally-arrives-next-week/
The Callisto Protocol's concluding chapter story DLC is finally almost here. Entitled Final Transmission, the "heart-pounding final chapter" of Striking Distance Studios' Dead Space-like horror game promises to "dig deeper into the horrifying secrets of The Callisto Protocol."

Hyper Light Breaker's world overview trailer looks too pretty to be procedural
https://www.pcgamer.com/hyper-light-breakers-world-overview-trailer-looks-too-pretty-to-be-procedural/
A few days ago, Heart Machine released an world overview trailer for their upcoming roguelike, Hyper Light Breaker. It's a serene minute and a half of Breath of the Wild-style exploration—complete with a familiar-looking hangglider—and stylish action combat. What's sticking with me, however, is how good it's all looking, especially for an "open world game where you never return to the same world twice".

Forever Skies, the blimp survival game, reveals system requirements ahead of early access launch later this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/forever-skies-pc-system-requirements/
The blimp survival game Forever Skies is set to launch into early access on Steam later this week, and ahead of that developer Far From Home has revealed what you'll need inside your PC case if you want to play.

Beaverpunk city builder update boosts framerate, crop yields by as much as 80%
https://www.pcgamer.com/beaverpunk-city-builder-update-boosts-framerate-crop-yields-by-as-much-as-80/
Timberborn! The post-apocalyptic city-builder about all the cool hydroengineering sentient beavers will do after we're all dead and they inherit the earth. It's a remarkably chill game, a delightful slow burn colony builder and city builder for those who aren't yet far down the rabbit hole that inevitably leads to Dwarf Fortress.
Anyway, it just had its fourth major update since its 2021 Early Access launch. Beavers' city districts now operate very differently, with no range limits. The machinery-focused Iron Teeth beaver faction also has entirely new industrial food production chains, complete with new crops and buildings. There are also new monuments, decorations, and a new map.

Xenonauts 2 will invade our world this July
https://www.pcgamer.com/xenonauts-2-will-invade-our-world-this-july/
Hotly-anticiapted tactics game Xenonauts 2 finally has a release date, and we'll be able to play it on July 18th, 2023, seven years since it was confirmed and six years since the first demo. Developer Goldhawk Interactive and publisher Hooded Horse have announced that it'll release into Early Access on Steam.

Baldur’s Gate 3 gets a free, Twitch Plays-style prequel that may be teasing the return of a major villain
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-gets-a-free-twitch-plays-style-prequel-that-may-be-teasing-the-return-of-a-major-villain/
Baldur's Gate 3 is still a couple months away—it goes from early access to full release on August 31—but you can dive into the shadows lurking in the legendary fantasy city right now in a surprise prequel chapter called Blood in Baldur's Gate. Instead of an RPG, though, it's a murder mystery, and you're going to have to work with other D&D detectives in order to solve the crime.

Steam's next Steam Next Fest is now live on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-next-fest-june-2023/
The latest go-around of the nigh-overwhelming Steam Next Fest is live, meaning that you once again have precisely one week to power through literally hundreds of demos of upcoming games on Steam.

Assassin's Creed Mirage's comparatively tiny map is great news for a series that needs more focus
https://www.pcgamer.com/assassins-creed-mirages-comparatively-tiny-map-is-great-news-for-a-series-that-needs-more-focus/
I've really enjoyed Assassin's Creed's transformation into a massive RPG series, but after spending hundreds of hours hoofing it across Norway, England, Ireland and France in Valhalla, I'm really looking forward to just chilling in Baghdad in Assassin's Creed Mirage.
Like Morgan wrote after the Mirage presentation, it's exciting to see the return of the classic Assassin's Creed approach, but it's not just the return to sneaky shenanigans that's piqued my interest. The reduction in scale also sounds like it can only be a good thing. Speaking to Easy Allies last week, Ubisoft compared the scale of Mirage to Revelation's Constantinople and Unity's Paris, which feels like a welcome departure from the country-sized escapades of the last few entries.

You know business is booming when Apple isn't the only first customer of the next generation cutting edge node. But it is also unsurprising as Nvidia has said they are helping TSMC design future nodes through their Ai and software development so it makes sense they get first dibs.

AMD Ryzen CPUs getting cheaper: 5800X3D at $280, 7700X at $289, 7900 at $379 and 7900X3D at $520

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-ryzen-cpus-getting-cheaper-5800x3d-at-280-7700x-at-289-7900-at-379-and-7900x3d-at-520

Crazy cheap and really what a proper recession pricing should look like

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and Radeon RX 6600 series get 10% cheaper in one month

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-and-radeon-rx-6600-series-get-10-cheaper-in-one-month

Certainly has been making massive improvements

While these days, it is struggling quite hard, I remember the days when 60 class provided previous gen 80 class performance for just $250

Last night , played Street Fighter V.

Finally finished SF3 Arcade mode and started on SF4 Arcade mode.

Punishing Gray Raven is really addicting.

Today's news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has six new Deals of the Day, that will last until Friday, and a giveaway:

• The GIVEAWAY is Hell Division, free during 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hell_division
• The first DotD is Growing Up, 20% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/growing_up
• La-Mulana 2 gets a 50% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/la_mulana_2
• Rabbit Burn, don't check the link if you're at work, is also 50% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/rabbit_burn
• The Last Express gets a 70% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/last_express_the
• Frostpunk + GIFT DLC is 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/frostpunk_gift_dlc
• And the last DotD is Hero of the Kingdom III, with an 80% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hero_of_the_kingdom_iii

Steam has two new deals:

• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition is going to be 80% off during June, 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/640820/Pathfinder_Kingmaker__Enhanced_Plus_Edition/
• The Last Hero of Nostalgaia, that has a demo, gets a 40% discount until the 29th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1766100/The_Last_Hero_of_Nostalgaia/

Fanatical's new Star Deal is Iconoclasts, 90% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/iconoclasts.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Elden Ring gets Metal Gear Rising Revengeance’s parry system
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/elden-ring-gets-metal-gear-rising-revengeances-parry-system/
Elden Ring and Metal Gear Rising fans, here is something special for you today. Modder ‘F -I hate Elden Ring and you too- Wang’ (what a hilarious name) has released a mod that brings Metal Gear Rising Revengeance’s deflect/parry system to FromSoftware’s title.
Going into more details, this mod completely changes the game’s parry system. Players will use L1 to block, and then move the movement stick in whichever direction the attack is coming from. If an enemy is attacking from the right, you must press the right key. If from the left, then the left key. And if it’s an attack from anywhere else, you’ll have to press the back key.
Once you successfully parry, you’ll see sparks and air slashes, similar to those of Metal Gear Rising. If you attack then, you’ll also get a 0.2 of attack-tied Deflect, just like in MGRR.
>> There's a video of the mod.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor modder ridicules Respawn by fixing crucial issues by himself
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/star-wars-jedi-survivor-modder-ridicules-respawn-by-fixing-himself-crucial-issues/
Steam’s member ‘Snight01’ has released a must-have mod for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. This mod fixes the annoying crashes that could occur on Jedha when using Ray Tracing. Moreover, it resolves the occlusion culling issues that plagued this SW game.
It’s really funny that Respawn has not been able to fix these issues. Yesterday, and after a whole month, Respawn released a new PC patch. And, surprise surprise, the aforementioned issues were still present in it.
The fact that a modder was able to fix these issues so easily is funny and depressing. It’s funny because modders have decided to give Respawn the finger and fix the game themselves. On the other hand, it’s depressing because in 2023 the developers can’t even fix their own games. And while PC gamers can at least enjoy the game, the console version of Jedi Survivor is still in an awful state. Man, what a clusterfuck.
>> Modders do what devs don't. Anyway, there are no screenshots nor video of this mod/fix.

GAMING NEWS

The Division 2 Title Update 18.1 released, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-division-2-title-update-18-1-released-full-patch-notes/
Ubisoft has released Title Update 18.1 for Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, and shared its complete changelog. According to the team, this new patch brings a number of fixes and tweaks to the game’s gear, weapons and talents.

Battlefield 2042 Update 5.0.1 available now, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/battlefield-2042-update-5-0-1-available-now-full-patch-notes/
DICE has just released Title Update 5.0.1 for Battlefield 2042 on all platforms, and shared its complete changelog. According to the developers, this new patch resolves some of Quality of Life issues. Furthermore, it brings some balance tweaks to Specialists and Weapons.

Part two of the news:

Dota 2 is moving away from the battle pass model as Valve says there are better uses of dev time and most players 'never buy' one anyway
https://www.pcgamer.com/dota-2-is-moving-away-from-the-battle-pass-model-as-valve-says-there-are-better-uses-of-dev-time-and-most-players-never-buy-one-anyway/
Valve is celebrating Dota 2's tenth anniversary with a major break with tradition. Although the game has received a battle pass (originally called a Compendium) to accompany and fund the prize pool for every year's International tournament, Valve has decided there won't be one this year. In fact, it's dramatically ratcheting down how much it focuses on battle pass content in general, and pledges instead to focus on other, more regular updates that can be experienced by the entire Dota 2 playerbase.

Blizzard is killing Hearthstone Classic and replacing it with a new mode called Twist
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-is-killing-hearthstone-classic-and-replacing-it-with-a-new-mode-called-twist/
Hearthstone's history of adding new modes is a mixed one. Battlegrounds has been so successful that it's arguably supplanted the main Standard mode, but Mercenaries was a shuttle crash from start to finish. Classic, which as the name suggests gave players the chance to time warp back to the vanilla version of Hearthstone, was fun at first but with Blizzard opting not to add any expansions, interest dropped off fast. So I wasn't shocked to learn last week, on a call with modes design lead Matt London and features lead Chadd Nervig, that Classic is getting the chop. It will be replaced by a new mode, called Twist, which also looks to leverage old cards in players' collections.

Blizzard may remove upcoming WoW quest where players fix the timeline by ensuring a character is sexually assaulted
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-may-remove-upcoming-wow-quest-where-players-fix-the-timeline-by-ensuring-a-character-is-sexually-assaulted/
An upcoming quest in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's patch 10.1.5, which was playable on the MMO's PTR server, has been heavily criticized by fans for its glib attitude toward a controversial part of the MMO's story.

You have to start a fresh Diablo 4 character for each battle pass
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-new-characters-battle-pass/
Blizzard's explanation of Diablo 4's seasons and their battle passes didn't mention that you have to start a new character to participate in each one, and news of the requirement is bewildering a lot of players just weeks before the start of Season 1.
>> In other news, there's been a breakthrough about the secret cow level.

The Sims 4 is finally getting the horse expansion players have been demanding for years
https://www.pcgamer.com/sims-4-horse-expansion-teaser/
Listings for a "Sims 4 Horse Ranch" expansion appeared on key reseller sites earlier this month, but it was hard to take the supposed leaks very seriously, especially since they borrowed an image of a guy riding a horse from The Sims 3 Pets. Today, however, a much more convincing leak started circulating, and EA finally confirmed that horses are coming to The Sims, albeit without saying so directly.

EA's Heretic-like magic FPS Immortals of Aveum is delayed
https://www.pcgamer.com/eas-heretic-like-magic-fps-immortals-of-aveum-is-delayed/
Immortals of Aveum is part of a vanishingly niche tradition: a linear first-person shooter issued by a major publisher, in this case, EA. The twist is that instead of rifles it has magic, so those of us begging for a Heretic revival may find comfort in Immortals of Aveum's war wizard theme. We'll need to wait a bit longer than originally planned though, because the release date of July 20 has been pushed back—just a touch—to August 22.

EA King Solomons itself and, weirdly for a games publisher, EA Games no longer exists
https://www.pcgamer.com/ea-king-solomons-itself-and-weirdly-for-a-games-publisher-ea-games-no-longer-exists/
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. EA is splitting up with itself in a big internal shakeup that will see EA Games and EA Sports cut into two distinct units within the company. EA Games is also getting a rebrand: It's going to be called EA Entertainment from now on, suggesting that the company has plans to expand beyond gaming in some capacity. Who's up for a Syndicate film?

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU Benchmarks Leak: Up To 20% Faster Than RTX 3060 But Slower Than 3060 Ti

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-benchmarks-leak-20-percent-faster-than-rtx-3060-slower-than-3060-ti/

If these results are accurate, it does show why Radeon was so quick to discount the price of the 7600 before launch. If that was the same price as the 4060 while being slower in Raster and lacking Nvidia features, it would have been a slaughter. Hell I'd argue that even a $30 discount isn't enough. But both of these still feels overpriced, just a lot less so compared to the 4060 Ti.

AMD dodges questions about FSR exclusivity in AMD-sponsored games

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-dodges-questions-about-fsr-exclusivity-in-amd-sponsored-games

Well we all know the real reason which is that anyone that has an RTX GPU wouldn't actually use an inferior technology like FSR. So Nvidia allowing FSR doesn't hurt them but Radeon allowing DLSS does.

Jim Keller’s Tenstorrent Wants To Compete With NVIDIA’s AI GPUs Using RISC-V Based AI CPUs

https://wccftech.com/jim-keller-tenstorrent-wants-to-compete-with-nvidia-ai-gpus-using-risc-v-based-ai-cpus/

Certainly feels like every company is announcing a competitor to Nvidia's Ai but it will certainly take quite some time for them to get going. Till then, Nvidia will likely be leading the pack for quite some time.

I wouldn't put too much faith in those Geekbench scores. They show the 4060Ti to be quite faster than the 3060Ti, yet gaming benchmarks told a different story.

if these results are as accurate as those for the 4060Ti, then the RX 7600 should actually be rather comfortably ahead of the 4060. The 7600 is about 15% ahead of the 3060, and the 4060 looks like it will be within 5% of it's predecessor in real-life benchmarks, just like the 4060Ti did to the 3060Ti.

Since those GPUs are too weak for Raytracing anyway, the only real advantages of the 4060 over the 7600 are DLSS being higher quality than FSR and the lower power draw.