Be patient and it will arrive

https://steamdb.info/sales/history/

NVIDIA RTX IO GPU-Accelerated Storage Technology Debuts This Month In Portal: Prelude RTX and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/rtx-io-for-geforce-gpus-available-now/

Took a while to get here but here we are. While it is certainly fast, the 44% less disk space has me interested more so than the loading speed. I'll be interested especially to see how it benefits vram limited GPUs since one of the issues in the past has been slow texture streaming but this looks to speed that up massively.

Intel Core i9-14900K, i7-14700K and i5-14600K specs emerge, Raptor’s refresh brings 200 MHz higher clocks

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-core-i9-14900k-i7-14700k-and-i5-14600k-specs-emerge-raptors-refresh-brings-200-mhz-higher-clocks

So only the i7 is getting a core count bump while the rest are staying relatively the same. Gonna be meh and power hungry.

NVIDIA launches GeForce RTX 4060 Ti with 16GB without review coverage

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-launches-geforce-rtx-4060-ti-with-16gb-without-review-coverage

Spoiler: It is a turd

AMD reportedly working on Radeon RX 7900 GRE with 16GB GDDR6 memory and cut-down Navi 31 GPU

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-reportedly-working-on-radeon-rx-7900-gre-with-16gb-gddr6-memory-and-cut-down-navi-31-gpu

Take it with a grain of salt

Hopefully they price it correctly since the uplifts are minimal if legit

AMD CEO Visits Taiwan Creating Whispers Of 3nm TSMC Deal

https://wccftech.com/amd-ceo-visits-taiwan-creating-whispers-of-3nm-tsmc-deal/

NVIDIA Rolls Out Firmware Update For Pre-RTX GPUs To Fix Black Screen Issues on DisplayPort 1.3 & 1.4 Monitor

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-rolls-out-firmware-update-for-pre-rtx-gpus-to-fix-black-screen-issues-on-displayport-1-3-1-4-monitor/

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

GOG has launched its Breezy Indie Sale, with 290 indie games on sale with up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_breezy_indie_sale.

Steam has four new deals, as well as new weeklong deals:

• MageQuit will be 50% off until next Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/572220/MageQuit/
• Maneater gets a 65% discount until the 24th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/629820/Maneater/
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands will be 67% off until July, 31st (actually, the whole Borderlands franchise is on sale): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1286680/Tiny_Tinas_Wonderlands/
• Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos, that has a demo, will feature a 75% discount until the 31st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/787810/Rogue_Heroes_Ruins_of_Tasos/
• And here's a small sample of the weeklong deals:
  • I commissioned some bees is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1996420/I_commissioned_some_bees/
  • ORX, still in Early Access, gets a 30% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1071140/ORX/
  • Them's Fightin' Herds is half its price: https://store.steampowered.com/app/574980/Thems_Fightin_Herds/
  • Alwa's Legacy features a 75% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1205900/Alwas_Legacy/
  • And the last one is RIVE: Wreck, Hack, Die, Retry! , 90% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/278100/RIVE_Wreck_Hack_Die_Retry/

The Humble Store has the new Challenge Accepted Sale, with up to 90% discounts during the next 6 days. There are keys for Steam, one for GOG and also some download versions: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/challenge-accepted-sale/.

Fanatical hosts a new Team17 Sale, with up to 91% discounts during 11 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/team17-digital-ltd.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 536.67
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-536-67
Highlights

Game Ready for Portal: Prelude RTX
Gaming Technology
Introduces support for the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB.

Fixed Issues
Fixed Gaming Bugs

• Applying GeForce Experience Freestyle filters cause games to crash [4008945]

Fixed General Bugs

• Increase in DPC latency observed in Latencymon for Ampere-based GPUs [3952556]

DirectStorage 1.2 Benchmark, with GPU Decompression, released
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/directstorage-1-2-benchmark-with-gpu-decompression-released/
NeoGAF’s member ‘winjer ‘ has compiled the latest version of the BulkLoadDemo, which now supports DirectStorage 1.2 with GPU Decompression. This DirectStorage 1.2 Benchmark will give you an idea of what your storage devices are capable of, so we suggest giving it a go.
As said, the latest version of Microsoft’s Bulk Load Demo now supports DirectStorage 1.2. By default, the demo uses GPU Decompression. However, according to its GitHub page, you can enable CPU decompression by using the “-gpu-decompression” argument. In order to enable CPU decompression, you must use the custom “-gpu-decompression {0}” command line.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Playstation 4 emulator, RPCSX, can now boot its first commercial game
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/playstation-4-emulator-rpcsx-can-now-boot-its-first-commercial-game/
Earlier this month, we informed you about a new Playstation 4 emulator, called RPCSX. Created by Nekotekina, kd-11 and DH, the team behind the amazing RPCS3, this PS4 emulator looks promising. And from the looks of it, RPCSX can now boot its first commercial game.
Below you can find a video in which YouTube’s ‘BrutalSam’ showcases RPCSX launching the twin-stick shooter, We Are Doomed. And while this may not look that impressive to the average user, it’s a huge step for its dev team.

GAMING NEWS

BattleBit Remastered Update 1.8.1 released, featuring Party Codes, QoL improvements and bug fixes, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/battlebit-remastered-update-1-8-1-released-featuring-party-codes-qol-improvements-and-bug-fixes-full-patch-notes/
The developers behind BattleBit Remastered have released a new patch for it. According to the release notes, BattleBit Remastered Update 1.8.1 adds Party Codes, packs QoL improvements, enhances Stat protection, and fixes numerous bugs.

One Punch Man: World announced for PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/one-punch-man-world-announced-for-pc/
Perfect World and Crunchyroll Games have announced an official One Punch Man game, called One Punch Man: World. One Punch Man: World will be coming to PC, its pre-registrations are now open, and you can find below its first details and gameplay trailer.

Forza Motorsport vs Forza Motorsport 7 AI Video Comparison
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/forza-motorsport-vs-forza-motorsport-7-ai-video-comparison/
Turn10 held yesterday its monthly livestream for Forza Motorsport, in which it showed a video comparison between its AI and Forza Motorsport 7’s AI.
Turn10 stated that it has evolved the game’s Drivatar system to use machine learning. Drivatar will no longer replicate the driving behavior of players’ friends. Instead, the game will now rely on machine learning techniques.

Counter-Strike 2 has some new amazing water effects
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/counter-strike-2-has-some-new-amazing-water-effects/
Valve has released a new update for the closed beta build of Counter-Strike 2 and Twitter’s member Aquarius has shared a short but sweet gameplay video from it. This gameplay video showcases the new water effects that Valve has added to Counter-Strike 2.

Remnant 2 gets official PC system requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/remnant-2-gets-official-pc-system-requirements/
Remnant 2 releases next week and Gunfire Games has revealed its official PC system requirements (via its Steam store page). These PC specs appear to be low, meaning that this new third-person shooter looter will be playable on a wide range of PC configurations.

Tuesday news, part two:

Sony throws in the towel, signs 10 year Call of Duty deal with Microsoft
https://www.pcgamer.com/sony-throws-in-the-towel-signs-10-year-call-of-duty-deal-with-microsoft/
After months of bickering and horsing around, Microsoft and Sony have signed a deal that will keep the Call of Duty series on PlayStation consoles for—you guessed it—10 years following the company's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
>> This deal is only for CoD, unlike the first deal MSoft offered which included all Activision-Blizzard games.

Cities: Skylines 2 gets real as hell with welfare offices, prison labor
https://www.pcgamer.com/cities-skylines-2-gets-real-as-hell-with-welfare-offices-prison-labor/
Over the past few weeks we've been getting an inside look at some of the new features coming to Cities: Skylines 2, like the road and traffic tools, changes to public transportation, and more. Today, Paradox Interactive pulled back the curtain on city services, and some of the new features look impressive. Some of them are also depressingly real.

Diablo 4 class chameleons rejoice—playing multiple characters is about to get easier
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-class-chameleons-rejoiceits-about-to-get-much-easier-to-play-multiple-characters/
For an action RPG with five distinct classes, Diablo 4 makes it difficult to juggle multiple characters, especially when it comes to powerful late-game gear.
Currently, level 100 Diablo 4 characters can only find items with a level 100 requirement, which means they're only useful if you have a stable of max level alts. Starting this week in season 1, however, the level requirements on Sacred and Ancestral items will be capped, allowing you to save them for other classes.

BattleBit Remastered won’t leave Steam Deck players behind when its anti-cheat update arrives
https://www.pcgamer.com/battlebit-remastered-wont-leave-steam-deck-players-behind-when-its-anti-cheat-update-arrives/
BattleBit Remastered, the $15 indie FPS that became an instant best seller on Steam last month, will continue to support the Steam Deck after its planned anti-cheat update arrives. The BattleBit team announced the news during a live dev stream held on Discord, and was later confirmed by a moderator on the server (as noticed by Steam Deck HQ).

Ubisoft's open-world Star Wars game will not have procedurally generated planets: Every game world is 'handcrafted'
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisofts-open-world-star-wars-game-will-not-have-procedurally-generated-planets-every-game-world-is-handcrafted/
Star Wars Outlaws, the open world Star Wars game announced by Ubisoft earlier this year, will no doubt be an interplanetary adventure of considerable size. But in a new interview with Edge magazine, creative director Julian Gerighty said the development team at Ubisoft Massive is aiming to keep things "manageable," and that means that unlike some other big sci-fi games in the offing—and yes, I mean Starfield—there will be no procedurally generated planets where you can go anywhere and do anything you want.

The maker of Megaton Rainfall is working on a new game that looks even weirder than Megaton Rainfall
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-maker-of-megaton-rainfall-is-working-on-a-new-game-that-looks-even-weirder-than-megaton-rainfall/
Remember Megaton Rainfall? It's a VR game released in 2017 about flying around like Superman and using your powers to battle hostile aliens and also accidentally demolish the occasional skyscraper. Today the developers revealed their next project, and it looks to be even weirder: Tenebris Pictura is an "ultra-corporeal action adventure" about a paranormal investigator in Victorian England who becomes caught up in a battle against demonic extra-terrestrial beings who have escaped from supernatural paintings.

Vampire Survivors saved its creator from working on mobile gambling games
https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-survivors-saved-its-creator-from-working-on-mobile-gambling-games/
In the latest documentary from videogame YouTube channel Noclip, the team interviewed members of poncle, including Vampire Survivors creator Luca Galante, about the development history of 2022's breakout indie shooter, which started as a creative outlet for Galante from his day job working on a mobile gambling game.

Neopets goes independent, cancels NFT game and promises new era free from 'corporate baggage'
https://www.pcgamer.com/neopets-goes-independent-cancels-nft-game-and-promises-new-era-free-from-corporate-baggage/
Neopets was one of the hottest destinations on the World Wide Web of the early 2000s, but the audience for its virtual pets has been in decline for years now. Neopets itself has declined, too, admit its developers, who say they've had to "work tirelessly just to barely keep the site afloat" while operating at a loss for the past 10 years. Things are going to turn around soon though, say the devs, because for the first time since 2005, Neopets is an independent company again.

Salad Fingers creator is making a bizarre side-scroller beat'em up, which will be priced at 'a fiver or something'
https://www.pcgamer.com/salad-fingers-creator-is-making-a-bizarre-side-scroller-beatem-up-which-will-be-priced-at-a-fiver-or-something/
David Firth, the vivid imagination responsible for disturbing internet sensation Salad Fingers, revealed an in-development game earlier this month, a platformer following the misadventures of violent, mouthy delinquent Jerry Jackson.

Stardew Valley's newest update is looking bigger than we initially thought
https://www.pcgamer.com/stardew-valleys-newest-update-is-looking-bigger-than-we-initially-thought/
Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone has dropped a little teaser of what we can expect with Stardew Valley's 1.6 update, and it seems like he's been unable to help himself, with more on offer than originally promised.

Baldur's Gate 3 has '17,000' variations on its ending, a number that gives me a headache just thinking about it
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-has-17000-variations-on-its-ending-a-number-that-gives-me-a-headache-just-thinking-about-it/
Baldur's Gate 3 is reported to have a massive amount of endings, according to a conversation Fextralife had with Chrystal Ding, associate writing lead at Larian Studios: "I asked her, how many variations on the ending are there?"
The answer is 17,000, which is a big number. It's one that joins other such huge promises from Larian: 174 hours of cinematics! 22 subclasses! A newspaper that responds to your choices! They're definitely stoking up the furnace on Baldur's Gate 3's pre-release hype, though I feel a little tempering of expectations is in order here.

After 2 years away, dev realises no one liked his game and promises a free remaster to make up for it: 'I hope it will go some way to rectify mistakes we have made'
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-2-years-away-dev-realises-no-one-liked-his-game-and-promises-a-free-remaster-to-make-up-for-it-i-hope-it-will-go-some-way-to-rectify-mistakes-we-have-made/
You know that feeling when you submit an essay, or a project at work, that you think is pretty good, only to have it handed back to you a couple of weeks later bearing a low mark and some excoriating comments? I don't—I've jettisoned every bit of negative feedback I've ever received out of a narcissism airlock—but it's probably relatable to Nathan Seedhouse.
Seedhouse is lead dev on Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds story (the HG Wells tale it's based on is in the public domain), a third-person stealth action game that's been on the market for about two years now. It's been reviled by players for almost as long, and currently sits at a 33% "Mostly Negative" score on Steam on the back of 110 player reviews. The thing is, Seedhouse's personal life has kept him preoccupied for so much time that it took the poor guy this long to notice barely anyone was enjoying the game. But now, as spotted by GamesRadar, he wants to make it right with a free remaster.
>> I wish him good luck. Good games are always welcome, even if it's your second try.

I'm quitting my job to sell adorable stickers on the internet
https://www.pcgamer.com/im-quitting-my-job-to-sell-adorable-stickers-on-the-internet/
I bloody love stickers. Granted, I have nowhere to put them, leaving me with an amassed pile of pretty-looking adhesive vinyls tucked away inside a drawer. But there's nothing I love more than ordering something on the internet and having a few stickers thrown in as a free treat or securing some amazing hand-drawn ones at anime and gaming conventions.
(...)
Sadly, I don't think I'll ever be artistically inclined enough to make that dream come true in the real world, but hey, that's what videogames are for right? Escapism, living out your fantasies, all that jazz. So screw it, I'm gonna play Sticky Business and forget that I'm a journalist for a few hours. Why not?! Let me live vicariously through Spellgarden's cosy creative management sim.

My nephew and I are having a blast on coop with Gears 5.
9,99€ on Steam is the right price.

The RX 6700XT reaches only 11970 on average, so 15465 would be a good uplift for the RX 7700. It's beating the 3070Ti and Time Spy was one of the only things the 4060Ti was good at compared to it's predecessor, so a pretty clean win here.

The 7800 on the other hand is looking rather weak compared to last gen. Hopefully this will just replace the RX 6800 and the 6800XT will be replaced by the aforementioned RX 7900GRE (and the latter renamed to 7800XT or XTX), then the gaps would be a bit more substantial.

I played, and enjoyed, the first three Gears of War, but I don't think I'll ever get Gears 5, and the meain reason is Gears 4.

MSoft decided to use this game and the remaster of the first one to push for its Store to compete with Steam, and they did so in a way that neither of those games can be launched on Steam. And since Gears 5 follows the story unvelied in Gears 4, it doesn't make sense for me, a single player guys, to get Gears 5 because I won't know what's going on.

AMD also has another problem: they've taken so long to launch these new cards that they've given the 7900 XT/XTX time to drop in price by quite a lot, which is going to give them troubles pricing them.

But well, it's their problem but it's also our gain.

Considering how much RX 6xxx cards dropped and even NVidia cards dropping down in price, the price drops of the 7900 cards doesn't have that much impact on the final prices, the ones of old hardware and competition matter more here.

I can only recommend it, specially if you find it for less than 10 euros. I've never liked Gears of War as a saga, and 4 wasn't great from what I've heard. But I think the 5th is excellent.

You get a recap of the Gears 4 story when you start Gears 5 or in the menu of the game (plus explaination of every characters). The fact that I'm so hooked on this Gears is probably because the main character is Kait Diaz. She's got enormous charisma and has 'enemy' blood in her, which means she can turn to the other side at any moment. Another reason is the open world aspect. The gameplay also offers the possibility, among many other things, of adopting a very appreciable stealth approach.

The other co-op/multiplayer modes are so numerous that I'd say it's a rare treat for this kind of game.

That's probably endings made up of small cutscenes depending on your choices, which is par for the genre.

If it's the sum of binary permutations you need only 28 of these (2^14 = 16,384 endings, plus a few extra endings missing some content in case you didn't even get to know about the quests leading to them).

Of course, going away from a binominal coefficient complicates the maths a lot but you get the idea.