Getting 40fps with FSR2 + Ultra settings, 100% scaling, 1440P with Starfield. Variable Refresh Rate makes it silky smooth.

Not bad for a piece of crap Radeon RX 6600XT with an overclock.

Guess the CPU and Ram is doing the heavy lifting on my rig.

I'm now interested in seeing how the modder reacts to his non owned tech being cracked from his Patreon.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/169bgun/starfield_dlss_3_fg_mod_by_puredark_has_been/

Tip jars are still viable, just saying.

And just like that , FFXVI went on sale for $50 on BB.

Used my cert and got it for $45.

Excited to play FFXVI!

I'll get it again on PC later when it arrives on Steam (after the expected EGS exclusivity period).

I have Asrock 6600XT Challenger Pro Series but I play older games.

Nice. Pretty good fps for your set up. I'd also try high settings if you want to squeeze a bit more performance and more consistancy in more demanding areas of the game. You get practically the same image quality as Ultra.

Let's go with the Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has a new Giveaway, four new Deals of the Day, that will last until Wednesday, and a mostly useless bundles from the Autumn Sale:

• The new GIVEAWAY is Ghost Master, and will be free during 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/ghost_master
• These are the four DotD:
  • Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business gets a 30% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/jagged_alliance_2_unfinished_business
  • Master of Orion 1+2 is 59% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/master_of_orion_1_2
  • Scorn is 60% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/scorn
  • And the last one if Sins of a Solar Empire® - Ultimate Edition, with a 72% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/sins_of_a_solar_empire_ultimate_edition
• There are three Build Your Own Bundles, for RPGs, Indies and MediBang (NSFW), but they won't give you any additional discount unless you're buying at least 10 of them. If you're still interested, you can check them out from this page: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_autumn_byob

At Steam we find Raw Fury's Strategy Sale 2023, that started in August 28th and will end in September 5th with up to 85% discounts: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/rawfury/sale/rawfurystrategy2023.

Humble Bundle has launched the Tales from Wales Interactive Bundle, featuring up to 8 items during the next 18 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/tales-from-wales-interactive.

And Fanatical has a new Star Deal and two bundles:

• It started yesterday, but the new Star Deal is King Arthur: Knight's Tale, 52% off during another 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/king-arthur-knights-tale
• The Rimworld with all expansions bundles is back, with 1 game and 3 DLCs available with a 20% discount during 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/rimworld-with-all-expansions
• The Vertigo Games Bundle has 5 games split into three tiers of 2, 3, and 5 games with an up to 89% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/vertigo-games-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

INTEL Arc & Iris Graphics 31.0.101.4672
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-iris-graphics-31-0-101-4672
Highlights

• Starfield
  • Graphics Driver package has temporarily increased to significantly reduce the Starfield game load duration.
  • Several Starfield game instability and visual artifacts have been fixed in this driver. High Preset and below is recommended to improve stability.
  • Efforts in progress to further improve overall gaming experience of Starfield for Intel® Arc™ users in future driver updates.
• Intel® Game On Driver support on Intel® Arc™ A-series Graphics for:
  • SYNCED

Fixed Issues
Intel® Arc™ Graphics Products:

• Starfield (DX12) Game load duration is significantly reduced.
• Starfield (DX12) may experience instability and application crash while launching and during gameplay.
• Starfield (DX12) may exhibit texture corruptions and scene flickers during gameplay.

>> It's an improvement, but not a complete fix.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Cyberpunk 2077 HD Reworked Project 2.0 is currently in development
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/cyberpunk-2077-hd-reworked-project-2-0-is-currently-in-development/
Modder ‘Halk Hogan PL’ has just announced Version 2.0 for his spectacular Cyberpunk 2077 HD Reworked Project. And although we don’t have an ETA on when it will come out, you can find below a preview video for it.
Cyberpunk 2077 HD Reworked Project aims to improve the game’s graphics by reworking game assets to better quality preserving original art style. This is a must-have mod as it comes from the man behind the amazing The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project.
This preview video features comparisons between the vanilla and the new textures that will be featured in it. As such, it can give you an idea of the graphical improvements you can expect from it.
>> The video is less than 3 minutes long.

This cool Red Dead Redemption 2 Mod enables bullet penetration
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-cool-red-dead-redemption-2-mod-enables-bullet-penetration/
Modder ‘WickedHorseMan’ has released an amazing mod for Red Dead Redemption 2 that allows bullet penetration. This gameplay mod for RDR2 may completely change the way you play the game, so we highly recommend using it in your second (or third) playthrough.
As the modder noted, bullets now pass through objects and penetration rates will vary depending on the type of material but mostly wood types.
You can download the mod from here. All you have to do in order to install it is place the “WickedHorseMan” folder inside the game’s “lml” folder.
>> The article has 3 screenshots.

Brutal Doom V22 will bring major performance improvements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/brutal-doom-v22-will-bring-major-performance-improvements/
Modder ‘Sergeant_Mark_IV’ has revealed the Brutal Doom V22 will bring major performance and optimization improvements. In order to showcase these performance improvements, the modder shared a comparison video (between V21 and V22) that you can find below.
For those unaware, Brutal Doom is one of the best mods for id Software’s classic. Brutal Doom adds realistic gore, dismemberments, headshots, executions, lightning effects, and particles. Furthermore, it makes enemies smarter and harder, makes guns louder and beefier, and adds epic new boss battles. This mod may have also inspired Bethesda to include the finisher moves in its Doom 2016 game.
As Sergeant_Mark_IV noted, Brutal Doom V22 can run more than twice its previous version. This will be crucial for both owners of older and newer CPUs, especially for maps that display A LOT of enemies on screen.
>> The comparison video is almost 6 minutes long.

Space Shooter RPG in OpenMW, Robowind Construct, gets demo
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/space-robot-shooter-rpg-mod-for-the-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind-gets-a-demo/
In April 2023, we informed you about a total conversion mod for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind that attempts to turn Bethesda’s game into a space robot shooter RPG. And today, we are happy to report that a demo for this project is available for download.
Robowind Construct is using brand new custom assets and attempts to transform Morrowind into a space robot shooter RPG. The mod is based on OpenMW, so you won’t be able to run it on the original version of Morrowind. However, the good news here is that this is now a standalone game.
For those unaware, OpenMW is a free, open-source, and modern engine that re-implements and extends the 2002 Gamebryo engine for The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind. OpenMW comes with its own editor, called OpenMW-CS, which allows the user to edit or create their own mods or original games. Both OpenMW and OpenMW-CS are written from scratch.
>> The article also has a video showing the "final trailer" for this project (1:36).

Fallout 4 just got a brand new 8K Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/fallout-4-just-got-a-brand-new-8k-texture-pack/
Modder ‘Gorgulla’ has released a brand new 8K Texture Pack for Fallout 4 that overhauls the bricks of all buildings and interiors. This 8K pack is for those who have enough VRAM and want to enjoy more detailed textures. But what about those with less than 8GB of VRAM? Well, good news as there are also 4K and 2K versions of it.
Going into more details, this 8K Texture Pack for Fallout 4 has physically correct albedo that works with the normal to give the correct light bounce. Furthermore, the pack has baked Ambient Occlusion on the Albedo to make realistic shadows where they are supposed to be. Not only that but it has the same color profile to make sure it fits with the LOD on distance. And finally, these new textures support Complex Parallax.
>> The article only has three screenshots.

One mad modder has already gotten Baldur's Gate 3's semi-secret 'evil' companion working in good guy playthroughs
https://www.pcgamer.com/one-mad-modder-has-already-gotten-baldurs-gate-3s-semi-secret-evil-companion-working-in-good-guy-playthroughs/
Modder Rukongai over on the Baldur's Gate 3 Nexus seems to have cracked the code on Drow Paladin Minthara, with a pair of mods making the Grumpy Gus companion recruitable without committing a war crime in the game's first act⁠. One version makes her normal Act 2 storyline play out in a more heroic playthrough, while another makes her summonable as early as Act 1.
Minthara placed dead last in our ranking of BG3 companions, but I'm pretty sure it's because none of us actually recruited her. Befriending Minthara instead of just killing her for her Spidersilk armor and nifty pajamas requires aligning yourself with some pretty heinous little goblin sickos, and this choice also locks you out of other companions like Karlach and Wyll.
That's tough to swallow, but also part of what makes Baldur's Gate 3 so special: that two playthroughs can look so completely different from one another. Still, Rukongai's mods can be a valuable introduction to Minthara for queasy-stomached gamers who only experienced her as an early game boss.
>> Given the nature of the mod, it shouldn't be a surprise that there are no screenshots nor videos in the article.

Half-Life: Alyx NoVR Mod will get a major update this October
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/half-life-alyx-novr-mod-will-get-a-major-update-this-october/
The modding team behind the NoVR Mod for Half-Life: Alyx has shared some new details about a major update that will come out this October.
For those unaware, the No VR Mod for Half-Life Alyx allows you to play the game on non-VR devices. And, according to the team, the October Update will introduce major animation improvements to this amazing mod.
Going into more details, GB_2 Development Team has fully modeled and animated Alyx’s arms and hands. The modding team has also added weapon firing animations, weapon idle animations, upgrades, as well as reload and draw animations for all 3 weapons. Furthermore, the team has made updated the game’s HUD, and fixed a number of bugs that plagued its previous version.
In short, this No-VR Mod for Half-Life: Alyx will get such a major gameplay overhaul that will make it a bit more enjoyable on traditional/non-VR PC systems. So, if you haven’t played it yet, you may be able to do so this October.
>> The article has a 1:28 video showing some of the changes.

GAMING NEWS

The recent Bloodborne Remaster rumors are, once again, fake
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-recent-bloodborne-remaster-rumors-are-once-again-fake/
A couple of days ago, a new rumor regarding Bloodborne Remaster surfaced online. However, this recent Bloodborne rumor is fake as it came from someone who was impersonating an industry insider.

Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 will officially release in Fall 2024
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-will-officially-release-in-fall-2024/
Paradox Interactive and World of Darkness have released a new trailer for Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 in which they revealed the game’s release date window.

Mortal Kombat 1 will use the Denuvo anti-tamper tech on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/mortal-kombat-1-will-use-the-denuvo-anti-tamper-tech-on-pc/
Mortal Kombat 1 will release later this month and Warner Bros updated the game’s Steam store page, revealing that it’ll be using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech on PC.

Monday news, part two:

Valve announces two big changes to Counter-Strike 2: shorter matches, and a new map-specific ranking system
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-announces-two-big-changes-to-counter-strike-2-shorter-matches-and-a-new-map-specific-ranking-system/
Earlier this year Valve announced Counter-Strike 2, alongside a limited test that invited a small percentage of the playerbase in to smell the roses. Since then the developer has been using the test to, well, test things: rotating maps in and out, adding new features one by one, and generally fine-tuning this thing before the masses descend. And that time is at hand.
A new update brings an overhaul of the ranking system, a change in map length, a reworked version of the map Inferno, and opens up the limited test to a much wider range of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players.

You should beat Armored Core 6 three times—both NG+ and NG++ have new missions, parts, and some of the game's spiciest twists
https://www.pcgamer.com/you-should-beat-armored-core-6-three-timesboth-ng-and-ng-have-new-missions-parts-and-some-of-the-games-spiciest-twists/
I've never been a huge fan of New Game+ modes in FromSoftware games. While it's fun to rip through progressively harder versions of the game, the balance eventually starts to get wonky, your chosen stat progression means less, and you're left wondering whether it would've been more fun to just load up a new save and enjoy the more intentional difficulty curve of a first playthrough.
Armored Core 6 changes this tradition for the better, as fans—including our friends over at Gamesradar—have been discovering for themselves. A PSA by user Razhork hit the Armored Core Reddit earlier this week, offering a mostly spoiler-free hint at what you could expect, including new missions, spins on older ones, new story choices—we're talking NieR:Automata level stuff here.
>> And shut down the game before putting your PC to sleep, or your saves might be at risk.

Turns out your abyssal tattoos in Baldur's Gate 3 are the D&D equivalent of accidentally getting 'egg drop soup' inscribed in Chinese characters
https://www.pcgamer.com/turns-out-your-abyssal-tattoos-in-baldurs-gate-3-are-the-dandd-equivalent-of-accidentally-getting-egg-drop-soup-inscribed-in-chinese-characters/
Baldur's Gate 3 is the gift that keeps on giving. Even aside from already-released and upcoming patches that are doing things like giving Karlach a new epilogue and restoring 1,500 lines of missing Minthara dialogue, there are plenty of little secrets, references and easter eggs tucked away that people are still uncovering. The latest? The tattoos you can select as body art during character creation.

Here's what's free in Cyberpunk 2077's 2.0 update (car chases, yay), and what requires the $30 Phantom Liberty expansion
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-whats-free-in-cyberpunk-2077s-20-update-car-chases-yay-and-what-requires-the-dollar30-phantom-liberty-expansion/
The Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty expansion is coming on September 26, but before that happens, CD Projekt will release the major Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update. That's potentially an even bigger deal, because it makes major changes to the game's systems, including an overhaul to the skill trees and the addition of new perks, proper car combat, a new police system, revamped cyberware, combat AI improvements, and more.

PowerWash Simulator is going Back to the Future in its latest weird crossover
https://www.pcgamer.com/powerwash-simulator-is-going-back-to-the-future-in-its-latest-weird-crossover/
PowerWash Simulator is one of the most unexpectedly popular games of the last few years. On the face of it, it is exactly as the title indicates: A simulation of using a powerwasher, which—much like using a real powerwasher—sounds like it would be fun for a minute or two, and then quickly turn into drudgery.
Yet somehow, it's become this whole thing: PCG guides writer Sarah James picked it as her personal game of the year for 2022, news writer Joshua Wolens called it the best Far Cry game he's ever played, and it's had crossovers with other games and properties including Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, and Spongebob Squarepants. It's also got an "overwhelmingly popular" rating across more than 34,000 user reviews on Steam. And now it's going back to the future for yet another weird crossover with another unexpectedly big entertainment series.

Valve banned 90,000 smurf accounts from Dota 2—then got the main accounts too
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-banned-90000-smurf-accounts-from-dota-2then-got-the-main-accounts-too/
Valve's been going pretty hard on Dota 2 this year, and the latest is targeting those who start fresh accounts in the free-to-play game so that they can play easy games and stomp rookies. Valve has also traced the accounts back to their main accounts, and says that from now on "a main account found associated with a smurf account could result in a wide range of punishments, from temporary adjustments to behavior scores to permanent account bans."

Japanese PC gaming saw another year of explosive growth
https://www.pcgamer.com/japanese-pc-gaming-saw-another-year-of-explosive-growth/
Japanese gamers have continued to embrace the PC as a platform at staggering rates, jumping up 43% from 131.3 billion yen to 189.2 billion yen in 2022. That's a total size of about $1.3 billion US. The data comes from the latest report by Kadokawa ASCII Research Laboratories, an industry think tank which compiles yearly material about the performance of the gaming industry in Japan and abroad.

SAG-AFTRA is holding a vote to potentially strike against major videogame publishers
https://www.pcgamer.com/sag-aftra-is-holding-a-vote-to-potentially-strike-against-major-videogame-publishers/
The national board of actors' union SAG-AFTRA has sent a strike authorization vote to members over the renegotiation of its Interactive Media Agreement. The potential strike would affect voice acting and motion capture work for major publishers in the industry.

60 hours in as Baldur's Gate 3's nasty Dark Urge and I'm kicking myself for missing a load-bearing early cutscene with unique dialogue for every race and class
https://www.pcgamer.com/60-hours-in-as-baldurs-gate-3s-nasty-dark-urge-and-im-kicking-myself-for-missing-a-load-bearing-early-cutscene-with-unique-dialogue-for-every-race-and-class/
I can't restart Baldur's Gate 3 again, not for like, six months at least. I've got about half of Act 3 to go on my Tactician difficulty Dark Urge Paladin/Rogue, and then I've gotta put this thing down for a while. Imagine my surprise and despair, then, when I discovered that I missed the Dark Urge's first major cutscene, which helps set the stage for the character and has unique interactions for every race and class.
>> Well, speedrunners have now managed to beat it in less than 5 minutes.

WoW Classic hardcore player feigns death for so long they actually die
https://www.pcgamer.com/wow-classic-hardcore-player-feigns-death-for-so-long-they-actually-die/
(...)
One of the basic Hunter spells in WoW is 'feign death', which allows players to escape enemy attention by keeling over, before popping back up and dishing out the pain. The spell can be channelled for up to six minutes, though typically is used for much shorter durations, and feigning death for the full time limit turns out to have a consequence in Classic that's long since disappeared from vanilla WoW.
WoW Classic hardcore player Walldewd discovered this because they fancied a cup of tea (spotted by GamesRadar+). After a good hunting session they went to Stormwind's Auction House and, for reasons best known to themselves, set their character to feign death while they went off to put the kettle on. Returning with a brew, they found their level 31 hardcore Hunter had shuffled off this mortal coil in the meantime, with the feign death spell ultimately killing them and wiping lord knows how many hours of progress.

Turns out Baldur's Gate 3's companions weren't supposed to be such horndogs: "It was a bug"
https://www.pcgamer.com/turns-out-baldurs-gate-3s-companions-werent-supposed-to-be-such-horndogs-it-was-a-bug/
Though I loved my time with Baldur's Gate 3 (and hope to return to it once a certain other massive RPG is out of the way), I was a little weirded out by how into me all my companions were. I even wrote a prudish article about it, complaining about the RPG's early goings being full of really forward advances from your party members—particularly a very intimate moment with Gale that seems to come out of nowhere, and ended up putting me off his character completely. "I'd just like BG3 a little bit more if it took a cold shower every now and then," I concluded.
Well… it's now had one, metaphorically, and it turns out my misgivings were at least partly justified. Over at TheGamer they're unafraid to engage in hard-hitting investigative journalism, like asking game director Swen Wicke why all these characters want to jump the player's bones so bad, and the answer is "It was a bug".

China's gaming restrictions are an 'ineffective policy' that hasn't cut playtime
https://www.pcgamer.com/chinas-gaming-restrictions-are-an-ineffective-policy-that-hasnt-cut-playtime/
The Chinese Communist Party has in recent years begun to try and combat what it sees as the problems with technology and gaming, and in doing so has made China one to watch for government regulators worldwide. China may not be a 1:1 comparison with any other country, and the regime is authoritarian, but the issues it's tackling and the way it's chosen to do so (in examples like crypto mining, an outright ban) are policy lessons: the question being do the restrictions work and, if so, how effectively?

They're so many, that I've decided to post all the Starfield articles in this special post, so those that don't care can skip it and those that want to know more can get an overdose:

STARFIELD RELATED MODS

Barely a day after launch, Starfield already has over 100 mods
https://www.pcgamer.com/best-starfield-mods/
Betheda's RPGs have always been highly moddable, and that's great because—let's be honest—Bethesda's RPGs always need a lot of help. Beyond bug fixes and optimization mods there are also new quests, locations, weapons, gear, and characters constantly being added by Bethesda's industrious and creative modding community. Right now there over 60,000 mods for Skyrim Special Edition and nearly 50,000 mods for Fallout 4, with downloads of those mods totaling in the billions.
So, it's not exactly a surprise that modders are diving right into Starfield, though it's impressive that less than 24 hours after the RPG went into its five day early access period, there are already over 100 mods available for download.
>> The article only mentions 5 of those mods.

Starfield DLSS 3 Mod available for download and yes it has a DRM
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/starfield-dlss-3-mod-available-for-download-and-yes-it-has-a-drm/
Following the free DLSS 2/XeSS Mod for Starfield, PureDark released the DLSS 3 Frame Generation Mod for it. This mod is only available to the modder’s Patrons and yes, it does have a DRM protection.
The DRM that the mod uses is similar to the one PureDark added to the DLSS 3 Frame Generation Mod for Red Dead Redemption 2.
After becoming a Patron and downloading the mod from his Discord server, players will have to authenticate it. What’s crucial to note is that any account that has subscribed to PureDark’s Patreon will be able to pass the authentication procedure. In other words, the mod does not require an active membership. If you have subscribed and then unsubscribed from PureDark’s Patreon, you’ll still be able to pass authentication. Also, after your first authentication, the mod won’t ever ask you to re-authenticate it.
>> There's a video, a bit over 4 minutes long, that demos the mod... and you've probably already read Chazore's post about it being cracked.

Starfield Mod fixes its elevated black levels/washed out graphics
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/starfield-mod-fixes-its-elevated-black-levels-washed-out-graphics/
Yesterday, PureDark released a must-have mod for Bethesda’s latest RPG that added support for NVIDIA DLSS 2 and Intel XeSS. And today, modder “fadingsignal” released another must-have mod for Starfield that fixes its elevated black levels/washed-out issues.
As the modder noted, this Starfield Mod removes the color filters from the game, making the colors more uniformly neutral with deeper blacks. Do also note that this isn’t a Reshade preset as it uses the game’s own textures. Additionally, it doesn’t affect the Photo Filters in any way.
>> The article has some screenshots and a 2:07 video.

Starfield gets its first AI-upscaled 4K Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/starfield-gets-its-first-ai-upscaled-4k-texture-pack/
Modder ‘Epiphany Absolute’ has released the first AI-upscaled 4K Texture Pack for Starfield, weighing around 13GB in size. This pack will improve the game’s textures and we are certain that a number of PC gamers will find it useful.
(...)
Going into more details, the modder has used AI techniques in order to enhance the vanilla textures. To be more precise, the original textures have been upscaled by two times. This basically means that in most cases, the standard 2K textures of Starfield are now in glorious 4K. Now let’s wait and see how long it will take until we get the first 8K Texture Pack.
>> The article has some screenshots.

STARFIELD NEWS

Tragic: Skyrim's ultra-sneaky bucket trick doesn't work in Starfield
https://www.pcgamer.com/tragic-skyrims-ultra-sneaky-bucket-trick-doesnt-work-in-starfield/
Back in 2011, scores of Skyrim players became master thieves overnight thanks to the discovery of a simple exploit. The bucket trick, discovered just one day after Skyrim launched, made any NPC completely oblivious to thievery simply by blocking their line-of-sight. The trick? Put a bucket on their head. You'd think an exploit that trivializes pickpocketing and stealth would've been removed at some point, but the bucket trick survived through Skyrim's many re-releases, and the same trick even worked in Fallout 4.
Which is why I'm sad to report that the bucket trick does not appear to work in Starfield. I can't say definitively that there's no way to block an NPC's vision in Starfield, but I do know a humble bucket is no longer fit for the job.
>> Worry not, because there are still ways to steal things with a bucket.

Surprising no one, Starfield players are already filling their ships with junk
https://www.pcgamer.com/surprising-no-one-starfield-players-are-already-filling-their-ships-with-junk/
The true nemesis in all of Bethesda's big RPGs isn't dragons or raiders, it's encumbrance. It's back again in Starfield and your junk collecting habits will not go unpunished. When your personal inventory fills up you can start storing items in your ship cargo hold, but when that fills up too, some folks have just decided to chuck space junk all over their ship as a last ditch effort to never leave any piece of trash behind.
>> Talking about ships, fans are recreating all kinds of popular spaceships.

Nope, not a bug: Starfield's city maps just look like that
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-city-maps/
My mom recently showed me that you can pick a point on Pikmin 4's map and then press a button to return to the game with your character looking in that direction—a delightfully convenient feature. Nintendo really has a knack for designing in-game maps. Bethesda, however… well, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, don't we?
Among all the praise and other commentary, "bad maps" has emerged as a common Starfield criticism as players make their first excursions into outer space. The starmaps aren't very exciting, but it's really the surface maps that are the target here. They're rendered as topographical point fields, which looks sort of cool, but communicates little, especially in cities, where buildings and streets aren't represented at all. (...)

Starfield players agree that its first dozen hours are its weakest: 'OK, 12 hours in, and I love it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-players-agree-that-its-first-dozen-hours-are-its-weakest-ok-12-hours-in-and-i-love-it/
The moment at the start of Fallout 3 when you step out into the wasteland blew some minds back in 2008, but Starfield's intro isn't quite having the same effect. The short narrative sequence that casts you as a miner isn't quite as captivating as growing up in a Vault, and the simplified space travel and somewhat dull first hours that follow has players wrestling with one of Bethesda's most divisive opening acts yet.
>> By the way, once you're free to go whenever you want, don't go to Pluto, it's not worth it.

Starfield's name-remembering robot buddy can't do 'Glenn' or 'Greg,' but it will call you 'Captain Assface'
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfields-name-remembering-robot-buddy-cant-do-glenn-or-greg-but-it-will-call-you-captain-assface/
When Todd Howard revealed that Starfield's robot buddy Vasco could vocalize your character's name, I knew there were bound to be some "Bort license plate" situations waiting to happen. Reddit user andy24olivera claims to have datamined the list of hundreds of recorded names Vasco can draw from, and in my testing, it seems to be accurate⁠—both the omissions, and the more out-there inclusions.

Bethesda hired a noted modder to help with Starfield's clutter and lighting
https://www.pcgamer.com/bethesda-hired-a-noted-modder-to-help-with-starfields-clutter-and-lighting/
Want to work for Bethesda? Making mods for the studio's games might help you get you noticed. A couple of years ago, Ryan Johnson from the Fallout: London mod team was hired to be a level designer on Fallout 76, and modder Elianora, aka Emmi Junkkari, just revealed that she worked as additional lighting artist on Starfield.

Sapphire so far the only company to launch AMD reference Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU

https://videocardz.com/newz/sapphire-so-far-the-only-company-to-launch-amd-reference-radeon-rx-7800-xt-gpu

Not that it's a bad thing since Radeons reference design has been quite bad this generation.

MSI Z790 MAX motherboards come with 10% price hike, Z790 GODLIKE MAX to retail at $1,299

https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-z790-max-motherboards-come-with-10-price-hike-z790-godlike-max-to-retail-at-1299

Feels like spending so much on a EoL platform is a waste

User discovers brand-new Core i9-13900K turns out to be a 13700K with swapped IHS

https://videocardz.com/newz/user-discovers-brand-new-core-i9-13900k-turns-out-to-be-a-13700k-with-swapped-ihs

Always check to make sure you received the right product.

Intel’s Next-Gen Core i9-14900K 6 GHz CPU Benchmarked: Up To 9% Faster Than 13900K In Single-Core Tests

https://wccftech.com/intel-core-i9-14900k-6-ghz-cpu-up-to-9-percent-faster-13900k-benchmark-leak/

ASUS Officially Takes Charge of Intel’s NUC Division, Next-Gen Mini PCs Coming Soon

https://wccftech.com/asus-officially-releases-intel-nuc-lineup-featuring-business-units/