Friday news, the conclusion:

Larian Studios' Swen Vincke is loving players' systems-based hijinks in Baldur's Gate 3: 'everybody knows about the Owlbear now'
https://www.pcgamer.com/larian-studios-swen-vincke-is-loving-players-systems-based-hijinks-in-baldurs-gate-3-everybody-knows-about-the-owlbear-now/
Much of the joy in writing about Baldur's Gate 3 has been seeing its players' absolutely hairbrained tactics play out. It's a Dungeons & Dragons tradition old as time to mash rules together in unique and interesting ways, like one player sneaking 15,000 gold into a boss's pockets then hitting them with an otherwise terrible magic mace, or another minmaxing a monk into a 240 damage-per-turn monster.
This is all very much intended, and something that Larian Studios' founder and CEO Swen Vincke has been celebrating too. Vincke spoke on the topic during an interview with Dungeons & Dragons earlier this week. "We try to make our systems intuitive … if you look at our video games one after the other, we do more and more and more of that. Everybody knows about the Owlbear now—it's heavy."
>> By the way, be careful with the NPC painter. He has a mind of its own.

Japanese court throws the book at YouTuber who uploaded copyrighted game clips and spoilers: Two years in the slammer and ¥1m fine
https://www.pcgamer.com/japanese-court-throws-the-book-at-youtuber-who-uploaded-copyrighted-game-clips-and-spoilers-two-years-in-the-slammer-and-yen1m-fine/
In May this year we reported on the case of 52-year-old Shinobu Yoshida, from Nagoya, Japan, who in what may be a world first was arrested and charged for violating copyright laws, after uploading gameplay clips and other content. The prosecution was led by the Content Overseas Distribution Agency (CODA), which focuses on copyright protection, and Yoshida has now been found guilty.
Yoshida admitted to the charges at a hearing on August 2, and was sentenced on September 7 at the Sendai District Court in Miyagi Prefecture. That he pled guilty is not surprising given the facts of the case (he said to police "I knew it was illegal as I was doing it"), but the sentence may raise some eyebrows. Yoshida received two years in jail, with a five-year suspended sentence on top, and was fined one million Japanese yen ($6,785 / £5,450). It is the first time someone has been found guilty of copyright violations involving distributing game videos.

RuneScape developer firefights desperately as new battle pass leads to player revolt and review bombing: 'They've gone too far down the rabbit hole'
https://www.pcgamer.com/runescape-developer-firefights-desperately-as-new-battle-pass-leads-to-open-revolt-and-review-bombing-theyve-gone-too-far-down-the-rabbit-hole/
"Cancelled my subscriptions after playing for more than 15 years, see you around boys and girls," says sfouggarakhs. "Been playing RuneScape since I was a child and this is the first time I really have a bad taste in my mouth from an update," says ExileAgent.
Welcome to the recent and "mostly negative" reviews of RuneScape on Steam: and they all take aim at one thing. "Why do I have to pay for a battlepass for a game that has a monthly subscription," asks CommonClapton. "People are already paying membership for this game and they're tryna milk as much as they can from their players," says Chriwigi. "They've gone too far down the rabbit hole."

Rust adds attack helicopters, homing missiles to blow up attack helicopters, parachutes to escape exploding attack helicopters
https://www.pcgamer.com/rust-adds-attack-helicopters-homing-missiles-to-blow-up-attack-helicopters-parachutes-to-escape-exploding-attack-helicopters/
I remember the first time I played Rust. I was bare-ass naked, carrying a stick, and utterly without a clue. Eager for help, I approached a guy in a cabin, in as non-threatening a manner as you could reasonably expect from a dishevelled nudist waving a tree branch around. There was a misunderstanding—which is to say that he told me to leave or he was going to shoot me in the face, and I didn't understand that he was serious—and then he shot me in the face. That was then, and this is now—and now there are attack helicopters.

Asked about Starfield ground vehicles, Todd Howard points out that there are spaceships and jetpacks in the game
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-ground-vehicles/
Opinions on Starfield are all over the place, but two criticisms are pretty widely shared: One, the maps aren't very good, and two, it's a bit disappointing that there aren't any ground vehicles to explore planets with.
In an interview with Bloomberg this week, Todd Howard responded to a question about that absence of ground vehicles, saying that the idea was considered, but that the dev team preferred knowing "how fast [players] are seeing things" on planets through on-foot exploration. He also pointed out that, hey: you can fly.

Final Fantasy 14 won't be going free-to-play anytime soon
https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-14-wont-be-going-free-to-play-anytime-soon/
Final Fantasy 14 has a ridiculously generous free trial—one that, as of next month, is going to include two expansions that encompass hundreds of hours of playtime. It's still a subscription-based MMO at its heart though, something which director and producer Naoki Yoshida doesn't intend on changing anytime soon.

This summer's hottest streamer game appears to be gone for good
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-summers-hottest-streamer-game-appears-to-be-gone-for-good/
Indie platformer Only Up! has been pulled from Steam for a second time—though this time it's seemingly forever—with its developer saying they need "peace of mind and healing". Their Twitter account also appears to have vanished.
In a post on Steam regarding the game's future, developer SCKR Games wrote: "I'm a solo developer and this game is my first experience in Gamedev, a game I did for creativity, to test myself, and where I made a lot of mistakes. The game has kept me under a lot of stress all these months. Now I want to put the game behind me. And yes, the game won't be available in the steam store soon, that's what I decided myself. What I need now is peace of mind and healing."

Starfield player uses laundry basket to pull off the casino heist of the century
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-player-uses-laundry-basket-to-pull-off-the-casino-heist-of-the-century/
Of all the Starfield stories so far, one hit me right in the feels: the bucket trick no longer works. (...)
However there are ways and means to use bins and buckets. Starfield allows you to pick up and hold items in front of your character, which retain their physics properties, and this can be used to knock objects off shelves and other surfaces.
>> Oh, and here's a trick to make an unbeatable ship.

E3 somehow gets even deader as event organiser departs by 'mutual consent', ESA says no no it's still alive we promise
https://www.pcgamer.com/e3-somehow-gets-even-deader-as-event-organiser-departs-by-mutual-consent-esa-says-no-no-its-still-alive-we-promise/
Events company ReedPop, which has been partnering with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) for the past 14 months, will not be working on future E3 events. Reedpop has a good track record with live events, most recently organising PAX West in Seattle the past weekend, but didn't run a single E3 in that admittedly short timespan, with this year's event being cancelled due to a lack of involvement from the industry's big players.
Further to this, there will be no E3 in 2024. Well, no traditional E3. The ESA has told the Los Angeles Convention Center, where it's always held, that there will be no show next year, though it has stopped short of saying there will be no E3 at all. If there is, which I highly doubt, expect a very pared-back digital-only offering.

And here are the GOG and Steam weekend deals:

+GOG

• There's a new GIVEAWAY: Requiem: Avenging Angel will be free during the next 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/requiem_avenging_angel
• There's one new Deal of the Day, Steel Division 2 - Total Conflict Edition will be 77% off until Monday's refresh: https://www.gog.com/en/game/steel_division_2_total_conflict_edition
• And finally, a reminder, The Autumn Sale will end in 79 hours. This is your last weekend to make any purchases

+Steam

• The Dark Souls franchise is on sale with up to 50% discounts until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/Dark_Souls_Franchise
• Ravenswatch, still in Early Access, will be 20% off until September 14th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2071280/Ravenswatch/
• Escape Simulator gets a 33% discount until the 14th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1435790/Escape_Simulator/
• Ultimate Chicken Horse will be free to try during the weekend and 55% off until next Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/386940/Ultimate_Chicken_Horse/
• There's a Scottish Games Sale that supports the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity’s ‘Games for the Weans’ campaign. You'll find demos and games up to 80% off until Thursday, the 14th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/scottishgamessale2023
• The Focus Entertainment Publisher Sale comes with up to 80% discounts until the 18th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/focuspublisherweek2023
• Need for Speed™ Heat is going to be 90% off until the 19th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1222680/Need_for_Speed_Heat/
• Dying Light 2 Stay Human will be 50% off until September, 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/534380/Dying_Light_2_Stay_Human/
• And the last deal is Red Dead Redemption 2, with a 67% discount until the same 21st of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1174180/Red_Dead_Redemption_2/

And, just like that, we've reached the end of the news. Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

Intel releases new Starfield driver, while Bethesda claims Arc A770 does not meet minimum requirements

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-releases-new-starfield-driver-while-bethesda-claims-arc-a770-does-not-meet-minimum-requirements

AMD Zen 6 Powered EPYC Venice CPUs To Feature Support On SP7 Platform With Up To 16-Channel Memory

https://wccftech.com/amd-zen-6-epyc-venice-cpus-feature-support-sp7-platform-16-channel-memory/

FSP Adopts ATX 3.0 “12V-2×6” Standard Across Entire 2023 PSU Lineup, PCIe 6.0 & Next-Gen GPU Ready

https://wccftech.com/fsp-adopts-atx-3-0-12v-2x6-standard-2023-psu-lineup-pcie-6-0-next-gen-gpu-ready/

Lisa following her uncle

Well, AMD (or were those rumors?) said that there won't be high end RDNA4 parts, so they can use those already buy waffers to make other things.

But yeah, they all go after the biggest money source. Nothing new here.

By the way, here are a couple articles that didn't made it into the news:

Okay game marketing, you win this round because this custom Starfield PC is stunning
https://www.pcgamer.com/okay-game-marketing-you-win-this-round-because-this-custom-starfield-pc-is-stunning/
Alright, I guess the marketing people win this one. I know it's one hundred per cent about getting people to talk about both Starfield and the various people involved in building it, but I am so obsessed with this custom gaming PC. Modelled after the consoles in your Starfield star ship, this rig is a stunner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmUTZehqEvs

It's got some neat hardware inside, both the Core i7 13700K CPU and Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU stand out, but it's the outside and the integration of that MASSIVE front panel screen and physical indicator buttons that really grabs me.

(...)

You can enter a prize draw to win the PC via SkyTech, and the fact that I've given it a plug means the marketing has worked. But hoo-boy, they better hide it good, because I'm going to find out where they're hiding it and bring my Digipick.

Early numbers indicate AMD's 7800 XT GPU is a hit. The 7700 XT not so much
https://www.pcgamer.com/early-numbers-indicate-amds-7800-xt-gpu-is-a-hit-the-7700-xt-not-so-much/
Early sales figures for AMD's new Radeon RX 7800 XT indicate that it's a hit with gamers. Numbers from German retailer Mindfactory make the 7800 XT the second most successful day one seller this year with around 400 units.

Only Nvidia's RTX 4070 Ti has edged it, with an estimate 400 to 450 units sold on day one. However, Mindfactory managed to shift just 40 examples of the 7700 XT on day one. That's one tenth the volume. Yikes.

These figures tally with other obvious indications of demand for the new GPUs. On Newegg, all variants of the 7800 XT sold out on day one. Happily, restocking has been taking place and as we write these words two days after launch, there are three 7800 XT variants available on Newegg, one of which is offered at the 7800 XT's $499 MSRP.

By contrast, the 7700 XT has only seen one or two variants sell out and at the time of writing, all but one is showing availability.

Looks like AMD's upselling strategy worked well this time, and it was easy to see after the reviews that the 7800XT was going to do well.

The question I have, then, is why MSI decided to skip this launch?

Well, the Steam Deck also has a 7" screen with a 800p resolution and few people complained about it, so I'd say that there's still a market for this size and resolution.

Besides, we're talking about Nintendo. They don't make a lot of money from their hardware, most of it comes from their software, and if they can save a few pennies here and there, you can bet that they'll do it.

More switch rumours

Universonintendo: Switch 2 hardware will feature 12 GB of RAM and raytracing. DLSS will be 3.1 instead of 3.5

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/universonintendo-switch-2-hardware-will-feature-12-gb-of-ram-and-raytracing-dlss-will-be-3-1-instead-of-3-5.1660780/

Take it with big salt as always.

12GB of ram if true would be a good amount of ram. Since it's likely LPDDR5 instead of GDDR, it should be cheaper so 12GB makes sense even though a Series S only has 10GB. I suspect it won't have any ram issues for the rest of the generation if true. DLSS 3.1 (likely Super Resolution version and not Frame Generation) would be good enough and they can always add in Ray Reconstruction later on not that it will be doing much RT even if Nvidia is good at it.

I'd bet that the 12GB number comes from, at best, a dev kit. The real product will have less than that, as always happens. I'd go with 8GB at best.

I'm surprised it supports DLSS 3 because, at least in theory and in desktop parts, only Ada based GPUs support this new version. So yeah, I'm surprised Switch's 2 SoC is so modern.

A little misleading the way it written in article.  More accurate would be to say it will use Nvidia DLSS SDK 3.1 ( https://www.techspot.com/news/97592-nvidia-new-dlss-31-sdk-adds-performance-improvements.html ).  Which add performance upgrades to DLSS for Turing and later.  I am betting the switch will not support frame generation which is the feature that require Ada architecture.

Plus, on such a small screen, the visual difference between 720p and 1080p is pretty small. 900 by 1600 would also be a good intermediate resolution for those who feel 720p would be too small without taxing the hardware too much.

Personally I'd take 720p VRR screen over 1080p non VRR screen any day. While unlikely, I do hope Switch 2 has VRR but I wouldn't be disappointed if it doesn't.