Tuesday news, part two:

I didn't know there were 'iconic' school bus designs until Bus Simulator licensed one
https://www.pcgamer.com/i-didnt-know-there-were-iconic-school-bus-designs-until-bus-simulator-licensed-one/
Even as the world burns, the wheels on Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop just keep going round and round. People have got places to be! And a virtual bus service is one thing but, in-line with others of its Simulator ilk, the game's sleeper hit nature means developer Stillalive Studios is adding officially licensed buses to the game.
OK this is mainly about the press release amusing me, but this does not come from a place of mockery so much as love. Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop now has a licensing deal with manufacturer Thomas Built Buses and, should players buy this DLC, it brings the "iconic school bus" that is the Saf-T-Liner C2 into the game.

Payday 3 developer promises '200+ QoL improvements' this month following an atrocious launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/payday-3-developer-promises-200-qol-improvements-this-month-following-an-atrocious-launch/
Following a disastrous launch which led to Payday 3 nosediving to a Mostly Negative rating on Steam, developer Starbreeze has promised over 200 quality-of-life changes this month, as well as further improvements scheduled in a series of patches set to release throughout the rest of the year.

You can finally have an entire Sea of Thieves server to yourself with the new Safer Seas game mode
https://www.pcgamer.com/you-can-finally-have-an-entire-sea-of-thieves-server-to-yourself-with-the-new-safer-seas-game-mode/
One of the best things about Sea of Thieves is the lurking spectre of danger in every encounter: Is that rapidly-approaching brigantine looking to team up, or looking for a fight? But not everyone cares for my particular brand of "excitement," and for those folks developer Rare is adding a new game mode called Safer Seas that will enable players to sail the high seas alone or with a chosen group of friends.

3 of the 5 top wishlisted Steam games are city builders, and I want to play them all
https://www.pcgamer.com/3-of-the-5-top-wishlisted-steam-games-are-city-builders-and-i-want-to-play-them-all/
I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: we're in a golden age of city builders. Whether you're into strategy, survival, story-driven campaigns, or even casual, no-stress construction sandboxes, there's never been a wider selection of city builders to choose from. And there are lots more on the way.
As proof that the city builder genre has never been healthier, three of the five top wishlisted games on Steam right now are all city builders. That's amazing. What's even more interesting is that those games are all extremely different types of city builders.

The new Minecraft DLC is a fully voiced D&D adventure
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-new-minecraft-dlc-is-a-fully-voiced-dandd-adventure/
Minecraft has given The Forgotten Realms a cubic makeover in the new Dungeons & Dragons DLC. The friends I play D&D with are curiously also the same friends who get the annual itch to set up a Minecraft server, and at least once a year we disappear into the realm of right angles and are lost to the world. As well as this crossover in interests, both D&D and Minecraft provide a space to be creative, social, and enjoy freeform play, so this collaboration between Wizards of the Coast and Everbloom Games seems a natural fit.

Cast your votes now for the 2023 Golden Joystick Awards
https://www.pcgamer.com/cast-your-votes-now-for-the-2023-golden-joystick-awards/
The Golden Joystick Award nominations have been announced and it's time to get voting. Now in its 41st year, The Golden Joysticks hold a special place in the awards calendar as the show where the biggest honours are decided by public vote and, with 17 categories representing a wide variation of games, studios, and hardware, the shortlisted nominees reflect what a monumental year 2023 has been in videogames. The Golden Joystick Awards are run by PC Gamer's parent company Future.

Minecraft wiki completes exit from Fandom, gets ready to fight its own zombified corpse
https://www.pcgamer.com/minecraft-wiki-completes-exit-from-fandom-gets-ready-to-fight-its-own-zombified-corpse/
In July this year PCG reported on a brewing controversy—far from the first—at the wiki hosting service Fandom. The editors and contributors of the Minecraft wiki, one of the site's largest, had had enough, and angered by what they saw as "degraded" functionality and endless popup ads, began the process of voting on a full scale migration away from the site, and towards a new host.
The Minecraft wiki is now born again thanks to *checks notes* Weird Gloop. After a discussion among contributors, this host was chosen because it "has a minimal amount of ads, a strong set of technical infrastructure, lots of transparency, and a strong track record regarding the SEO competition with Fandom for page ranking." Weird Gloop also hosts the Runescape wiki, which was one of the first to break away from Fandom (then Wikia) in a similar manner.

At least that's one thing less to worry about.

I suppose you could try a fresh install of your GPU's latest driver. 

Yeah. Changed to the new rig today so not going to stress out about drivers and so.

Intel marketing materials confirm upcoming 6.0 GHz 24-core, 5.6 GHz 20-core and 5.3 GHz 14-core CPUs

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-marketing-materials-confirm-upcoming-6-0-ghz-24-core-5-6-ghz-20-core-and-5-3-ghz-14-core-cpus

AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 “Storm Peak” CPUs Unveil on 19th October: Up To 96 Zen 4 Cores For Workstation

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-threadripper-pro-7000-storm-peak-cpus-unveil-19th-october/

ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 APEX ENCORE overclocking motherboard spotted, may cost up to 840 EUR

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-rog-maximus-z790-apex-encore-overclocking-motherboard-spotted-may-cost-up-to-840-eur

Big waste of money on a dead platform

Some pretty good games there thats a great grab my dude .

The news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has launched a new Deal of the Day: Demon Lord Reincarnation, that will be 10% off during 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/demon_lord_reincarnation.

Steam has two new deals:

• There's a new Daily Deal: Eastward, with a 50% discount during another 26 hours: https://store.steampowered.com/app/977880/Eastward/
• And Mail Time is going to be 30% off until October, 10th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607240/Mail_Time/

Fanatical has a new Star Deal: The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, that will be 85% off during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-life-and-suffering-of-sir-brante.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Lies of P just got a free DLSS 3 Frame Generation Mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/lies-of-p-just-got-a-free-dlss-3-frame-generation-mod/
LukeFZ has just released a free DLSS 3 Frame Generation Mod for the Bloodborne-inspired Souls-like game, Lies of P. This mod replaces the game’s FSR 2.0 implementation with DLSS 3, allowing you to enjoy both DLSS 3 Super Resolution and DLSS 3 Frame Generation.
Now contrary to PureDark’s DLSS 3 Frame Generation mods, this one is completely free. So, after downloading, make sure to at least donate to the modder. And yes, in case you’re wondering, this is the same person behind the free DLSS 3 Mod for Starfield.
>> There are no screenshots nor videos of this mod, but it has the instructions to install it in case you need them.

The modder behind Burps of Skyrim and Snores of Skyrim has made a breakthrough in the field of customizable flatulence with Farts of Skyrim
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-modder-behind-burps-of-skyrim-and-snores-of-skyrim-has-made-a-breakthrough-in-the-field-of-customizable-flatulence-with-farts-of-skyrim/
Farts are funny. More than that, they're universally funny. No matter where you're from or where you're going, a fart in any language is a gas. So it's a little sad that farts are typically reserved for comedy games. Did Commander Shepard ever fart? Did Gordon Freeman cut the cheese? Did Lara Croft let one rip? You know they did—everyone does—we just never got to hear it.
That's why it's with real pleasure and no small amount of admiration that I present the Farts of Skyrim mod. And before you click away to some other article thinking you've already gotten the joke—the joke being that people in Skyrim fart now—I assure you, you haven't.
Above you'll find a video containing eight entire minutes of farts in Skyrim, and trust me on this, every last second is worth watching. The mod doesn't just mindlessly add fart noises: it includes funny and believable reactions from both the NPC who dealt it and the bystanders who smelt it, ranging from laughs to apologies to mild offense to pure horror. Take a look. I'd say try not to laugh, but you definitely will.

GAMING NEWS

First Quake 2 Remastered Update brings QoL improvements, balance changes & bug fixes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/first-quake-2-remastered-update-brings-qol-improvements-balance-changes-bug-fixes/
Nightdive Studios has released the first update for Quake 2 Remastered, bringing multiple quality-of-life improvements, some balance changes, and several notable bug fixes.

The Talos Principle 2 PC Demo available for download on Steam
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-talos-principle-2-pc-demo-available-for-download-on-steam/
Devolver and Croteam have released the PC demo for their upcoming metaphysical puzzle game, The Talos Principle 2, on Steam.
>> Oddly enough, you won't find it on Steam. Check the article to find out how to get it.

Immortals of Aveum will be upgraded to Unreal Engine 5.2 with improvements to both Nanite and Lumen
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/immortals-of-aveum-will-be-upgraded-to-unreal-engine-5-2-with-improvements-to-both-nanite-and-lumen/
Ascendant Studios has revealed its future plans for Immortals of Aveum. The team will upgrade the game to Unreal Engine 5.2, and it will bring improvements to both Nanite and Lumen.

And more news:

Epic says it's 'looking into' it after pigeon dating sim maker says she's not received royalties in 2 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-says-its-looking-into-it-after-pigeon-dating-sim-maker-says-shes-not-received-royalties-in-2-years/
Hato Moa, the pseudonymous creator of weird, wonderful, and warbling pigeon dating simulator Hatoful Boyfriend, has a problem. She says she's not received any royalties from the 2014 HD remake of the game ever since Epic picked up Mediatonic—the studio behind it—in 2021.
On September 29, in the wake of a wave of layoffs at Epic, Moa tweeted her condolences to affected employees hoping the "lovely talented people from Mediatonic" would "find a better place soon". This seems to have put Moa in mind of her own relationship with Epic, because she soon followed that tweet up with one remarking that she had received "no royalty payment for Hatoful Boyfriend from Epic since they acquired Mediatonic back in spring 2021," noting that it seems unlikely "sales have been zero for two years".
>> Note that even she admits that it won't be a lot of money, but that's beyond the point here.

Naughty Dog reportedly lays off contract workers as troubled The Last of Us spinoff shooter faces an uncertain future
https://www.pcgamer.com/naughty-dog-reportedly-lays-off-contract-workers-as-troubled-the-last-of-us-spinoff-shooter-faces-an-uncertain-future/
A Kotaku report says Naughty Dog, the developer of The Last of Us and Uncharted games, is the latest studio to lay off employees, with at least 25 contract workers being told that they'll be let go at the end of October. The report also says that The Last of Us multiplayer shooter spinoff announced in 2022 is in trouble, and while it hasn't been cancelled at this point, its fate remains uncertain.

Minecraft's first mob vote candidate for this year is a tiny, handy crab
https://www.pcgamer.com/minecrafts-first-mob-vote-candidate-for-this-year-is-a-tiny-handy-crab/
In yearly tradition, Minecraft is letting us choose what kind of creature will be included in its next major update. The mob vote is back for 2023: Ahead of the yearly Minecraft Live show on October 15, we'll be able to cast our votes on three different mob hopefuls, which Mojang has begun introducing today.

This party game is like Jackbox, except you're causing or preventing humanity's extinction—you can probably guess which side I picked
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-party-game-is-like-jackbox-except-youre-causing-or-preventing-humanitys-extinctionyou-can-probably-guess-which-side-i-picked/
Maybe it's the fact that I've just finished my umpteenth playthrough of Final Fantasy 7, but sometimes I get the feeling that one of us should summon Meteor and end all this nonsense once and for all. Climb the kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower, and all that. I know I'm not the only one who occasionally drifts into strange fantasies about the end of the world, though—a game that just came out on Steam not only lets you do exactly that, it turns those idle fantasies into a party.
Project Planet - Earth vs Humanity features one player as the planet. Like, the actual Earth—big role. This player (the good guy, obviously) is tasked with saving the place from destruction by reducing the human population to zero like a full-blown JRPG baddie. They do that by expending their force to inflict disasters and trigger crises that the other players have to deal with.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide class overhaul patch is live, and it sure seems like the massive update everyone was waiting for
https://www.pcgamer.com/warhammer-40000-darktide-class-overhaul-patch-is-live-and-it-sure-seems-like-the-massive-update-everyone-was-waiting-for/
In August, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide developer Fatshark gave me an early look at an update that the studio didn't think players were expecting: a complete change to the leveling system, adding RPG-style skill trees unique to each class. That update went live today, replacing the old, much simpler progression system with a more flexible array of abilities and bonuses. The patch also includes a list of balance changes so long it had to be split across two posts on the Darktide forums.
Players on the Darktide subreddit, who were extremely down on the game at launch last November, seem delighted with the update, and Darktide has hit its highest concurrent player numbers since January.

5 years after it closed for good, Gearbox confirms that the hero shooter Gigantic is coming back for a 'limited time throwback event'
https://www.pcgamer.com/5-years-after-it-closed-for-good-gearbox-confirms-that-the-hero-shooter-gigantic-is-coming-back-for-a-limited-time-throwback-event/
Gigantic is—or was—a free-to-play "strategic hero shooter" that went into full release in July 2017 and almost immediately fell into misfortune. In November 2017, developer Motiga was closed, and just a couple months later publisher Perfect World announced that the game would suffer the same fate in July 2018. But now, improbably and unexpectedly, it looks like it might be making a comeback: Gearbox has confirmed that invitations to a "limited time throwback event" are legit.

Get ready to meet your next favorite videogame crab in The Dungeon Experience
https://www.pcgamer.com/get-ready-to-meet-your-next-favorite-videogame-crab-in-the-dungeon-experience/
The Dungeon Experience is a videogame about a theme park dungeon held together by strings. The theme park, I mean, not the videogame. It's got an uncanny animatronic barbarian and cardboard cutout monsters, the Lake of Pain is an inflatable kiddie pool, and the host is a mudcrab. Co-creator Jacob Janerka tells me he's workshopping a pitch to sum up this unusual concept. "The Dungeon Experience is like The Stanley Parable," he says, "but the narrator is a talking crab who reads self-help books and has a hundred-dollar budget."

Payday 3 dev says it's making 'a bunch of changes' to the game's detested progression system 9 days after saying it had no plans to do so
https://www.pcgamer.com/payday-3-dev-says-its-making-a-bunch-of-changes-to-the-games-detested-progression-system-9-days-after-saying-it-had-no-plans-to-do-so/
Payday 3 has had, shall we say, a rough launch, and one of the main sources of player protest has been its progression system. Heisters just aren't thrilled that your infamy points—the things you accrue to unlock new weapons, cosmetics, and what have you—are tied exclusively to the game's challenges. It can mean that players whose goal is to unlock new gear are better off completely ignoring their heist in order to focus on blasting as many cops as possible to tick off 'kill 20 enemies with this gun' challenges. A little backwards, for a Payday game.
Despite the clamour from the Payday community, Starbreeze said in a livestream nine days ago that it had no intention of revising Payday 3's progression system. (...)
Well dry your eyes, because as of another update stream from yesterday (spotted by MP1st), Starbreeze has decided that, actually, it might be a good idea to take another look at that progression system after all. (...)

Titanfall community predicts the future, reckons Titanfall 3 is a dead cert based on patch note hints and a Red Hot Chili Peppers song from 1999
https://www.pcgamer.com/titanfall-community-predicts-the-future-reckons-titanfall-3-is-a-dead-cert-based-on-patch-note-hints-and-a-red-hot-chili-peppers-song-from-1999/
There must be something in the water. A few days ago, we covered the GTA fans that are looking to the moon for answers about the next big GTA 6 announcement, and now it's Titanfall players' turn. What are they doing? Convincing themselves that a playlist update is actually a reference to a Red Hot Chili Peppers song that is actually a reference to the inevitable upcoming announcement of something massive, probably Titanfall 3.

NVIDIA To Introduce New GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB GPUs In 2024: 70W TGP With Cut-Down Specs & Lower Prices

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-new-geforce-rtx-3050-6-gb-gpu-in-2024-70w-tgp-cut-down-specs-lower-prices/

Sounds like the laptop version rebranded as a desktop version

AMD Radeon RX 7900M “RDNA 3” Enthusiast Mobility GPU Specs Leak: Navi 31 With 72 Compute Units, 16 GB VRAM

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-7900m-rdna-3-mobility-gpu-leak-navi-31-72-compute-units-16-gb/

Sure taking their time

Windows 11 Update Causing Problems With AMD Adrenalin Control Panel, Resets Settings To Default

https://wccftech.com/windows-11-update-problem-amd-adrenalin-control-panel-resets-settings-to-default/

Say what you will about Nvidia's Windows XP design with their control panel, least theirs don't seem to have endless issues with windows update almost every month

Intel Arc A580 Graphics Cards Are Finally Coming To DIY, Arc A310 Also Listed Online

https://wccftech.com/intel-arc-a580-graphics-cards-are-finally-coming-to-diy-arc-a310-also-listed-online/

Let me get this right. MSoft launched an update for Copilot that breaks AMD's software and, instead of blaming MSoft for launching an update that, yet again, breaks another third party software or turn it into a joke ("Will MSoft ever launch an update that doesn't brake something?"), you take this chance to what, attack AMD for having a modern looking suite instead of the old and commonly criticized Nvidia outdated one?

Ok.

I don't know, maybe the problem lies in WIndows 11, something that many seem to agree with given how few have made the jump from Win10:

Two years after launch Windows 11 adoption is still waaaay behind Windows 10
https://www.pcgamer.com/two-years-after-launch-windows-11-adoption-is-still-waaaay-behind-windows-10/
Windows 10 still utterly dominates the desktop PC operating system market, despite Windows 11 having been around for 2 years now. And there's not much sign of this changing any time soon.

We all love a nice bunch of statistics to pour over and pick apart, but right now Microsoft must be looking at these figures on StatCounter (via TechSpot) and be absolutely hating them. Why? Because they suggest people, as individuals and as a business, really aren't into Windows 11 at all.

With the numbers now updated for September 2023, we can see the global uptake of Microsoft's latest operating system has been stagnant since April 2023, and there doesn't seem to be any indication that this will change.

Not only that, but the market share paints a dismal picture: 71% for Win10, just 24% for Win11, and 3% for Win7 (with the rest being XP, 8.1, and so on). The figure for Windows 10 has barely changed in twelve months and it's only the decline of Windows 7 that has benefited the newest version.