I really don't care for crossplay between PC stores, but I really hate EoS...

Game may as well be always online with EoS injected into the game (also uses Denuvo anyway, because Sega also slipped the non denuvo version to Valve before launch, which is sneaky shit to pull).

Also £55 for that game lmao, no way am I touching that with a 10ft pole. EoS+Denuvo+ high price, Sega hitting all them negative checkmarks for me to not buy their stuff. 

Hey, look. It's the news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has two new Deals of the Day, that will last until Friday:

• Planet of Lana gets a 20% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/planet_of_lana
• Hero of the Kingdom will be 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hero_of_the_kingdom

Steam has one new deal: TerraTech will be 70% off until October, 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/285920/TerraTech/.

Fanatical hasn't updated the store to show the new Star Deal, so I'll post it tomorrow.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New version of Starfield HD Overhaul improves numerous textures
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/new-version-of-starfield-hd-overhaul-improves-numerous-textures/
Modder ‘luxor8071’ has released a brand new version of his HD Overhaul Mod for Starfield, improving a lot of new textures. Starfield HD Overhaul is providing new and improved HD textures, ranging from 2K resolution up to 8K, replacing thousands of textures all over the game’s world.
This new version improves/overhauls the following textures (alongside the ones featured in its previous version).
>> There are no videos or screenshots of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

First patch for Forza Motorsport released, fixes crashes, tweaks cars, improves wet tire physics
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/first-patch-for-forza-motorsport-released-fixes-crashes-tweaks-cars-improves-wet-tire-physics/
Turn10 has released the first major patch for its latest racing game, Forza Motorsport. According to the release notes, this first update fixes a number of crashes, tweaks numerous cars, and improves the wet tire physics.

Satisfactory Update 8.2.0 upgrades the game to Unreal Engine 5.2.1
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/satisfactory-update-8-2-0-upgrades-the-game-to-unreal-engine-5-2-1/
Coffee Stain Studios has released Update 8.2.0 for Satisfactory which upgrades the game to Unreal Engine 5.2.1. According to the team, this move to version 5.2.1 will bring a number of optimizations that will improve overall performance.

First screenshot for the Unreal Engine 5-powered ARK: Survival Ascended
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/first-screenshot-for-the-unreal-engine-5-powered-ark-survival-ascended/
Studio Wildcard has released the first screenshot for the Unreal Engine 5 remaster of ARK: Survival Evolved, ARK: Survival Ascended.

Lords of the Fallen Patch 1.1.203 reduces memory & VRAM usage
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/lords-of-the-fallen-patch-1-1-203-reduces-memory-vram-usage/
(...)
The update, titled Patch 1.1.203, brings some cool improvements to the game. One of the biggest changes is that it helps the game use less of your computer’s memory and video RAM. This means that your PC can struggle less while you’re slaying your enemies. This will also make Lords of the Fallen more enjoyable on less powerful PC systems.
But that’s not all. The update also fixes some bugs in the game, making it feel smoother and more fun. The developers have addressed numerous of them. So, below you can find what has been addressed.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales October 18th Patch released, brings CPU and AMD performance improvements
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/marvels-spider-man-miles-morales-october-18th-patch-released-brings-cpu-and-amd-performance-improvements/
Nixxes just put out a fresh update for the PC version of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales on October 18th. This update focuses on making the game run better on PCs with AMD GPUs. It should make the game smoother and faster, which is good news if you own an AMD-powered PC.

Babylon X is a new sci-fi fantasy action RPG, first details & trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/babylon-x-is-a-new-sci-fi-fantasy-action-rpg-first-details-trailer/
MY.GAMES and Mighty Boy Studio have announced a new sci-fi fantasy action RPG, Babylon X. This new RPG will be coming to PC in 2024, and below you can find its key features as well as its debut trailer.

Yes, this is the second part of the news:

Fortnite now has a playable 'reimagining' of Alan Wake so you can get caught up on events before Alan Wake 2 arrives
https://www.pcgamer.com/alan-wake-flashback-fortnite/
Alan Wake 2 is almost here, and if you'd like a quick catch-up on what happened in the first game to ensure you're up to speed, Epic Games has you covered. Alan Wake: Flashback is a "reimagining" of the events of Alan Wake—a sort of playable crash course recap created using the Unreal Editor for Fortnite.

Dev says CD Projekt morale 'took a significant hit' after Cyberpunk's launch, but it won't repeat mistakes with the next Witcher
https://www.pcgamer.com/dev-says-cd-projekt-morale-took-a-significant-hit-after-cyberpunks-launch-but-it-wont-repeat-mistakes-with-the-next-witcher/
This is the year of Cyberpunk 2077's about-face. Between the game's wide-ranging 2.0 update and its slick Phantom Liberty expansion pack, most onlookers now agree that the game is—if not the awe-inspiring masterwork it was hyped up to be prior to release—pretty good. But over at CD Projekt, the game's disastrous launch still looms large in devs' memories, and they're keen to avoid a repeat performance.

Elite Dangerous studio Frontier Developments announces layoffs 'following a period of disappointing financial performance'
https://www.pcgamer.com/elite-dangerous-studio-frontier-developments-announces-layoffs-following-a-period-of-disappointing-financial-performance/
The game industry annus horribilis continued today with an announcement from Elite Dangerous studio Frontier Developments, which said that it is implementing a hiring freeze, cutting costs, and laying off an unknown number of employees.

Post Malone is coming to Apex Legends for 'two weeks of mayhem,' may God help us all
https://www.pcgamer.com/post-malone-is-coming-to-apex-legends-for-two-weeks-of-mayhem-may-god-help-us-all/
Award-winning singer and songwriter Post Malone is bringing "two weeks of mayhem" to Apex Legends in November. What does that mean? I'll be blunt with you: I have no idea.

Harebrained Schemes is independent again: Paradox parts ways with the studio less than a week after confirming major layoffs earlier this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/harebrained-schemes-is-independent-again-paradox-parts-ways-with-the-studio-less-than-a-week-after-confirming-major-layoffs-earlier-this-year/
Less than a week after saying that sales of turn-based tactics game The Lamplighters League were "a big disappointment" and confirming major layoffs at developer Harebrained Schemes, Paradox Interactive has announced that it has "decided to part ways" with the studio. Paradox said the split was a mutual decision, "stemming from each party’s strategic and creative priorities," and that HBS will officially be independent again on January 1, 2024.

Gwent's official development ends, leaving future balance patches in the hands of the community
https://www.pcgamer.com/gwents-official-development-ends-leaving-future-balance-patches-in-the-hands-of-the-community/
Late last year, CD Projekt Red announced it would step back from development of its free-to-play collectible card game Gwent, with new cards continuing to be added in 2023, but the card pool be considered complete after that, and further balance changes left up to the players.
Update 11.10 is the final CD Projekt update, and as Molegion in the overview video explains, "This is the last handmade developer-prepared content update for Gwent, so after this we won't be preparing changes to cards any more. Instead we will be using a system, you can see it in the main menu, it's called balance council."

Baldur's Gate 3 player thinks they've fooled a god with a first level spell, right until they realise they've stumbled into Act 2's new worst ending
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-player-thinks-theyve-fooled-a-god-with-a-first-level-spell-right-until-they-realise-theyve-stumbled-into-act-2s-new-worst-ending/
Baldur's Gate 3's second act has a couple of very important decisions—so much so I wrote a whole dang guide on how to thread its particular narrative needle. Before I get stuck into it, spoilers for the game's second act, in case the headline didn't clue you in.

Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer is open to breaking the seal on some forgotten games: 'If teams want to go back and revisit some [games] … I'm gonna be all in'
https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-ceo-phil-spencer-is-open-to-breaking-the-seal-on-some-forgotten-games-if-teams-want-to-go-back-and-revisit-some-games-im-gonna-be-all-in/
Whether you think Microsoft's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard is a move toward a dry gaming monopoly or a financial windfall for Activision and Blizzard games both, it's definitely happened. The UK's CMA has given the thumbs up, Kotick's on his way out—the deal's closed, and now we get to see the impact ripples spread.
It looks like there's already some great news for fans of Activision Blizzard's older catalogue, as confirmed by Spencer himself in an official interview on the Xbox channel. "I do think with Game Pass that we have the ability to pick a couple franchises every year and almost do like a 'revisited' [version]—I just made up that term … when you look across the franchises that are part of our teams, there's an opportunity to go back."
>> Well, we got new a new Battletoads and Killer Instinct, as well as Perfect Dark (whenever/if it launches), so he may not be talking just for the sake of it.

NVIDIA Rumored To Launch GeForce RTX 40 SUPER GPUs: RTX 4080 SUPER, 4070 Ti SUPER & 4070 SUPER

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-40-super-gpus-4080-super-4070-ti-super-4070-super-launch-rumor/

U.S. to restrict shipment of NVIDIA H800 and RTX 4090 GPUs to China

https://videocardz.com/newz/u-s-to-restrict-shipment-of-nvidia-h800-and-rtx-4090-gpus-to-china

Its only a matter of time before Sony brings their games day and date, like i been saying all along with buying PC porting studios etc. The is only so much back log they will finish before they catch up to the new releases. I see Spider Man 2 launching 1 year after the PS5 release. Then it will go down to 6 months exclusives and then 3 months exclusives before we hit day and date.

Easy, just don't charge too much for the dated games, don't make another pointless client and logins no one needs, and release PS5 day and date with PC, jobs done, I'll take my cheque now. 

They really don't need a PC "analyst", unless they plan to do something that isn't within my interests, and my interests are extremely clear as day and simple. Most ppl just want the games day and date and to be able to afford them (sod the ppl saying £60-70 is "fair", not everyone can afford throwing that much in today's economy, and despite what anyone here could say, there are 8.1 billion of us on this planet vs the few million that buy a £60-70 game, not everyone thinks or can afford that at the end of the day).

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

PC has been the lead sales platform for Starfield so far
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/pc-has-been-the-lead-sales-platform-for-starfield-so-far/
Mat Piscatella, Executive Director at Circana (NPD), shared some interesting sales figures about Starfield. Piscatella said that most people are buying Starfield on PC, which is currently the most profitable platform for Bethesda’s new RPG game. In September, Starfield was the most popular game and it quickly became the 7th best-selling game of the whole year 2023. Moreover, it was the top-selling game for both Xbox and PC in that month. Unfortunately, we don’t have any exact sales figures for Starfield. As such, we don’t know how many copies Bethesda’s RPG has sold so far. We also don’t know the ratio between the Xbox and the PC sales.
>> The article also has the list of the top 20 games in September.

The Epic Store gives away two games this week:

• Eternal Threads: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/eternal-threads-197169
• The Evil Within: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-evil-within

Next week, they'll give away Tandem: A Tale of Shadows and The Evil Within 2.

Besides launching new classic games, GOG has also launched the Adrenaline Rush Sale, with up to 90% discounts during 6 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20231019_adrenaline_rush.

Steam has two new deals:

• Wales Interactive puts its games up to 90% off until the 1st of November: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/walesinteractive
• The game Ib celebrates its latest update with a 30% discount until November, the 3rd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1901370/Ib/

There's a new Humble Bundle: the Living in a Simulation Bundle, with up to 10 games to get during the next 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/living-in-simulation.

Fanatical has the Star Deal that I couldn't post yesterday and two bundles:

• The Star Deal is DREDGE, 35% off during another 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/dredge
• The STAR WARS Collection is back, with an 80% discount during the next 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/star-wars-collection
• The BYO Play on the Go Bundle Premium Edition features 20 games to build your 3, 5 or 7 bundles: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/play-on-the-go-premium-edition-build-your-own-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This Elden Ring Mod adds Sekiro-like deflection & dodge mechanics
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-elden-ring-mod-adds-sekiro-like-deflection-dodge-mechanics/
Modder ‘HumbleDuck’ just dropped a new cool mod for Elden Ring. As the title suggests, this mod adds to the game deflection and dodge mechanics that are heavily inspired by Sekiro.
Basically, this mod combines doujzc’s Sekiro-Like Deflect Mod for 2H & Dual Weapons with Anisol’s Sekiro Dash as Light and Medium Roll. So, if you already use them, you can skip this one. For those who want to give it a go, the mod also features a number of QoL improvements and tweaks.
With this mod, players can now block right before an enemy’s attack hits to deflect all the damage and avoid losing stamina. In a true Sekiro way, you can inflict stamina damage on the attacker while deflecting. And, if you deflect enough, your foe becomes vulnerable, making it easier to deliver a deadly blow.
What’s neat is that this mod includes most, if not all, of Sekiro’s cool direction-based deflection animations. So, if an attack comes from the left, your character will smoothly deflect it to the right, and the other way around.
>> Sadly, there are no screenshots nor videos of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Counter-Strike 2 October 17th Patch released and detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/counter-strike-2-october-17th-patch-released-and-detailed/
Valve just dropped a fresh update for Counter-Strike 2 on October 17th. In this update, it has added a new sound for the last 10 seconds of the bomb beeping. It has also made it possible for command aliases to be more precise by using subtick accuracy.

Unreal Engine 5-powered Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 looks amazing in these latest screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/unreal-engine-5-powered-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-looks-amazing-in-these-latest-screenshots/
Paradox Interactive and The Chinese Room have released a bunch of new screenshots for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. These images give us a close-up look at the game’s super-detailed, neon-lit environments that will be powered by Unreal Engine 5.

Full walkthrough of Alan Wake: Flashback in Fortnite
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/full-walkthrough-of-alan-wake-flashback-in-fortnite/
Epic Games and Remedy just dropped a neat recap of the first Alan Wake game inside Fortnite, called Alan Wake: Flashback. Alan Wake: Flashback is like a mini-game split into three episodes. This will get you up to speed with all the spooky stuff that went down in Remedy’s horror game.
>> While I already posted an article about this yesterday, this one has an almost 24 minutes video with the whole things.

Two hours of leaked gameplay from METAL GEAR SOLID Master Collection Vol.1
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/two-hours-of-leaked-gameplay-from-metal-gear-solid-master-collection-vol-1/
“Irriducibile 86ss” has shared two videos on YouTube. These leaked videos show two hours of gameplay from METAL GEAR SOLID Master Collection Vol.1.
The leaked videos are from the first Metal Gear Solid game, from the European/Italian PS5 version. The downside is they have Italian voices, which some might not like. But, considering this collection isn’t packed with lots of extras, they can give you an idea of what you can expect from it. Spoiler alert, it looks exactly the same as the original PlayStation version. So no, I wouldn’t really call this a “remaster “. This is more like a mere re-release of MGS and nothing more. But hey, at least you can now pause the cut-scenes. Oh, what a glorious QoL improvement. This definitely justifies spending 59,99€ for it, no? Okay okay, at least we’ll get an official PC port of Metal Gear Solid 3.

Thursday news, part two:

The next Planetary Annihilation game is half Factorio, half RTS, all 'Tsar Bomba level annihilation'
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-next-planetary-annihilation-game-is-half-factorio-half-rts-all-tsar-bomba-level-annihilation/
Real-time strategy games can be pretty complex, but you generally don't have to concern yourself too much with the economic particulars of whatever war you're fighting. (...)
But Industrial Annihilation—which starts its crowdfunding today on StartEngine and can be preordered on its official site—is chucking all that out the window. Mashing up a factory sim and an RTS, the latest game in the Planetary Annihilation series promises to have you laying out an achingly efficient supply chain for your various wars at the same time as fighting them.

Stay frosty: Call of Duty Warzone's Halloween event has jump scares that will take you back to 2006 YouTube
https://www.pcgamer.com/stay-frosty-call-of-duty-warzones-halloween-event-has-jump-scares-that-will-take-you-back-to-2006-youtube/
As much as I enjoyed unloading magazines into Warzone's rendition of King Kong that one time, Call of Duty's limited-time events don't usually pique my interest until October comes around. This year is no different—Warzone's "The Haunting" event kicked off this week and there's a ton going on. New boss fights are littered across the map (including The Butcher from Diablo 4), enemies drop souls that unlock Halloween-themed goodies, and loot boxes will randomly trigger a jumpscare that makes you die a little on the inside.

Why is the internet ripping a new King Kong game to shreds?
https://www.pcgamer.com/why-is-the-internet-ripping-a-new-king-kong-game-to-shreds/
Skull Island: Rise of Kong was released on Steam on October 17, and if you use any of the various social media platforms you've probably already seen clips and stills from it. The various algorithms have all reached the same conclusion: this thing is comedy gold, and people are revelling in a dunkfest at its expense. In particular, it's being compared to Daedalic's Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which has been unfairly labelled by some as the worst game of the year (it's not great, but such a label is ludicrous).
But what exactly is it about this King Kong game that's inspired such a collective reaction? (...)
>> I'll leave it here so you can find it for yourselves, in case you don't know already.

Diablo 4 has ditched the lifeless grind and entered a new loot-filled era in season 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-has-ditched-the-lifeless-grind-and-entered-a-new-loot-filled-era-in-season-2/
Anyone who played the Diablo 4's betas will know how disappointing it was to see how much the action RPG slowed to a crawl when it came out a few months later. Gear upgrades and XP became a grind and experimenting with your build was way more expensive than it was worth. Level scaling enemies meant that you never felt very powerful and there was no value in doing anything but dungeons.
Diablo 4 season 2 is like playing the beta again, but better.

This Baldur's Gate 3 NPC has brutal, tailor-made taunts to wreck the psyche of every companion character
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-baldurs-gate-3-npc-has-brutal-tailor-made-taunts-to-wreck-the-psyche-of-every-companion-character/
Vicious Mockery might just be one of the best spells in Baldur's Gate 3, even Dungeons & Dragons proper. Not because of its power, mind you. While giving an enemy disadvantage on their next attack roll is useful, psychic damage is often resisted by foes—and its damage isn't anything to write home about.
No, what makes Vicious Mockery great is its theme. It's an excuse to throw verbal dirt at your enemies with lethal consequences. What other game lets you smack-talk a goblin to death? That's especially fun in tabletop D&D, where you can tailor your dunks to whoever you're fighting. Sadly you can't import custom lines to Baldur's Gate 3 without some serious modding know-how, but Larian Studios have sorted the next best thing.

Embracer reportedly guts another studio in the wake of its dead-in-the-water $2 billion deal
https://www.pcgamer.com/embracer-reportedly-guts-another-studio-in-the-wake-of-its-dead-in-the-water-dollar2-billion-deal/
Embracer's scythe continues to swing in the wake of a collapsed $2 billion deal, and the latest victim, reportedly, is Zen Studios. According to Videogamelayoffs, one of its sources at the Hungarian studio told it that 32 staffers at the Pinball FX studio were laid off last Friday.
>> That sucks.

Slay the Spire dev releases free groovy autobattler where your deck is dance moves and gives Unity the finger on the way out: 'That is how badly you f***ed up'
https://www.pcgamer.com/slay-the-spire-dev-releases-free-groovy-autobattler-where-your-deck-is-dance-moves-and-thats-the-tea-sis/
Slay the Spire developer Mega Crit has released a new autobattler card game called Dancing Duelists. The game is available for free on itch.io and features a cast of different characters, all with their own decks, who you level up between dance-offs with new cards and abilities. It's way better than it has any right to be.

Blizzard just casually gave players the key to one of WoW's classic dungeons—the original four-wing Scarlet Monastery—in a Halloween event
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-just-casually-gave-players-the-key-to-one-of-wows-classic-dungeonsthe-original-four-wing-scarlet-monasteryin-a-halloween-event/
World of Warcraft's shaken up its dungeons a lot over the years. One such victim to the wheels of time is the Scarlet Monastery. This dungeon (or these dungeons, I should say, each is their own separate instance) consists of the Armory, the Library, the Cathedral, and the Graveyard.
In patch 5.0.4, these dungeons got rolled into two new revamped dungeons—the Halls and the confusingly-named Monastery. They were forever consigned to the annals of history (at least until World of Warcraft Classic came along). Well, it turns out you can get back to all four of these Classic dungeons right now.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER rumored to feature 16GB memory and AD103 GPU

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-super-rumored-to-feature-16gb-memory-and-ad103-gpu

If true, that would be nuts. The Super line will likely fix a lot of the pricing issues similar to what happened with Turing.

AMD Radeon RX 7900M GPU Debuts In Alienware m18 Laptop: Ryzen 7045HX & RDNA 3 For Insane Mobility Performance

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-7900m-gpu-debuts-in-alienware-m18-laptop-ryzen-7045hx-rdna-3-ultimate-mobility/

AMD claims it's 7% faster than laptop 4080 but the power difference will be interesting. The TDP of the 4080 should be around 150 Watts while the 7900M is about 180 watts.

Intel 14th Gen Core i5-14600 14 Core & Core i3-14100 4-Core Non-K CPU Benchmarks Leak Out

https://wccftech.com/intel-14th-gen-core-i5-14600-14-core-i3-14100-4-core-non-k-cpu-benchmarks-leak/

Mihira AI to License Intel’s “Abandoned” Project Endgame, Led By Mastermind Raja Koduri

https://wccftech.com/mihira-ai-to-license-intel-abandoned-project-endgame-led-by-mastermind-raja-koduri/

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 CPUs Launched: The World’s Fastest Workstation Chips, Up To 96 Cores In PRO & DIY Flavors

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-threadripper-7000-cpus-launch-worlds-fastest-workstation-chips-96-cores/

GeForce RTX 4090 price doubles in China amid US export ban

https://videocardz.com/newz/geforce-rtx-4090-price-doubles-in-china-amid-us-export-ban

Considering how NVidia "solved" the memory issue of the 4060Ti, I'm not really convinced of better prices here.