The news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG wants to mess with me with five new Deals of the Day that will last until Friday:

• Unpacking is 40% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/unpacking
• Hero of the Kingdom: The Lost Tales 1 gets a 74% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hero_of_the_kingdom_the_lost_tales_1
• Fran Bow has a 75% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/fran_bow
• Medal of Honor™: Pacific Assault also features a 75% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/medal_of_honor_pacific_assault
• And Theme Hospital is going to be 76% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/theme_hospital

Steam has two new deals:

• Endling - Extinction is Forever will be 67% off until the 14th of November: https://store.steampowered.com/app/898890/Endling__Extinction_is_Forever/
• And the Indie Cade, the International Festival of Independent Games, will have some games on sale with up to 70% discounts until November, 17th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/indiecade2023

Fanatical has two new Flash Deals and a bundle:

• These are the two 24 hours Flash Deals:
  • Blasphemous 2 is 30% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/blasphemous-2
  • Saints Row Platinum Edition (the new game) gets a 71% discount. There are keys for both Steam and EGS: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/saints-row-platinum-edition
• The new BYO Bethesda Classics Bundle has 21 titles to choose from for your 3, 5 or 7 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bethesda-classics-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Xbox sparks dev revolt with new AI writing partnership: 'Lots of people are going to get fired, games will get worse, and C-suite will get millions'
https://www.pcgamer.com/xbox-sparks-dev-revolt-with-new-ai-writing-partnership-lots-of-people-are-going-to-get-fired-games-will-get-worse-and-c-suite-will-get-millions/
Xbox has announced a partnership with a company called Inworld AI in order to "empower game creators with the potential of generative AI" and no, you aren't the only one who thinks that sounds incredibly ominous.
In a post to the Microsoft Developer blog, Xbox's general manager of gaming AI Haiyan Zhang announced a "multi-year partnership" with Inworld aimed at building "AI game dialogue and narrative tools at scale."

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New Fallout 4 DLC-sized Mod adds a 24 quest main storyline
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/new-fallout-4-dlc-sized-mod-adds-a-24-quest-main-storyline/
Modder ‘Otellino’ has released a new DLC-sized Mod for Fallout 4, called America Rising 2. America Rising 2 offers players a brand new way to complete the Fallout 4 Main Quest with the Enclave. Players can either the Enclave gather their strength along the way, or destroy them once and for all.
America Rising 2 has a 24-quest main story that is seamlessly integrated into the game. Additionally, the mod claims to offer meaningful player choice. Not only that but it includes over 8000 lines of voiced dialogue by 25 actors. It also introduces one main companion and two extra followers. There are also new random events, locations, and tasks you can do over and over.
>> There's a roughly 4 minutes trailer of the mod.

Download and play the first level from Return to Castle Wolfenstein in Unreal Engine 5
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/download-first-level-return-to-castle-wolfenstein-unreal-engine-5/
It’s been a while since our last UE5 article, right? So, today we’ve got something really cool for you. Christopher Sewell has shared a video, showcasing the first map from Return to Castle Wolfenstein in Unreal Engine 5.
For those unaware, Sewell has worked in games using the previous iterations of Unreal Engine, such as Bombshell and Rad Rodgers. In these two games, Sewell worked as a Q&A Analyst.
Now what’s really cool about this project is that you can download it and play it. While this fan remake does not have any enemies, it allows you to fully explore the first map of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. And hey, it’s at least better than most of the other UE5 projects that don’t include any download link.
>> The article has the video, that's 10:12 long.

GAMING NEWS

Here’s the full teaser trailer for the new Mass Effect game
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/heres-the-full-teaser-trailer-for-the-new-mass-effect-game/
Bioware just dropped a teaser trailer for its new Mass Effect game. But here’s the scoop: it’s not super exciting. All it really has is a female character, probably the main character, walking around. So, don’t get your hopes up too high.
>> I love the "Gameplay not final" disclaimer. As if there was any!

Diablo 4 Update 1.2.2 Released and Detailed; Here are all its Fixes, Tweaks, Changes and Improvements
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/diablo-4-update-1-2-2-released-and-detailed-here-are-all-its-fixes-tweaks-changes-and-improvements/
Blizzard has released Update 1.2.2 for Diablo 4 and shared its full patch notes. According to them, this new patch adds to the game five new Unique Rings to the game, one for each class. These are based on popular Malignant Powers from Season of the Malignant.

Forza Horizon 5 November 7th Update Released and Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/forza-horizon-5-november-7th-update-released-and-detailed/
Playground Games has detailed the new patch for Forza Horizon 5 which came out yesterday and updates the game’s PC version to version 3.624.534.0.

The news, part two:

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 reveals its first clan, the Brujah, four years after it revealed its first clan, the Brujah
https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-reveals-its-first-clan-the-brujah-four-years-after-it-revealed-its-first-clan-the-brujah/
Now that Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has a new developer, The Chinese Room, we're going through the whole rigamarole of teasers and reveals all over again, starting now and carrying on into 2024, and possibly beyond. I hope you're prepared.
This is why, more than four years after I wrote "Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2's first full-blood clan is the Brujah", I'm once again introducing you all to the Brujah. I am very tired. And while the 2019 reveal gave us details on the Brujah Disciplines—their fancy vamp powers—we'll have to assume they have all been changed in at least some way. Unfortunately, this re-reveal doesn't go into much detail.

The second part of Guild Wars 2's new expansion is out now, and it's taking players to the demon realm
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-second-part-of-guild-wars-2s-new-expansion-is-out-now-and-its-taking-players-to-the-demon-realm/
Today ArenaNet releases the next major update of Guild Wars 2's Secrets of the Obscure expansion, called Through the Veil. It's the second of four releases that will make up the full expansion's launch, and it adds the first part of the expansion's third and final map—a map that will continue to be expanded in future updates. We're heading off Tyria for this one: The map, Inner Nayos, is actually set in the demon realm, which means much of it is purple.

DayZ just added a new rifle, a new air base, and what the heck, a whole new damn sky
https://www.pcgamer.com/dayz-just-added-a-new-rifle-a-new-air-base-and-what-the-heck-a-whole-new-damn-sky/
(...)
DayZ has been in development for over a decade at this point, and it's hard to think of something about it that hasn't been replaced, tweaked, altered, or changed in that time. Even after its 1.0 launch back in 2018, Bohemia Interactive continues to update the multiplayer survival shooter, and as of today I've begun to wonder if the dev team is simply running out of things to replace.
Case in point: in DayZ update 1.23 the survival game got a whole new damn sky.

The layoffs continue: Ubisoft cuts 124 jobs worldwide, including nearly 100 in Canada
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-layoffs-continue-ubisoft-cuts-124-jobs-worldwide-including-nearly-100-in-canada/
The game industry has suffered yet another round of layoffs, as Ubisoft confirms that it has cut 124 employees worldwide as part of an ongoing restructuring effort. The bulk of that number, 98 in total, were let go from Ubisoft's business administrative services and IT in Canada, as well as the Hybride VFX studio in Montreal.

Blizzard's job is to satisfy impatient players who want 'new stuff every day, every hour,' says studio head
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzards-job-is-to-provide-impatient-players-new-stuff-every-day-every-hour-says-studio-head/
The Microsoft era of Blizzard has just begun, and it's not clear yet how the studio will change under the reign of Xbox head Phil Spencer. Maybe it'll mean more StarCraft, maybe not, but from the sounds of it we shouldn't expect a radically different approach from Blizzard: It's gonna keep running on the ol' live service treadmill.
"Players have no patience," Blizzard president Mike Ybarra told The Verge in a recent interview. "They want new stuff every day, every hour. We're trying to react that way while holding the Blizzard quality bar high."

Ex-BioWare employees and contractors use N7 Day to air disputes with the studio
https://www.pcgamer.com/ex-bioware-employees-and-contractors-use-n7-day-to-air-disputes-with-the-studio/
N7 Day was a bit of a letdown this year, as a multi-stage tease for the next Mass Effect game ended up delivering basically nothing except another reminder that yes, it is happening. But bigger things were happening elsewhere, as former employees of BioWare and contract workers on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf took advantage of the annual Mass Effect remembrance to highlight their ongoing dispute with the company.

New Halo 1 cosmetic armor in Halo Infinite costs twice as much as Halo 1 itself, straining recent fan goodwill
https://www.pcgamer.com/new-halo-1-cosmetic-armor-in-halo-infinite-costs-twice-as-much-as-halo-1-itself-straining-recent-fan-goodwill/
Halo Infinite has been on a roll lately, with its latest season having the makings of an honest-to-god comeback. The game is now well stocked with fun maps and game modes, while its battle passes have evolved from terrible to tolerable. The player count has jumped significantly, and a flood of nostalgia-bait maps from Halo 3 that will absolutely work on me are just a week away.
The Halo community is pretty upbeat for the first time in two years, but I'd say players are almost universally displeased with the latest cosmetic launched in the Infinite shop today: the Mark V armor that Master Chief wears in the original Halo: Combat Evolved.

Remedy's plant bone tech is just one of the reasons Alan Wake 2 is the best-looking videogame of 2023
https://www.pcgamer.com/remedys-plant-bone-tech-is-just-one-of-the-reasons-alan-wake-2-is-the-best-looking-videogame-of-2023/
If you've been playing Alan Wake 2 you may have noticed just how pretty that game is. I'd go as far to say it's the best looking videogame of 2023. Developer Remedy has done incredibly well to make what could've been a very dull and dark world look vibrant and detailed, and has since divulged what's actually going on behind the scenes in the Northlight engine to achieve it. And boy, it's a lot.

Rockstar officially announces GTA 6 reveal in December
https://www.pcgamer.com/rockstar-officially-announces-gta-6-reveal-in-december/
Friends, the prophets spoke true. Mere hours after rumours began to spread that Rockstar was gearing up for an official Grand Theft Auto 6 announcement ahead of a proper trailer in December, Rockstar has gone and made an official GTA 6 announcement ahead of a proper trailer in December.
In a post on the Rockstar blog marking the studio's 25th anniversary, company president Sam Houser announced that "in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto," before letting us know that the studio looks forward to "many more years of sharing these experiences with you."
>> It took longer than I thought, maybe because it's the announcement of an announcement, but trunkswd has made a thread about this.

Lords of the Fallen promises to split PvP and PvE balance after player upset, fix inventory woes, and add spells in update roadmap
https://www.pcgamer.com/lords-of-the-fallen-promises-to-split-pvp-and-pve-balance-patches-after-player-upset-fix-inventory-woes-and-add-spells-in-update-roadmap/
Lords of the Fallen's been getting a lot of patches. Depending on who you ask, it might be too many—while it's neat the crew at Hexworks are this responsive to feedback, some recent changes have left a sour taste in the community's mouth.
An update that dropped November 2 made some adjustments to certain boss weapons and spells that were "heavily relied on", like giving Boss Weapons 10 upgrade levels (as opposed to five) and tweaking their numbers.
This left a lot of players with weaker stat-sticks they'd need to spend more resources on, just to gain a shadow of what they already had. Some spells, such as Pieta's Blessed Reflections, also had their mana costs adjusted for PvP reasons, leaving PvE players baffled as to the why.

If you're into that, Fanatical also has some bundles with royalty free assets, music & sound effects, or courses: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/software

AMD confirms Polaris and Vega architectures will only to receive critical updates going forward

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-confirms-polaris-and-vega-architectures-will-only-to-receive-critical-updates-going-forward

This is why you never buy high end Radeon products. Imagine being the person that spent $700 on Vega VII in 2019 only to realize that 4 years later, your company will no longer provide game driver support for you... Meanwhile a $150 750 Ti that released in 2014 is still getting longer driver updates than you. And that's not counting all the APUs that AMD shipped with Vega graphics very recently.

Totally unacceptable from the Red team.

These two videos shows what happens with long term CPU support. At launch and even today, the 9900K was no doubt faster than 3700X but the 3700X costed half as much. If you bought the 3700X for $300 and then waited till 5800X3D became $300 and upgraded... You will now have a CPU that is 41% faster without requiring a motherboard/ram upgrade. Really shows the two sides of AMD where their CPUs are beloved because they provide many advantages over the competition and their GPUs are generally mixed because it's poorly managed.

Dell now offering $1,949 Alienware Aurora R15 desktops with Intel Arc A770 GPU

https://videocardz.com/newz/dell-now-offering-1949-alienware-aurora-r15-desktops-with-intel-arc-a770-gpu

Samsung Launches A More Affordable Variant of The Odyssey OLED G9 Gaming Monitor in China

https://wccftech.com/samsung-launches-more-affordable-odyssey-oled-g9-gaming-monitor-in-china/

AMD Preps Ryzen 8000G “Phoenix” AM5 Desktop APU Lineup: Ryzen 7 8700G, Ryzen 5 8600G, Ryzen 5 8500G & Ryzen 3 8300G

https://wccftech.com/amd-preps-ryzen-8000g-am5-desktop-apus-ryzen-7-8700g-5-8600g-5-8500g-3-8300g/

Weird configuration for the Ryzen 3 8300G with 3Zen 4 + 1 Z4c cores. Phoenix 2 in general look like their GPU parts are a bit underpowered for Desktop use with only 4 CU.

Also, wtf Dell? 2 Grand for a PC with an Arc 770? And then the CPU isn't even a 13900KS, but only a measly 13700F; and only 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD? No wonder it's called Alienware, PC Gaming needs to be absolutely alien to you if you even consider buying this piece of shite.

Who's looking for an AR/VR developer for their project. I know an augmented reality agency that provides great quality AR/VR services. 

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Epic Store gives away Golden Light: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/golden-light-f543b3.
Next week, they'll give away EARTHLOCK and Surviving the Aftermath.

GOG has launched a new Bethesda Publisher Sale, with up to 85% discounts until Monday , the 13th: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20231109_bethesda_publisher_sale.

Steam has three new deals/sales:

• It may be more focused to Chinese players because of the 11/11 date, but the Steam China Indie Games Week has up to 80% deals until November, 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/double11
• The Dead Island Definitive Collection is going to be 86% off until... some unknown time. But given that the individual games will also be on sale until the 15th, it's safe to assume when this deal will end: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/320/Dead_Island_Definitive_Collection/
• The Armistice 2023 sale, the sale for the War Child Charity, features up to 90% discounts. Some deals will end the 15th while others will last until the 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/armistice2023

The Humble Store has a new Gearbox Publisher Sale, with up to 90% discounts during 6 days. There are keys for Steam, EGS and direct downloads: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/gearbox-publisher-sale/.

Fanatical has three new 24 hours Flash Deals, that may be the last ones:

• Resident Evil Village Gold Edition has a 50% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/resident-evil-village-gold-edition
• The Forgotten City will be 65% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-forgotten-city
• And Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe Edition gets a 94% deal: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/sniper-elite-4-deluxe-edition

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Valve is working on a new Steam feature that will let you hide all those weird sex games from your friends
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-is-working-on-a-new-steam-feature-that-will-let-you-hide-all-those-weird-sex-games-from-your-friends/
Valve appears to be working on a new feature for Steam that will let you mark individual games as "private," which will let you keep your profile public while preventing all your friends from knowing just how much time you spend playing Horny Housewives Booty Call Blackmail. (Or, you know, whatever.)
Currently, the privacy options on Steam are limited: You can set your profile, or individual parts of it (game details, friends list, and inventory), to public, friends only, or private. That provides some control over what the rest of the Steam universe can know about you, but it's an all-or-nothing solution that lacks flexibility.
The addition of a per-game privacy option, spotted and shared on Twitter by SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik, promises to go a long way toward addressing that shortcoming. Steam users will be able to mark individual games as "private," which will keep other Steam users—even their friends—from seeing it.

Windows 11's color blindness filters no longer add latency or hurt performance in games
https://www.pcgamer.com/windows-11s-color-blindness-filters-no-longer-add-latency-or-hurt-performance-in-games/
Microsoft has added new colour filter settings to the latest Windows 11 Insider build, which should be of major benefit to PC gamers with colour blindness.
The main hook of the update are two new sliders: an intensity slider for the OS-wide colour filters and a colour boost slider. The intensity slider affects how much a filter impacts colours across your display, while colour boost will change how vivid those colours are. They're sort of two sides to the same coin, but the gist is you'll now be able to have much greater control over the colour filters already in the OS, which include those for deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia, as well as grayscale.
Importantly, however, this update also makes better use of your GPU hardware so that these filters can be applied without any performance impact.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New First-Person Mods Released for Mass Effect Legendary Edition
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/new-first-person-mods-released-for-mass-effect-legendary-edition/
Modder ‘Aphar’ has released new cool mods for the first two Mass Effect games in the Legendary Edition. These mods will allow you to play these games in first-person mode.
What’s neat about these new FP mods is that when Shepard is in combat and not in cover, you’ll be able to see him. The way you use cover will also really matter in the game. After all, the mods completely changed all the combat cameras to fit this new viewpoint. This means you can peek around corners and shoot from different angles, and there’s also a cool new lean feature.
Exploring the environments is now easier and more enjoyable. The game also feels more responsive. When you stop moving, there won’t be that annoying extra step that occurs in the vanilla version. Plus, when you sprint, you can turn faster, and it won’t mess up your field of view. Instead, there’s a tiny camera wobble to make it feel like you’re running. Oh, and those elevator rides are now in first-person too.
>> There's an over 4 minutes video of the mod.

'Very Handsome and Beautiful Withers' Baldur's Gate 3 mod turns your camp's ugly skeleton into a bone-ified sex symbol
https://www.pcgamer.com/very-handsome-and-beautiful-withers-baldurs-gate-3-mod-turns-your-camps-ugly-skeleton-into-a-bone-ified-sex-symbol/
The various party members of Baldur's Gate 3 are, of course, staggeringly beautiful. Whether we're talking Ventrue Stewie Griffin, Reddit the wizard, or the jolly green fascist, all of them (plus all their pals) could easily take their turn on the catwalk if the mood struck them.
That goes for everyone in your camp save one. Poor old Withers, the 1-hit-point wonder who stands apart from the rest of your crew doling out revives, respecs, and resurrected minions to do your bidding when no one in the usual crew will do. While the old bag of bones has a beautiful mind, his physical appearance is somewhere between Tutankhamun and a hairless cat. I'm sure that does it for someone in the comments, but he's not likely to grace the cover of GQ anytime soon.
That is, until now. Thanks to the enterprising work of modder-slash-beautician neonbutchery, Withers can now keep up with the rest of the BG3 in the modelling leagues. Very Handsome and Beautiful Withers is a mod and self-described "cursed artifact" that, once dropped into the Baldur's Gate 3/Data folder, will turn the man himself into a veritable smoothskin: all chiseled jawlines, razor cheekbones and a set of, let's be honest, outrageously kissable lips. Just dreamy, like a sexy Easter Island head.
>> The article has one screenshot.

GAMING NEWS

New Starfield Beta Patch adds official NVIDIA DLSS 3 support, brings GPU performance optimizations, improves CPU usage
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/new-starfield-beta-patch-adds-official-nvidia-dlss-3-support-brings-gpu-performance-optimizations-improves-cpu-usage/
Bethesda has just released a new beta patch for its space RPG, Starfield. The November 8th Update adds official support for NVIDIA DLSS 3 Frame Generation. Additionally, it packs both GPU and CPU performance optimizations.

First EA Sports WRC PC Patch released, adds shader pre-compilation
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/first-ea-sports-wrc-pc-patch-released-adds-shader-pre-compilation/
Codemasters just released a new update for the PC version of its rally racing game, EA Sports WRC. This update does something cool: it gets rid of those annoying stutters in the game when shaders are compiled. So, if you play the game on your PC, you won’t have to deal with those awful shader problems anymore.

Alone in the Dark gets a new 7-minute gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/alone-in-the-dark-gets-a-new-7-minute-gameplay-trailer/
THQ Nordic just dropped a new gameplay trailer for Alone in the Dark. In this video, you get a whole 7 minutes of fresh gameplay, where Emily and Private Investigator Edward are searching to find Jeremy.

Alan Wake 2 Update 10 released, is 2GB in size, brings over 100 fixes, tweaks and improvements
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/alan-wake-2-update-10-released-is-2gb-in-size-brings-over-100-fixes-tweaks-and-improvements/
Remedy has just launched Update 10 for its horror game, Alan Wake 2, which brings over 100 fixes, tweaks and improvements. This patch fixes game-breaking critical issues blocking progress in the Scratch. So, that’s good news for those who have encountered them.

Dying Light 2 Community Patch 3 Released and Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/dying-light-2-community-patch-3-released-and-detailed/
Techland just dropped the third community update for Dying Light 2: Stay Human. The team added some cool stuff that the community asked for in the Sneak Peek, like new features and improvements.

Take-Two plans to monetize the GTA5 FiveM & RDR2 RedM Mods
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/take-two-plans-to-monetize-the-gta-5-fivem-and-redm-mods/
In August 2023, Rockstar shared some big news. Rockstar said that they’ve teamed up with Cfx.re, the folks who made GTA 5 FiveM and RDR 2 RedM. And just yesterday, during Take-Two’s earnings conference call, Strauss Zelnick talked about their plans to monetize both FiveM and RedM.

Thursday news, part two:

We almost had an Adam Jensen-voiced protagonist in Starfield before Bethesda changed its mind
https://www.pcgamer.com/we-almost-had-an-adam-jensen-voiced-protagonist-in-starfield-before-bethesda-changed-its-mind/
There is quite a lot of Starfield. A gajillion planets. A crafting system I still haven't unlocked all of. An embarrassment of cowboys. But there's one thing it's relatively sparse on: voice acting, specifically for the game's main character. Starfield opted for an unvoiced player character for its space-based antics, possibly because everyone made fun of the Fallout 4 dialogue wheel, but it turns out that wasn't always going to be the case.
In a post on Twitter, voice actor Elias Toufexis (Starfield's Sam Coe and Deus Ex's Adam Jensen) confirmed that, once upon a time, Starfield's main character was going to be decidedly chattier. In fact, he and fellow actor Cissy Jones (Starfield's Andreja) worked on voicing the male and female version of the protagonist "for months" before Bethesda decided to toss the idea completely.

Diablo 4 developer hints that the search for the secret cow level is going in the right direction: 'If people have picked up any items from their cow campaigns, they should hang on to them'
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-developer-hints-that-the-search-for-the-secret-cow-level-is-going-in-the-right-direction-if-people-have-picked-up-any-items-from-their-cow-campaigns-they-should-hang-on-to-them/
The search for the Diablo 4 cow level is much more than a cowspiracy (apologies) at this point. IGN spoke to the game's production developer Tiffany Wat, and associate game director Joe Piepiora at BlizzCon 2023 where hints were dropped, adding more fuel to the fire. It's not much to go on, but Wat may have hinted that players are heading in the right direction: "I will say, however, if people have picked up any items from their cow campaigns… cow slay-age campaign… they should hang on to them."

Dev reveals that Half-Life could've been called 'Bent', 'Screwed', 'Trash', 'CrYsis', and my personal favourite, 'Dirt'
https://www.pcgamer.com/dev-reveals-that-half-life-couldve-been-called-bent-screwed-trash-crysis-and-my-personal-favourite-dirt/
dario.Casali" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dario Casali, who started working at Valve in 1996, has started his own playthrough of the original 1998 Half-Life on YouTube (thanks, Gamesradar). The episodes are coming out at a blistering pace, with Chapters 1 through 8 already released, but the Chapter 1 walkthrough comes front-loaded with a fascinating glimpse into the classic's early development.

One of 2023's best strategy games, Age of Wonders 4, just received a massive free update full of overhauls and new features
https://www.pcgamer.com/one-of-2023s-best-strategy-games-age-of-wonders-4-just-received-a-massive-free-update-full-of-overhauls-and-new-features/
Age of Wonders 4, easily Triumph's best 4X, received a meaty free update alongside its premium expansion this week. The expansion itself is pretty tantalising, introducing a new form with the Avians, the Reaver culture, new tomes and a whole lot more, but the free update feels almost as significant.

'If you want to think of it as Hunt 2 you're welcome to, but I'm not going to charge you': Hunt: Showdown manager on the extraction shooter's impending engine upgrade, and the pitfalls of declaring a sequel
https://www.pcgamer.com/if-you-want-to-think-of-it-as-hunt-2-youre-welcome-to-but-im-not-going-to-charge-you-hunt-showdown-manager-on-the-extraction-shooters-impending-engine-upgrade-and-the-pitfalls-of-declaring-a-sequel/
Live service games are evolving. The major multiplayer shooters of the 2010s are starting to show their age in the 2020s, leaving their stewards to answer an interesting question: How do you move a service game into the future without disrupting its active player base, or starting completely fresh? In the cases of Overwatch 2 and Counter-Strike 2, Blizzard and Valve decided to make a spectacle of it, packaging revamped maps, reworked balance, and engine upgrades as official sequels that effectively overwrote the old games.
Hunt: Showdown, an unexpected hit in the burgeoning extraction shooter subgenre, is taking a different approach. Although it's five years old now, there will be no "Hunt 2" anytime soon, according to Hunt general manager David Fifield, but Hunt will enter a new era of its own when it upgrades to the current version of CryEngine in 2024.

Risk of Rain 2 is getting a second expansion with a new big bad
https://www.pcgamer.com/risk-of-rain-2-is-getting-a-second-expansion-with-a-new-big-bad/
Risk of Rain 2 keeps on trucking. After last year's Survivors of the Void expansion added two new survivors and a smattering of new items and stages, Gearbox is following it up with Seekers of the Storm, which will again include "new survivors, new levels, and monsters, and more." The most notable bit of the "more" this time is almost certainly a new villain named The False Son, who is born out of some deep deep Risk of Rain lore I had no idea existed.

Revenant Hill, the spiritual successor to Night in the Woods, is cancelled as developers struggle with serious health issues
https://www.pcgamer.com/revenant-hill-the-spiritual-successor-to-night-in-the-woods-is-cancelled-as-developers-struggle-with-serious-health-issues/
Revenant Hill made a big impression on us when it was revealed back in May: Associate editor Ted Litchfield said it "looks to press the gas on both autumnal vibes and the themes of early industrial labor organizing," which actually sounds pretty spot-on when you consider that developer The Glory Society was founded by Night in the Woods co-creators Bethany Hockenberry and Scott Benson.
Sadly, six months later work on the game has been halted. The Glory Society announced on Twitter that "two key members" of the studio, including Benson, have been forced to step away from the project because of serious health issues, and it has thus decided to end development.

Why Diablo 4's loot filter isn't ready yet: 'Every perceivably simple decision has some kind of crazy cause and effect'
https://www.pcgamer.com/why-diablo-4s-loot-filter-isnt-ready-yet-every-perceivably-simple-decision-has-some-kind-of-crazy-cause-and-effect/
Diablo 4 has a big, small problem: inventory space. There's just not enough of it.
Among all the other cool things coming next year in Vessel of Hatred, Diablo 4's first expansion, are a number of fixes designed to help players with the endless bag-space management task that is, perhaps, inevitable in Blizzard's loot-explosion action RPG.

Chucky is the next Dead By Daylight killer, and I can't stop laughing at a 2-foot-tall doll chasing teens
https://www.pcgamer.com/chucky-is-the-next-dead-by-daylight-killer-and-i-cant-stop-laughing-at-a-2-foot-tall-doll-chasing-teens/
Even though competitive keep-away isn't really my thing, it's hard not to admire Dead By Daylight from a comfortable distance. The folks at Behaviour Interactive have cooked up over 30 playable killers over the years, some original to the game and many adapted from classic horror media, with distinct abilities and upsetting methods for slaying Survivors. Their latest killer is an unconventional new face: Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray is joining Dead By Daylight.

Old School RuneScape players upend a 16-year-old minigame when they realise the cops can't possibly arrest all of them
https://www.pcgamer.com/old-school-runescape-players-upend-a-16-year-old-minigame-when-they-realise-the-cops-cant-possibly-arrest-all-of-them/
"Organisation," wrote Vladimir Lenin, "is the strength of the working class. Without mass organisation, the proletariat is nothing. Organised, it is everything. Organisation means the unity of action, the unity of practical activity."
Lenin wrote those words in 1907, about 106 years too early to apply them to Old School RuneScape, but I'm delighted to report that players have now independently rediscovered the principles therein. As reported by GamesRadar, OSRS players have made the world-historic discovery that they can totally bamboozle one of the MMO's 16-year-old minigames if they all band together, using their collective power to overwhelm the shaky guard AI and ensuring everyone—not just a talented and lucky few—receives the rewards.

And why the hell not, here's a third part of the news:

Warren Spector says his major contribution to System Shock was to stop 'it many times from getting killed'
https://www.pcgamer.com/warren-spector-says-his-major-contribution-to-system-shock-was-to-stop-it-many-times-from-getting-killed/
PC Gamer's all-singing all-dancing all-action 30th anniversary issue is on-sale today, and includes a slew of major interviews with the creatives that have shaped our industry and some of the most important games in history. PCG's editor Robert Jones sat down with Warren Spector and Paul Neurath, key members of the original System Shock team, which is generally considered the first game you could call an immersive sim, with its influence is still prevalent in the contemporary industry across the likes of Arkane's various titles and 2K's Bioshock series.

Nightdive thought it was 'going to get grilled' about the lack of hand-holding in System Shock remake, but players loved it
https://www.pcgamer.com/nightdive-thought-it-was-going-to-get-grilled-about-the-lack-of-hand-holding-in-system-shock-but-players-loved-it/
PC Gamer's 30th anniversary issue is on-sale today, and includes a slew of major interviews with some of the creatives that have shaped our industry and some of its most important games in history. One of those is System Shock, and Warren Spector told PCG's editor Robert Jones his major contribution was to stop "it many times from getting killed." The same roundtable also included Larry Kuperman and Stephen Kick of Nightdive Studios, which developed the recent (excellent) remake, who had an interesting observation to make about that game's reception.

Baldur's Gate 3 dev shows off the level of optimization achieved for the Xbox Series S port, which bodes well for future PC updates
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-dev-shows-off-the-level-of-optimization-achieved-for-the-xbox-series-s-port-which-bodes-well-for-future-pc-updates/
Little things can often matter a lot and when it comes to streamlining a game's memory usage, every gigabyte counts. One of the developers at Larian, makers of Baldur's Gate 3, has shown that the team's recent hard work has resulted in a 34% reduction in VRAM usage for the forthcoming Xbox Series S version.
(...)
Larian has consistently worked on improving the performance of its game. The recent patch, for example, pruned a few milliseconds off the render time just by having the process to generate the UI (user interface) run in parallel with other tasks.
The worst frame rates are typically experienced during Act III and given the dedication shown in getting the game to run on the lowliest of the current-next-gen consoles, I'm confident that PC gamers will be treated to more performance enhancements in that area, with future patches.

Amelia Tyler, Baldur's Gate 3's narrator, talks putting a voice to the Dark Urge's 'feral, visceral, animalistic, want to tear the world apart with [its] teeth'
https://www.pcgamer.com/amelia-tyler-baldurs-gate-3s-narrator-talks-putting-a-voice-to-the-dark-urges-feral-visceral-animalistic-want-to-tear-the-world-apart-with-its-teeth/
Baldur's Gate 3 has voiced narration—a lot of it, as I've personally confirmed by playing the dang thing while having the sound turned on. I recently had the pleasure of speaking to the voice behind the game's reams and reams of narration, Amelia Tyler, earlier this week.
>> And here you'll find her favorite lines.

IO got the 007 license because it wants to make 'multiple Bond games' in the same way it handled Hitman
https://www.pcgamer.com/io-got-the-007-license-because-it-wants-to-make-multiple-bond-games-in-the-same-way-it-handled-hitman/
The latest issue of Edge Magazine includes an extensive interview with IO Interactive co-owners Hakan Abrak and Christian Elverdam about the studio's first 25 years and, of course, its future. A huge part of that is a new James Bond game, which IO announced in 2020 as an origin story with its own version of Bond: despite there being decades of 007 games, this is the first to ever take such an approach, with the others tying in to particular movies or actors.
Edge suggests the tone will be "closer to Daniel Craig than Roger Moore", which is hardly a surprise, and that this may be a more scripted experience than the relatively freeform Hitman games. But details remain scant, other than that IO had a tough time pitching EON on a Bond game: largely because of how the industry has treated the character in the past.

CRPG renaissance on hold as one of our most anticipated games gets a last-minute delay to next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/crpg-renaissance-on-hold-as-one-of-our-most-anticipated-games-gets-a-last-minute-delay-to-next-year/
Pour out a, uh, Fosters? Because this arvo has been proper buggered by the surprise delay of Broken Roads, the upcoming Ozzie CRPG that was one of our most anticipated games of November until it suddenly became one of our most anticipated games of 2024, and that's, um, fair dinkum. Or maybe it's not. God, I wish one of our Australian writers was online.

For just $45 BioWare will now sell you a poster of their teaser for a Mass Effect game they haven't even confirmed the name of yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/for-just-dollar45-bioware-will-now-sell-you-a-poster-of-their-teaser-for-a-mass-effect-game-they-havent-even-confirmed-the-name-of-yet/
I was already riled up enough when yesterday I wrote about my frustrations with BioWare's endless cryptic teasing of its upcoming games, so it's probably a good thing for my blood pressure that it wasn't until today that I realised the studio is monetising them too.
For the pretty steep price of $45 / £37.25 plus shipping, you can get a lithograph (basically a fancy poster) depicting the teaser image revealed this past N7 Day. That is, a character we don't know anything about yet, wearing a futuristic coat that blends into an image of a location we don't know anything about yet, from a game we don't know anything about yet, that doesn't even have a name yet. And they don't even throw in a frame!
>> Or, you know, you can send them to hell and buy anything else, like one of the hundreds of good games currently on sale, and still save money.

NVIDIA announces CES 2024 Special Address, GeForce RTX 40 SUPER incoming

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-announces-ces-2024-special-address-geforce-rtx-40-super-incoming

Welp there it is. Hopefully they price these cards appropriately

AMD sets “Advancing AI” event for December 6th

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-sets-advancing-ai-event-for-december-6th

We finally get to see what AMD has been cooking with their MI300X

Starfield finally receives NVIDIA DLSS3 support in the latest beta update

https://videocardz.com/newz/starfield-finally-receives-nvidia-dlss3-support-in-the-latest-beta-update

Pretty big performance jump as well.