I've had the same thoughts about a myriad of AAA games, and then I just look at the install sizes for them and remember that I've got games like Project Zomboid, or Core Keeper to keep me busy with friends.

AAA really don't seem to care about space these days for drives or even SSD's for that matter, and all that does is bar ppl like me who don't have the best net speed, or others who are more space conscious.

Well, there's a reason I got a 2 GB SSD (and there's also a reason why I suspect I'm eventually going to wish I had got an even larger one).

Yeah, no point in getting anything less than 1 TB.

Well, better quality textures take a lot of space. If only those megatextures from the id Tech engine were more common...

Okay, I needed a reason to buy the PC version since I already have the PS5 update.

The mod is a good reason enough.

I'm not worried about storage space on my PC. I have 10TB on Desktop. Two 4TB NVME 4.0 drives and one 2TB SATA SSD. Storage prices bottomed up a few months ago and I snagged a bunch of higher storage drives.

Either that, or more efficient texture compression, like Nintendo has been doing for decades now (originally to get the textures into the restrained space of a cartridge compared to optical media).

Or they could actually calculate some textures. Has the advantages of being just a couple bytes large per such texture yet having very high quality. Just have a look at .kkrieger, those were unbelievably sharp textures for the time. 

Keep in mind that while the whole game fits into an 96kb executable, once all the compression and texture calculations are done it takes over 300MB of memory to actually run the game, and it needed a fairly beefy PC at the time to run smoothly, so using such calculated textures may need more powerful hardware - though with the performance of modern PCs and SSDs, this may not be much of a factor anymore.

Trying out my new 85'' x90cl TV.

For whatever reason and I guess I didnt know or check...all these years but my gaming desktop was running in 1080p (which is fine) but at 29 hz.

Changed it to 4k 60 hz - it looks....pretty good.

I had to change the resolution for the games I was playing (Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag and Borderlands GOTY Enhanced).

So before I was having a issue where ACIV was running at 50fps if I have vsync on at 1080p - if I turned off vsync, the screen tearing was just horrible so I just played it with 50 fps, its whatever.

But now with the new tv and I changed my settings, I fixed that issue but with a higher resolution.

Now I can run ACIV Black Flag at 1440p with vsync on at 60 FPS.

I wonder if that would have fixed my issue with Street Fighter V cause that was also at 50 fps....

Borderlands GOTY Enhanced didnt change much, I was at 1080p at 60 fps and now 1440p at 60 FPS.

1440p is nice but damn I need to upgrade my computer, a bit tempted to get a new rig but I spent too much this year.

Edit 2: I tried 4k but the FPS would drop down to like 38 to 42 FPS :(

Edit: Oh shit....I just noticed motion blur is on, need to turn that shit off lol. Hate motion blur so much.

Chinese Factories Dismantling Thousands of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 “Gaming” GPUs & Turning Them Into “AI” Solutions With Blower-Style Coolers

https://wccftech.com/chinese-factories-dismantling-thousands-of-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090-gaming-gpus-turning-ai-solutions/

Various Intel 14th Gen Non-K CPUs Are Being Sold In Chinese Marketplaces Ahead of Launch

https://wccftech.com/various-intel-14th-gen-non-k-cpus-being-sold-chinese-marketplaces-ahead-of-launch/

Certainly hasn't been a good year for GPUs and the 4090 continuously increasing in price will hopefully not be an indication of things to come.

Let's go with the Friday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Robocop: Rogue City's surprising success proves there's still room in the business for mid-tier games with good licenses
https://www.pcgamer.com/robocop-rogue-citys-surprising-success-proves-theres-still-room-in-the-business-for-mid-tier-games-with-good-licenses/
Nacon has announced that Robocop: Rogue City, the future of law enforcement shooters, is its "best ever launch," racking up more than 435,000 players and 2.7 million game sessions in its first two weeks of release.
"RoboCop: Rogue City has exceeded our expectations, and achieved a genuine feat as far as Nacon is concerned," CEO Alan Falc said. "We are really proud to have been able to work with the studio Teyon on this game created by and for RoboCop die-hards. We would also like to thank MGM for the trust they placed in us throughout this collaboration, as well as all the players who have contributed to making this release such a great success."

Fanatical has four new 24 hours Flash Deals:

• Resident Evil 4 Deluxe Edition is 42% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/resident-evil-4-deluxe-edition
• God of War has a 49% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/god-of-war
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition features a 72% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-anniversary-edition
• And Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Breakpoint - Ultimate Edition is 83% off. The key is for UbiConnect: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/tom-clancy-s-ghost-recon-breakpoint-ultimate-edition

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name gets Hawaii and Kamurocho map expansions
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/like-a-dragon-gaiden-the-man-who-erased-his-name-gets-hawaii-and-kamurocho-map-expansions/
Modder ‘R0NALDMCDONLD’ has released two mods that bring the Hawaii and Kamurocho maps to Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. As such, players will be able to fully explore these maps.
Now, what’s really cool is that all the shops, restaurants, and bars in the Kamurocho area are up and running smoothly. And guess what? The place is bustling with NPCs, making the city feel alive. Remember, most of the past Yakuza games happened right here in Kamurocho. So, being able to explore it is pretty awesome.
As for the Hawaii map, that’s the area in which the next Like a Dragon game will take place. I don’t want to spoil much, but that’s where Kiryu travels at the end of the game. Okay okay, this isn’t really a spoiler as the trailer for Infinite Wealth shows Kiryu in Hawaii. My guess is that this map is from the Infinite Wealth demo that is included in this game.
>> The article has some screenshots.

First-Person Mod Released for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/first-person-mod-released-for-tom-clancys-ghost-recon-breakpoint/
Now here is something cool. Modder ‘Tavreth’ has just released a first-person mod for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. This mod can completely change the way you play this shooter, so be sure to check it out. It looks truly amazing.
For those wondering, yes. This mod comes from the same person who released the first-person mod for Ghost Recon: Wildlands. Oh, and if you haven’t tried that too, be sure to also download it. That is of course if you’re still playing Wildlands.
>> The article has a long video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Valve accidentally released a prototype version of Left 4 Dead
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/valve-accidentally-released-a-prototype-version-of-left-4-dead/
Now here is something interesting. It appears that Valve has accidentally released a prototype version of the first Left 4 Dead game. Yeap, PC gamers can – at least for now – play a prototype version of this Zombie game.

ARK: Survival Ascended – Xbox Series X vs PC Video Graphics Comparison
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/ark-survival-ascended-xbox-series-x-vs-pc-video-graphics-comparison/
Studio Wildcard has just released ARK: Survival Ascended on Xbox Series X in Early Access. The game has been available for the PC for a while, and it’s one of the most demanding PC games to date. So, how does the Xbox Series X version fare against the PC on Epic Settings? Time to find out.