Using a Firestick!. I guess we now know who hacked insom using the hospitals light bulbs O_O .

Honestly this guy shouldnt be locked up they should help him get a job working for company's to test their software and hardware etc by letting him hack away!.

And honestly for life!! I mean WTF!!. Might as well just act like in the game and kill someone you get less time...

Im getting big arkham city vibes from this, could be good. Also crazy we can play this leaked build on the pc atm *Coughitnothardtofindcough* When it going to be a PS exclusive at launch?...

He has Autism. And from what i can tell worst thing this kid done is hack some big companies and say how he is going to do it again.

Like i said this kid is smart as fuck instead of locking him in a mental hospital they should be helping him work with company's to test their software and let him hack away,.

I love how the hacker has the embodied spirit of "I'll fuckin do it again" in their soul.

What's weird to me is that the hacker is apparently autistic, but that still isn't grounds for lifetime incarceration within a hospital for the rest of your life, so I'm now going to assume that someone has opted to take measures a step further for corpos, in that ppl can now be sentenced to a given amount of time in a mental ward for as little as being autistic (nothing else I can find points to the hacker being say, a complete and utter psychopath of the highest degree to warrant such a sentence). 

Still, the data on Sony was something I valued over the mid GTA VI reveal that I knew was coming eventually. Sucks for the staff at Insomniac had their credit data leaked, but that's on Sony to actually pay for better security (which going by their past history, they seem to care very little for). 

Here they are, the Friday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Anthem sold 5 million copies, which sounds good until you compare it to Star Wars: Battlefront
https://www.pcgamer.com/anthem-sold-5-million-copies-which-sounds-good-until-you-compare-it-to-star-wars-battlefront/
It's generally understood that Anthem was a failure for developer BioWare. It was a developmental nightmare. It reviewed poorly. It fell short of its sales target of 6 million copies by the end of March 2019. And EA ultimately decided to pull the plug on the live-service game two years after launch. But the specifics of its commercial shortcomings haven't been clear, until now.
On Twitter, eagle-eyed "video game enthusiast" Timur222 posted an image from the LinkedIn page of Alexandre Scriabine, formerly EA's senior manager of global marketing strategy. Summarising his achievements during that job, Scriabine lists the social media views and, crucially, sales figures of numerous games that he worked on.
It won't shock you to hear that Anthem is at the bottom of the list, with "2M units sold week one, 5M lifetime." In other words, its lifetime sales fell short of the target set for the game's first full month. What's especially telling is the time gap between the first figure and the second. Anthem clearly had a decent first week, especially when you consider, as Scriabine notes, it was "EA's first new franchise in a decade". But sales fell off sharply as everyone realised how underwhelming it was, taking a further two years to sell another three million, which likely explains why EA pulled the plug.
Moreover, the figures Scriabine provides for other EA games add stark perspective. Scriabine says that Battlefield 1 sold "21M units" in its first year, more than four times what Anthem managed in two, and that Jedi Fallen Order sold 10 million units (no context there, but those are presumably lifetime sales). The real big hitters, though, were EA's Star Wars: Battlefront games, which sold over 50 million units combined. Again, no context of what period that was over, but still, that's a lotta credits!
>> Sometimes I still have troubles understanding how a game that sells 2 million units in one week and 5 in total can be considered a commercial failure.

The new daily free game at the Epic Store is Art of Rally: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/art-of-rally.

The Humble Store has launched its Win... Solstice Celebration Sale, with up to 90% discounts during 13 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG, EGS and direct downloads: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/solstice-celebration-sale/.

Fanatical has several new deals:

• The Jackbox Quintpack will be 45% off during 13 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/the-jackbox-quintpack
• The BYO Play On the GO Bundle - Best of 2023 has 21 titles to choose from for your 3, 5 or 8 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-play-on-the-go-bundle
• Here's yesterday's contest, Day 11, with a chance to win a HyperX Solocast White Mic: https://gleam.io/CDW3A/chance-to-hyperx-solocast-mic
• And for the 12th and last day, Fanatical has launched a Wishlist & Win contest... but they've forgotten to add the link. Keep an eye here until they post it: https://www.fanatical.com/en/blog/12-days-of-big-festive-deals-blogs

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

True Stalker, Complete Overhaul Mod for STALKER: Call of Pripyat, has been released
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/true-stalker-complete-overhaul-download/
The True Stalker Team just launched a total conversion mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. This mod, called True Stalker, transforms the game using a better version of the Call of Pripyat engine. It also gives players a brand-new, exciting story as they follow the adventures of a regular stalker named Axe.
True Stalker takes place after the events of Call of Pripyat and has its own stories to tell, as well as a set of new characters. The mod comes with its own quests, featuring new cut scenes and character voice-overs. According to the team, some quests can also offer different paths that the player can take.
Players will be able to explore the environments and experience mysterious events. They will also come face to face with various creatures inhabiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. In short, this will be a STALKER game.
True Stalker has 13 in-game locations, and packs new UI, Inventory System and HUD. It also comes with more than 50 new compositions. Players can also expect updated graphics and new NPC 3D models.
>> The article has some screenshots and an almost 6 minutes video of the mod.

Dino Crisis Demo Remake in Unreal Engine 4 Released
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dino-crisis-demo-remake-in-unreal-engine-4-released/
Dino Crisis fans, here is something for you today. xHARDHeMPuS has just released a very early WIP demo for a fan remake of Dino Crisis in Unreal Engine 4.
This fan remake recreates some of the first environments from Dino Crisis. Additionally, it allows you to solve some puzzles and packs some real-time cut-scenes.
Since this is a fan remake, you should temper your expectations. This will not blow you away, and it’s rough around the edges. So, if you aren’t a die-hard Dino Crisis fan, you can simply skip it.
Now what’s cool here is that xHARDHeMPuS has recreated numerous environments from Dino Crisis. So, watching those areas in full 3D is kind of cool. At least in my opinion.
>> You'll find an almost 20 minutes video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

No, there aren’t any leaked PC dev builds for Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and Marvel’s Venom
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/no-there-arent-any-leaked-pc-dev-builds-for-marvels-spider-man-3-and-marvels-venom/
A lot of rumors surfaced earlier today, suggesting that alongside the PC dev build for Marvel’s Wolverine there are also playable PC dev builds of Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and Marvel’s Venom. However, these reports are false. No, there aren’t any leaked PC dev builds for Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and Marvel’s Venom.

The Friday news, part two:

Baldur's Gate 3's latest hotfix stops character faces "turning into stretched eldritch horrors with pits of flesh in place of eyes"
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3s-latest-hotfix-stops-character-faces-turning-into-stretched-eldritch-horrors-with-pits-of-flesh-in-place-of-eyes/
You can always expect Baldur's Gate 3 to deliver, even when what it's delivering is as mundane as patch notes. Earlier today, Larian launched Hotfix #15 for its world-beating fantasy RPG, and the accompanying Steam announcement is gripping before we even get to the patch notes. "Have you found some characters' faces turning into stretched eldritch horrors with pits of flesh in place of eyes?" it reads. "That should not be a problem anymore."

War Thunder celebrates the holidays with an old-fashioned leak of restricted military info on its forums
https://www.pcgamer.com/war-thunder-celebrates-the-holidays-with-an-old-fashioned-leak-of-restricted-military-info-on-its-forums/
As my esteemed colleague Rich Stanton put it, it has now been [0] days since restricted military documents have been leaked in the War Thunder forums. As reported by Task and Purpose, this latest incident relates to the M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, a tracked AIFV that first went into service with the US military in 1981.

Four years after it was removed from sale, Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory has returned
https://www.pcgamer.com/four-years-after-it-was-removed-from-sale-paranoia-happiness-is-mandatory-has-returned/
Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory is a CRPG set in an Orwellian nightmare, a sci-fi society overrun by bureaucracy. At one point while playing it I tried to get a broken door fixed so I could get through, and after bouncing back and forth between various repair departments I eventually learned there was a final form I needed to fill out, and that form happened to be on the other side of the broken door. When Paranoia was mysteriously removed from sale weeks after its release with no explanation I tried to find out why, a quest that was just as frustrating as my attempt to get past that broken door.
And now it's back, just as mysteriously. Paranoia is available on Epic again, where it was exclusively released in December of 2019, and on Steam, which it's never been available on before. There's no press release accompanying this, and no explanation on the official Facebook or Twitter account, neither of which has been updated for years. It's just here, as suddenly as it was taken away.

Gloomwood's Christmas update invites you to step into the Mirror Realm
https://www.pcgamer.com/gloomwoods-christmas-update-invites-you-to-step-into-the-mirror-realm/
Samtsirhc Yrrem! As they say during the festive season in Gloomwood's Mirror Realm. Actually, I imagine they say things like "What was that?" followed by "Argh!" much as they do in regular Gloomwood. What is the Mirror Realm, you ask? Why, it's part of Gloomwood's just arrived Christmas update, which adds bugfixes, new areas, and a whole host of festive doohickies alongside mysterious alternate dimensions.

Five Nights at Freddy's Roblox game debuts by accident because series' creator 'approved a skin'—devs say it was a beta, then nuke its Discord over unholy NSFW content
https://www.pcgamer.com/five-nights-at-freddys-roblox-game-debuts-by-accident-because-series-creator-approved-a-skindevs-say-it-was-a-beta-then-nuke-its-discord-over-unholy-nsfw-content/
Five Nights at Freddy's, a cultural gaming giant big enough to have its own movie (that was apparently Just Okay, according to critics) has come to Roblox—wait, hold on a second, it's gone. Now it's in beta? Oh, but the beta's been "taken down for a few weeks." Err.

There's just nine days left before Friday the 13th: The Game disappears from sale forever
https://www.pcgamer.com/theres-just-nine-days-left-before-friday-the-13th-the-game-disappears-from-sale-forever/
There's just over a week left before Friday the 13th: The Game, the awkwardly titled yet surprisingly decent multiplayer slasher, sinks back into Camp Crystal Lake forever, as it's to be delisted from sale on December 31st.

South Park: Snow Day will dribble icily down your back in March next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/south-park-snow-day-will-dribble-icily-down-your-back-in-march-next-year/
South Park: Snow Day seems like it would be an ideal Christmas game. A third person cooperative adventure set in Trey Parker and Matt Stone's fictional Colorado town, it sees you battling through its icy streets, banding together with Cartman & co to save your home from an endless winter. That'd be ideal for whiling away the long winter evenings with three of my pals. But forget all that because it's coming out next March.

'This experience has been extremely distressing': Insomniac shares a statement in response to catastrophic ransomware attack, including hopes for Wolverine's future
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-experience-has-been-extremely-distressing-insomniac-shares-a-statement-in-response-to-catastrophic-ransomware-attack-including-hopes-for-wolverines-future/
Last week, reports began to emerge that Insomniac Games had been the victim of a ransomware attack that had seen details of an upcoming Wolverine game (as well as personal information of several developers) revealed to the public.
Ransomware group Rhysida demanded that Insomniac give them roughly $2 million in BitCoin, or it would release the information stolen in the hack—as the ransom date passed, it followed through with the threat. The group released over a terabyte of data onto the internet, composed of millions of files.
This includes a development roadmap stretching into 2032, footage and files from said Wolverine game, business details and personal information on Insomniac employees. Today, Insomniac has posted an official response to Twitter.

Let's end the news checking the GOG and Steam deals, which will be fast:

+GOG

• The Winter Sale keeps going
• There's a new GIVEAWAY: Caveblazers https://www.gog.com/en/game/caveblazers
• And there are also three new Deals of the Day, that will last 70 hours:
  • Gothic 3 has an 80% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/gothic_3
  • Heroes Chronicles: All Chapters is 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/heroes_chronicles_all_chapters
  • The Whale Rock All Games Bundle, with 15 games, gets a 95% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/whale_rock_all_games_bundle

+Steam

• Surprise, surprise, the Winter Sale is now live. Check it out if you haven't yet.

And that's all. There won't be news until, at least, Wednesday, so, if we don't see each other, I wish you an amazing, and gaming (of course) weekend and Christmas.

Next-Gen AMD 700-Series “AM5” & Intel 800-Series “LGA 1851” Socket Motherboards Aiming Q3 2024 Launch

https://wccftech.com/next-gen-amd-700-series-am5-intel-800-series-lga-1851-socket-motherboards-q3-2024-launch/

CableMod Issues Recall For All 12VHPWR Angled Connectors Including Revised Ones To Prevent GPU Damage

https://wccftech.com/cablemod-issues-recall-all-12vhpwr-angled-connectors-prevent-gpu-damage/

Those angled connectors certainly increased the amount of dead gpus significantly. Almost everyday there was a melting post on cablemod reddit after using those connectors.

HP OMEN Transcend 32-inch 4K 240Hz gaming monitor features OLED panel and DisplayPort 2.1

https://videocardz.com/newz/hp-omen-transcend-32-inch-4k-240hz-gaming-monitor-features-oled-panel-and-displayport-2-1

Finally a monitor with DP2.1. Since DP2.1 is backwards compatible with DP1.4, if all else are equal, I'd buy one with DP2.1 even if the gpu doesn't have it.

AMD Ryzen 7 8700G “Hawk Point” AM5 Desktop APU Benchmarks Leak: 8 Zen 4 Cores & Radeon 780M iGPU

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7-8700g-hawk-point-am5-desktop-apu-leak-8-cores-radeon-780m-igpu/

ASUS ROG OLED monitor to feature switchable Full-HD/480Hz and 4K/240Hz modes

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-rog-oled-monitor-to-feature-switchable-full-hd-480hz-and-4k-240hz-modes

Choosing a monitor will be interesting next year. You can either get QD-OLED with higher nits and and better color space or you can get LG WOLED with resolution/refresh rate adjustments and better burn-in resistance. Monitor review outlets must be wet right now with all the money they are gonna make.

ASRock enables “Windows Dynamic Lighting” RGB control feature on select Intel and AMD motherboards

https://videocardz.com/newz/asrock-enables-windows-dynamic-lighting-rgb-control-feature-on-select-intel-and-amd-motherboards

I'd certainly rather have the OS take control of the RGB lighting than all the 100s of bloatware needed

If a 12100F is wining a chart about efficiency (compared to all other non X3D CPUs), that chart is poorly constructed (intentionally?). GamersNexus are turning towards the same snarky clickbait with skewed tests. Main issue here is that you have to equalize free parameters, i.e. set the same wattage across all tested CPUs. AMD does indeed lead in gaming efficiency with X3D chips, however Intel is leading in single thread performance and the high number of E-cores are very efficient in non-gaming applications. More meaningful watt-per-watt comparisons put AMD and Intel in the same efficiency class, depending on specific apps. Intel's unlocked CPUs are a double-edged sword, unlocking was once considered an expensive enthusiast feature and now you get it "for free" but the efficiency curve does drop drastically above 120W. GamersNexus know that trade-off but they constructed some bad charts to get internet points.

Microsoft Is Killing Windows Mixed Reality, Will Remove Support For It From Windows

https://www.uploadvr.com/microsoft-killing-windows-mixed-reality/
https://www.uploadvr.com/windows-mixed-reality-headset-support-end-date/

Just after I reactivated my HP Reverb G2 and bought some VR games in the Steam Sale.

But I can still enjoy my PCVR games until November 2026... and further years unless I update to a newer Windows system.

And I have no problem to upgrade to a better PCVR headset in 2026/2027

the 12100F is a CPU with 4P cores and no e-cores, with a top clock speed of just 4.3 Ghz. Most games don't make much use of more than 8 threads, so in gaming benchmarks it doesn't fall all that far behind. But at the same time it doesn't have any excessive baggage with extra cores that it doesn't use but still consume energy or clocking the cores way past anything that has a sembence of efficiency.

So in short, it has just enough cores for gaming (though barely), and while the lower clock speed slows them down, it still generates enough frames to not fall massively behind while consuming just a fraction of the bigger CPU's power.