And yes, today there's a third part of the news:

They're making a story-driven sequel to Lunar Lander, the 1979 Atari arcade game where all you do is land on the moon
https://www.pcgamer.com/theyre-making-a-story-driven-sequel-to-lunar-lander-the-1979-atari-arcade-game-where-all-you-do-is-land-on-the-moon/
(...)
Atari's original Lunar Lander came out in 1979, and was Atari's first game to use vector graphics. It was also one of the first two games registered with the United States Copyright Office, the other being Asteroids. While there had been several preceding games inspired by the Apollo moon landing, Lunar Lander's touchy controls and limited fuel kept the tension high (and the coins in your pocket low), which made it particularly memorable. It inspired several follow-ups, including a 3D one called Lander released by Psygnosis in 1999.
Lunar Lander Beyond, which is being developed by Cris Tales studio Dreams Uncorporated, keeps the 2D view and touchy controls, but bolts on an entire plot. You're a captain working for the unscrupulous Pegasus Aerospace—one of their executives calls your crew a layer of "human insulation" who protect the cargo—when a galactic disaster forces you to become a rescue worker. The trailer above sums it up, and it's delightful how the dramatic anime characters are juxtaposed with gameplay footage of a dinky lander hovering through power-ups and trying not to touch the sides.

Here's a farm life game but it's about a sect of Chinese fantasy martial artists
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-a-farm-life-game-but-its-about-a-sect-of-chinese-fantasy-martial-artists/
Farming game Immortal Life has just released from Early Access after a few years in development, bringing a unique spin to the genre of Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, and Stardew Valley. YiFeng Studio's fam life game is based on a sect of martial artists who, finding their home school devastated, resolve to rebuild the misty valley into a place of learning and beauty.

Check out the demo for this flashy top-down stealth action game
https://www.pcgamer.com/check-out-the-demo-for-this-flashy-top-down-stealth-action-game/
A free prologue is out now for stealth action game Intravenous 2, called Mercenarism, it puts you in the top-down shoes of Gideon, an amoral mercenary who takes on a couple simple jobs that'll snowball into the events of the main game when it releases later this year.

Skill-rich action RPG Last Epoch will finally release in February
https://www.pcgamer.com/skill-rich-action-rpg-last-epoch-will-finally-release-in-february/
The wheels of game development roll on, and action RPG Last Epoch has a release date: February 21, 2024. First released back in 2019, Last Epoch bills itself as an isometric action RPG fan's ARPG, developed by and for people who love a big pile of customizable skills and loot and a horde of baddies to plow through.

Even after 300 hours, I've never met one of Baldur's Gate 3's most elusive NPCs: a half-orc named Honk who only shows up if you kill his brother then go on a date at their restaurant
https://www.pcgamer.com/even-after-300-hours-ive-never-met-one-of-baldurs-gate-3s-most-elusive-npcs-a-half-orc-named-honk-who-only-shows-up-if-you-kill-his-brother-then-go-on-a-date-at-their-restaurant/
One of the best parts of Baldur's Gate 3 is all the stuff you don't even realize you missed. The half-orc waiter, Honk, isn't exactly the juiciest morsel of BG3 esoterica, but as YouTuber Proxy Gate Tactician points out, he might be the NPC you're least likely to have met even after hundreds of hours of play.

Stack cards to captain a desperate train in this frozen, apocalyptic, and totally free roguelite demo
https://www.pcgamer.com/stack-cards-to-captain-a-desperate-train-in-this-frozen-apocalyptic-and-totally-free-roguelite-demo/
A cute little proof-of-concept game has picked up attention on Steam in the past few weeks: Frostrain, a card-matching game about conducting a train of apocalyptic survivors through a frozen world ala Snowpiercer. Getting stronger requires you to build up a hand of the same cards, all of which represent train cars to expand your new demesne with.

Get a retired cop back in service for her only unsolved case in this point-and-click detective adventure
https://www.pcgamer.com/get-a-retired-cop-back-in-service-for-her-only-unsolved-case-in-this-point-and-click-detective-adventure/
A compelling new detective text adventure set in Korea challenges you do fit together memories and elements of a mystery like they're puzzle pieces as a rookie police officer brings a veteran out of retirement for the only case she left cold. The result is No Case Should Remain Unsolved, a compellingly animated, quite intriguing bit of indie interactive fiction by developer Somi.

I never knew I wanted to be able to trap monsters in bubbles and watch them float away until I tried the demo for this upcoming magical FPS
https://www.pcgamer.com/i-never-knew-i-wanted-to-be-able-to-trap-monsters-in-bubbles-and-watch-them-float-away-until-i-tried-the-demo-for-this-upcoming-magical-fps/
Sorceress is shaping up to be a precious kind of game: The Dark Messiah-like. Arkane's sophomore outing is mostly remembered for its legendary kick ability, which could turn nearly any enemy into one of those supremely satisfying Source engine ragdolls with one or two good smacks, but it also had this beautifully anarchic approach to level design, with spike traps and bottomless pits everywhere. Individual rooms (like this one number with a swinging chandelier) from Dark Messiah were so distinctive I remember them all these years later.

Palworld's developers are currently trying to fix a game-wrecking bug that permanently nerfs your character
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworlds-developers-are-currently-trying-to-fix-a-game-wrecking-bug-that-permanently-nerfs-your-character/
At the time of writing, Palworld developer Pocketpair is almost drowning in success. The colorful survival game had attracted some attention during its development, mainly because "Pokemon with guns" is an elevator pitch you instantly want to see in action, but its actual launch has seen that translate into what looks like a genuinely organic viral success: and four days after launch, it's sitting pretty at over five million copies sold.
Success, however, brings its own problems. Since launch Palworld has faced various bugs, including connection issues and players losing save data, and it's clear from the game's Discord that the developers were in no way prepared for this level of success and are currently firefighting as best they can. But one particular bug has the potential to ruin your save to such an extent you'll need a reset.
It involves an item called "Memory Reset Drug" that is used to reset a player's skill points after levelling up, in theory allowing you to build-out characters differently. But at the moment, explains the developer, it resets one stat that you'll never be able to recover.

Palword's plain worse on the Microsoft Store and Game Pass right now—devs say they're 'at the mercy of the certification', making for slower hotfixes
https://www.pcgamer.com/palwords-plain-worse-on-the-microsoft-store-and-game-pass-right-nowdevs-say-theyre-at-the-mercy-of-the-certification-making-for-slower-hotfixes/
Palworld is already obscenely popular—knocking out 4 million sales in about three days. It's also a far better experience on Steam, thanks to some certification process nonsense.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070Ti SUPER is 8% faster on average than RTX 4070Ti in 3DMark tests

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070ti-super-is-8-faster-on-average-than-rtx-4070ti-in-3dmark-tests

GeForce RTX 4080M and RTX 4090M now available in China as desktop GPUs

https://videocardz.com/newz/geforce-rtx-4080m-and-rtx-4090m-now-available-in-china-as-desktop-gpus

Intel’s next-gen Xeon “Granite Rapids” CPUs to feature up to 480MB of L3 Cache

https://videocardz.com/newz/intels-next-gen-xeon-granite-rapids-cpus-to-feature-up-to-480mb-of-l3-cache

Intel Arrow Lake-U Low-Power CPUs To Be A Cheaper Alternative To Lunar Lake: Based on Intel 3, 10% Perf/Watt Uplift

https://wccftech.com/intel-arrow-lake-u-low-power-cpus-cheaper-alternative-lunar-lake-intel-3-perf-watt-uplift/

HBM Industry Set To Double In Revenue By 2025, Courtesy of Next-Gen AI Chips By NVIDIA & Others

https://wccftech.com/hbm-industry-double-revenue-by-2025-courtesy-of-next-gen-ai-chips-by-nvidia-others/

And MSRP is fake more or less, expect $900+ for most AIB cards. 8% sounds truly amazing.

It's the usual thing they've been doing for a while. They launch a batch of cards at MSRP and once they're all sold out, they never bring more of them.

Anyway, here's somthing that may interest those less tech savvy that own a Steam Deck get the most of if it:

Little things that matter: Valve is making performance settings in its Steam Deck easier to understand
https://www.pcgamer.com/little-things-that-matter-valve-is-making-performance-settings-in-its-steam-deck-easier-to-understand/
Not every change or update in PC gaming hardware and software needs to be revolutionary. Sometimes, what you really need is just a bit more understanding about what something does and how it will affect your device. Valve is doing just that with the quick access settings in the latest beta version of its operating system for the Steam Deck: proper descriptions for each one, how they affect performance, and what the trade-off is.

Sure, it's hardly earth-shattering news (via Lawrence Yang on X) but anything that makes a difference to how easy it is to use a particular device is always worth paying attention to. You may well fully understand what TDP means, or the function of half-rate shading, but not every PC gamer does. Valve's recent beta update for the Steam Deck software shows that they fully appreciate this, which is why the quick access performance menu now has descriptions for each setting.

A new Steam Sale has launched:

https://store.steampowered.com/category/pirates_ninjas

Usually, I'd wish them good luck, but they'll need a lot more than that to succeed.

It beat CS2's all time peak!

4070 Ti Super - What a flop.
Plenty of reviews about folk.

The Tuesday news, all in one post:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

Steam has launched some sales and new weeklong deals:

• The Rome Videogames Lab Expo/Sale features up to 90% discounts. Most of them will last until the 28th of January, but some may last a bit more: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/romevideogamelab
• RoboCop: Rogue City will be 30% off until the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1681430/RoboCop_Rogue_City/
• The Bloodline, still in Early Access, gets a 33% discount until next Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1159290/The_Bloodline/
• The Trine franchise is on sale, up to 80% off until Monday, the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/TrineFranchiseMidweek2024
• The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Anthology is going to be 95% off until the 29th. The individual games are also on sale: https://store.steampowered.com/sub/75825/
• The Universim has a 25% discount until the 5th of February: https://store.steampowered.com/app/352720/The_Universim/
• And here's a small sample of the weeklong deals:
  • The Early Access title Gym Simulator 24, besides proving once again that there's a simulator about everything, is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2559270/Gym_Simulator_24/
  • Chronicle of Innsmouth: Mountains of Madness gets a 40% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/962700/Chronicle_of_Innsmouth_Mountains_of_Madness/
  • 1428: Shadows over Silesia is half its usual price: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1228500/1428_Shadows_over_Silesia/
  • Eldest Souls will be 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1108590/Eldest_Souls/
  • And the last one, Garfield Kart - Furious Racing, gets a 90% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1085510/Garfield_Kart__Furious_Racing/

Fanatical has a new Star Deal and a bundle:

• The new Star Deal is Street Fighter™ 6, 46% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/street-fighter-6
• The BYO Relentless Bundle features 17 titles to choose from for your 3, 5 or 8 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-relentless-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

The open beta of Nvidia's RTX Remix is ready to grab: Remaster your favourite old games to give them a massive graphics upgrade
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-open-beta-of-nvidias-rtx-remix-is-ready-to-grab-remaster-your-favourite-old-games-to-give-them-a-massive-graphics-upgrade/
Do you have an old game that you wish was remastered to make full use of today's graphics technologies? For me, it's the original Deus Ex , and I'd love to see that with modern lighting and fully ray-traced. We've had some so far, of course, such as Quake 2 and Portal, but these weren't mods, as you had to download the entire updated game. Now, with the release of Nvidia's RTX Remix open beta, you'll be able to do it yourself to any DirectX 8 or 9 game
Modding games to change how they look or run has been around for as long as there have been games, but the scene now is a huge industry by itself, with vast databases of textures, levels, and entire remakes of games all available.
But overhauling the graphics of an older game is no small task, especially when it comes to writing code for better shaders and the like, and that's where RTX Remix comes in.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Here Are the Best Palworld Mods You Can Download
https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/best-palworld-mods-download/
Palworld has just been released in Early Access, so here are the best mods you can currently download for it. We expect to see a lot of cool mods for this game in the coming months. So, let’s go ahead and take a look at some of them.
We’ll be constantly updating this list with every new mod we share. In other words, this list will be up to date, and it will have everything we’ve shared. Not only that but this article will be separated by categories. Thus, it will be easier to navigate it.
In this first version of this article, we’ll be focusing on two or three mods. Then, as time passes by, we’ll be adding more and more mods to it.

Palworld Just Got an AMD FSR 3.0 Frame Generation Mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/palworld-amd-fsr-3-0-frame-generation-mod/
Modder ‘PureDark’ has just released a new mod for Palworld that allows you to enable AMD FSR 3.0 Frame Generation. This mod basically replaces the in-game DLSS 2 setting with FSR 3.0. Sadly, though, it’s being held behind a Patreon wall.
Now the good news here is that this mod works on all GPUs. This means that you can use it with an Intel, an NVIDIA or an AMD GPU. There is also an option to enable Intel XeSS with FSR 3.0 Frame Generation. So, if you believe that Intel XeSS provides better results than FSR 3.0 Super Resolution, you can use that instead. Not only that but PureDark has fixed the HUD ghosting issues that plagued previous FSR 3.0 Mods.
In short, this FSR 3.0 Frame Generation Mod seems to be working wonderfully. It’s kind of a bummer that these FSR 3.0 Mods are not available for free. However, PureDark has been the only modder that has been constantly offering them for most of the latest games.
To showcase this FSR 3.0 Mod, PureDark shared the following video. In this video, we also get to see Palworld running on the ASUS ROG Ally. With FSR 3.0 you can get 60fps at 1080p. And then, by enabling Frame Generation, you can get 90-110fps. So, if you have a ROG Ally, you might want to use this mod.

New The Witcher 3 Mod Improves Fires via Ray Tracing Global Illumination
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-witcher-3-fires-ray-tracing-global-illumination/
Modder ‘ScoutBr0’ has released a cool new mod for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen. This mod makes the fires bounce around the environment more and fill the dark gaps. To achieve that, the modder took advantage of Ray Tracing Global Illumination, and the results are superb.
By using this mod, you can eliminate or reduce the “point light” effect where you can clearly see the placed lights in the environment. Now the dark areas should feel filled with light and a lot more traversable and cozy. In theory, the game will now look more realistic.
>> The article has some comparison screenshots.

First Tomb Raider RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod Released
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/first-tomb-raider-rtx-remix-path-tracing-mod/
Tomb Raider fans, here is something for you today. Modder ‘Dominus Aureate’ has just released a vertical slice demo of his RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for the first Tomb Raider game.
Open Lara: Reimagined Realms aims to bring you back to the classic world of the original Tomb Raider. This mod takes full advantage of Nvidia’s advanced RTX Remix tech. As such, it promises to overhaul the game’s graphics with full Ray Tracing/Path Tracing effects.
For those wondering, this is a completely different project from the one we shared earlier this month. In other words, there are two RTX Remix Mods in the works for Tomb Raider.
The Vertical Slice Demo of Open Lara: Reimagined Realms will give you a glimpse at what the modder aims to achieve. Dominus Aureate has been working on this for over 6 months. So no, this mod is not based on the Open Beta build of NVIDIA’s RTX Remix. Also, since this is a demo, it may have various bugs and glitches. From what I’ve seen, the first two levels appear to be fine. Or at least that’s the levels that the modder has showcased.
Anyway, you can go ahead and download this RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod from this link. To run it, you’ll need a copy of the original game. Both the Steam and GOG versions are compatible with it.
>> The article has two videos.

Palworld has a Pokémon mod that lets you send beloved mascot Pikachu to the mines, and it's already in trouble
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-already-has-a-pokemon-mod-that-lets-you-send-beloved-mascot-pikachu-to-the-mines/
Update, January 23: This story was posted January 22. In it, I theorise about whether Nintendo will take legal action against this Palworld mod—as it has with similar projects in the past. It's been less than 24 hours, and surely enough there's been a copyright claim, according to Toasted Shoes' Twitter:
The extent of the legal action involved is unclear—but at the time of writing, the promised video has not yet been uploaded to YouTube. Original story follows.
>> Nintendo has been faster than I thought it would be but, given the success of the game, it shouldn't be a surprise.

GAMING NEWS

CD Projekt Red is ramping up production on The Witcher 4, and of course it's looking into using AI
https://www.pcgamer.com/cd-projekt-red-is-ramping-up-production-on-the-witcher-4-and-of-course-its-looking-into-using-ai/
Back in March 2023, CDPR's then-CEO Adam Kiciński said the quiet part out loud on an earnings call, and referred to the studio's Polaris project (a new Witcher trilogy) as The Witcher 4. Naturally the studio went into immediate damage control mode and denied the first Polaris game is The Witcher 4, but here's what Kiciński said at the time: "We want to release three big Witcher games within six years, starting from the release of Polaris, which is Witcher 4."
CDPR first announced Polaris in October 2022, and has referenced it a few times since (though the only information about the game comes from fan theorising about the teaser image). It's started 2024 in the same way, telling Reuters that production on Polaris is going into full swing this year.

Tilted Towers resists the yoke of imperial aggression as the British Army gives up on its Fortnite livestream plan
https://www.pcgamer.com/tilted-towers-resists-the-yoke-of-imperial-aggression-as-the-british-army-gives-up-on-its-fortnite-livestream-plan/
There are famously only 22 countries in the entire world that Britain has not invaded at some point during its history. But now you can add Fortnite to that list, as the British Army has given up its plan to hold a livestreamed competition later this week between influencer-led teams on its very own custom Fortnite map.

Diablo 4 season 3's most powerful new items all drop off of its least popular boss
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-season-3s-most-powerful-new-items-all-drop-off-of-its-least-popular-boss/
Out of all the bosses added in Diablo 4 season 2, The Beast in the Ice was the most annoying one to kill. Not only did he have a lot of attacks you had to dodge out of before you could get a hit on him, he was also a pain to reach in the first place. If you wanted a chance at some of the most powerful items in the game, you had to collect nine frustratingly rare items every time you wanted to summon him.
In season 3, which starts tomorrow, The Beast in the Ice will get five new Unique items added to his loot table. Each of them are powerful enough to build your character around, like a new pair of gloves that increases the damage of your most basic skills by 200%. Instead of having to cross your fingers and wait for them to randomly drop, you can seek out The Beast in The Ice and hope you get them after a handful of runs.
>> And you won't be able to dress up your spider companions, but you'll be able to pet them.

Palworld accused of copying Pokémon models, developer pushes back, says artists are being slandered
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-accused-of-copying-pokemon-models-developer-pushes-back-says-artists-are-being-slandered/
Ludicrously successful Pokémon parody survival game Palworld, which has sold four million copies in just days, has come under the microscopes of internet detectives who think its 100 Pokémon-like monsters go beyond parody into straight-up rip-off territory.
The head of Palworld developer Pocketpair, Takuro Mizobe, said on X today that "slanderous" comments are being made about Palworld's artists. Mizobe also recently told Automaton that Pocketpair has "no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies."

Riot lays off 530 employees, will close Riot Forge: 'We're not doing this to appease shareholders or to hit some quarterly earnings number,' says CEO
https://www.pcgamer.com/riot-games-layoffs-2024/
Riot Games has announced that it's "refocusing on fewer, high-impact projects" to move "toward a more sustainable future," and that means layoffs: Roughly 530 employees, representing 11% of Riot's total workforce, have been let go.

Dragon's Dogma 2's director didn't want his game to rely on fast travel: 'Travel is boring? That's not true. It's only an issue because your game is boring'
https://www.pcgamer.com/dragons-dogma-2s-director-didnt-want-his-game-to-rely-on-fast-travel-travel-is-boring-thats-not-true-its-only-an-issue-because-your-game-is-boring/
In a recent interview with IGN, Dragon's Dogma 2 director Hideaki Itsuno didn't mince words when it comes to his preference for actually exploring open worlds instead of zipping around via the map menu express: "Travel is boring? That's not true. It's only an issue because your game is boring. All you have to do is make travel fun."

Palworld players discover you can kidnap and sell humans just like pals, although you will be warned it's not very polite
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-players-discover-you-can-kidnap-and-sell-humans-just-like-pals-although-you-will-be-warned-its-not-very-polite/
It's a Palworld, we're just living in it. Pocketpair's AK-equipped Poké-like has dominated both the charts and the discourse since it came out last Friday, and the debates and discoveries about it are coming out faster than I can keep track of.
But the latest development is both debate and discovery, and I can't decide if that makes it easier to cover or harder. Here's what's happening: Enterprising and morally pliable Palworld players have stumbled upon the fact (via IGN) that you can use the game's Palspheres (they're Pokéballs, let's not beat around the bush) not only to capture the game's animal inhabitants, but to kidnap human NPCs too.

AI Palworld accusations are currently based on vibes, a social deduction game, and the CEO's past tweets about machine-generated fakémon
https://www.pcgamer.com/ai-palworld-accusations-are-currently-based-on-vibes-a-social-deduction-game-and-the-ceos-past-tweets-about-machine-generated-fakemon/
Palworld has come under fire for its bootleg Pokémon aesthetic, with some commenters even cross-referencing models like amateur detectives wading into a crime scene. While the claims of straight-up model ripping are unlikely (even if the designs are very clearly derivative) another strain of discussion has emerged: Is the funny Pokémon-meets-survival genre game AI?
>> To summarize, there's no proof of anything and it's just based on guesses.

Obsidian's Avowed is going 'classless', ditching Pillars of Eternity's crunchy stat-heavy builds in favour of Skyrim-like ability trees
https://www.pcgamer.com/obsidians-avowed-is-going-classless-ditching-off-pillars-of-eternitys-crunchy-stat-heavy-builds-in-favour-of-skyrim-like-ability-trees/
I was downright gleeful when I learnt that Avowed—Obsidian's upcoming first-person fantasy RPG—was set in the Pillars of Eternity world of Eora. If there's one thing I'm perpetually a bit mad about, it's that the Pillars games didn't do much, much better than they did (If there's a second, it's that Tyranny somehow managed to do even worse). To my eyes, Avowed is the series' second shot at mainstream success.
But just because Avowed is returning to the Pillarsverse™ doesn't mean we're merely getting those isometric CRPGs in a swanky first-person wrapper. In a recent chat with PC Gamer's Ted Litchfield, Avowed's game director Carrie Patel and gameplay director Gabe Paramo mentioned that the new game is going a bit Skyrim with it, leaving behind the Pillars games' class system in favour of a set of ability trees you can sample from as you level up.