Yeah - I'm not sure if they will succeed in all they are trying to do, given they are (if I understood correctly) trying to have. more or less, behind the curtain simulation of that world, similar to how TTRPGs are (supposed to be) run, instead of (mostly) static worlds of VG RPGs.

The news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Palworld beats Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 with an all-time peak player count of more than 1.8 million
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-beats-counter-strike-2-dota-2-and-cyberpunk-2077-with-an-all-time-peak-player-count-of-more-than-18-million/
Palworld continues its runaway success, and after selling more than 6 million copies in just four days the developers now have another reason to celebrate: it's managed to grab the second spot in Steam's most played games when it comes to all-time peak concurrents.
The critter-based survival game is giving every other game in the history of Steam a run for its money today, reaching a peak concurrent player count of 1,864,421. Not only does that make it Steam's most popular game right now, it also secures its legacy as the game with the second highest all-time peak concurrent player count, stealing the spot from Counter-Strike 2 by a handful of people.

GOG has three new Deals of the Day, available until Friday:

• Bzzzt gets a 25% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/bzzzt
• Stellar Warfare, still in Early Access, is 27% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/stellar_warfare
• Spacecom has a 90% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/spacecom

Steam has a new deal and a sale:

• Quantum Break will be 75% off until January, the 30th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/474960/Quantum_Break/
• The Fulqrum Publisher Sale features up to 90% discounts until the same 30th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/fulqrumpublishersale2024

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 24.1.1 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/amd-radeon-software-adrenalin-24-1-1
Highlights

New Game Support

• Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• TEKKEN 8

New Product Support

• AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT

AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF)
Boost FPS up to 97% for a smoother gaming experience by adding frame generation technology to any DirectX 11 and 12 game.

• AFMF improves performance by adding frame generation technology to AMD Radeon 700M, RX 6000, and RX 7000 series GPUs for notebook and desktop platforms.
  • to 97% average increase in performance across select titles at 1080p resolution when AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF) is ON and upscaled with FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR 2) at Quality Mode, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition ️ 24.1.1 on the Radeon RX 7600XT GPU, versus when AFMF and FSR 2 upscaling are OFF.
  • to 103% average increase in performance across select titles at 1440p resolution when AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF) is ON and upscaled with FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR 2) at Quality Mode, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition ️ 24.1.1 on the Radeon RX 7600XT GPU, versus when AFMF and FSR 2 upscaling are OFF.
• AFMF preserves image quality by dynamically disabling frame generation during fast visual motion.

AMD Video Upscaling
Advanced video upscale algorithm to improve video playback image quality for AMD Radeon RX 7000 desktop series GPUs.

• AMD Video Upscaling can be enabled within the Graphics tab to enjoy improved sharpness and clarity, for DirectX 11 applications such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Media Player, with resolution support up to 4K.
• For more instructions on how to enable upscaling, please ensure that your version of AMD Software is up to date, and learn more HERE!

Additional Video Improvements

• Content Adaptive Machine Learning (CAML) text detection has been updated to support up to 4K gaming for even greater clarity.
• Various encoding support within AMD Software including AVC, HEVC and AV1 codecs have undergone additional optimizations to improve video encode quality.
• AMD continues to work with partners to implement video enhancements into 3rd party apps; more updates to follow in upcoming drivers.

AMD Smart Technology Tab
Access the suite of great A+A features from one convenient location to maximize the power of your AMD-powered system. AMD Assistant
Automatically enable or disable AMD Software features based on various situations for improved performance or battery life. Additional OS Feature Support

• Support for Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling has been expanded to Radeon RX 7600 series GPUs on Windows 11 version 22H2 and newer. Click HERE for more information.

Fixed Issues

• Performance drop may be observed in some DirectML workloads.
• Intermittent grey screen after driver upgrade with certain monitors (such as Nixeus NX-EDG274K) on Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Graphics API metric may show as N/A in certain UWP applications.
• Heavy stuttering may be experienced while playing Warframe and loading into a new area or starting a mission.
• Black artifacts may be observed in smoke effects while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
• Black texture flickering may be observed while playing Starfield on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon RX 5600 XT.
• Intermittent install failure may be observed when using the factory reset setting.

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 551.23 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-551-23
Highlights

Game Ready for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER
This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS 3 technology including Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Further support for new titles leveraging NVIDIA DLSS technology includes the launch of Enshrouded, TEKKEN 8, and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League which support DLSS Super Resolution.

Gaming Technology

• Adds support for the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER GPU.

Fixed Issues

• Forza Horizon 4: Ansel/ Freestyle filters cause application to freeze or crash [4253513]

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Tekken 8 just got a mod that lets you enable UE5 Lumen
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/tekken-8-just-got-a-demo-that-allows-you-to-enable-ue5-lumen/
Modder KulaGGin just dropped an awesome mod for Tekken 8 on PC. This mod lets PC gamers turn on Unreal Engine 5’s Lumen ray tracing. In theory, this should make Global Illumination and Reflections look way better. So, this could be a must-have for anyone playing Tekken 8 on PC.
For those unaware, Tekken 8 will not be using Lumen by default. As such, I’m curious to see what this mod can achieve. Right now, the mod is only compatible with the game’s PC demo. Thus, I’m currently downloading it so that I can share some screenshots.
And here’s another cool thing. With this mod, you can unlock the framerate in Tekken 8 on PC. Normally, the game is locked at 60fps, but now you can change that. There’s also an interpolation setting for when using Framerate Unlocker to make the animations look even smoother. This could be a game-changer for some PC gamers.
But wait, there’s more. With this mod, you can turn off baked-in lighting, which is a setting you need to disable when you turn on Lumen. Lumen doesn’t need baked-in lighting. You can also choose to turn off the character lights and all the other lights. Oh, and here’s another cool feature. You can completely turn off upscaling, something you can’t do in the regular version of the game.
>> The article doesn't have any screenshot nor video.

World's biggest mod site says no to Palworld Pokémon mods after taking one look at Nintendo's record of 'mercilessly submitting legal challenges'
https://www.pcgamer.com/worlds-biggest-mod-site-says-no-to-pokemon-palworld-mods-after-taking-one-look-at-nintendos-record-of-mercilessly-submitting-legal-challenges/
With tens of thousands of mods for games like Skyrim and Fallout, Nexus Mods must be the biggest mod site on Earth, but even it's not keen to pick a fight over Palworld with Nintendo's army of lawyers. After seemingly removing an Ash Ketchum mod for the game from its archives, Nexus community lead Matthew Elliot told PCGamesN that the site was "not comfortable hosting this content," meaning anything that might at all touch the livewire that is Pokémon's copyright.
"We do think that adding Pokémon content to Palworld is a very cool idea and we understand why people would want such a thing," said Elliot, but Nexus is just "not comfortable hosting this content." The reason, as you might guess, is Nintendo's litigiousness.

GAMING NEWS

Helldivers 2 dev explains the inclusion of nProtect GameGuard
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/helldivers-2-dev-explains-the-inclusion-of-nprotect-gameguard/
Helldivers 2 releases next month on PC and some PC gamers got annoyed when they found out that the game would be using the nProtect GameGuard anti-cheat. Apparently, this prompted Arrowhead’s technical director to step in and explain why the team has decided to use it.

The Finals Title Update 1.5.5 Released, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-finals-title-update-1-5-5-released-full-patch-notes/
Embark Studios has just released a new update for its free-to-play online combat-centered game, The Finals. According to the team, Title Update 1.5.5 comes with some balance tweaks for weapons and gadgets, crash fixes, and an improvement to tournament matchmaking. So, let’s now take a closer look at all the changes.

The Wednesday news, part two:

Former Pokémon legal chief says Palworld 'looks like the usual ripoff nonsense I would see a thousand times a year ' and he's 'surprised it got this far'
https://www.pcgamer.com/former-pokemon-legal-chief-says-palworld-looks-like-the-usual-ripoff-nonsense-i-would-see-a-thousand-times-a-year-and-hes-surprised-it-got-this-far/
Palworld is Pokémon with guns. So much so, in fact, that in its four days on the market it's already been accused of straight-up ripping off the Nintendo franchise by various internet detectives, a claim the developer called "slanderous."
But it's not just internet commenters who have taken notice of Palworld and its gajillions of sales. The former head of The Pokémon Company's legal team, Dan McGowan, isn't mincing words about the game either. In a chat with Game File, McGowan straightforwardly said Palworld "looks like the usual ripoff nonsense that I would see a thousand times a year when I was chief legal officer of Pokémon."
>> If they could have sued them, they would have already done that. It's Nintendo we're talking about.

Palworld releases roadmap with big promises but no dates: PvP, new islands, raid bosses, and an end to Game Pass woes
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-releases-roadmap-with-big-promises-but-no-dates-pvp-new-islands-raid-bosses-and-an-end-to-game-pass-woes/
Palworld has taken off—with a huge player count that's set Steam records, its own controversies surrounding unfortunate game mechanics, and AI worries. Now it has a roadmap, as posted to the game's official Discord server this morning.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League reveals its first season, featuring a playable Joker from another universe—a camp, insecure 20-something with a rocket umbrella
https://www.pcgamer.com/suicide-squad-kill-the-justice-league-reveals-its-first-season-featuring-a-playable-joker-from-another-universea-camp-insecure-20-something-with-a-rocket-umbrella/
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has dropped a third entry into its sequence of insider episodes with a big reveal—in the game's first season, you'll get to play as da Joker, baby.

Immortality developer Sam Barlow teases 2 new projects on Steam, and one of them is survival horror
https://www.pcgamer.com/immortality-developer-sam-barlow-teases-2-new-projects-on-steam-and-one-of-them-is-survival-horror/
Sam Barlow's studio Half Mermaid, the developer of Her Story, Telling Lies, and Immortality—one of highest-reviewed games of 2022—are teasing a pair of mysterious new projects on Steam called, mysteriously, Project C and Project D.

Obsidian's next big RPG Avowed is looking to Vermintide's 'masterclass in having a sense of hitting and impact' to make its first-person sword-swinging feel weighty
https://www.pcgamer.com/obsidians-next-big-rpg-avowed-is-looking-to-vermintides-masterclass-in-having-a-sense-of-hitting-and-impact-to-make-its-first-person-sword-swinging-feel-weighty/
Obsidian (the studio behind Pillars of Eternity, Fallout: New Vegas, and The Outer Worlds) released an extended gameplay trailer diving into its first-person RPG Avowed last week. PC Gamer's own Ted Litchfield sat down with both the game's director Carrie Patel and the gameplay director Gabe Paramo to talk shop.
>> Note to some: You won't be able to do a pure pacifist run.

Avowed's companions won't ditch you for making the 'wrong' choices: 'It's not about maintaining their approval, it's about getting to know them'
https://www.pcgamer.com/avoweds-companions-wont-ditch-you-for-making-the-wrong-choices-its-not-about-maintaining-their-approval-its-about-getting-to-know-them/
Avowed, the upcoming first-person RPG from Obsidian, mixes and matches a few RPG standards in its approach to companion characters and their stories. Before we get into details, some basics—in an interview with game director Carrie Patel and gameplay director Gabe Paramo this week, we learned the following about Avowed's companions and party management:

There's a new Stargate: SG-1 tactics game on Steam, because the '90s are forever
https://www.pcgamer.com/theres-a-new-stargate-sg-1-tactics-game-on-steam-because-the-90s-are-forever/
We said in 2021 that the '90s are back, baby, because someone was making an RTS based on Stargate SG-1. Today they're really back, because that game, formally known as Stargate: Timekeepers, is now live—and for those of you who aren't sure whether real-time Stargate strategy is going to be your bag, a demo is available too.
>> It's a tactit strategy game, not an RTS.

The Day Before studio asks whether you're going to believe it or your own lying eyes as it attributes the game's catastrophic performance to a 'hate campaign' by 'bloggers'
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-day-before-studio-asks-whether-youre-going-to-believe-it-or-your-own-lying-eyes-as-it-attributes-the-games-catastrophic-performance-to-a-hate-campaign-by-bloggers/
Fntastic, maker of the comprehensively disastrous The Day Before, has released a statement to combat "misinformation" circulating online about the game and the circumstances of its collapse.
>> In line with this BS, Club386 has an article about the co-founders of Fntastic creating another studio.

AMD launches Radeon RX 7600 XT with Navi 33 GPU and 16GB memory at $329

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-launches-radeon-rx-7600-xt-with-navi-33-gpu-and-16gb-memory-at-329

Better to get the 6700XT instead

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER with AD103 GPU and 16GB memory is now available

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-ti-super-with-ad103-gpu-and-16gb-memory-is-now-available

Intel to launch new Arc GPU driver with 30% average boost for many DX11 games

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-to-launch-new-arc-gpu-driver-with-30-average-boost-for-many-dx11-games

Samsung 990 EVO SSD Official: Hybrid Gen5 & Gen4 Design With Up To 5000 MB/s Speeds, Starts At $124.99

https://wccftech.com/samsung-990-evo-ssd-hybrid-gen5-gen4-design-5000-mbps-speeds-124-usd/

Indeed, the 6700XT is shaping up to be one of those cards that will be remembered very fondly down the line.

Yep, while they last. Which probably won't be too long now I fear.

An easier way to look up how much money you've spent on your steam account then I've known about in the past, rather than sites that calculate your value based on the titles you own this is the actually amount of money you have spent through the steam store. Go to Steam Support, My Account, Data Related To Your Account and External Funds Used.

$1,885 spent for me. Which is more than I thought as I've used key sites a lot, humble bundle too etc, so those purchases wouldn't be accounted for here. I'm sure probably most in this thread have spent more than this though lol.

Spent $1,208 but regional pricing and all. Still, that's like 10 bucks per game. Hard to beat that PC value.

For the sake of my sanity and peace of mind, I won't look at it. I'm scared of it.