Friday news, the sequel:

EA CEO talks AI, says the usual stuff before the bong rip hits and he starts blabbing about a future where 3 billion people are creating EA's games with it
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/ea-ceo-talks-ai-says-the-usual-stuff-before-the-bong-rip-hits-and-he-starts-blabbing-about-a-future-where-3-billion-people-are-creating-eas-games-with-it/
It's 2024 and everyone who's anyone is thinking about how to get AI to do the heavy lifting for them. Among that number? EA CEO Andrew Wilson, who recently had a natter with Morgan Stanley (via TechRaptor) about his vision for AI and how it could impact EA's development processes in the years to come. Are you nervous? I'm nervous.

'All your save files will be fully intact': Eric Barone confirms that Stardew Valley's 1.6 update isn't out to delete your progress
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/all-you-save-files-will-be-fully-intact-eric-barone-confirms-that-stardew-valleys-16-update-isnt-out-to-delete-your-progress/
We're weeks away from the launch of Stardew Valley's 1.6 update, which is set to add all sorts of stuff to different aspects of the game, like festivals, dialogue, and even a new farm type. But as the clock winds down to March 19, some players are worried about what will happen to their save files. 

Ambitious indie RPG Unforetold: Witchstone is halting development and laying off staff
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/ambitious-indie-rpg-unforetold-witchstone-is-halting-development-and-laying-off-staff/
Unforetold: Witchstone showed a lot of promise when it launched into early access in January, but much of that potential was buried under jank: It's "damn impressive" when it works, Fraser Brown wrote back in February, but in its pre-1.0 state, much of it "is undone by bugs and wonky systems."
Sadly, it seems the game won't ever have the opportunity to overcome that roughness and truly shine, as developer Spearhead Games is halting further development of the game and laying off most of its team.

Cowboy Bebop is the second anime collab coming to Overwatch 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/cowboy-bebop-is-the-second-anime-collab-coming-to-overwatch-2/
Overwatch 2's second anime collab event, starting on March 12, will let you wear skins and other cosmetics based on the main crew in Cowboy Bebop.
If Blizzard's approach to these events hasn't changed since the One Punch Man collab last year, Overwatch 2's heroes are now canonically fans of the space western anime. The crossover skins are like cosplay for the characters of Overwatch, art director Dion Rogers told Xbox Wire last year: "Our heroes are basically aware of the anime and are fans too."

Overwatch 2 director admits the overwhelming power of DPS heroes 'may be pushed a bit too far', details new patch to fix that
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2-director-admits-the-overwhelming-power-of-dps-heroes-may-be-pushed-a-bit-too-far-details-new-patch-to-fix-that/
Overwatch 2's latest season dramatically changed how the game is played by giving DPS heroes the ability to reduce the healing their enemies receive. The ripple effects from this change left many tanks and support heroes struggling to stay alive.
In a blog post reflecting on the changes, game director Aaron Keller admitted that the amount of power it gave DPS heroes "may be pushed a bit too far." "There can be moments where it feels a bit too dangerous, even as a tank, to expose yourself, or where your health can burn down quicker than expected while being healed," he said.

'F*** it, let's go all the way with this:' How a side project for Dusk snowballed into a complete overhaul of the beloved boomer shooter's visuals
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/f-it-lets-go-all-the-way-with-this-how-a-small-side-project-for-dusk-snowballed-into-a-complete-overhaul-of-the-games-visuals/
Dusk wasn't originally supposed to get a full graphical remaster just five years after launch⁠. In its initial reveal at the 2022 PC Gaming show, New Blood head honcho Dave Oshry called it an update "nobody asked for, so we're doing it anyway," and the "HD" moniker for the tastefully updated weapon and enemy models was really more of a bit. Hell, the guy who made most of it wasn't even a professional developer at that point: "I saw the trailer for Dusk HD and was like, 'Oh, haha, Dusk but HD, what a joke,'" David "Garumin" Bonin told me in a recent interview. 

Helldivers 2's latest order sure looks like a setup for players to liberate their own mech suits… for democracy!
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2s-latest-order-sure-looks-like-a-setup-for-players-to-liberate-their-own-mech-suits-for-democracy/
Helldivers 2 has announced the latest twist in its galactic war, and it's one that will have Helldivers rushing in en masse. The planet under attack by the Automatons is Tien Kwan, a name that will be familiar to any liberty-loving patriot who saw Arrowhead's mech tease a few days ago: Yep, this is the place where they make mechs.
>> The boss has also apologized for what some moderatoes/devs have said after the balance patch.

Helldivers 2 devs say they're gonna tone down the heavily-armoured creeps: 'We're currently looking at changes to the spawn rates and health pools'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-devs-say-theyre-gonna-tone-down-the-heavily-armoured-creeps-were-currently-looking-at-changes-to-the-spawn-rates-and-health-pools/
(...)
In case you're new to the hell(dive) of difficulties seven to nine, let me lay out the issue: Higher-difficulty missions against bugs set you against two major headaches, the bile titan and the charger—both of which have heavy armour which cause most conventional weapons to simply bounce off their exoskeletons. 
(...)
That'll change soon, though. As spotted by GamesRadar, a recent message by Arrowhead's associate community manager on the game's Discord is promising an end to charger woes. 
>> They’ve also announced a new Warbond (battlepass).

Tribes 3: Rivals needs just 10GB of storage space and the rest of the system requirements look relatively undemanding too
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/tribes-3-rivals-needs-just-10gb-of-storage-space-and-the-rest-of-the-system-requirements-look-relatively-undemanding-too/
I monitor my storage space like a hawk, keeping a strict regimen that means if a new, 100GB+ game is added to my system, I make sure an equivalent is removed to make room, keeping my PC in a state of zen-like equilibrium. Looks like I won't have to worry too much about Tribes 3: Rivals however, as the early access system requirements have been revealed and it only demands a relatively tiny 10GB of precious storage. 

Starfield's new patch busts one of the best early exploits in the game and stops Sam Coe telling his daughter to tell jokes to a corpse
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/starfields-new-patch-busts-one-of-the-best-early-exploits-in-the-game-and-stops-sam-coe-telling-his-daughter-to-tell-jokes-to-a-corpse/
Gosh, but haven't passions cooled on Starfield? For years and years, Bethesda's space sim was the most hotly anticipated game in development by anyone at any studio, and when it came out you couldn't round a corner without encountering some kind of hot take on it (some of them were even ours). But now it feels like everyone has pretty much come to accept Starfield for what it is: A mostly fine, unspectacular open-world thing. Elite: Dangerous with a dialogue box.
Not a bad foundation to build on, to be honest, which is exactly what Bethesda continues to do. Today, the studio dropped Starfield's 1.10.30 update in Steam beta ahead of a likely imminent full release, adding new Photo Mode poses, letting you undo a digipicking move without losing a pick, and—I think most important of all—preventing Sam Coe from telling his 12-year-old daughter to try out her stand-up material on a corpse.

And now, the GOG and Steam deals for the weekend:

+GOG

• Let’s start with the new Deals of the Day, that will last until Monday’s refresh:
  • The first one is Dead Cells, 50% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/dead_cells
  • UNCHARTED™: Legacy of Thieves Collection gets a 50% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/uncharted_legacy_of_thieves_collection
  • Bee Simulator features a 90% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/bee_simulator
  • The last one is Mordheim: City of the Damned, 90% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/mordheim_city_of_the_damned
• I missed it when it launched, but there’s a Weekly Sale with up to 90% discounts during another 4 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240305_weekly_deals_1_march
• The French Week Sale will let us explore lots of games that are up to 90% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240308_french_week
• The Microids Publisher Sale also features up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240307_microids_publisher_sale
• The last deal is the Take a Hike Sale, with games featuring great scenery up to 92% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240308_take_a_hike

+Steam

• The Women’s Day Sale 2024 features up to 90% discounts until the 10th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/womenday24
• Valheim, still in Early Access, gets a 50% discount until the 11th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/892970/Valheim/
• Gamedec - Definitive Edition will be 60% off until the 11th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/917720/Gamedec__Definitive_Edition/
• The Digital Tabletop Fest 4: Roll of the Dice features up to 90% discounts. Most deals will end on March, 11: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/tabletopfest
• A Space for the Unbound, that has a demo, will be 40% off until March, the 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201270/A_Space_for_the_Unbound/
• House Flipper 2 will sport a 20% discount until the 14th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1190970/House_Flipper_2/
• The Early Access title Travellers Rest will be 33% off until the 14th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1139980/Travellers_Rest/
• Mortal Kombat 1 will be free to try during another 2 days and 40% off until March, 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1971870/Mortal_Kombat_1/
• And last, but not least, there’s the Capcom Publisher Sale, with up to 84% discounts that I have no idea how long will last since it onle says “Limited Time Offer”: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/CapcomPubSale

And that’s it. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

Time for some hardware news or whatever:

Gigabyte extends AORUS QD-OLED monitor warranty to 3 years for entire lineup
https://videocardz.com/newz/gigabyte-extends-aorus-qd-oled-monitor-warranty-to-3-years-for-entire-lineup
Following CES, ASUS has revealed an extension of its QD-OLED monitor warranty to two years, including burn-in protection. Following this, MSI declared an upgrade to a three-year warranty, also providing protection against the OLED burn-in effect. It forced ASUS to adjust its warranty period accordingly in response to MSI’s announcement, aligning it with the three-year coverage.
Gigabyte was the only company that did not offer a 3-year warranty for its OLED monitors. However, it has now decided to join forces with other OLED monitor makers and offer a similar warranty period.

LG's new $1 billion investment should help make OLED gaming monitors cheaper
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/gaming-monitors/lgs-new-dollar1-billion-investment-should-help-make-oled-monitors-cheaper/
Rejoice all ye flat panel aficionados, for LG is burying an extra billion bucks into OLED panel production facilities. The idea, reportedly, is to increase the production of all types of OLED displays, from phone sized panels up to TVs.
Slap bang in the middle of that range are, of course, PC monitors. According to an LG rep speaking to the Korean Times (via What HiFi), the immediate impact is that LG will produce around 20% more panels this year than in 2023.

AMD Raises FHD Monitor Requirements To 144 Hz For Freesync Tag, 200Hz FHD For Premium Pro
https://wccftech.com/amd-raises-fhd-monitor-requirements-to-144-hz-freesync-tag-200hz-fhd-premium-pro/
AMD has announced new Freesync technology tiers by updating its support plan for the next generation of gaming monitors.

Puget Systems Posts 2023 CPU Market Trend: Intel Leads In Client Desktop, AMD Dominates The Workstation Segment
https://wccftech.com/puget-systems-2023-cpu-market-trend-intel-leads-client-desktop-amd-dominates-workstation/
Puget Systems has released its CPU market trend report for 2023 showing Intel leading the desktop mainstream space while AMD remains the workstation king.

First generation of GDDR7 graphics cards sticking to 16Gbit (2GB) modules, 3GB on roadmaps
https://videocardz.com/newz/first-generation-of-gddr7-graphics-cards-sticking-to-16gbit-2gb-modules-3gb-on-roadmaps
According to NVIDIA hardware leaker “Kopite7kimi”, the first products using GDDR7 memory will be sticking to the minimum density of 16 Gb (2GB) per module, the same capacity as currently utilized by GDDR6X models.
The 16Gb density is the lowest density as defined by JEDEC GDDR7 specs. It’s the same capacity as currently used by RTX 40 series. However, what’s important to note is that JEDEC specs also enable 24Gb (3GB), 32Gb (4GB), 48Gb (6GB) and even 64Gb (8GB) densities. (...)
In the case of GDDR7, Micron actually does plan to make 3GB GDDR7 modules. This company developed the GDDR5X and GDDR6X custom variants for NVIDIA, which may suggest that NVIDIA will be exploring new capacity configurations in future GPUs.

>>Get tready for 12GB cards with a 128-bit memory bus.

AMD just made Freesync messy.

They needed to rename it Freesync 2 rather than use the same Freesync Premium Pro name... Does that mean the old Pro displays now become basic?
Do manufacturers go back to old displays and change the sticker and advertising?

******

Shame that GDDR7 has a 16Gb spec, would have liked to have seen 24Gb as a minimum, just so we can get tangible improvements even on low-end parts.

I'm okay with 128-bit bus for lower priced parts, it's not as impactful if you drive the memory speed (Which GDDR7 will) plus lots of L2 cache, but the price needs to match that simpler memory bus.

Back to the roots... they started "Freesync 2 (HDR)" early 2017 and renamed it to "Freesync Premium Pro" early 2020.

Related to this, all games published by Adult Swim Games are at risk of being removed.

Fist Puncher has been confirmed to be removed.

And Warner Bros Discovery doesn't seem interested to transfer ownership.

Devs left with tough choices as Warner Bros. ends all Adult Swim Games downloads
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/03/devs-left-with-tough-choices-as-warner-bros-ends-all-adult-swim-games-downloads/
Warner Bros. Discovery seems set to remove at least 16 games from its Adult Swim Games subsidiary from games markets and has told the affected developers that it will not transfer the games back to them nor offer other means of selling them in the future.

watching art friend build his new rig with a closed loop cooler 4090. It's fun watching him dork out about the sheer size of the GPU, but he was having trouble when it came to fan direction lol. He's still building it, but went out to grab some washers for the CPU.

Cheers dude, didn't realise. There you go.

That's awful.

See, that's something that I've never understood, and it's not limited to gaming: the "if I can't have/use it, no one can" mentality. If Warner doesn't want to publish those games anymore, then just transfer the rights to the studios that developed those games so they can still get something out of them.

Warner's CEO is notorious for literally taking anything they have and simply throwing it into the tax write off machine. The Wile cayote film is another victim of this, and now it seems the AS games are too, because they would rather write them off and liquidate them, than to give them to anyone else, because there's zero money in it for them in doing small deals.

Guy seriously needs to get fired, not just from his job, but from the entire planet, he's yet another douchebag CEO in the line of idiotic/greedy CEO's. 

If you ask me, it should be made illegal to trash projects and existing IP's for quick cash in the span of a decade, because it has become an obvious pattern with WB, that it's no longer making any sense to start up a project, only to melt it down right before completion, as well as flat out melting existing and finished projects. 

Finished the base game for Borderlands GOTY enhanced.


39 hours at lv 36 Soldier.

Gonna play the DLC next.