Monday news, part two:

Overwatch 2 is cracking down on 'unapproved peripherals' for console to 'level the playing field for all players'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2-is-cracking-down-on-unapproved-peripherals-for-console-to-level-the-playing-field-for-all-players/
A recent Director's Take on Overwatch 2 revealed that Blizzard is about to begin the hunt for console players using a mouse and keyboard. If you're found with any "unapproved peripherals" like these, you'll likely be punished in the worst way possible: being stuck with PC players. 

Team Fortress 2 joins us in the modern age as Valve updates the 17 year old shooter to 64-bit
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/team-fortress-2-joins-us-in-the-modern-age-as-valve-updates-the-17-year-old-shooter-to-64-bit/
While Team Fortress 2 has received less attention from Valve than its other team-based shooter Counter-Strike 2, it hasn't been abandoned as some corners of the Internet claim. The game has been consistently receiving small updates every few months, tweaking maps and characters as Valve sees fit. The latest update is more substantial than usual, however, as it finally brings Valve's 17-year-old shooter into the 64 bit era.

Prison Architect 2's release delayed due to 'new technical challenges', has its sentence extended until September
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/prison-architect-2s-release-delayed-due-to-new-technical-challenges-has-its-sentence-extended-until-september/
Prison Architect 2, sequel to Introversion's beloved incarceration simulation developed by Double Eleven, has been remanded in custody until September 3rd. The delay was announced on Paradox's website, with the Prison Architect 2 team citing the emergence of 'new technical challenges' as the cause for the launch's postponement.

Helldivers 2 CEO says after success, the goal now is simple—'make this the best live game you've ever played'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-ceo-says-after-success-the-goal-now-is-simple-make-this-the-best-live-game-youve-ever-played/
A huge part of Helldivers 2's appeal is the game's ongoing galactic war, a push-and-pull conflict between the players and the enemy factions that sees planets liberated, territory lost, and casualties on a multi-planetary scale. (…)
(...) The developers themselves have in some cases become personalities: the biggest by far is game master Joel, who's become a community meme (if anything goes wrong, blame Joel), but almost as prominent is Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt (…)
We're dealing with the former today, after Pilestedt popped up in response to TheGentlemanCEO (presumably no relation) posting a topic about the game's subreddit "riding [a] fine line between constructive input and whiny entitlement". (…)
"I appreciate your sentiment and post," wrote Pilestedt in response. "Let me add some context. (…)
Part of the inspiration for the original topic is an ongoing community argument about certain bugs that need fixing, and whether these should be prioritised by the studio over the current rapid pace of updates and additions to the game. "We want to deliver the best in the industry and we are calibrating our efforts of fixing vs new stuff," responds Pilestedt. "It's easy to say 'just fix, don't add', but the reality of the competitiveness in this industry is that we have to do both to stay relevant."
Pilestedt says Arrowhead is still "figuring it out, the demands and expectations on the studio are high, all eyes are on us, and we have a sole purpose—to make this the best live game you've ever played. We just need to find our stride and balance."
>> I don’t think I’ve ever posted a news article so long and so cut. Anyway, since Joel is mentioned, he has made a deal with the community.

The long-awaited sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters hits its crowdfunding target in less than four hours, and they're not kidding about that $4.4 million stretch goal
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-long-awaited-sequel-to-the-ur-quan-masters-hits-its-crowdfunding-target-in-less-than-four-hours-and-theyre-not-kidding-about-that-dollar44-million-stretch-goal/
After a long, rocky road, the sequel to Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is finally taking flight. A Kickstarter campaign to support the development of Free Stars: Children of Infinity got underway earlier this week, and it's already a major success, having tripled its $100,000 goal in just three days.

World of Warcraft boss says Microsoft is happy to 'let Blizzard be Blizzard,' but I'm not sure that's entirely true
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/world-of-warcraft-boss-says-microsoft-is-happy-to-let-blizzard-be-blizzard-but-im-not-sure-thats-entirely-true/
Six months after its 2023 acquisition by Microsoft, it sounds like its business as usual at Blizzard. In an interview with VGC, World of Warcraft executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale said being a part of Microsoft has "just been helpful," and that so far the new owners are taking a light touch.

A studio helmed by StarCraft 2's multiplayer lead wants to create an RTS 'paradigm shift' with its unannounced game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/uncapped-games-announcement/
Uncapped Games, a new Tencent studio formed in 2021, revealed itself to the world this week with a documentary from Noclip's Danny O'Dwyer (embedded above). The studio is working on an unannounced RTS game that it hopes will trigger a "paradigm shift" in realtime strategy by shifting the emphasis away from memorization and execution speed.

Slash and shoot your way through a procedural bug hole in Ants Took My Eyeball
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/slash-and-shoot-your-way-through-a-procedural-bug-hole-in-ants-took-my-eyeball/
A new 2D action-platforming roguelike released today, with Ants Took My Eyeball challenging you to descend into an ever-changing ant hill in search of your missing body part. Swapping between melee weapons, ranged weapons, gadgets, and trinkets, your job is to go as deep as you can before coming back for another try.

Here's a chaos co-op take on getting boxes off the shipping floor and out the factory door
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/heres-a-chaos-co-op-take-on-getting-boxes-off-the-shipping-floor-and-out-the-factory-door/
A just-released chaotic game in the vein of PlateUp and Overcooked takes the genre to the wild world of, uh, shipping logistics. Asking you to get boxes out the warehouse door as quickly as you can, Ready, Steady, Ship! is playable by yourself or in two player couch co-op, which you can also run via Steam's remote play together.

Metroidvania around a microscopic world to save dogs everywhere in BioGun
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/metroidvania-around-a-microscopic-world-to-save-dogs-everywhere-in-biogun/
Indie developer Dapper Dog Digital released their "love letter to the Metroidvania genre" this week with BioGun, a platforming action-adventure that takes place entirely inside a whimsically microscopic world of viruses and vaccines. And whimsically enjoyable it is, with a hand-drawn world and characters that have a wide, delightful, and cartoonish variety in their design.

And the third part of the news:

9 years on, one dedicated Witcher 3 YouTuber is still finding new secrets and easter eggs in CD Projekt's masterpiece
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/9-years-on-one-dedicated-witcher-3-youtuber-is-still-finding-new-secrets-and-easter-eggs-in-cd-projekts-masterpiece/
I'm a Witcher 3 obsessive, revisiting CD Project's opus once every two or three years, but that barely holds a candle to the Witcher 3 devotion of xLetalis, a YouTuber who's been documenting the massive game's secrets and esoterica since release, and is still finding new surprises to this day.

Almost 12 years after release, 7 Days to Die finally announces it's leaving early access
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/almost-12-years-after-release-7-days-to-die-finally-announces-its-leaving-early-access/
Which one is 7 Days to Die again? It's the zombie survival game where every seven days a rampaging horde arrives to mess up everything you've made? Sounds like Brisbane on the weekend. 
I remember hearing 7 Days to Die is one of the good ones actually, but since it came out at the peak of my period of "being a bit sick of  all these zombie games, especially the early access ones" I never gave it a look-in. "I'll wait until it leaves early access, then I'll check it out," I thought. And then I didn't think about it again until now, when developers The Fun Pimps announced 7 Days to Die really is about to hit 1.0.

NieR creator insists that his decisions are based on what he thinks will sell, while also quipping that 'at first I listen to what the publisher wants from me, but later I don't'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/nier-creator-insists-that-his-decisions-are-based-on-what-he-thinks-will-sell-while-also-quipping-that-at-first-i-listen-to-what-the-publisher-wants-from-me-but-later-i-dont/
In a joint IGN interview with NieR creator Yoko Taro and Stellar Blade creative director Hyung-tae Kim, the two developers had nothing but praise for each other's work, while the famously eccentric Taro insisted that his surreal and existentialist fever dream NieR: Automata was just an Evangelion rip off that played to the market.

Brotato has a DLC and a free, 4-player local co-op expansion incoming
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/brotato-has-a-dlc-and-a-free-4-player-local-co-op-expansion-incoming/
Blobfish have announced that beloved roguelike arena shootfest Brotato will get a full-on DLC and a major feature update this year. The update will be free, and bring in four player local co-op. 

Toss, perch on, and leap from your magic staff in the demo for action platformer Akatori
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/toss-perch-on-and-leap-from-your-magic-staff-in-the-demo-for-action-platformer-akatori/
A prologue-style demo for an upcoming action platformer has you wielding a magic staff and two-fisted kung fu to battle enemies and explore a metroidvania-style world of myth and magic. Akatori's big pitch si that your way of moving depends on a magic staff that can be thrown not just as a weapon, but to hover in midair as a pole to jump off of.

The game that's all about drawing and creativity, Gartic Phone, adds and then swiftly removes an AI mode, in 'a straight-up slap in the face to any and all artists'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/the-game-thats-all-about-drawing-and-creativity-gartic-phone-adds-and-then-swiftly-removes-an-ai-mode-in-a-straight-up-slap-in-the-face-to-any-and-all-artists/
Over the weekend, the artistic version of Broken Telephone or pictionary with extra steps known as Gartic Phone added and then quickly removed an AI art mode, and many of the artists who have been supporting and propping this game up with streams and videos are not happy, with some boycotting the game permanently. 

Embracer Group embraces its new future as three separate companies including 'Middle-earth and Friends', which its CEO says 'reinforces Embracer's vision of backing entrepreneurs and creators with a long-term mindset'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/embracer-group-embraces-its-new-future-as-three-separate-companies-including-middle-earth-and-friends-which-its-ceo-says-reinforces-embracers-vision-of-backing-entrepreneurs-and-creators-with-a-long-term-mindset/
Embracer Group has announced it is transforming into three separate, publicly listed companies, respectively named Asmodee Corp, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-Earth Enterprises & Friends.

Tattoo artist behind LeBron James' ink loses lawsuit claiming his art in NBA 2K was copyrighted
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/tattoo-artist-behind-lebron-james-ink-loses-lawsuit-claiming-his-art-in-nba-2k-was-copyrighted/
The tattoo artist who inked LeBron James and tried to sue Take-Two Interactive for his work making it over to the NBA 2K games has lost his case.
According to Reuters, Jimmy Hayden filed the suit against the developer back in 2017 before amending it in 2019. In it, he claimed that his work on James being replicated across six iterations of the NBA 2K games was a copyright infringement. Some of his claims were dismissed earlier this year, leaving Hayden suing over two tattoos he'd inked on James.

Intel Battlemage GPUs to support DisplayPort 2 up to UHBR 13.5 mode

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-battlemage-gpus-to-support-displayport-2-up-to-uhbr-13-5-mode

“Intel Baseline Profile” tested with Core i9-14900K: 8-9% performance loss compared to ASUS ‘auto’ settings

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-baseline-profile-tested-with-core-i9-14900k-8-9-performance-loss-compared-to-asus-auto-settings

Lenovo Legion Go Ryzen Z1 Extreme handheld drops to $631 for the first time

https://videocardz.com/newz/lenovo-legion-go-ryzen-z1-extreme-handheld-drops-to-631-for-the-first-time

AMD Pushes Out Huge Chunk of Firmware Files For RDNA 3+ GPUs As Prep Work For Strix APUs

https://wccftech.com/amd-pushes-huge-chunk-firmware-rdna-3-gpus-prep-work-for-strix-apus/

NVIDIA’s Monopoly Over The AI Markets Isn’t Sustainable, Analyst Worries About Increasing GPU Power Consumption

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-monopoly-over-ai-markets-not-sustainable-worrisome-gpu-power-consumption/

So Intel's stability problems weren't Intel's fault but the mobo makers by running the CPUs out of spec. Why am I not surprised?

I'd still go with Intel's "baseline" settings over ASUS' settings.

ASUS puts the PL2 at a whooping 4096W, or 4kW. While even the 14900k doesn't get close to consuming that much, it still consumes around 320W with this setting, and probably has some higher spikes than that, too. And it resulted in stability issues...

These are the Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

Nearly 9 years after release, Fallout 4 was one of the most played Steam games this weekend
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/nearly-9-years-after-release-fallout-4-was-one-of-the-most-played-steam-games-this-weekend/
The Fallout TV show is continuing to have an impressive ripple effect on its source material. Last week saw Fallout 76 hit its highest-ever concurrent player count on Steam, while Fallout Shelter saw a humble bump in player count and revenue. Unsurprisingly, the game reaping the biggest benefits from the show's success is Fallout 4. Despite it being almost nine years old at this point, it's technically the most recent mainline entry—one which was one of the most-played games on Steam this weekend.
The game's been slowly climbing in concurrents this week, according to SteamDB, before peaking at a respectable 164,190 simultaneous Sole Survivors exploring the Wasteland on Sunday. It was the ninth most-played game on Steam, raking in more folk than Rainbow Six Siege, Baldur's Gate 3 and Lost Ark. It's also approximately 140,000 more concurrent players than Fallout 4 had prior to the TV show's debut which, even without it topping the charts, is a significant number on its own.

GOG has two new sales:

• The Post-apocalyptic Sale features up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240423_postapo_sale
• A new Weekly Sale has launched with games up to 95% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240423_weekly_deals_5_april

Steamweeklong deals:

• I don’t know how it went unnoticed given that it also took place in other stores, but the Gamera Games Anniversary Sale is also on Steam and features up to 90% discounts, and will last a couple more days, until the 25th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/gameragamepublishersale2024
• Smalland: Survive the Wilds can be yours 33% off until Friday, the 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/768200/Smalland_Survive_the_Wilds/
• Berserk Boy gets a 25% discount until the 29th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1561340/Berserk_Boy/
• Trepang2, that has a demo, will be 40% off until the same 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1164940/Trepang2/
• The Earth Appreciation Festival 2024 has up to 80% deals for us untilMonday, the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/appreciateearth2024
• SimRail - The Railway Simulator, still in Early Access, gets a 20% discount until May the 6th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1422130/SimRail__The_Railway_Simulator/
• Ubisoft puts on sale the Anno History Editions games on the store, 50% off until the 6th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/AnnoHistoryEditions
• And here’s a sample of the weeklong deals:
  • How To Hack In?, still in Early Access, is 25% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1199830/How_To_Hack_In/
  • Factory Town Idle, that has a demo, gets a 30% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2207490/Factory_Town_Idle/
  • Lichenvale, that also has a demo, is half its usual price: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432380/Lichenvale/
  • Lorelai gets a 66% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/593960/Lorelai/
  • Tinytopia is 80% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/968550/Tinytopia/
  • And the last one, Some Distant Memory, can be yours thanks toa big 90% deal: https://store.steampowered.com/app/824850/Some_Distant_Memory/

Fanatical has launched its BYO Supreme Collection Bundle, featuring 23 games to choose from for your bundle of 2, 3 or 5: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-supreme-collection.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This New Skyrim Mod Introduces a Dynamic Decapitation System
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-new-skyrim-mod-introduces-a-dynamic-decapitation-system/
Skyrim fans, here is something for you today. You can now download a neat new mod by ‘Seb263’ that adds a dynamic decapitation system. With this mod, both players and NPCs can perform decapitating attacks on enemies in combat. So, let’s dive in and see what it’s all about.
Normally, in Skyrim, decapitation only happens in specific situations. As such, you can decapitate your enemy only when executing a killmove. By using this mod, though, you can make it happen more frequently. So, if you strike an enemy’s head with enough force when their health is low, they might now lose their head. Plus, you can tweak settings to decide how likely this is to happen and when.
In short, this is a pretty cool new gameplay mod that can greatly enhance your gaming experience. After all, this this feature adds an extra layer of brutality to combat encounters. As such, we highly recommend giving it a go. You can download it from this link. At the end of the article, you can also find a video from it. This video should give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect from it.

Fallout 4 now has a Fallout 3/New Vegas-inspired Karma System
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/fallout-4-now-has-a-fallout-3-new-vegas-inspired-karma-system/
Modder ‘bp42s’ has released a new mod for Fallout 4 that brings to it a Karma System that is heavily inspired by the one found in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.
By using this mod, players will be able to explore the wasteland, make decisions, speak to people, and their karma will react accordingly. Moreover, the mod comes with level-dependent karma titles, similar to those found in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. There is also a new KARMA Pip-Boy tab, as well as custom-animated Pip-Boy icons.
Now for those wondering, no. This new Karma system will not influence, in any way, the game’s ending. Fallout 4 wasn’t built with that in mind. So, don’t expect the Karma consequences to be similar to those of New Vegas.
Still, this is a cool new mechanic that can enhance your gaming experience. I mean, it’s better than nothing, right?
>> The article doesn’t feature screenshots or videos.

So many people are downloading Fallout mods after watching the show that the Nexus is straining to support all the traffic
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/so-many-people-are-downloading-fallout-mods-after-watching-the-show-that-the-nexus-is-straining-to-support-all-the-traffic/
First reported by PCGamesN, ubiquitous videogame mod site NexusMods has been experiencing interruptions due to an influx of traffic as new and old Fallout fans check out the games after watching the show. Fallouts 4, New Vegas, and 3 are the third, fourth, and eighth all-time biggest games on the site, commanding over 2 billion total downloads across the three.
The NexusMods status page first flagged the problem on April 19, with a message explaining why users may encounter slow load times and downloads. "We are experiencing much more traffic than usual due to the popularity of the Fallout TV show," the message reads. "We have deployed extra resources where possible and we are monitoring the uptime and performance across the network. We have staff on call at all times to deal with any problems."
According to the status page, the increased traffic and performance issues remain unresolved and under investigation as of early this morning, and the Nexus is actively rerouting download traffic to account for this. At the time of writing, I'm not having any issues loading into the site, and I was able to download a small mod as a test.
Over the weekend though, I definitely had a bit of trouble trying to access NexusMods to report on The Witcher 3 Brothers In Arms unofficial patch, but I didn't think much of it at the time⁠. One thing we've been surprised at is how few direct Fallout show mods there seem to be so far⁠—a few Lucy presets, some sound packs, icons⁠, all pretty tame. 

This Total War: Shogun 2 mod lets you play out the real historical war that inspired the FX TV show
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/shogun-tv-show-real-history-total-war-mod/
While PC gamers all over the place are flocking back to Fallout after having a great time watching the new Amazon TV series, I'm over here quietly despairing that there's only a single episode of FX's Shogun left to air. The new adaptation of the 1975 novel has been so excellent I even considered playing the 1980s PC games that tried to put their own spin on the story just like our news writer Joshua Wolens did, but then I came to my senses and went looking for options that aren't quite as old as computers with 64 kilobytes of RAM.
And I found the perfect one in the first place I looked: the Total War: Shogun 2 Steam Workshop.
The Sekigahara Campaign jumps Total War: Shogun 2's campaign forward in history approximately 50 years, to the 1590s. (...)
The events of Total War: Shogun 2 let you play through the decades prior to the show and novel, then, but the Sekigahara Campaign jumps up to just before the events of the TV series. Should you choose to take command of the Tokugawa clan, you can lead the real-life version of Toranaga to victory. Or, instead, step into the shoes of Hidetoshi a few years prior to his death or control the clan of Toranaga's main rival from the council of regents in the show (Ishida Mitsunari is the real-life figure).
>> The article has several screenshots.

GAMING NEWS

Tales of the Shire has been officially announced, coming to PC in 2024
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/tales-of-the-shire-has-been-officially-announced-coming-to-pc-in-2024/
Private Division and WETA Workshop have just announced a new The Lord of The Rings game, called Tales of the Shire. Tales of the Shire is a Hobbit life sim game that will be coming to PC in 2024, and below you can find its announcement in-engine trailer.

Here are 35 minutes of gameplay from the Unreal Engine 5-powered Lovecraftian horror game, Pneumata
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-35-minutes-of-gameplay-from-the-unreal-engine-5-powered-lovecraftian-horror-game-pneumata/
YouTube’s ‘ENFANT TERRIBLE’ has shared a video, showcasing 35 minutes of gameplay footage from Pneumata. Pneumata is a new Lovecraftian survival and psychological horror game using Unreal Engine 5, that will be coming to PC in Q2 2024.

Tuesday news, part two:

Chart-topping city-builder Manor Lords hits 3 million wishlists four days before launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/chart-topping-city-builder-manor-lords-hits-3-million-wishlists-four-days-before-launch/
Medieval city-builder Manor Lords continues to gather steam ahead of its Early Access release, which is doubly impressive considering its set in a preindustrial society. The game surpassed three million wishlists on Steam over the weekend, adding another 500,000 to the total in the span of seven days.

Diablo is donating 6.66 million maggots and counting to a wildlife sanctuary in honour of Duriel the Maggot King
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-is-donating-666-million-maggots-and-counting-to-a-wildlife-sanctuary-in-honour-of-duriel-the-maggot-king/
Blizzard is rounding up all the maggots it can find and shipping them off to Tiggywinkles UK, a specialist wildlife hospital, this Earth Day. The number of maggots sent off depends on how many likes one tweet gets. 
Well, specifically, the person rounding up all the grubs is actually Diablo 4's Duriel the Maggot King, which is pretty apposite, honestly: "Duriel the Maggot King has enlisted you to help sacrifice his horde," Diablo's official Twitter account explains in a tweet. "For every 25 likes on this post, we will donate 45,000 maggots to birds undergoing treatment and rehabilitation at @TiggywinklesUK. Send millions of maggots to meat their maker."

Path of Exile studio warns of 'malicious' phishing post that appeared on Steam, tells players 'please take immediate action to secure your account'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-studio-warns-of-malicious-phishing-post-that-appeared-on-steam-tells-players-please-take-immediate-action-to-secure-your-account/
Grinding Gear Games is warning followers to change their passwords after a post containing a phishing link appeared briefly on the Path of Exile page on Steam.
"Earlier today, a malicious news post containing a phishing link went up on the Path of Exile Steam page from a compromised account," the studio wrote in a message posted to Steam and Twitter. "The post was taken down quickly, but if you followed the link or suspect your account may also be compromised, please take immediate action to secure your account."

After a year marooned on the Epic store, Dead Island 2 debuts on Steam to 'mixed' reviews for a very silly reason
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/after-a-year-marooned-on-the-epic-store-dead-island-2-debuts-on-steam-to-mixed-reviews-for-a-very-silly-reason/
After a year of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store, the zombie survival game Dead Island 2 is now available on Steam—and not everyone is as excited about its arrival as you might expect.
(...)
Interestingly, the early reaction to the Steam launch is mixed. Many users are happy that they can now get Dead Island 2 from their preferred digital seller (and take the opportunity to slag off Epic Games) but there's a significant number of negative reviews driven primarily by the presence of Epic Online Services, a free SDK that enables various sorts of multiplayer functionality—matchmaking, voice chat, friends list, leaderboards, all that sort of thing—regardless of engine or platform.
>> The article lists other games that use EOS, in case you want to cross them off of your “to buy” list.

Blizzard 'remixed' one of the best WoW expansions with new items and boosted XP and it starts next month
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/blizzard-remixed-one-of-the-best-wow-expansions-with-new-items-and-boosted-xp-and-it-starts-next-month/
Blizzard is leveraging pure nostalgia with WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria, a limited-time opportunity to rewind time and play through a modernized version of the 2011 expansion. When it goes live on May 16, you'll be able to quickly level up a character who will transfer over to the regular servers when it's over, presumably as a fun way to prepare for The War Within expansion later this year.
>> By the way, Blizzard claims to pay attention to all users, even the “shoutiest of the shouty”.

Even with my bad case of battle royale fatigue, this upcoming mecha game's 60-person battle royale/extraction shooter hybrid mode sounds pretty sick
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/even-with-my-bad-case-of-battle-royale-fatigue-this-upcoming-mecha-games-60-person-battle-royaleextraction-shooter-hybrid-mode-sounds-pretty-sick/
We weren't quite sure what to make of Mecha Break when it was unveiled at last year's Game Awards⁠—is this a story-heavy challenger to Armored Core's throne, or something else entirely? After a gameplay reveal earlier this year and a conversation through a translator with developer Amazing Seasun's CEO, Kris Kwok, I got the skinny on a much weirder game, one that's pairing tight team-based shooter modes with a take on battle royale that, despite my fatigue from the genre, definitely has my interest.

Arrowhead's latest major order is exploiting the Helldivers 2 community's greatest weakness: communication
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arrowheads-latest-major-order-is-exploiting-the-helldiver-2-communitys-greatest-weakness-communication/
Less than three days remain on Helldivers 2's latest major order, and the projections are grim.
Super Earth has tasked the community with successfully defending 10 planets from enemy takeover, but over the weekend, we barely managed three. With a handful of new defense missions opening just hours ago, it's looking like this major order might be a wash.
To be fair, the deck was stacked against us from the start. The community has racked up a handful of impressive collective milestones these last few months—the unexpectedly quick liberation of Tien Kwan, The Battle of Malevelon Creek, pulverizing two billion bugs in just over 12 hours—but we have a blind spot. We're very good at tackling simple, focused goals in record time, but historically bad at coordinating when there are multiple targets on the board. Arrowhead knows this, and is exploiting it.

Fortnite's battle royale mode was cooked up in the back of an Uber in 'like, three hours'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/fortnites-battle-royale-mode-was-cooked-up-in-the-back-of-an-uber-in-like-three-hours/
Fortnite—or, specifically, Fortnite: Battle Royale—is inescapable. It is a titan with the gravitational pull of the sun, dragging in characters from dozens of IPs to brawl for their chicken dinners. It's kind of beautiful, in a cosmic horror, grey goo sort of way—Aang can kamehameha Peter Griffin and hit the griddy, after all.
Before its battle royale mode changed the landscape, however, Fortnite was a humble co-op game with some building elements. Considering how much more relevant it is in a post-battle royale mode, you'd be forgiven for thinking its transition was a masterstroke of marketing genius. Turns out, it was cooked up in the back of an Uber.
>> And its latest change is the inclusion of a toggle to disable 'confrontational emotes'.

Final Fantasy 14 is bringing its Yo-kai Watch crossover back after 4 years, offering weapon glams, mounts, and a minion we crowned 'the ugliest MMO pet of all time'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/final-fantasy/final-fantasy-14-is-bringing-its-yo-kai-watch-crossover-back-after-4-years-offering-weapon-glams-mounts-and-a-minion-we-crowned-the-ugliest-mmo-pet-of-all-time/
Final Fantasy 14 is no stranger to crossover events. Most recently, a FF16 crossover where you could wear Clive Rosfield's clothes and steal his dog hit the servers. But it's also had some cultural exchanges with Nier: Automata, GARO, Dragon Quest, and (most relevant to the sinful dog in the header image above) Yo-kai Watch, a Pokémon-adjacent franchise with its own line of RPGs that made its debut back in 2013. 
The event itself sees players collecting a bunch of mounts, weapon glams, and minions (mostly by doing overworld events called FATEs with the minions out, and a special watch equipped). It first arrived in 2016, to be repeated in 2017 and 2020—meaning that it's been four years since any of these minions, weapons, or mounts have been achievable. Luckily, Yo-kai's so back, baby.
>> And it will also receive version 2.0 of the new Dawntrail benchmark.

Team Fortress 2's latest silly business sees the game crashing because it thought players were Gordon Freeman
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/team-fortress-2s-latest-silly-business-sees-the-game-crashing-because-it-thought-players-were-gordon-freeman/
Team Fortress 2 just received a huge update, upgrading it 64-bit, finally bringing the 17-year-old shooter into the modern age of gaming. But in true TF2 fashion, there was a problem that no one foresaw: the game kept crashing because it thought players were Gordon Freeman from Half-Life. 
The issue has since been fixed by the latest update on April 22, and all the patch notes reveal is: "Fixed a crash under 64-bit caused by some custom HUDs using Half-Life 2 HUD elements which assume the player is Gordon Freeman." It's a bit of an odd outlier, sandviched between ABI compatibility issues and snd_cull_duplicates command not working. I nearly glossed over it myself.

LG Display Announces Mass Production of World’s First Gaming OLED Panels With Switchable Refresh Rate & Resolution

https://wccftech.com/lg-display-mass-production-worlds-first-gaming-oled-panels-switchable-refresh-rate-resolution/

AMD Reveals Open-Sourcing Of Additional Radeon GPU Stacks, On-Track To Debut This Year

https://wccftech.com/amd-open-sourcing-additional-radeon-gpu-stacks-debut-this-year/

Samsung 1080 PRO NVMe SSDs Surface Online But Beware, They Are Fake & Run Like Crap

https://wccftech.com/samsung-1080-pro-nvme-ssds-surface-beware-they-are-fake-run-like-crap/

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus specifications and performance leak out

https://videocardz.com/newz/qualcomm-snapdragon-x-plus-specifications-and-performance-leak-out

ASUS ROG Ally now with extended warranty for SD card related issues

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-rog-ally-now-with-extended-warranty-for-sd-card-related-issues

Hopefully, the mass productin of those panels will help them lower the cost.

JEDEC has updated their DDR5 standard, with 2 new additions specifically:

1. Extending the standard past DDR5-6400 from DDR5-6800 all the way up to DDR5-8800
2. Adding a Per Row Activation System (PRAC), which apparently helps with Data integrity and also helps combat Rowhammer attacks, though this also comes with a small performance penalty.

JEDEC Updates DDR5 Memory Standard to Support Up to 8800MT/s and Introduces New Security Features (guru3d.com)