Saw this on an an artist disco I'm on and I'm dying.

Steve throughout the entire vid: 

Tbf though, he's valid in his findings, Asus is just looking for loopholes to charge, which is absolutely anti-consumer and damning to their brand in general. The whole entire point of sending back an appliance is to get it fixed, not send it back and get given a bill, and Asus seems to see it as a means to pocket money from gullible people in the hopes they'll comply and part with money quickly, which in general is scummy. 

Some good news for a change, WB seems to have backed down from delisting Adult Swim published games and will instead transfer them to their respective developers.

Warner Bros. reverses course, won’t delist Adult Swim indie games, devs say
https://www.polygon.com/24153665/warner-bros-adult-swim-games-delisting-steam-update
Warner Bros. Discovery appears to have backed down from its plans to delist more than a dozen games published by its Adult Swim Games label from Steam and digital console stores. WBD now plans to transfer ownership of some of those games back to the indie devs that made them, according to developers who would have been affected by the planned delistings.

^That's the best possible out come of that sh*ty situation.

Here come the Monday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG starts the week with two new Deals of the Day that will last until Wednesday:

• Re-Volt has a kind of ridiculous 15% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/revolt
• The Bard's Tale ARPG: Remastered and Resnarkled will be 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_bards_tale

Steam has three new deals:

• Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2, that has a demo, will be 40% off until the 19th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001340/Fuga_Melodies_of_Steel_2/
• Internet Cafe Simulator 2 gets a 60% discount until the 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1563180/Internet_Cafe_Simulator_2/
• And ISLANDERS will have a 65% deal until the same 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1046030/ISLANDERS/

Fanatical has new Flash Deals, a sale and a bundle:

• These are the 24h Flash Deals:
  • Tales of Arise - Beyond the Dawn - Ultimate Edition is 51% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/tales-of-arise-beyond-the-dawn-ultimate-edition
  • UNDYING gets a 52% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/undying
  • The Forgotten City - Digital Collector's Edition is 66% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/the-forgotten-city-digital-collectors-edition
• Humble Games celebrates its 4th anniversary with a sale and up to 78% discounts during 10 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/humble-games
• The Action Mystery Bundle has 5 unknown games to get: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/action-mystery-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

INTEL Arc Graphics 31.0.101.5448 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-graphics-31-0-101-5448
Highlights
Intel® Game On Driver support on Intel® Arc™ A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel® Core™ Ultra with built-in Intel® Arc™ GPUs for:

• Hades II

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask just got an unofficial PC port with support for high framerates, widescreen/ultrawide, Gyro Aim, autosaves and low input lag
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-legend-of-zelda-majoras-mask-just-got-an-unofficial-pc-port-with-support-for-high-framerates-widescreen-ultrawide-gyro-aim-autosaves-and-low-input-lag/
The Legend of Zelda fans, here is something special for you today. It appears that a native unofficial PC port of the classic N64 Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, has been released.
Zelda 64: Recompiled is a project that’s all about bringing Majora’s Mask, the classic game, onto the PC. To make that happen, it uses N64: Recompiled. This program can turn all N64 games into PC-native titles. It’s a ground-breaking tool, and we can’t wait to see more N64 games getting native PC ports. Additionally, Zelda 64: Recompiled uses RT64 to enhance the game’s graphics.
Mr-Wiseguy has made sure to keep all the cool effects from the original Nintendo 64 game. Zelda 64: Recompiled does not use workarounds or “hacks” to do it, either. Instead, it only makes some modifications to further enhance them. This includes framebuffer effects like the grayscale cutscenes and the Deku bubble projectile. Plus, it has improved things like the lens of truth and shadows to make them even better. And they’ve made sure the lighting and fire effects are just like they were on the N64.
One of the major new PC features of this project is the high framerate support. Finally, Zelda fans will be able to enjoy this classic title with framerates over 60fps. Not only that, but changing the framerate does not have any impact on the game’s physics or speed. Yep, that’s the beauty of a native PC port.
PC gamers can also expect support for widescreen and ultrawide monitors. Not only that but there is support for Gyro Aim. There is currently full support for Dualshock 4, Dualsense, Switch Pro, and most third-party Switch controllers.
And that’s not all. Zelda 64: Recompiled has been optimized to have as little input lag as possible, making the game feel more responsive than ever. It’s also compatible with both Linux and Steam Deck. Oh, and the game now has an Autosave functionality.
Finally, Mr-Wiseguy aims to add Ray Tracing support in a future version via RT64. There are also plans to add support for Texture Packs and Model Replacements.
>> The article has an over 11 minutes video of the game.

YouTuber spots something unusual about Skyrim's river flow, modder gets on it immediately
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/youtuber-spots-something-unusual-about-skyrims-river-flow-modder-gets-on-it-immediately/
I enjoy Any Austin's Skyrim videos, many of which involve calculating the unemployment rate of Skyrim's settlements. He's a chill presence in the Skyrim scene, finding mundane threads and pulling them to see what unravels. His recent video was a perfect example of this, starting on a bridge over the White River in Riverwood and following it to the Sea of Ghosts, taking diversions every time a tributary flowed into it to identify their sources.
It's a gentle rumination on both the art of making a 3D landscape for a videogame, whether realism is always the most important thing to consider, and why it's so pleasing to stand beside a river and wonder about its source and its endpoint. Basically, it's a nice way to spend about 13 minutes of your time and I recommend it to you highly.
Assuming you've done the sensible thing and pressed play on that embed before reading on, you'll know about the unusual spot Any Austin noticed near Ivarstead from which the water flows in two different directions. While we could explain that by imagining a ground spring coming out of an aquifer feeding into the river at that point, which is something that can happen in the real world, we don't have to. 
Because modder Yeti has already uploaded the Ivarstead Source mod on Nexus Mods to deal with the issue. Rather than reversing the flow of half the water so it all comes from Lake Geir and flows into the White River, the mod adds one of those convenient mountain waterfalls to feed into the water at precisely this point. Bingo bango, job done.

GAMING NEWS

Battlefield 2042 Title Update 7.2.0 releases on May 14th, and here are its full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/battlefield-2042-title-update-7-2-0-releases-on-may-14th-and-here-are-its-full-patch-notes/
Electronic Arts has announced that Title Update 7.2.0 for Battlefield 2042 will be available on May 14th. Moreover, the publisher shared its full patch notes. So, let’s take a closer look at it.

Ghost of Tsushima PC has just been delisted in over 100 countries
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ghost-of-tsushima-pc-has-just-been-delisted-in-over-100-countries/
Ghost of Tsushima has been available for pre-order for a while now, and it will finally come out on PC on May 16th. However, it appears that a lot of PC gamers won’t be able to play it. In a shocking move, Sony has delisted the game in over 100 countries, just days before its official release.
>> Well, at least Sony has learned to not sell their games on countries with no PSN if the game has online play.

Capcom rumored to be working on a remake of the first Resident Evil game on the REX Engine
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/capcom-rumored-to-be-working-on-a-remake-of-the-first-resident-evil-game-on-the-rex-engine/
It appears that Capcom may be working on a remake of the first Resident Evil game on the REX Engine. According to industry insider, DanielRPK, this is indeed a project that Capcom has greenlit and is currently working on.

Star Citizen Alpha 3.23 released with support for the Vulkan API, as well as NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-citizen-alpha-3-23-released-with-support-for-the-vulkan-api-as-well-as-nvidia-dlss-and-amd-fsr/
Cloud Imperium has released the Star Citizen Alpha 3.23 Update. According to the team, this new update adds support for the Vulkan API, something that may please a lot of gamers. Moreover, it adds support for both NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR Super Resolution.

Monday news, part two:

Manor Lords' new massive patch stops your villagers from partying too hard and introduces players to the woeful world of the King's Tax
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/manor-lords-first-massive-patch-stops-your-villagers-from-partying-too-hard-and-introduces-players-to-the-woeful-world-of-the-kings-tax/
The new pre-release patch for Manor Lords has just been released for all to try out, and it sure does fix a long list of problems, more so than the developer Greg "Slavic Magic" Styczeń had previously promised.

Brace yourself, EA is thinking real hard about inserting ads into its videogames
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/brace-yourself-ea-is-thinking-real-hard-about-inserting-ads-into-its-videogames/
In his office at EA, Andrew Wilson sits dreaming. Specifically, the CEO is dreaming about ways to deliver ads to EA players, up to (and including) potentially sticking them into the corporation's $60/$70, "AAA" videogames.
That's per a recent earnings call between Wilson and EA investors (via Tom's Hardware), in which the EA boss was asked if there were plans "for more dynamic ad insertion across more traditional AAA games." Wilson's answer? "We have teams internally in the company right now looking at how do we do very thoughtful implementations inside of our game experiences." Gulp.

Here's when Homeworld 3 launches in your region
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/homeworld-3-release-time-launch-date-collectors-edition-early-access/
After more than two decades of waiting, Homeworld 3 is almost upon us. You'll just need a bit more patience—unless you shelled out for one of the special editions—but after waiting for this long, I'm sure you can handle it. 
In the meantime, you can check out our Homeworld 3 review. After such a long wait I wish it could have inspired a slightly more glowing critique—I didn't really gel with the War Games mode or some of the other changes—but the campaign missions are fantastic and the busy maps are a lot of fun to fight over. It's a good sequel, even if it's not my favourite Homeworld.

Can you guess which 2 mysterious games Deus Ex director Warren Spector secretly worked on, but decided not to be credited for?
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/can-you-guess-which-2-mysterious-games-deus-ex-director-warren-spector-secretly-worked-on-but-decided-not-to-be-credited-for/
Veteran PC game creator Warren Spector is credited with working on 46 games on Mobygames, though that may not be a perfectly comprehensive list for a designer and director who's been making games since the 1980s. Actually, it's definitely not a perfectly comprehensive list—while Mobygames has Spector's credits on the likes of Deus Ex (producer and project director), Ultima 6 (writing), and Epic Mickey (creative director), there's no way for the Mobygames database to include projects he wasn't credited on to begin with.

Bungie's first big hit, Marathon, is now free on Steam thanks to a fan revival that has Bungie's blessing
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/bungies-first-big-hit-classic-marathon-is-free-on-steam-with-marathon-2-and-marathon-infinity-to-follow/
Bungie's first real shooter hit, Marathon, has been released on Steam for modern hardware as Classic Marathon, a fan-led port that has Bungie's blessing to release. Classic Marathon is completely free, letting you have the rare experience of playing a classic game not only easily but with zero time spent hunting down an old copy and fighting with compatibility.
>> I recall reading about this somewhere, but I haven’t found a post in this thread about it. If any of you did post it and I somehow missed it, my apologies.

Stray Gods will get a whole story DLC focused on Anthony Rapp's Orpheus
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/visual-novel/stray-gods-will-get-a-whole-story-dlc-focused-on-anthony-rapps-orpheus/
Last year's Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is getting story-focused DLC in the form of Stray Gods: Orpheus, which will star the titular mythical bard rather than base game protagonist Grace. Coming back to earth for a new story, Orpheus will once again be played by Anthony Rapp, the American actor and singer best known for his performance in the original run of the musical Rent, the film version of the same show, and most recently (and to most of you, my fellow nerds) in Star Trek: Discovery.

The physics-based vehicle destruction game I've waited two years for just hit 1.0 with a full campaign inspired by 1997's Blast Corps
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/the-physics-based-vehicle-demolition-game-ive-waited-two-years-for-just-hit-10-with-a-full-campaign-inspired-by-1997s-blast-corps/
I'm a simple man. You put a physics-based vehicle destruction game in front of me and I'm likely to gobble it up. Such was my reaction to Instruments of Destruction when it came to early access back in 2022, but I held back my hunger for destruction, instead opting to wait for its beautiful demolition tech to gain some structure.
That day has arrived: Instruments of Destruction, from one-person studio Radiangames, hit 1.0 today after two years in the oven, and the work shows. New to 1.0 is a full 50+ mission campaign that asks you to tactically destroy, avoid, or gingerly toss structures in 100+ prebuilt vehicles. So far I've been in the seat of a simple bulldozer, a rolly ball with jump and smash buttons, a tractor that shoots explosive cannonballs, and a truck with front-mounted saw blades and a platform that punts entire buildings into the air. Levels are less than five minutes each with bonus objectives, and completing each one unlocks a challenge version for repeat playthroughs. It's such a joy that I had to tear myself away after blazing through the tutorial world this morning.

The RTS genre will never be mainstream unless you change it until it's 'no longer the kind of RTS that I want to play,' says Crate Entertainment CEO
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/crate-ceo-rts-genre-interview/
Crate Entertainment has been working its way through some very 'PC gaming' game genres: First it made an action RPG, Grim Dawn, then it made town builder Farthest Frontier (which is scheduled to leave early access sometime this year), and now it's also working on a real-time strategy game. Unlike some of its contemporaries, however, Crate isn't trying to crack the code to making a mainstream RTS megahit: Real-time strategy is a "nerd genre," Crate Entertainment CEO Arthur Bruno joked in a recent interview with PC Gamer, and he accepts the limited audience that implies.

Things get real weird in this dungeon crawler where you type to succeed
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/things-get-real-weird-in-this-dungeon-crawler-where-you-type-to-succeed/
The strange, stylish Cryptmaster has released on Steam, a text-driven graphical dungeon crawler with a striking black-and-white aesthetic. The pitch?  Everything in Cryptmaster is controlled by saying anything you'd like. Typing in a word is what gives you powers, solves puzzles, and moves your game forward.

In this clever roguelike you build and rewire your powers using spare parts
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/in-this-clever-roguelike-you-build-and-rewire-your-powers-using-spare-parts/
Rogue Voltage dropped on Steam this week, a roguelike deckbuilder of sorts where you wire up and configure weird devices to blow up your enemies in turn-based combat. The core of Rogue Voltage is making crazy machines that do weird stuff. How you do that is the cool part.

Today there’s another news post:

The latest Vampire Survivors release is a straight-up crossover with Contra
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-latest-vampire-survivors-release-is-a-straight-up-crossover-with-contra/
Vampire Survivors continues to roll out new DLC in ever weirder, more delightful packages this month with Operation Guns, a full-on crossover between the worlds of Vampire Survivors and long-running shoot-em-up slash bullet hell slash action arcade series Contra. 

The season of game company gaffes continues with NetEase apologizing for a Marvel Rivals preview contract that asked streamers not to make 'subjective negative reviews of the game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/the-season-of-game-company-gaffes-continues-with-netease-apologizing-for-a-marvel-rivals-preview-contract-that-asked-streamers-not-to-make-subjective-negative-reviews-of-the-game/
Publisher NetEase has walked back a controversial "non-disparagement" requirement for streamers and video makers previewing its upcoming hero shooter Marvel Rivals. Just one day after prominent streamer Brandon "Seagull" Larned criticized the contract on Twitter, NetEase made a statement on the game's Discord and to PCGamesN that it would be amending the contract.

Total War: Pharaoh's big free update map is far, far larger than I would have thought
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/total-war-pharaohs-big-free-update-map-is-far-far-larger-than-i-would-have-thought/
Creative Assembly has posted new bits of maps and a more details on the large, free update coming to Total War: Pharaoh, including a look at its revised and expanded map that will now include the Aegean and Mesopotamia, adding Assyria, Babylon, Mycenae, and Troy as playable cultures with about 150 new and reworked units between them.

Path of Achra, the approachably bite-size roguelike full of superpowered combos, has hit its full release
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/path-of-achra-the-approachably-bite-size-roguelike-full-of-superpowered-combos-has-hit-its-full-release/
Bite-size arena battle roguelike and self-professed "broken build sandbox" Path of Achra has hit its 1.0 release. Developer Ulfsire's game is now finished, for whatever that means in a modern game. "I'm pretty much excrutiatingly grateful to you all who have helped bring it here, and 1.0 of course won't be the end of updates," posted Ulfsire.

Here's a co-op action roguelike that's basically a boss rush of high-tier MMO raids
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/heres-a-co-op-action-roguelike-thats-basically-a-boss-rush-of-high-tier-mmo-raids/
The developer of Rabbit and Steel describes it thus: "a co-op action roguelike that recreates the essence of high-level MMO raiding in a randomized, simplified, bunny-sized package."

Finally, I have another game about being a freaky little nasty guy trapped in an otherworldly hell dimension to look forward to
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/finally-i-have-another-game-about-being-a-freaky-little-nasty-guy-trapped-in-an-otherworldly-hell-dimension-to-look-forward-to/
With how advanced 3D graphics have gotten, I wish we'd use these rendering techniques to get more freaky with it, ya dig? Alan Wake 2's funky lighting and lightning quick loading really scratched that itch for me last year, but 2022's Scorn is really what I'm talkin' about: a sickening fever dream that could only be brought to life in a game. Now it looks like we're getting our first Scornlike in Necrophosis.

'Thank you so much for the second chance chooms': Cyberpunk 2077's developers enjoy a well-earned bask as the game finally hits Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/thank-you-so-much-for-the-second-chance-chooms-cyberpunk-2077s-developers-enjoy-a-well-earned-bask-as-the-game-finally-hits-overwhelmingly-positive-on-steam/
Ah, Cyberpunk 2077—it's incredible to think that a game that launched so disastrously it prompted a class-action lawsuit is, years later, being praised as one of the best RPGs you can play right now. At least if its currently 'Overwhelmingly Positive' recent reviews on Steam are anything to go by.

Helldivers 2 major order challenges players to scrap 2 billion bots, but Super Earth warns it'll be much harder than last time
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-major-order-challenges-players-to-scrap-2-billion-bots-but-super-earth-warns-itll-much-be-harder-than-last-time/
A few weeks ago, Super Earth offered Helldivers 2 players two new stratagems and let them decide which one to unlock by voting with their guns. The winner was the Airburst Rocket Launcher, beating out the less flashy Anti-Tank Mines by a super mile. It was the correct choice, given how satisfying the Airburst's scattershot explosions are, but Super Earth has granted us another opportunity to complete the pair.
"Following the tragic, unavoidable loss of MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines on Choohe to the Automatons, and the civilians too, production began elsewhere immediately," reads a new in-game dispatch. "The Helldivers are ordered to conduct a forceful, large-scale decommissioning of Automaton forces. The recovered scrap of dismantled bots will then be put toward the construction of MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines."

Helldivers 2 only became a live-service game halfway through development, but 'feels like what live service was born to do'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-only-became-a-live-service-game-halfway-through-development-but-feels-like-what-live-service-was-born-to-do/
Russ Nickel, former lead writer of Helldivers 2, was recently interviewed by Inverse, where he explained that developers Arrowhead didn't decide it was going to be a service game until well after beginning work on it. Its popularity sure suggests it was the right call to make. "This feels like what live service was born to do", Nickel said. "For a while, Arrowhead didn't know if the sequel was going to be a live-service title. But as we talked about it more, it was clear that this would make for such a cool live service experience, one where the story can change constantly so it really does feel alive."

Helldivers 2 director says new de-listings are an 'administrative error correction' by Valve on Sony's orders, but 'we still want the game to be available everywhere'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-director-says-new-de-listings-are-an-administrative-error-correction-by-valve-on-sonys-orders-but-we-still-want-the-game-to-be-available-everywhere/
Sony may have walked back its disastrous decision forcing Helldivers 2's PC players to link their accounts to PlayStation Network, but this hasn't stopped the game from remaining delisted on Steam in several countries where PSN is not available. Now, as more countries are added to that blacklist, it's been put upon Arrowhead CEO to discover this was "an administrative error correction" by Valve to comply with Sony's demands.

NVIDIA To Utilize Open-Source Kernel Drivers In Linux For GeForce RTX 20 Series & Beyond

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-utilize-open-source-kernel-drivers-linux-for-geforce-rtx-20-series-beyond/

AMD RDNA 4 GPU Patches Sees Merging Into Mesa’s RadeonSI Linux Driver, VCN5 Encode/Decode Capabilities Revealed

https://wccftech.com/amd-rdna-4-gpu-patches-merging-mesa-radeonsi-linux-driver-vcn5-encode-decode-capabilities/

ASUS ROG Ally X rumored to cost $799, only Ryzen Z1 Extreme version planned

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-rog-ally-x-rumored-to-cost-799-only-ryzen-z1-extreme-version-planned

Although after Asus and their warranty with GN... Not sure if I'd touch their handheld products again

Intel-Powered Aurora Becomes The Fastest Supercomputer For AI, Finally Breaks The Exascale Barrier

https://wccftech.com/intel-powered-aurora-fastest-supercomputer-for-ai-finally-breaks-the-exascale-barrier/

Exclusive: Dell XPS roadmap confirms “Panther Lake” laptops in 2026, “Nova Lake” systems in 2027

https://videocardz.com/newz/exclusive-dell-xps-roadmap-confirms-panther-lake-laptops-in-2026-nova-lake-systems-in-2027

Exclusive: Dell XPS 16 laptop may integrate AMD CPU in 2027

https://videocardz.com/newz/exclusive-dell-xps-16-laptop-may-integrate-amd-cpu-in-2027

Snapdragon X Series chips cost only half as much as Intel Raptor Lake’s, with up to 98% longer battery life

https://videocardz.com/newz/snapdragon-x-series-chips-cost-only-half-as-much-as-intel-raptor-lakes-with-battery-life-up-to-98-higher

Those two articles are bad news for Intel in one of the segments they have more control. Their Panther and Nova Lake chips better be good (and efficient)!

In another news, hopefully wrong ones, AMD may be about to make a bad step:

AMD will reportedly stop supporting Windows 10 starting with its new Strix Point APUs and you can all blame AI for that
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/processors/amd-will-reportedly-stop-supporting-windows-10-starting-with-its-new-strix-point-apus-and-you-can-all-blame-ai-for-that/
According to a post on Weibo (via WCCFTech) by someone reportedly affiliated with Lenovo China, AMD is not going to be providing any Windows 10 drivers for its new chips, starting with the upcoming Strix Point APUs. That will effectively cut AMD processor support for the popular old operating system around a year before Microsoft itself ends Windows 10 life support.

"Win10 enthusiasts please note that starting from Strix Point, AMD will not provide Win10 drivers," reads the post, finishing with a sad panda emoji. 

Just to paint a picture of the number of "Win10 enthusiasts" out there, it's estimated that Windows 10 currently has a global market share of around 69% in terms of desktop operating systems, with Windows 11 dropping down to around 27%.

If true, it's likely a pressure move from MSoft to push users to Win 11 and its AI crap, but I really hope it's a misunderstanding... tho that would explain the lack of an NCU on t he desktops parts Jizz posted last week. That way AMD wouldn't need to drop Win 10 support.