Talking about Windows, I don't know how many of you know this or knew this but forgot, or much less if any of you need it, but here's this:

PC user annoyed about Task Manager jumping around gets told how to fix it with one button—by the developer that built the application 30 years ago
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/windows/pc-user-annoyed-about-task-manager-jumping-around-gets-told-how-to-fix-it-with-one-buttonby-the-developer-that-built-the-application-30-years-ago/
Do you get frustrated when you're trying to track down an application in Task Manager and the list is constantly shuffling around? Loads of people do, and that's why the developers at Microsoft added a shortcut to prevent it happening. Simply hold down the Ctrl key and everything freezes in place.

It's so easy—why didn't the developers think of this sooner? Well, they did, actually.

The shortcut has been in Task Manager since 1994. We know this because the developer that created the application just rebuffed someone over on X trying to complain about it.

16 Billion is an insane under-evaluation for the definitive pc gaming platform. Probably fake imo. If Valve takes that, they are selling themselves short.

It's far, far lower of an offer compared to what they actually used to buy Acti/Blizz and Bethesda, and tells me they still see Steam as "not worth the money", yet they still see it as one of their biggest threats. 

They'll likely turn it down, but MS should not be allowed to go around "preparing" offers for anyone else at this point, they've been proven time and time again that all they want is IP ownership, and proceeding to gut studios worth of talent and milking/locking an IP till it breaks and then they shelve it.

There's no real way MS could even begin to integrate Steam into MS's own ecosystem, because to do that, they'd need to fully replace Steam points, Steam wallet cash, Steam's own network systems, everything that makes it not Xbox, and I know MS loves everything running under their Xbox ecosystem infrastructure (Remember what happened to Bethesda.net when MS bought them?, yeah it's gone, network and all). 

The part that gets me, is I know in this day and age that there are a decent chunk of people who wouldn't give a single fuck who bought who (or even simp for them, because that's the hip thing to do these days, bat for a corp without thinking twice), and that they'd just tell ppl to "stop complaining, it's just another ecosystem" (for real, those people help contribute to product/company/competitive damage, and they'll never admit that they do, nor change their minds). 

Microsoft buying Valve would be an absolute nightmare scenario, and due to Gabe's Microsoft background, that's doesn't sound as unlikely as I'd like. I have my doubts about the deal ever happening, but you never know...

16 billions seems really low for Steam

Oh dear God I think MS owning Steam would be awful.  I can only imagine all the forced xbox game bar crap + mountain dew & dorito adverts.

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

This week, the Epic Store gives away Farming Simulator 22: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/farming-simulator-22.
The free game for next week is, once again, a mystery.

Steam has three new deals:

• Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster will be 80% off until the 29th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1413480/Shin_Megami_Tensei_III_Nocturne_HD_Remaster/
• Call of Juarez: Gunslinger gets a 90% discount until May, the 31st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/204450/Call_of_Juarez_Gunslinger/
• And the MEGA FMV PACK, with 13 FMV games, is 79% off. There’s no mention of when the deal will end, but the individual games will also be on sale until the 5th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/22000/MEGA_FMV/

There are two new deals at Humble:

• At Humble Bundle there’s the Fully Loaded: Nightdive FPS Remasters Bundle, with up to 10 items to get during 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/fully-loaded-nightdive-fps-remasters
• The Humble Store has the Plug In Digital Publisher Sale, with up to 88% discounts during 4 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/plug-in-digital-publisher-sale/

Fanatical has a new sale and bundle:

• The Warhammer Skulls Festival is live with up to at least 80% discounts. The length of the deals vary, with some lasting 7 and other 8 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/franchises/warhammer
• And the bundle is the BYO Premiere Bundle: Showcase Edition, with 14 games to choose from: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-premiere-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AMD Radeon Anti-Lag 2 is now a game-integrated tech and not an in-driver solution
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/amd-radeon-anti-lag-2-is-now-a-game-integrated-tech-and-not-an-in-driver-solution/
AMD has just revealed new details about Anti-Lag 2. According to the red team, Anti-Lag 2 will now be a game-integrated tech and not an in-driver solution. As such, developers will have to manually include this tech in their games, much like they do with NVIDIA Reflex.
For those unaware, AMD Radeon Anti-Lag 2 was meant to be an improved version of the company’s low-latency in-driver tech solution. However, when the red team first introduced it, it got a lot of AMD Radeon owners banned in CS2 and Apex Legends. This forced AMD to completely remove Anti-Lag 2 from its drivers.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake is already playable on PC at 60fps via Nintendo Switch emulators
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/paper-mario-the-thousand-year-door-remake-is-already-playable-on-pc-at-60fps-via-nintendo-switch-emulators/
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake comes out today on the Nintendo Switch. It looks like you can already play it on PC using Nintendo Switch emulators. Shocking, right?
In this game, players will explore a colorful paper world with charming characters in every fold. The remake comes with better graphics and an updated soundtrack. Moreover, it packs some gameplay additions like updated quick-travel pipes and a Partner Ring to swap characters in a jiffy.
Now what’s great here is that Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake can run with 60fps on the latest version of Ryujinx. For comparison purposes, the official Nintendo Switch version is locked at 30fps. Given the game’s graphics, I don’t really know why the big N decided to lock its framerate. It doesn’t appear to be a graphical powerhouse. Surely the Nintendo Switch should be able to run it at 60fps, right? Anyway, the point is that PC gamers can enjoy the game at higher resolutions and higher framerates. This is huge.
>> The article has an almost 9 minutes video.

Hellblade 2 is now playable in first-person view with full 6DOF VR support
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/hellblade-2-first-person-full-6dof-vr/
Owners of VR headsets, get ready for a treat. From the looks of it, Praydog’s UEVR is fully compatible with Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, allowing to experience it in full 6DOF VR in both first-person and third-person perspectives.
For those unaware, Praydog’s UEVR is a project that allows PC gamers to experience over 11,000 UE games in 6DOF VR. This is a must-have for all VR gamers.
UEVR works on a universal level and out of the box and doesn’t contain any code about a specific game. For many games, you can just press “inject” and start playing. However, for more experienced VR gamers, there is a lot that you can tweak.
Since Hellblade 2 is powered by Unreal Engine 5, it’s already playable with UEVR. So, if you own a VR headset, I highly recommend downloading it from this link. Once you’ve installed it, you can head over here to download the VR profile for Hellblade 2.
>> There’s a 10 minutes video of the mod.

'Y'all killed it': Survive the Undead, a community-made PvE zombie mode, is bringing players back to Halo Infinite
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/halo/yall-killed-it-survive-the-undead-a-community-made-pve-zombie-mode-is-bringing-players-back-to-halo-infinite/
A group of community developers and Halo Forge aficionados have created a new PvE mode for Halo Infinite: Survive the Undead, and it's won over old and new players alike.
"Survive the Undead meshes the Halo Firefight experience with the fan-favorite COD Zombies mode, resulting in fast-paced, intense, and sometimes spooky gameplay," dev team The Forge Falcons says in a blog post. "As we learned in Reach, the objective is to 'survive,' and you want to do that by any means necessary."
This mode is endless and round-based, so if you have the skills and superhuman reactions, you can theoretically keep going forever. The highest record so far has been set at 3,588 total kills lasting 1 hour 39 minutes, with a winning score of 34,090, according to a tweet from The Forge Falcons. Which is a ridiculously impressive feat, to say the least. 
There's also the possibility of more maps being added to Survive the Night. "This playlist allows us to test out new modes (BTB Heavies), new features (new networking model), and get feedback at scale before taking that information back and iterating on it," The Forge Falcons write. "From there, we can address issues and community feedback to get things ready for primetime matchmaking."
>> I know it’s not a mod per se, but it’s created by users. The article doesn’t have any media.

GAMING NEWS

Crime Boss: Rockay City will not have Denuvo on Steam
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/crime-boss-rockay-city-will-not-have-denuvo-on-steam/
505 Games will release Crime Boss: Rockay City on Steam on June 18th. And, according to its database, the game will not be using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech when it launches on Valve’s store.

First Ghost of Tsushima PC Update released, fixing issues with DLSS 3 and FSR 3.0
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/first-ghost-of-tsushima-pc-update-released-fixing-issues-with-dlss-3-and-fsr-3-0/
Nixxes has released the first PC update for Ghost of Tsushima. According to the release notes, patch v1053.0.0522.1042 brings fixes to both NVIDIA DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.0. Additionally, it packs some stability improvements.

Thursday news, the second part:

New Call of Duty teaser site does everything but come out and say 'here's the next Black Ops'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/new-call-of-duty-teaser-site-does-everything-but-come-out-and-say-heres-the-next-black-ops/
The hype for the next Call of Duty is beginning to spin up in earnest thanks to a new teaser site at thetruthlies.com carrying some shakycam-style video clips and an ominous message: "Open your eyes. The truth lies."

Destiny 2 is finally nerfing its most broken ult, but as a Warlock main I fear my teammates will still want to crutch on it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/destiny-2-is-finally-nerfing-its-most-broken-ult-but-as-a-warlock-main-i-fear-my-teammates-will-still-want-to-crutch-on-it/
Have you ever had your teammates bully you into running a particular loadout for their benefit? Everyone who plays Warlock in Destiny 2 knows the feeling. Back in 2018, the Forsaken expansion added a new Solar super called Well of Radiance, and in team-based activities we've been forced to run it ever since. When you pop this ult, the Warlock slams a flaming sword into the ground which forms a glowing pool around it for 20 seconds. 
Currently, standing in that well grants all players a 25% damage buff and, more significantly, a whopping 50% reduction to incoming damage. As you can imagine, that's incredibly useful in enemy-dense activities, particularly at higher-end difficulty where damage is substantially amped up. 
(...)
Bungie has long been aware of the problem with Well, and to a lesser degree Titan's Ward of Dawn which also offers a combo of protection and damage buff but is clunkier to use. Last November, the studio warned that the safety offered by Well "is not something we believe the sandbox can or should continue to support." The delay to The Final Shape meant Well has enjoyed an extra couple of months in the sun, but today the nerfs have been announced, and it's fair to say the hammer is falling hard. 

As Helldivers 2 boss Johan Pilestedt hangs up his CEO hat to focus on the creative side, he has one big change in mind: 'My working theory is that time-to-kill is too high'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/as-helldivers-2-boss-johan-pilestedt-hangs-up-his-ceo-hat-to-focus-on-the-creative-side-he-has-one-big-change-in-mind-my-working-theory-is-that-time-to-kill-is-too-high/
Johan Pilestedt is no longer CEO of the studio he founded. He's handed that job to Paradox veteran Shams Jorjani, and given himself the new title of Chief Creative Officer at Arrowhead. His goal in the new role is to be more hands-on with Helldivers 2 going forward and, in his own words, "spend MORE time with the team and 100% of my focus on the games and community."
(...)
With time freed up to focus on the future of Helldivers 2, Pilestedt even opened up about a few topics on his mind: interpreting player feedback, devs playing their own game, and time-to-kill.

Helldivers 2 boss wants to make Arrowhead 'the next FromSoftware or Blizzard'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-boss-wants-to-make-arrowhead-the-next-fromsoftware-or-blizzard/
Helldivers 2 is a massive success, and while that's come at a cost—former Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt, who's now moved into a mainly creative role, told GamesIndustry that they received "horrifying" threats from some players—it's also helped inspire some major ambitions for the future of Arrowhead. Pilestedt isn't looking to take the studio public, though, but he does have hopes that it could one day become "the next FromSoftware or Blizzard."

After only 4 months, Blizzard will axe one of Overwatch 2's last PvE modes because it 'hasn't resonated with players in the ways that we hoped'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/after-only-4-months-blizzard-has-axed-one-of-overwatch-2s-last-pve-modes-because-it-hasnt-resonated-with-players-in-the-ways-that-we-hoped/
One of the few Overwatch 2 co-op PvE modes, Hero Mastery Gauntlet, will be removed in the next season due to a lack of interest, Blizzard announced via a forum post.
"Hero Mastery Gauntlet was intended to bring the high score-chasing excitement of Hero Mastery missions into a multiplayer format," community manager Kaedi wrote. "Unfortunately, it hasn’t resonated with players in the ways that we hoped."

Survival base-builder Nightingale's offline mode has arrived—along with celebrities like Joan of Arc and Edgar Allan Poe
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/survival-base-builder-nightingales-offline-mode-has-arrivedalong-with-celebrities-like-joan-of-arc-and-edgar-allen-poe/
Survival game Nightingale just delivered a feature players have been asking for since the game debuted in early access in February: offline mode. As of today, solo survival fans will no longer be at the whims of servers in order to jump into the fae realms of the gaslamp fantasy base-builder.

Animal Well developer Billy Basso hints at a new game that will 'be in the same universe but may not be a direct sequel'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/animal-well-developer-billy-basso-hints-at-a-new-game-that-will-be-in-the-same-universe-but-may-not-be-a-direct-sequel/
Animal Well has achieved incredible success over the last few weeks since its release and is shaping up to be one of the most acclaimed Metroidvanias since Hollow Knight. At the tail end of this success, developer Billy Basso has hinted at the possibility of an upcoming game that dives back into its secret-laden world. 
In a Q&A on r/NintendoSwitch, developer Billy Basso and business/marketing manager Dan Adelman answered a few questions from fans, including what would come next. "I'm currently planning to make a game that will be in the same universe but may not be a direct sequel," Basso says. This wouldn't be the first time an indie developer has taken this approach, with Undertale's dev Toby Fox choosing to release Deltarune in the same fashion.  

MultiVersus has scrubbed the Justin Roiland voice lines snagged from Rick & Morty, replacing them with game-specific recordings by their new voice actors
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/multiversus-has-scrubbed-the-justin-roiland-voice-lines-snagged-from-the-show-replacing-them-with-game-specific-recordings-by-their-new-voice-actors/
MultiVersus has scrubbed any existence of Justin Roiland's voice work for Adult Swim characters Rick and Morty from the game, replacing them with fresh bespoke voice lines, courtesy of their new actors.
I took a peep at the game's credits during a preview build I got my hands on earlier this month and sure enough, Roiland is notably absent from the English voice talent roster. Instead, Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden—the new voice actors for Rick and Morty respectively—are present.

The follow-up to cozy detective game Strange Horticulture is called Strange Antiquities, and this time you'll run an occult artifact shop
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/the-follow-up-to-cozy-detective-game-strange-horticulture-is-called-strange-antiquities-and-this-time-youll-run-an-occult-artifact-shop/
2022 was a fantastic year for detective games: we got both sprawling murder mystery The Case of the Golden Idol and cozy plant shop puzzle game Strange Horticulture. 2024 is shaping up pretty mysteriously, too: a new Golden Idol game is due out this year, and in even more exciting news, a follow-up to Strange Horticulture has been announced today.
Trade in your flowerpots and watering can for a monkey's paw and a skull talisman, because in Strange Antiquities you're running a cozy little curio shop. Check out the all-too-brief teaser above.

New gacha hotness Wuthering Waves is suffering from some catastrophic launch issues, despite making a big splash on Twitch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/new-gacha-hotness-wuthering-waves-is-suffering-from-some-catastrophic-launch-issues-despite-making-a-big-splash-on-twitch/
Wuthering Waves just crashed into the cliff that is the gaming public, and reactions are, well, a little mixed. In case you're unfamiliar, the game's a Genshin Impact-styled gacha from developer Kuro Games, set in a post-apocalyptic world where you follow the journey of amnesiac pretty boy/girl Rover. 
It's been generating quite a bit of buzz: At the time of writing, Wuthering Waves currently has a whopping 91,000 viewers on Twitch—but from a player perspective? Things aren't going so great.

AMD announces Anti-Lag 2: game integration now required, already available in Counter Strike 2

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-announces-anti-lag-2-game-integration-now-required-already-available-in-counter-strike-2

Least they are getting in right this time around

AMD confirms Navi 44 & Navi 48 RDNA4 GPUs through ROCm update

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-confirms-navi-44-navi-48-rdna4-gpus-through-rocm-update

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU Rumor Alleges 512-bit Monster, 16 GDDR7 Memory Modules, Brand New PCB Design

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5090-gpu-rumor-512-bit-memory-bus-16-gddr7dies-brand-new-pcb/

NVIDIA’s Next-Gen “AI PC” SOC May Incorporate Arm Cortex X5 Blackhawk CPU, Blackwell RTX GPU & LPDDR6 Memory On A Singular Package

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-next-gen-ai-pc-soc-arm-cortex-x5-blackhawk-cpu-blackwell-rtx-gpu-lpddr6/

NVIDIA Shares Soar Past $1,000 As CFO Focuses On A.I. Revenue Generation In Q1 Call

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-shares-soar-past-1000-as-cfo-focuses-on-a-i-revenue-generation-in-q1-call/

Crazy shat

The conclusion is the best part of this video

ASUS ROG Ally X specs leaked: 24GB LPDDR5X-7500 memory and massive 80 Wh battery

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-rog-ally-x-specs-leaked-24gb-lpddr5x-7500-memory-and-massive-80-wh-battery