Another Monday, another round of news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

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

• The NSFW title Cloud Meadow, in Early Access, is 27% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/cloud_meadow
• Empires: Dawn of the Modern World gets a 52% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/empires_dawn_of_the_modern_world
• The third DotD is Alan Wake, with a 74% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/alan_wake
• And a quick reminder: you have less than 64 hours before the Summer Sale ends.

Fanatical has two new deals:

• The Star Deal is ELDEN RING, 39% off. The deal started yesterday and it will run for another 24 hours or they run out of the remaining 51% of keys left: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/elden-ring
• The BYO Enigma Bundle 2 has 18 games to choose for your 1+, 5+ or 10+ bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-enigma-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Fans are bringing World of Warcraft to Unreal Engine 5, and here’s your first look at it
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/fans-are-bringing-world-of-warcraft-to-unreal-engine-5-and-heres-your-first-look-at-it/
World of Warcraft fans, get ready for a treat. The Turtle WoW Team is currently working on bringing its World of Warcraft fan expansion, Mysteries of Azeroth, to Unreal Engine 5. This will allow you to experience the classic WoW in UE5, with most of its modern features. And, below, you can find its first gameplay showcase video.
Turtle WoW 2.0 — A new chapter in the Mysteries of Azeroth. For those unaware, Mysteries of Azeroth is a fan-made expansion story for World of Warcraft Vanilla that delves deeper into exploring the original lore of the game.
The expansion aims to take a different path from the Burning Crusade, emphasizing the familiar Azeroth of Vanilla WoW over the cosmic battle with the Burning Legion. While being heavily based on the lore from Warcraft 3 and Vanilla WoW, Mysteries of Azeroth seeks to enhance the game by adding content that matches the already well-established lore of Warcraft Universe.
Turtle WoW 2.0 will feature two graphical modes. These two modes are Legacy and Modern. The Legacy Mode will be the classic, old one. On the other hand, the Modern Mode will have better textures, lighting effects, HD 3D models and richer environments.
>> The article has the PC requirements to be able to play it and a less than 3 minutes video.

Kingdom Hearts 3 just got a must-have 4K Texture Pack that overhauls all environments
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/kingdom-hearts-3-just-got-a-must-have-4k-texture-pack-that-overhauls-all-environments/
Modder ‘1vierock’ has released a must-have 4K Texture Pack for Kingdom Hearts 3. This mod is 15GB in size, and it will overhaul the textures of all environments. As such, it will greatly improve the visuals of the game, and below you can find some comparison screenshots between the vanilla and the modded versions.
From what I can see, the modder has most likely used an AI tool in order to upscale the default textures. Or at least that’s the impression I got from the comparison screenshots.
Now contrary to some other AI-upscaled packs, this one looks great. You will immediately notice the higher-quality textures. In other words, you won’t have to zoom in to find the visual improvements. Not only that, but the modded textures retain the art style of the original ones.
>> The article has some comparison screenshots.

Modders are working on a multiplayer mod for Cyberpunk 2077, and here’s your first look at it
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/modders-are-working-on-a-multiplayer-mod-for-cyberpunk-2077-and-heres-your-first-look-at-it/
Cyberpunk 2077 fans, here’s something for you today. A team of modders is currently working on a multiplayer mod for Cyberpunk 2077. Titled CyberMP, this mod will allow you to play CDPR’s title in multiplayer. And below, you can find a gameplay video from its latest WIP version.
Now before continuing, we should note that this mod is still in an early state. As you will see, there are numerous de-sync issues. Again, this is to be expected. Nevertheless, the video can give you a glimpse at playing CP2077 with your friends.
Sadly, there is no ETA on when this mod will come out. Since it’s currently in a pre-alpha stage, we can assume that it won’t come out this year. Realistically, we should expect some beta sessions in 2025 and a full release in 2026 or 2027.
We should also note that CyberMP will not offer a co-op mode for quests. In other words, you won’t be able to play the game’s campaign with your friends. Instead, think of CyberMP as GTA Online.
>> The article has two videos.

Dark Souls 2 Lighting Engine V_9_3_5 Mod is now available for download, with support for both NVIDIA DLSS 3.7 and AMD FSR 2.2.1
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/dark-souls-2-lighting-engine-v_9_3_5-mod-is-now-available-for-download-with-support-for-both-nvidia-dlss-3-7-and-amd-fsr-2-2-1/
Modder ‘Ganaboy’ has released a new version of the Dark Souls 2 Lighting Engine Mod. This update adds support for NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. These will make the game’s graphics look better, especially with DLSS, and will also help it run more smoothly on PCs.
Going into more details, DS2 Lighting Engine V_9_3_5 adds support for NVIDIA DLSS 3.7 and AMD FSR 2.2.1. Both of these upscaling techniques also have access to motion vectors. As such, they should have minimal visual artifacts in motion.
(...)
Do note that the mod only adds support for the NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR Super Resolution tech. It does not bring support for Frame Generation. So, don’t expect such a thing from it.
For those unaware, DS2LightingEngine is one of the best graphical mods for Dark Souls 2. This mod enables modern effects like Volumetric Fog, High Quality Ambient Occlusion using GTAO and Adaptive Tessellation. Not only that, but it allows many light sources to cast shadows. Players can also enjoy a new Distant Geometry system, as well as improved material rendering for metals/non-metals. The mod also allows placing new meshes and texture overriding and has an improved postprocessor.
>> There’s a 2 minutes video in the article.

Witcher 3 mod restores cut boat-racing quests
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/witcher-3-mod-restores-cut-boat-racing-quests/
The release of the REDkit modding tools has opened up The Witcher 3 like a Yuletide goose, resulting in finds like an extended version of the ending in which Yennefer pulls off a shocking betrayal. Less plot-relevant but still pretty neat, modder MerseyRockoff has found the audio and text files for a cut series of quests where Geralt could enter a string of boat races, and set about recreating them.
As MerseyRockoff notes, "all the conversations, characters, notices and journal entries featured in the mod were originally written by CDPR, but re-created and brought to life by me using REDkit." That means the Boat Races mod feels like a seamless insertion into The Witcher 3, with Geralt having fully voiced conversations with race organizers and various townsfolk about competitive boating, as well as overhearing relevant chatter on the street.
The races themselves have you choose between representing Novigrad or Redania, who sponsor the competitions, in four tournaments: the Novigrad Regatta, the Oxenfurt Regatta, the Helmsman's Dash, and the Rally of the Wrecks. Each sees you racing between burning wooden checkpoints, with a bundle of cash and experience points waiting if you win.
>> The article has an over 25 minutes video and the instructions to install the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Dataminer unearths 'cut' voicelines from Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's stoic final boss
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/dataminer-unearths-cut-voicelines-from-elden-ring-shadow-of-the-erdtree-s-stoic-final-boss/
Before we get into this, there'll (naturally) be spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss within.

'It was so much of a cash cow': Former GTA 5 dev implies ill-fated Agent Trevor DLC was sacrificed at the altar of GTA Online
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/grand-theft-auto/it-was-so-much-of-a-cash-cow-former-gta-5-dev-says-ill-fated-agent-trevor-dlc-was-sacrificed-at-the-altar-of-gta-online/
There was a time, in the halcyon days of the 2000s to early 2010s, where we used to get new Grand Theft Auto games. Okay, to be fair, Grand Theft Auto 6 is on its way, but it's been over a decade since GTA 5 released—contrast that to the five years between GTA 4 and 5.
(...)
I'm being glib here, but you can't deny that game development on one of Rockstar's flagship franchises has slowed down considerably. That's partially due to development times getting longer across the industry—but it's also due to the fact that GTA Online, the live service component of GTA 5, has made Rockstar approximately enough money to buy god.
According to former developer Joe Robino, who worked on GTA 5 as a virtual cinematographer and senior camera artist, GTA Online was so successful that it helped sink plans for a DLC focused on Trevor Philips. This sounds a whole lot like the "James Bond Trevor" DLC that was datamined by players, then later confirmed to have once been in development by Trevor's voice actor, Steve Ogg.

Factorio's big Space Age expansion arrives in October and it's going to be even bigger than we thought
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/factorios-big-space-age-expansion-arrives-in-october-and-its-going-to-be-even-bigger-than-we-thought/
Factorio's interstellar expansion Space Age will launch on October 21, a date developer Wube says is good for two reasons: It gives developers enough time after their summer vacations to finish polishing the game, and enough time before the Christmas holidays to take care of any bug fixes.

After a year of competitive dino survival, Capcom ends new updates for Exoprimal
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/after-a-year-of-competitive-dino-survival-capcom-ends-new-updates-for-exoprimal/
It's a sad day for humanity's endless culture war against large lizards: Exoprimal, Capcom's competitive action game that pits two teams of anime mech suits in a race to see who can fight dinosaurs fastest, has gotten its last new update just a year after its release. Capcom announced today that "all planned Exoprimal seasonal content has been finished," and the conclusion of Exoprimal's Season 4 on July 11 will mark the end of ongoing content development.

Monday news, the second part:

Satisfactory 1.0 is finally out in September with two megaton changes: easier-to-manufacture computers and flushable toilets
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/satisfactory-10-is-finally-out-in-september-with-two-megaton-changes-easier-to-manufacture-computers-and-flushable-toilets/
Oh how I've been waiting for this day. The game that swallowed several months of my life during lockdown, Satisfactory, is finally leaving early access and launching in 1.0 on September 10, just a hair over two months from today. Coffee Stain announced the release in a short, silly trailer that shows nothing new from the 1.0 update but does advertise surely its most important addition, flushable toilets. As we've written in the past, you can understand a lot about a game through its virtual toilets, and I look forward to reexperiencing Satisfactory with a new, empowered flush mindset.

Oh no, Rust just added my least favorite item from DayZ: handcuffs
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/oh-no-rust-just-added-my-least-favorite-item-from-dayz-handcuffs/
Multiplayer survival game Rust continues to get bigger and deadlier with each passing patch. This month's update, called Road Renegades, adds new vehicles like motorbikes and bicycles, a traveling vendor in an armored truck, and… 
Oh, no. Oh, no no no. The update also adds handcuffs. 

Original Fallout lead Tim Cain says the team planned for there to be 1000 Vaults, but he thinks there are actually far fewer in the setting
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/original-fallout-lead-tim-cain-says-the-team-originally-planned-for-there-to-be-1000-vaults-but-he-thinks-there-are-actually-far-fewer-in-the-setting/
In a new vlog on his YouTube channel, veteran programmer and RPG designer Tim Cain revealed some more of the background he and his team initially planned for Fallout's vaults. The crew at Interplay conceived of there being 1,000 Vault Tec vaults in the United States, a figure with some in-game and real-life logistical issues that Cain then explores, all with the caveat that this is him having some fun: "This is just me talking about it⁠—it's not canon!"

The next Transformers game will be a combat-racing roguelite
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/the-next-transformers-game-will-be-a-combat-racing-roguelite/
The tough thing about making a Transformers game is that you can't just make an action game about giant robots. You've also got to be able to handle the vehicle side of things, and there aren't a lot of studios out there who are equally adept at making racing games or flight sims as they are at making big robot action games. 
Transformers: Galactic Trials, in development from 3DClouds, seems to be leaning more heavily on the racing side of things. The singleplayer mode has you traversing "battle-race circuits" that consist of both combat and driving challenges you have to face in the relevant forms, while collecting Prime Relics that can be spent to improve skills as well as unlocking more characters and skills. The press release says it has a "rogue-lite combat elements", which presumably means permadeath but with persistent level-ups.

Here's a game where you're a fantasy dungeon's put-upon janitor
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/heres-a-game-where-youre-a-fantasy-dungeons-put-upon-janitor/
Somewhere between dungeon crawler and visual novel and satire we've got upcoming game Mops & Mobs: A Sweeping Dungeon Novel—release date to be announced, demo available now. In it you're the janitor for a fantasy dungeon populated by weird monsters, often-raided by adventurers, and lorded over by some kind of Dungeon Master who, it seems, is well-loved but not particularly capable.

Besiege's watery expansion will get a patch adding new missions, giant sharks, tentacled horrors of the deep
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/besieges-watery-expansion-will-get-a-patch-adding-new-missions-giant-sharks-tentacled-horrors-of-the-deep/
Besiege will get an expanded expansion as the Splintered Sea campaign receives an update on the 22nd of July, later this month. With new levels, new challenges, and new enemies to defeat/hazards to avoid it'll be a beefing up of an expansion that some players found underwhelming. Included in that are some very large sharks and a betentacled beastie.

Tend a cozy garden and stave off corruption, with the help of some cool gnomes, in Horticular
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/tend-a-cozy-garden-and-stave-off-corruption-with-the-help-of-some-cool-gnomes-in-horticular/
A pleasant new game about gardening is on the way out this week, with the gnomes of Horticular asking you to revitalize a wasteland into a nicely-sculpted ecosystem of plants and animals that can stand up to the decay of the corrupted world around it. The little game is an indie with some real scope to it for such a simple premise, giving you all kinds of aesthetic and magical tools to tweak your landscape and bring in inhabitants like new animals, plants, and eventually housing for the various gnomes that will aid your cause.

'Very few' people would play a Morrowind-style RPG with 'no compass, no map' and a reliance on quest text, says ESO director, 'which is kind of sad'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/very-few-people-would-play-a-morrowind-style-rpg-with-no-compass-no-map-and-a-reliance-on-quest-text-says-eso-director-which-is-kind-of-sad/
Back in my day, we didn't have these fancy-schmancy newfangled quest markers and compass points—we had to download add-ons if we wanted the minimap to tell us where our ten boars were, and then walk up the hill, both ways!
If you've been playing RPGs since the early 2000s, you've likely got a similar old man yelling at clouds in your soul. Simply put, open-world RPG design has slowly moved away from the discovery part of "questing".
It used to be that quest givers in RPGs (both single-player and massively multiplayer) would rely far more on verbal instructions than UI elements. Morrowind in particular doesn't even have a compass—locking every quest behind some local's vague approximation of the land. That kind of design's gone the way of the dodo, unfortunately, as per an interview with Elder Scrolls Online director Matt Firor in a piece on open-world design by RockPaperShotgun.

Hooded Horse CEO hits back at claims that Manor Lords slipped up in early access: 'Not every game should be aimed at becoming some live service boom or bust'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/hooded-horse-ceo-hits-back-at-claims-that-manor-lords-failed-in-early-access-not-every-game-should-be-aimed-at-becoming-some-live-service-boom-or-bust/
Over the last couple of weeks, the same old debate about what makes a game successful and how devs can hold on to that success emerged yet again. Some decided that Helldivers 2 losing 90% of its playerbase was an issue despite the live service game having a healthy 40,000 or more concurrent players each day. And now Manor Lords, the small city builder that managed to climb to the most wishlisted game spot on Steam, is also apparently showing cause for concern. 

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty couldn't have been as good 'if the initial reception of the game wasn’t as negative', says lead quest designer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/cyberpunk-2077-phantom-liberty-couldn-t-have-been-as-good-if-the-initial-reception-of-the-game-wasn-t-as-negative-says-lead-quest-designer/
Cyberpunk 2077, as you might know, didn't have a great launch. Described (accurately) by PC Gamer's online editor Fraser Brown as "one of the highest-profile launch disasters in videogame history", the game had performance issues so bad on one console it was removed from its storefront, an infestation of more bugs than the cheapest motel mattress—heck, the thing was even causing seizures with no warning.
Which makes it all the stranger that, well, it's quite good now—especially with the 2.0 update and the release of expansion Phantom Liberty. I've had plenty of complicated feelings about it myself, but that didn't change the fact that 65 hours of my life melted away in front of my eyes.
According to the game's lead quest designer Pawel Sasko in an interview with The Gamer, though, we might have that shoddy launch to thank.

AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 12-Core CPU Benchmark Leak, Beats Intel Core i9-14900KS In Single-Core & Matches 14900K In Multi-Thread Test

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-9-9900x-12-core-cpu-benchmark-leak-beats-i9-14900ks-single-core-matches-14900k-multi-core-test/

AMD’s Former Ray Tracing Expert Joins Qualcomm’s DXR Team, Working On DX12.2 Features To Improve Adreno GPUs

https://wccftech.com/amds-former-ray-tracing-expert-joins-qualcomms-dxr-team-working-on-dx12-2-features-to-improve-adreno-gpus/

TSMC & Customers Agree To a 3nm Price Hike Given That The Taiwan Giant Maintains A Steady Supply

https://wccftech.com/tsmc-customers-agree-3nm-price-hike-given-steady-supply/

This Foldable Keyboard Is A Fully Functional & Portable PC In Disguise, Features AMD Ryzen 7 8840U

https://wccftech.com/foldable-keyboard-fully-functional-portable-pc-in-disguise-features-amd-ryzen-7-8840u/

Insane that this didn't get scrapped in the drawing board phase

After all HP has done and tried to do with their printers, I'm still surprised someone buys their products.

And I find that foldable keyboard/mini-PC a great idea, as long as you have a spare monitor or TV to use it with.

Well, it's official now, Piranha Bytes has been shut down. Admittedly, they haven't been at their greatest ever since Michael Hoge left the company (he was Lead for Gothic 1 and 2), but they kept on making their sort of game quite successfully. I guess thee won't be anymore Gothics made by them.

That said, I'm eager to see how Gothic 1 remake will turn out - there was major backlash from fans after the first demo, and it seems they completely went from scratch after that, so that's promising - if they prove they can make something that is true to original, yet with some careful modern improvements, maybe their will be another Gothic after all in the future (and by that I mean proper Gothic, not crap like Arcania).

The Tuesday news, in one single post:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

50 million downloads in less than a week: Zenless Zone Zero, MiHoYo's action-RPG gacha, is (unsurprisingly) popular
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/50-million-downloads-in-less-than-a-week-zenless-zone-zero-mihoyo-s-action-rpg-gacha-is-unsurprisingly-popular/
Even if you're pretty miserly on gacha games' entire shtick—god knows I am—you can't deny that MiHoYo hasn't missed yet.
Kicking down the door to a market (and then proceeding to corner it) back in 2020 with a little game called Genshin Impact, you might've heard of it, MiHoYo proceeded to make a turn-based RPG with the same legendary polish via Honkai Star Rail.
It's still early days, but it looks like action-RPG Zenless Zone Zero, a game released barely over a year since Honkai's debut, is poised to be a hat trick. According to the game's official Twitter account, Zenless Zone Zero has already raked in over 50 million downloads worldwide.

While Steam’s Summer Sale is still going on (but only until this Thursday, the 11th!) that hasn’t stopped them from launching new weeklong deals. There’s not many of them so I’ll leave it to you to check them by yourselves.

Fanatical has a new Star Deal and bundle:

• The new Star Deal is Hogwarts Legacy Digital Deluxe Edition, 66% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/hogwarts-legacy-digital-deluxe-edition
• The new bundle is the BYO Bountiful Bundle, featuring 26 games for your 1+, 2+ or 6+ bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bountiful-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This Skyrim Mod makes its dragons feel more like those from Monster Hunter by overhauling their combat animations
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-skyrim-mod-makes-its-dragons-feel-more-like-those-from-monster-hunter-by-overhauling-their-combat-animations/
Modder ‘Cult’ has released an amazing new mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition. This mod will overhaul the combat animations of all dragons, making them more challenging and fun to battle.
As the modder noted, the aim of this mod was to make some unreadable attacks more telegraphed. Moreover, it makes some slow attacks a bit faster (like bites and tail attacks). What’s also cool here is that you can now evade the tail attack by jumping.
In short, this mod will make your fights with the dragons feel a lot better. In a way, these combat improvements reminded me of Monster Hunter. So, if you were disappointed by the dragon fights in Skyrim, you should get this mod as soon as possible.
>> The article has a 2 minutes video.

'The end is in sight'—Fallout: London, a DLC-sized mod plagued by delays, will arrive soon with its own installer to help slim the chances of Bethesda breaking it a 2nd time
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/the-end-is-in-sight-fallout-london-a-dlc-sized-mod-plagued-by-delays-will-arrive-soon-with-its-own-installer-that-should-slim-the-chances-of-bethesda-breaking-it-a-2nd-time/
Fallout: London is one of the more ambitious mods I've seen—a complete conversion mod of Fallout 4 which is brave enough to ask the question: what if British people could also blow themselves up?
After repeatedly rejected expense requests for nuclear bombs to test this hypothesis (apparently they're "out of budget"), I'm pretty excited to see how Fallout: London shakes the series up, even if it's in an unofficial capacity—despite its ambitions, though, Fallout: London has yet to see the light of day after a "next gen" Fallout 4 update (which didn't look very next-gen at all) went ahead and nuked its development timeline.
(...)
Still, Fallout: London's almost here, according to the game's official Twitter account and Discord server: "There has been a lot of speculation regarding our upcoming release, and we wanted to open up and clear the air for our core supporters."
Fallout: London is, the announcement reads, simply "waiting for the final green light" while working with GOG to distribute the mod. "Once they've completed the process of double-checking that Fallout: London and its installer work on all supported machines, we should be good to go."
That installer is key, since it'll also be accompanied by a "downgrader", which should future-proof Fallout: London against any more of Bethesda's meddling. "It is in all of our interests that this final QA process is carried out in full, and we are very thankful that GOG is assisting … The end is in sight."
>> There are no screenshots or videos in the article.

Elden Ring mod finally lets you wear Ranni as a demigod backpack like the true consort you are
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/elden-ring-mod-finally-lets-you-wear-ranni-as-a-demigod-backpack-like-the-true-consort-you-are/
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for "fashion souls" players who chase the RPG's ultimate endgame: finding the cleanest fit possible. And by "raises the bar" I mean it establishes the concept—at least lore-wise—that you can just strap a demigod to you like you're giving them a piggyback ride. The ultimate drip. Sadly, it isn't possible to equip a demigod backpack in the game normally, so ApolloHoo has released a mod to fix that.
"Ranni's Promised Consort Tarnished" isn't the most descriptive title for a mod, but the images on the Nexus Mods page get the point across: You can wear everyone's favorite moon witch on your back like Godfrey's lion or a certain boss in the DLC. She doesn't do anything special back there but if you're a newlywed in new game+, you can think of it like a honeymoon in the Lands Between.
Comments on the Nexus Mod page say it can be tricky to install. You need to unzip the folder, which can throw up errors (it did for me), and drag the files into a Mod Engine 2 folder. A few people in the comments have uploaded "fixed" contents of the folder, but I'll let you decide how much you trust downloading files from random Nexus Mod strangers. Some commenters say they got it working without any extra help. It's worth scrolling through the comments though, there are instructions for how to prevent Ranni from showing up misaligned on your character and how to switch which weapon makes her appear (by default it's the Finger Seal).
>> No screenshots nor videos in the mod.

A brand new version of the RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for Need for Speed Underground has been released
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/a-brand-new-version-of-the-rtx-remix-path-tracing-mod-for-need-for-speed-underground-has-been-released/
Modder ‘alessandro893’ has released a new version of his RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for Need for Speed Underground. According to the release notes, version 0.1 brings performance optimizations, as well as some graphical improvements. So, let’s take a closer look at it.
For those unaware, this RTX Remix Mod adds full Ray Tracing/Path Tracing effects to the classic NFS: Underground PC racing game. From what I can see, though, it appears that the mod is still in an early dev state. Yes, it looks better than its initial version. However, it still needs a lot of work.
Version 0.1 allows all cars to have head/tail lights, volumetric lights and emissive mask. Furthermore, it packs a huge amount of new PBR textures, and it fixes an issue with the game’s transparent materials.
>> There’s a less than 2 minutes video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

You can now play Point Blank X on PC with a mouse, a Wiimote or a GUN4IR
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/play-point-blank-x-pc-mouse-wiimote-gun4ir/
Arcade rail/light-gun shooter fans, here is something really special for you today. Someone has dumped the arcade ROM of Point Blank X, and this arcade shooter is now playable on PC. Not only that, but you can use a mouse to enjoy it. And if that wasn’t enough, you can either use a Wiimore or a GUN4IR.

Helldivers 2 players realise you can survive ludicrous falls by doing a Hug emote while flying through the air
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/helldivers-2-players-realise-you-can-survive-ludicrous-falls-by-doing-a-hug-emote-while-flying-through-the-air/
The Helldivers are currently engaged in an all-out brawl over planet X-45, thanks to a major order that has everyone wondering about the potential reward of a mysterious interplanetary battle station. The order is due to wrap up soon and, although players have been making good progress, a renewed assault from the dastardly Automatons in the final day means it's all hands on deck, and over 50% of all Helldivers are on this single planet.
The official narrative aside, however, the hardy defenders of democracy have discovered a new variety of bug: the good kind. Helldivers 2 incorporates fall damage which, depending on the situation, can be as deadly as any Bile Titan. (...)
Players have now discovered that fall damage can be reduced significantly through the simple method of triggering an emote animation once airborne. The below clip shows a Helldiver coming in hot and landing their pod atop an Automaton tank, destroying it, and triggering an explosion as their avatar exits the Hellpod. The explosion sends them into the stratosphere but, partway through the arc, the emote is triggered and the Helldiver character swiftly changes from flailing about to a weirdly rigid posture. They sail through the air like this and land safely from a fall that should have been fatal several times over.

Apex Legends announces 'improved' battle pass structure that actually sucks for players, removes option to pay with in-game currency
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/apex-legends-new-battle-pass/
One thing you never want to see as a player of a live service game is a convoluted new spreadsheet—they're rarely if ever a bearer of good news. Case in point: The "improved" Apex Legends battle pass structure, announced today with a blog post and headache-inducing chart, has immediately led to protest planning.

The First Descendant contains icons from Destiny 2, and one theory about how they got there is a reminder that not everything on the internet is what it purports to be
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/the-first-descendant-contains-icons-from-destiny-2-and-one-theory-about-how-they-got-there-is-a-reminder-that-not-everything-on-the-internet-is-what-it-purports-to-be/
It came to light recently that an awful lot of icons in The First Descendant look an awful lot like icons in Destiny 2—far more than anyone could reasonably attribute to coincidence. Some have been adjusted to a small degree, others are just about straight-up copies, and it all seemed very strange: Would Nexon, a major player in the games business, really just steal assets from genre competitor Bungie, as if nobody would notice?
Shortly after the similarities were noticed, an explanation was put forward: Destiny 2 and The First Descendant both appear to make use of free-to-use icons sourced from a site called Iconduck. That seemed to make sense at first blush, but it raised an obvious follow-up question: Why the hell would Bungie use free artwork? We're not talking about a one-person indie working on their first project, after all: Destiny 2 is one of the biggest shooters on the planet.

Sony's hero shooter Concord reveals PC system requirements ahead of two weekend beta tests
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/sonys-hero-shooter-concord-reveals-pc-system-requirements-ahead-of-two-weekend-beta-tests/
Concord, the upcoming hero shooter from Firewalker Studios and Sony, "has some juice," executive editor Tyler Wilde declared in a recent preview. Even better, it also has a couple of beta weekends coming very soon, so while I personally would trust Tyler's assessment implicitly, you'll be able to make up your own mind if that's how you prefer to do things—as long as you have a PC up to the task, that is.

League of Legends game director asks the community how players who throw games should be punished: 'Immediately or some lenience?'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/league-of-legends-game-director-asks-the-community-how-players-who-throw-games-should-be-punished-immediately-or-some-lenience/
League of Legends game director Pu Liu has confirmed that not only does Riot have the capabilities to increase detection of soft inting, but it's also looking at ways to punish transgressors. 
Soft inting is apparently "a large problem in the game," Liu tweets as part of his announcement. This term covers players who don't lose games on purpose but don't contribute to a win. Instead of interacting with other players in a team fight or the objective, they tend to farm sidelanes and just generally switch off focus. Players can do this for various reasons. It may be that someone on their team made them angry, so they want to stop them from winning, or they just give up too quickly and can't be bothered to try for the rest of the match. 

The Baldur's Gate 3 council of sages (or Larian Studios, if you want to be boring) meets on holy ground to discuss 'lift off' for its next big game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/the-baldur-s-gate-3-council-of-sages-or-larian-studios-if-you-want-to-be-boring-meets-on-holy-ground-to-discuss-lift-off-for-its-next-big-game/
Around two years ago, a wise council of sages, artificers, and mages from across the realm (a collection of people sometimes called a "game development studio") met in an officious chamber to discuss how to finish Baldur's Gate 3, a game that would go on to steal about 200 hours of my life—and gain one of PC Gamer's highest review scores, period.
That's according to Larian CEO and co-founder Swen Vincke himself, as per a recent post to Twitter. In it, Vincke shows the hallowed halls in which the game developer held a summit yesterday: "2 years ago we came to this exact place to discuss how to finish BG3. This time around it’s to discuss lift off. Spirits are high, morale is good, expecting a flooding any minute now."

AMD is Becoming a Software Company. Here's the Plan

https://www.techpowerup.com/324171/amd-is-becoming-a-software-company-heres-the-plan

"The major difference between AMD and NVIDIA is that AMD is a hardware company that makes software on the side to support its hardware; while NVIDIA is a software company that designs hardware on the side to accelerate its software. This is about to change, as AMD is making a pivot toward software. They believe that they now have the full stack of computing hardware—all the way from CPUs, to AI accelerators, to GPUs, to FPGAs, to data-processing and even server architecture. The only frontier left for AMD is software."

I'll be interested to see how it turns out

NVIDIA’s China-Compliant H20 GPU Has 41% Fewer Cores & 28% Lower Performance Versus Top Hopper H100 Config

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-china-compliant-h20-gpu-41-percent-fewer-cores-lower-performance-vs-top-hopper-h100/

AMD FidelityFX SDK 1.1 brings FSR 3.1 with improved upscaling and frame generation working with DLSS/XeSS

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-fidelityfx-sdk-1-1-brings-fsr-3-1-with-improved-upscaling-and-frame-generation-working-with-dlss-xess

MSI marks 20 years since debuting its first laptop

https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-marks-20-years-since-debuting-its-first-laptop

Intel Core Ultra 200 “Arrow Lake-S” NPU to offer 13 TOPS, whole platform up to 37 TOPS

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-core-ultra-200-arrow-lake-s-npu-to-offer-13-tops-whole-platform-up-to-37-tops

I disagree with some of the points stated in that editorial, some of AMDs problems are brand awareness and perception, not the software. In any case, we'll see what happens from now on and if that will change AMD's approach to Open Souce software.

By the way, a new rumor says that Intel won't launch an Arrow Lake based Core 3 desktop processor (source: Club386). They'll use the architecture for the Core 7 and Core 5 parts, but will use and older one for the Core 3 desktop parts.