There's no need to be so wary, you two. hellobion2 may be someone who just deals with prebuilds and buys them based on price and what other users say. I may be wrong, but he asked here about laptops to game one not too long ago.

I'm not wary, just... curious.

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Epic Store gives away

• Arcade Paradise: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/arcade-paradise
• Maid of Sker: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/maid-of-sker-2ae24e

Next week, they’ll give away F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch and Exclusive Outfits pack from the Olympics, not a game.

GOG has launched the Turn-Based Promo, featuring up to 95% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2024_turn_based.

Steam has four new deals:

• Len's Island, still in Early Access, will be 34% off until July 24: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1335830/Lens_Island/
• SWORD ART ONLINE Last Recollection, that has a demo, gets a 60% discount until the same 24th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1566880/SWORD_ART_ONLINE_Last_Recollection/
• TerraScape is getting a 30% discount until the 31st of July: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2290000/TerraScape/
• The last one is Orcs Must Die! 3, 80% off until July, 31st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1522820/Orcs_Must_Die_3/

Humble Bundle brings the Management Material: Tropico and more from Kalypso Bundle, with up to 26 items (games, DLCs and coupons) to get during 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/management-material-tropico-more-from-kalypso.

And Fanatical has a new Star Deal and a new bundle:

• The new Star Deal is Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition, 79% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/fallout-4-game-of-the-year-edition
• And today’s new bundle is the BYO Card and Tabletop Bundle, with18 games to choose for your 3+, 5+ or 7+ bundles: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-card-and-tabletop-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Citadel of Madness is a DLC-sized fan expansion for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, offering over 25 hours of play, 38 new quests, 3000 lines of dialogue, new characters, and more
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/citadel-of-madness-is-a-dlc-sized-fan-expansion-for-the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-offering-over-25-hours-of-play-38-new-quests-3000-lines-of-dialogue-new-characters-and-more/
Modder ‘Vorians’ has released an English version of the Citadel of Madness DLC-sized fan expansion for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This is a must-have mod for everyone who is still playing this classic TES game. So, let’s see what’s in store for you.
Citadel of Madness features 38 new quests in total. 23 of them are in the main line, and 15 are side quests. The mod also comes with hundreds of new characters as well as over 3000 lines of dialogue, and it offers over 25 hours of play.
Players can also expect new bosses to fight, new locations to visit, new weapons and armor, and new types of caves and crypts. Oh, and did I mention a huge fortress on a floating island?
And that’s not all. On the Archipelago of Madness there are three small but well-developed islands and, accordingly, three new settlements: a city, a village and a fishing village. There is also a new gaming faction with its own career ladder, several non-playable and hostile factions. Furthermore, there are many well-developed locations. According to the modder, there are more than 180 new internal cells (interiors).
>> Sadly, there are no screenshots nor videos of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Here are ten minutes of brand new gameplay footage from Star Wars Outlaws
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-ten-minutes-of-brand-new-gameplay-footage-from-star-wars-outlaws/
IGN has shared a video, showcasing ten minutes of gameplay footage from Star Wars Outlaws. This video pretty much has everything; from in-engine cut-scenes to planet exploration and battles. So, make sure to watch it.

Thursday news, part two:

Hearthstone players go into meltdown as Blizzard confirms the next expansion won't have a new cosmetic board
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/hearthstone-players-go-into-meltdown-as-blizzard-confirms-the-next-expansion-wont-have-a-new-cosmetic-board/
Hearthstone's next expansion, Perils in Paradise, won't have a new game board, and what might seem like a minor miss to you or I has quickly snowballed into doom-and-gloom predictions about the future of the game among quite a number of fans.

Apex Legends suffers close to 30,000 negative Steam reviews in one week as the battle pass bombing campaign continues
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/apex-legends-suffers-close-to-30000-negative-steam-reviews-in-one-week-as-the-battle-pass-bombing-campaign-continues/
It's been a hard July for Apex Legends.
We reported last week how players were resorting to review bombing to vent their frustrations with the Apex Legends' new monetization scheme, which boils down to "Now there are two battle passes and you can't pay for either of them with in-game currency." Today, that bombing campaign continues unabated, with the free-to-play shooter racking up almost 30,000 negative Steam reviews in the last week alone.

I've never been interested in League of Legends but its new Vampire Survivors mode might be the thing that kickstarts my esports career
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/ive-never-been-interested-in-league-of-legends-but-its-new-vampire-survivors-mode-might-be-the-thing-that-kickstarts-my-esports-career/
I'll admit I've never been a fan of League of Legends. I gave it the old college try after a group of friends convinced me to play about six years ago, but that's as far as my experience goes. My partner on the other hand is an avid fan. Having spent over a decade playing, with his first ranked season being season two, he's been trying to get me back in the saddle to no avail—until now. But that's thanks to its new game mode and my partner convincing me it's pretty much Vampire Survivors. 

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X “Zen 5” CPU Up To 12% Faster Than 14900KS With Unlimited TDP, Consumes 309W Power

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-9-9950x-zen-5-cpu-12-percent-faster-14900ks-unlimited-tdp-309w-power/

Jim Keller Says That Tenstorrent Is Going After AI Markets That Aren’t “Served Well” By NVIDIA

https://wccftech.com/jim-keller-tenstorrent-going-after-ai-markets-that-arent-served-well-by-nvidia/

NVIDIA Transitions To Open-Source GPU Kernel Modules With Newest Driver Update At Linux

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-transitions-open-source-gpu-kernel-modules-newest-driver-update-linux/

ASUS reveals Radeon 880M RDNA3.5 integrated graphics are 15% faster than RDNA3 based Radeon 780M

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-reveals-radeon-880m-rdna3-5-integrated-graphics-are-15-faster-than-rdna3-based-radeon-780m

Nvidia going open-source is an unexpected, but welcome, news. We'll see how far they go with it.

AMD's RDNA3.5 looks very good. A 15% improvement is nothing to complain about for a revision. I wonder why AMD hasn't refreshed its RDNA3 cards with this new revision bringing more performance, lower power consumption of both. Seems like a missed opportunity.
Well, either that or RDNA4 is just 3.5 with a new ray tracing solution. That woujld be terrible for us.

Am I mistaken or is RDNA3.5 just a re-taped out version of RDNA3 that hits it's original performance targets? IIRC RDNA3 missed AMD's intended performance numbers by 15% to 20%. I get the impression that Radeon's budget/resources are really limited in comparison to Ryzen. It really shows in how they move. The most recent example being FSR. They didn't have the resources to work on improving the upscaler and Frame Generation. So they just focused on the latter leading to FSR being stuck at 2.2 for well over a year. A refreshed RDNA3.5 lineup akin to Nvidia's "Super" series could have been interesting. I'm not sure what kind of naming scheme they could have went with, but a 7900XT based on RDNA3.5 would likely have matched the current 7900XTX. While a RDNA3.5 based 7900XTX would still fall short of the 4090, it still would be ahead of the 4080/4080 Super by 15% to 20% in Raster. 

I remember the rumors about AMD missing the target they had with RDNA3, with those leaks of the cards hitting 3GHz, but I don't know if they were ever confirmed.

The refreshed products could have certainly put more pressure on Nvidia, but we'll never know what would have happened. The naming scheme could have been the same one used with the previous gen, adding a xx50 to the new cards (7950XTX, 7850XT, 7750XT, ...).

And yes, AMD really needs to step up their software teans. Maybe the article Jizz posted some days ago about AMD moving on to become a software company first is a sign of things to come, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Let’s go with the Friday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Overwatch has managed to snag a whopping 100 million players in 8 years and is slapping your terrible K/D ratio into a fun montage to celebrate
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-has-managed-to-snag-a-whopping-100-million-players-in-8-years-and-is-slapping-your-terrible-kd-ratio-into-a-fun-montage-to-celebrate/
It's hard to believe that Overwatch came out a whole-ass eight years ago. I was still a young and spry college student, blissfully unaware of just how little time I had left to comfortably enjoy hunching over a monitor for 10+ hours playing a Korean streamer in a giant mech. 
(...)
Me and 99,999,999 other folk, it seems. Blizzard revealed in a blog post that it recently surpassed 100 million players across Overwatch 1 and 2 combined. Mathematicians assure me that's a large number, putting it up there with games like Call of Duty: Warzone and fellow Blizzard game Hearthstone. The shift to free-to-play with the sequel's release has no doubt been a big boost, but 100 million folk passing by your game at some point is no small feat. While Hearthstone players were treated to free card packs for the occasion, Blizzard's going down a more sentimental route for Overwatch players. The developer's knocked together a little personalised montage video that'll show you the various stats you've accumulated as far back as the original game's 2016 launch. 

The Humble Store brings the Heatwave of Hits Sale, with up to 90% deals during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/heatwave-of-hits-sale/.

Fanatical’s new bundle is the BYO FPS Bundle, featuring 12 titles for your 3+, 5+ or 7+ games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-fps-bundle.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

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GAMING NEWS

Here are ten minutes of gameplay from A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-ten-minutes-of-gameplay-from-a-quiet-place-the-road-ahead/
IGN has shared a video, showcasing ten minutes of gameplay from the single-player horror adventure game, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead. In this video, we get to see a terrifying escape attempt through air ducts and a building in ruins.

Splitgate 2 is coming to PC in 2025, and here are its official PC system requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/splitgate-2-is-coming-to-pc-in-2025-and-here-are-its-official-pc-system-requirements/
1047 Games has just announced Splitgate 2, which will be coming to PC via Steam and Epic Games Store in 2025. To celebrate this announcement, the team shared a cinematic trailer for it. Moreover, it revealed the game’s official PC system requirements. So, let’s take a look at them.

Here 8 minutes of gameplay from Unknown 9: Awakening
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-8-minutes-of-gameplay-from-unknown-9-awakening/
Bandai Namco has released a video, showcasing 8 minutes of gameplay from Unknown 9: Awakening. Developed by Reflector Entertainment, Unknown 9: Awakening is a third-person action-adventure game.

The First Descendant Patch 1.0.3 fixes memory leaks, adds AFK option to Player Report Menu, resolves the “Abort Mission” exploit
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-first-descendant-patch-1-0-3-fixes-memory-leaks-adds-afk-option-to-player-report-menu-resolves-the-abort-mission-exploit/
NEXON has released Patch 1.0.3 for The First Descendant. According to the release notes, this hotfix fixes some memory leaks, as well as some issues with NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation. Moreover, it brings a number of tweaks and additions. So, let’s take a look at them.

EA SPORTS FC 25 is coming to PC on September 27th, and here are its official PC requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ea-sports-fc-25-is-coming-to-pc-on-september-27th-and-here-are-its-official-pc-requirements/
Electronic Arts has announced that EA SPORTS FC 25 will be coming to PC on September 27th. To celebrate this announcement, the company shared an in-engine cinematic trailer, as well as the game’s official PC requirements.

Friday news, the second part:

Counter-Strike co-creator says he's happy they sold the game to Valve—'They have done a great job of maintaining the legacy'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/counter-strike-co-creator-says-hes-happy-they-sold-the-game-to-valvethey-have-done-a-great-job-of-maintaining-the-legacy/
Counter-Strike recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and is more popular than ever. The original Half-Life mod became a standalone title after Valve hired co-creators Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jesse "Cliffe" Cliffe, and since then has iterated and grown into the most popular competitive FPS on the planet, with over 30 million monthly players.
(...)
As for selling the rights to Valve, and bearing in mind this is now one of the biggest games in the world, Le has nothing but praise for the studio. "I’m happy with how things turned out with Valve, with regards to selling the IP to them," says Le. "They have done a great job of maintaining the legacy of CS."

Overwatch 2's new support hero Juno joins the roster in August, but you can play her for free this weekend
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2s-new-support-hero-juno-joins-the-roster-in-august-but-you-can-play-her-for-free-this-weekend/
Blizzard has officially unveiled Overwatch 2's next support hero as Juno, a bubbly astronaut healer who will be playable in a limited-time "hero trial" that starts on July 19—that's tomorrow—and runs until July 21 on all platforms.

Sega identifies harasser making 'excessive slanderous and insulting comments' towards one of its staff, sues them into oblivion, and says if anyone wants to try the same it's their funeral
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/sega-identifies-harasser-making-excessive-slanderous-and-insulting-comments-towards-one-of-its-staff-sues-them-into-oblivion-and-says-if-anyone-wants-to-try-the-same-its-their-funeral/
Sega has announced that it has successfully sued an unnamed person responsible for (the following is machine translated) "excessive slanderous and insulting comments on social media against one of our employees."

Asked if it plans to delay Star Wars Outlaws over negative YouTube comments, Ubisoft says no: 'I think people will love it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/asked-if-it-plans-to-delay-star-wars-outlaws-over-negative-youtube-comments-ubisoft-says-no-i-think-people-will-love-it/
After a not-great response to a recent 10-minute IGN First gameplay preview of the upcoming Star Wars: Outlaws, Ubisoft says the August 30 release date is locked in, and the game will not be delayed.

Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred's director says they made a brand new class that's 'very fresh for what people want' instead of just making paladins again
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-4-vessel-of-hatreds-director-says-they-made-a-brand-new-class-thats-very-fresh-for-what-people-want-instead-of-just-making-paladins-again/
The mainline Diablo series hasn't seen a new class for 10 years. The spiritborn, coming in Diablo 4's Vessel of Hatred expansion on October 8, are an entirely new class for the series who fight with the power of animal spirits and only slightly resemble classes from prior games, like Diablo 3's monks.
Blizzard deliberately created something new to keep Diablo from getting stale, associate game director Brent Gibson told PC Gamer in a recent interview. Even if that means fans will continue to beg Blizzard to add paladins one day.

The Sims 4 is finally ending my Create-A-Sim suffering with this new time-saving menu option
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4-is-finally-ending-my-create-a-sim-suffering-with-this-new-time-saving-menu-option/
Create-A-Sim enjoyers, your suffering is finally at an end. The Sims 4's next base game update is adding an "apply all" button for your Sim's makeup, accessories, and hairstyles. That new option, along with other quality of life improvements, will be coming next week alongside The Sims 4 Lovestruck expansion.

Team Fortress 2's summer update adds new maps, taunts, Unusual effects, and more 'security and stability improvements'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/team-fortress-2s-summer-update-adds-new-maps-taunts-unusual-effects-and-more-security-and-stability-improvements/
The 2024 Steam Summer Sale is over, and that clears the way for the next big seasonal event in Steam's lineup: The Team Fortress 2 2024 summer update.
Just like last year's TF2 summer update, this one is chock full o' stuff made not by Valve, but by the community: 10 new community maps (Embargo, Odyssey, Megaton, Cachoeira, Overgrown, Hadal, Applejack, Atom Smash, Canaveral, and Burghausen), 23 new "community-contributed items" in the Summer 2024 Cosmetic Case, four new community-created taunts, and 38 new community-made Unusual effects: 18 for hats and 20 for taunts.

Despite its relaxing pastels and quaint mountain village, Dungeons of Hinterberg is pushing against the confines of cozy games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/despite-its-relaxing-pastels-and-quaint-mountain-village-dungeons-of-hinterberg-is-pushing-against-the-confines-of-cozy-games/
Whether or not action RPG Dungeons of Hinterberg can be considered a cozy game is definitional. The traditional cozy game is relaxing, pastel-hued, and likely centered around quaint, repetitive gameplay that reassures and calms the player. Stardew Valley for farming; A Short Hike for strolling; Dorfromantik for tile-laying.
Hinterberg's dungeon delving and monster slaying do break the mold a bit, but you'll be doing both with a gentle, cartoonish art style swaddling you. And with a significant amount of the game dedicated to solving puzzles in picturesque environments, the comparison inevitably presents itself.

Devolver announces Forestrike, a kung fu roguelike where you can plan your moves in advance
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/devolver-announces-forestrike-a-kung-fu-roguelike-where-you-can-plan-your-moves-in-advance/
A lot of action games promise the thrill of a choreographed martial arts movie, but when I play them the fights tend to look more like a panicked scramble than a martial arts masterpiece. If my execution's ever artful, it's during a repeat playthrough when I'm not learning on the fly.
Forestrike, an upcoming action roguelike revealed by Devolver earlier today at Japanese indie game festival BitSummit, hopes to provide a solution for the problem of delivering elegant action: It lets you see the future before you have to punch it.

‘Cozy exploration meets true crime’ on horseback is the MMO I didn’t know I wanted
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/cozy-exploration-meets-true-crime-on-horseback-is-the-mmo-i-didnt-know-i-wanted/
Stockholm has a new game studio. Going by Blue Scarab, the announcement shared on the company's official website says it consists of over 20 'industry veterans' who have led development on games like World of Warcraft, Battlefield, and Helldivers 2.
To coincide with the opening announcement, the team has shared some details of its first project and revealed it's already well underway. Although the vast majority of details about it—such as a final name or even a codename—are scarce, we can start piecing together what to expect. Built in Unreal Engine 5, the story-driven MMORPG will be "cozy exploration meets true crime." Which is a sentence I never thought I'd say. 

GOG doesn’t have new deals for this weekend, but Steam does:

+Steam

• Publisher Yokaze celebrates its anniversary putting its games on sale with up to 50% discounts. In theory, this sale last from the 17th to the 23rd, but some games will keep its discounts until the 1st of August: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/room6/sale/theyokazeroom6anniversarysale
• Another weird one, the Tacticon 2024 Sale has up to 70% discounts and, in theory, lasts from July 18 to the 22nd, but there are deals that will last more than that: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/Tacticon2024
• Maniac will be 25% off until the 25th of July: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1482380/Maniac/
• Pacific Drive gets a 40% discount until the 25th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1458140/Pacific_Drive/
• Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 will be 65% off until the same 25th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1078760/Motorcycle_Mechanic_Simulator_2021/
• No Man's Sky features a 60% deal until July 29: https://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/No_Mans_Sky/
• Viewfinder will be 40% off until August 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1382070/Viewfinder/
• Beer Factory will have a 50% discount until the 1st of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1782570/Beer_Factory/
• And Marvel's Midnight Suns will be 75% off until the 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/368260/Marvels_Midnight_Suns/

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