Yep.  That is my major concern about the switch 2 and ports.  I see a lot of slop using DLSS and frame gen to make it "run" versus actually optimizing the game.

I haven't used frame gen yet.  I hear it works well of the game has 60 to 80 native frames.  Apparently at lower fps it just blurs and causes latency.

Frame gen actually wants 80+ frames as a base so it makes the Monster Hunter spec sheets even weirder as they would be running 30-40 base with upscaling to get the 60fps at 1080p listed in the specs and that sounds terrible. I still think frame gen for me is redundant at least for the time being because if a game already runs at either locked 60 or VRR 80ish then that is good enough and frame gen has to many drawbacks to consider using.

While AMD made several dumb moves, it's still a but sad that AMD doesn't do much better. Seems sometimes like people keep their grudges against AMD but forget any NVidia mishaps right away.

Especially the 7700XT/7800XT and 7900GRE are well-priced compared to the competition and should be selling much better than they do. At Mindfactory.de for instance the 7700XT (400€) is priced similarly to the 4060Ti 8GB (380€) while the 4060Ti 16GB(440€) is right between the 7700XT and the 7800XT (480€) in price. Meanwhile the downgraded 4070 models (535€) come in at at least 50€ more than the 7800XT, with the older models with GDDR6X memory (570€) are at least 90€ more than the 7800XT and thus priced comparatively to the 7900GRE. I don't feel like the better features are enough to justify such steep price markups for NVidia cards, especially on the 4060Ti models.

MSI To Feature Next-Gen NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 GPUs & Intel Arrow Lake CPUs In Its MEG Vision X AI Pre-Built PC

https://wccftech.com/msi-next-gen-nvidia-geforce-rtx-50-gpus-intel-arrow-lake-cpus-meg-vision-x-ai-pc/

AMD Cooking Ryzen 5 9600X3D 3D V-Cache CPU For Mainstream Gamers In Addition To 9800X3D, 9900X3D & 9950X3D

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-5-9600x3d-3d-v-cache-cpu-gamers-9800x3d-9900x3d-9950x3d/

Leak reveals unreleased Lenovo Legion Go Lite in white design

https://videocardz.com/newz/leak-reveals-unreleased-lenovo-legion-go-lite-in-white-design

Let’s go with the Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Epic Store gives away The Spirit and the Mouse: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-spirit-and-the-mouse-42390b.
Next week, the free game will be ear and Breakfast..

Steam has three new deals:

• City Game Studio: Your Game Dev Adventure Begins is going to be 50%& off until October, the 2nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/726840/City_Game_Studio_Your_Game_Dev_Adventure_Begins/
• The House of Da Vinci 2 gets a 75% discount until the same 2nd of October: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1259840/The_House_of_Da_Vinci_2/
• And SunnySide, that has a demo, is going to be 30% off until October 9: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1746930/SunnySide/

Humble Bundle presents the Enter the Mysterium Bundle, featuring up to 13 games to get during the next 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/enter-mysterium.

Fanatical’s new Star Deal is The Thaumaturge: Deluxe Edition, with a 47% discount during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-thaumaturge-deluxe-edition.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Here’s The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom running with over 120fps on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/heres-the-legend-of-zelda-echoes-of-wisdom-running-with-over-120fps-on-pc/
Nintendo has officially released The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom on the Nintendo Switch. As we’ve mentioned before, the game can already be played on the Nintendo Switch emulator, Ryujinx. So, here’s a video showing 10 minutes of it running on an NVIDIA RTX 4090, with over 120fps. Yup, you read that right. You can play this new Zelda game with really high framerates.
To capture this gameplay footage, YouTuber reznoire used an Intel Core i9-14900K with 32GB of RAM and an NVIDIA RTX 4090. He also used Ryujinx 1.1.1398. This is the latest public version of the emulator which you can download from its official website.
>> I can’t see any mention of the resolution it runs at, but it’s also worth noting that a 14900K and a RTX 4090 combo is stupidly more powerful than the Tegra X1 powering the Switch.

GAMING NEWS

Metaphor: ReFantazio is an unoptimized mess on PC [UPDATE]
https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/metaphor-refantazio-is-an-unoptimized-mess-on-pc/
SEGA has just released a demo of Metaphor ReFantazio on PC and consoles. The game uses P-Studio’s proprietary engine which was used in Persona 5, P4D, P3D, P5D, P5R. And, sadly for all ATLUS fans, it appears that the game suffers from MAJOR optimization issues.
UPDATE:
Kaldaien has released a Special K Mod that fixes the performance issues in this title. As the modder noted, Metaphor ReFantazio has insane timing code issues under the hood that are causing the aforementioned performance issues.
>> If you want to discuss more about this game, you can check Shikamo’s thread.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake just got a new gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/dragon-quest-iii-hd-2d-remake-just-got-a-new-gameplay-trailer/
Square Enix has just released a new gameplay trailer for the upcoming HD-2D remake of Dargon Quest III. This trailer details some of the game’s mechanics, and showcases its lovely graphics. So, if you’re looking forward to this remake, you should definitely check it out.

Like a Dragon: Yakuza Pirate in Hawaii will have Denuvo, gets new 5-minute gameplay video
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/like-a-dragon-yakuza-pirate-in-hawaii-will-have-denuvo-gets-new-5-minute-gameplay-video/
To the surprise of no one, SEGA revealed that Like a Dragon: Yakuza Pirate in Hawaii will be using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech. Moreover, Gamespot has shared a video, showcasing 5 minutes of brand new gameplay footage from it.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater TGS 2024 In-Engine Trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/metal-gear-solid-delta-snake-eater-tgs-2024-in-engine-trailer/
Konami has shared the TGS 2024 in-engine trailer for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. The trailer also packs some gameplay sequences. The reason I’m calling this an in-engine trailer and not a gameplay trailer is because it mostly has in-engine cutscenes.

The Thursday news, part two:

As SAG-AFTRA's anti-AI voice actor strike extends to League of Legends, Riot maintains that it's simply been caught in the crossfire
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/as-sag-aftra-s-anti-ai-voice-actor-strike-extends-to-league-of-legends-riot-maintains-that-it-s-been-simply-been-caught-in-the-crossfire/
After threatening to do so back in July, SAG-AFTRA, a union that represents over 160,000 professionals across acting and performance disciplines, went ahead with a strike. The strike in question targets AI-generated voice work which, the union claims, requires "fair, reasonable AI protections" to avert a future of talent exploitation, where voice actors aren't cajoled into signing off on allowing companies to use their voice in perpetuity.
In a statement this Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA added League of Legends to the list of videogames under strike: "SAG-AFTRA members must immediately cease providing covered services to League of Legends and the game will be updated on the union’s search function as a struck game."
The League strike isn't quite targeting Riot Games, but rather Formosa Interactive, a production company that works with multiple studios on different games including Helldivers 2, God of War: Ragnarok, Death Stranding, Apex Legends—the list goes on. SAG-AFTRA alleges that Formosa tried to subvert the strike by attempting to "'cancel' one of its struck videogames shortly after the start of SAG-AFTRA’s videogame strike. When they were told that was not possible, they secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices for 'NON-UNION' talent only."

What it feels like to have your Fallout game declared non-canon by Todd Howard: 'It sucked'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/what-it-feels-like-to-have-your-fallout-game-declared-non-canon-by-todd-howard-it-sucked/
Fallout 3 is not, in fact, the third Fallout game. That would be Fallout Tactics, a squad-based Brotherhood of Steel tactical RPG developed by Micro Forté, which appeared a few years after Fallout 2, in 2001. Despite being pretty well-liked by critics at the time, the way it deviated from its predecessor meant that it caught a lot of flak from the fans. 
Lead designer Ed Orman, who we recently chatted to about his time in the Wasteland, remembers things getting pretty heated. (...)
>> It feels more like a chapter in a history book rather than a news article. I’ll leave it to you to read the rest. There’s even a second article about Tactics and the talk with the lead designer.

Star Wars Outlaws sales were 'softer than expected,' so Ubisoft is slamming the release-it-on-Steam button early
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/star-wars-outlaws-coming-to-steam-in-november-sales-have-been-softer-than-expected/
Ubisoft says that its decision to delay Assassin's Creed Shadows to next year was motivated by "softer than expected" sales of its last big open world game, Star Wars Outlaws.
"While [Assassin's Creed Shadows] is feature complete, the learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws release led us to provide additional time to further polish the title," Ubisoft told investors today.
The company also announced that Outlaws will come to Steam on November 21, and indicated that it's no longer going to do timed Epic exclusives on PC, a deal it has maintained with the Fortnite developer since 2019. When Assassin's Creed Shadows releases in February, it'll be on Steam on day one.

Ubisoft comes crawlin' back to Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/ubisoft-comes-crawlin-back-to-steam/
Ubisoft's dalliance with the Epic Games Store is over. After several years of releasing its new games on Epic's storefront—and not Valve's—the company says it will resume putting new releases on Steam, beginning with Assassin's Creed Shadows in 2025.
Ubisoft said in today's Assassin's Creed Shadows delay announcement that it will be available on Steam when it arrives on February 14, 2025; further, it added, "The game will mark the return of our new releases on Steam Day 1." Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the same thing in a subsequent trading update call with analysts.
A Ubisoft representative later confirmed with PC Gamer that the company does indeed intend to bring all future new releases to Steam on launch day, simultaneously with other online storefronts.

'Our goal is not to push any specific agenda': Ubisoft CEO tries to mollify gamers who won't stop being mad about a Black samurai in Assassin's Creed Shadows
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/our-goal-is-not-to-push-any-specific-agenda-ubisoft-ceo-tries-to-mollify-gamers-who-wont-stop-being-mad-about-a-black-samurai-in-assassins-creed-shadows/
Assassin's Creed Shadows is one of the most anticipated games of the year, but it's also been controversial among some groups of gamers due to its inclusion of Yasuke, a Black samurai. In today's surprise announcement of an Assassin's Creed Shadows delay, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot addressed those "polarized comments," as he put it, saying Ubisoft's games are not meant to reflect any specific agenda.
"I want to reaffirm that we are an entertainment-first company, creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda," Guillemot said in today's financial update. "We remain committed to creating games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy."

Videogame patent lawyer says Nintendo is taking a risk with its Palworld lawsuit: 'They've exposed themselves in a big way'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/videogame-patent-lawyer-says-nintendo-is-taking-a-risk-with-its-palworld-lawsuit-theyve-exposed-themselves-in-a-big-way/
When Nintendo announced its lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair last week, it kicked off immediate conversations about how well Pocketpair could hope to fare in court. Despite Nintendo's last few years on the intellectual property warpath, IP lawyer and videogame patent expert Kirk Sigmon says its success in its Palworld lawsuit is far from guaranteed. In fact, Sigmon says that in suing Pocketpair, Nintendo risks losing its patent entirely.
In an interview with PC Gamer covering videogame patents and the Palworld lawsuit, Sigmon said that drafting a patent filing is a delicate balancing act, especially when it's a patent on a videogame design concept. 
>> I wouldn’t mind if it backfires and explodes in Nintendo’s face. They need a cure of humility.

The developer of new free-to-play shooter Spectre Divide just laid off 13 employees, says it was necessary 'to support Spectre and its community for the long term'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-developer-of-new-free-to-play-shooter-spectre-divide-just-laid-off-13-employees-says-it-was-necessary-to-support-spectre-and-its-community-for-the-long-term/
Spectre Divide developer Mountaintop Studios has confirmed the layoff of 13 employees, saying the move was necessary to ensure the long-term future of the game and its community.

February 2025 is now absurdly stacked with big games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/february-2025-is-now-absurdly-stacked-with-big-games/
To the best of my recollection, February hasn't always been one of the biggest months for game releases, but the industry's habit of delaying games from the holiday season to the start of the next year has turned it into a magnet for big games that needed "extra time for polish." And boy is February 2025 stacked.

Believe it or not, today there's a third part of the news:

The prophecy is fulfilled: Overwatch 2 just announced one of its best collabs with My Hero Academia, which means we get a Juno x Uraraka skin
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-prophecy-is-fulfilled-overwatch-2-just-announced-one-of-its-best-collabs-with-my-hero-academia-which-means-we-get-a-juno-x-uraraka-skin/
Overwatch 2 has had some really great collaborations with various franchises over the last year. There's been One Punch Man, LeSserafim, and the recent World of Warcraft crossover, but the latest announcement at the Tokyo Game Show may be my favourite one yet. 
We're getting a My Hero Academia collaboration, which'll give new skins to Reinhardt, Kiriko, Tracer, Reaper, and my girl Juno, who'll transform into All Might, Himiko, Deku, Shigaraki, and Uraraka. You'll be able to get your hands on these skins on October 17. 

The last thing I expected this cute racoon mailman game to be about was sick BMX tricks
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/the-last-thing-i-expected-this-cute-racoon-mailman-game-to-be-about-was-sick-bmx-tricks/
Watching an adorable Studio Ghibli-style raccoon throw on his mailman cap during the Tokyo Games Show, I was not expecting his next move to be whipping out a BMX and pulling off some sick tricks. That's exactly what Denkiworks' Tanuki: Pon's Summer gave me though, and you know what? I'm here for it.

Age of Mythology's least-loved expansion looks like it's had an overhaul in its remastered version, and we'll be able to play as China 'soon'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/age-of-mythologys-least-loved-expansion-looks-like-its-had-an-overhaul-in-its-remastered-version-and-well-be-able-to-play-as-china-soon/
In amidst all the mechs, anime, Phil Spencer speaking Japanese, and whatever the hell Slitterhead was, Xbox's Tokyo Game Show presentation also showed off a few tantalising seconds of a new expansion for Age of Mythology: Retold—its Age of Empires: Definitive Edition-ification of the god-battling RTS from 2002.
It's called Immortal Pillars, and from the brief glimpse we got, this is the one that brings the Chinese civilisation back to the game. When Age of Mythology: Retold was announced, some players were curious why it wasn't coming with the Chinese civ that joined the original game in its 2016 Tale of the Dragon expansion. The reason, more likely than not, was that no one liked that expansion very much, and the devs on Retold wanted to rework it before bundling it into their re-do.

'Cat and dog people rejoice!': Fallout 76 is finally introducing camp pets 'at the end of this year'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/cat-and-dog-people-rejoice-fallout-76-is-finally-introducing-camp-pets-at-the-end-of-this-year/
There was a small segment for Fallout 76 during the Xbox livestream at the Tokyo Game Show, in which the creative director Jon Rush took a second to celebrate all the wonderful camps made in the game so far and ended by announcing a new feature for Fallout 76 that'll arrive at the end of the year.
(...)
"We'd like to confirm some exciting news," Rush continues. "Cat and dog people rejoice! We're excited to tell you that camp pets are finally coming to Fallout 76 at the end of this year. These new furry friends will reside in your camps and can be interacted with in a number of ways." That's all the information that Rush shared during the showcase, but he did promise that there'll be more news in the coming months. 

I'm beyond excited for Threads of Time, the flashy Chrono Trigger-inspired RPG
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/im-beyond-excited-for-threads-of-time-the-flashy-chrono-trigger-inspired-rpg/
I have been burned too many times by nostalgia-fuelled love letters to classic games, but I couldn't help but get all tingly during the reveal of Threads of Time at the Tokyo Game Show's Xbox showcase this morning. I am a sucker for time travel and an even bigger sucker for Chrono Trigger. 

Bonus article for a selected minority: people in Japan that likes baseball and may read this:

Shohei Ohtani's impossible baseball skills are outpacing game developers: Konami reportedly had to buff him in a videogame that isn't even out yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/shohei-ohtanis-impossible-baseball-skills-are-outpacing-game-developers-konami-reportedly-had-to-buff-him-in-a-videogame-that-isnt-even-out-yet/
According to news stories from several Japanese outlets (such as Yahoo! Japan and Nikkan Sports, spotted by Automaton), Konami has buffed LA Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani in an upcoming baseball game in response to his incredible performance this season. 
(...)
As a result of his performance, Konami reportedly upgraded Ohtani's special base stealing ability from a "C" to an "A" in Professional Baseball Spirits 2024-2025, a region-locked baseball game releasing in Japan this October. 
According to Sankei Digital outlet Iza, Japanese baseball fans are having fun with the news on social media, saying that reality is outpacing the developers and that representing Ohtani's (who is sometimes referred to as a real-life "create-a-player") true ability in the game is the equivalent of using hacks to cheat.

The thing is that it's not up to Nvidia to convince people to buy their products... People are already buying their products. It's up to AMD to convince people to buy their products instead. I think a lot of people in that price range or really in a lot of price ranges think to themselves... Should I buy this AMD GPU or spend more and buy an Nvidia gpu? Like I don't think people are penny pinching that much to be like, well I can buy a 7800XT for $480 but I can't spend extra $50-$70 for a 4070.

I think we are in the era of where Raster performance alone no longer sells products. Lets say I am a 970/1070 user and I want to upgrade. Okay so if I were to upgrade to a 7800XT, what am I getting? A lot more Raster performance (compared to 970/1070)? Yep. FSR 2? Nah have that. Anti-lag 2? Already have Reflex. Actually Reflex is in way more supported games than Anti-lag 2 so this would be a downgrade. Ray Tracing? Yea but kinda shat on AMD. Long term driver support? Kinda iffy considering AMDs track record. Ai upscaling? Nah. More Vram? Heck yea.

Okay what if I spend extra $100 and get a 4070. A lot more Raster performance (compared to 970/1070)? Yep DLSS that is significantly better and more supported? Yep. Ray Tracing that is actually viable? yep. Reflex? Yep. FSR 2? Yep. FSR 3? Yep. DLSS 3 FG? Yep. Long term driver support? Hell Nvidia is still supporting Maxwell. List goes on.

So it's like, outside of a few areas like 7700XT vs 4060 Ti, Radeon really doesn't make much sense unless you want pure raster... And what is Raster alone going to give you when UE5 was built around upscaling, when XVI needs a 4090 for 1440p, when the new MH game requires frame gen at 1080p to achieve 60fps? The reality is that the extra raster you get for the price point feels pointless when the developers are building entire games around upscaling as a requirement.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 specs leaked
https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5090-and-rtx-5080-specs-leaked
One of the most reliable NVIDIA leakers has now confirmed the specs for two of NVIDIA’s upcoming Blackwell graphics cards, specifically the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. According to Kopite7kimi, the RTX 5090 is now said to feature a 512-bit memory bus, not 448-bit as mentioned earlier. The RTX 5090 will also feature 32GB of GDDR7 memory.

*Edit* I forgot to add the comparison table with the current gen parts:

If the gap this gen between the 4090 and the 4080 was big, it looks like the gap between the successors will be even bigger. And I'd be very surprised if the 5080 can beat the 4090.

I doubt anyone but those with higher wages are even going to afford either of them, and it's become obvious since the 4000 series that the 90 models are the 80-type, and the 80 type 70 and so on (since they stopped doing titans).

I know I won't be affording either card, which I guess will leave me with whatever mid-range card AMD can spit out (Nvidia isn't really ideal for me in the mid-range, nor are they cheap).