It definitely will in the Nvidia slides... when using DLSS4 triple frame generation or whatever.

Remember when 3080 was so close to 3090 performance for more than half the msrp? Jensen will make sure that never happens again lol

5090 will likely be a pass. I think it would require a PSU bigger than 1000w, probably being my case won't fit a larger PSU. So I would be looking at new PSU, case and whatever crazy price for the 5090.

I do like the specs of that monster.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 & RTX 5080 Graphics Cards To Debut At CES 2025: 14-Layer PCB, Single 12V-2×6 Power, PCIe 5.0 & DP 2.1a Support

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5090-5080-launch-ces-2025-14-layer-pcb-12v-2x6-pcie-5-0-dp-2-1a/

NVIDIA’s Blackwell GB200 AI Servers Ready For Mass Deployment In December

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-blackwell-gb200-ai-servers-ready-mass-deployment-december/

Lenovo confirms Legion Go Gen Two and Legion Go Lite gaming handhelds

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-blackwell-gb200-ai-servers-ready-mass-deployment-december/

Intel has discovered what actually caused its top gaming chips to break and is rolling out another fix

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/processors/intel-has-discovered-what-actually-caused-its-top-gaming-chips-to-break-and-is-rolling-out-another-fix/

They surely found the cause this time... Right???

Nintendo Switch 2 Rumored to Be Ready for March-April 2025 Launch

https://wccftech.com/nintendo-switch-2-rumored-to-be-ready-for-march-april-2025-launch/

The Friday news are here!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Humble Store has several new sales:

• Square Enix Celebrates its TGS 2024 Sale puttings its games up to 90% off during 4 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/square-enix-tgs-sale/
• The regular TGS 2024 Sale also has up to 90% discounts, but during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/tgs-sale-2024/
• The Build Your Own Dreams Sale has games up to 95% off during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/build-your-dreams-sale/
• And the Dark Souls Spotlight Sale has 50% discounts for the next 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/dark-souls-sale/

Fanatical has the new BYO Sci-Fi Bundle, with 20 games to choose from for your 3+, 5+ or 7+ bundles: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-sci-fi-bundle.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New God of War: Ragnarok mods let you bypass the AVX2 requirement and use a dynamic FOV
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-god-of-war-ragnarok-mods-let-you-bypass-the-avx2-requirement-and-add-a-fov-setting/
Two new cool mods that you must use have surfaced this week for the latest GoW game, God of War: Ragnarok. The first mod bypasses the game’s AVX2 requirement, whereas the second adds a FOV setting.
Going into more details, the first mod will allow owners of CPUs that lack the AVX2 instruction to run the game. Do note, though, that performance may not be that great. Still, since a lot of people complained about it, you’ll now be able to run GoW: Ragnarok on those CPUs.
The second mod lets you change the in-game FOV (Field of View). GoW: Ragnarok adjusts the FOV constantly to give it a cinematic feel. So, this mod works by adding or removing an offset instead of locking the FOV to one value. This way, you can still experience what the game developers intended, but with your own adjustments. Plus, the mod automatically stops when the game is paused, so it won’t mess with things like the inventory, codex, or skill menus. And if you want the cutscenes to play with the normal FOV, you can easily turn the mod on or off using CTRL+F.
>> The article has an over 3 minutes video of the first mod.

'The mod has got too much attention': Modder who bypassed God of War: Ragnarök's PSN requirement takes it offline just in case Sony comes knocking
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-mod-has-got-too-much-attention-modder-who-bypassed-god-of-war-ragnaroks-psn-requirement-takes-it-offline-just-in-case-sony-comes-knocking/
There's a bit of a feud going on at the moment between PC players who don't want to sign into PSN accounts on top of their Steam accounts and Sony, a megacorporation that almost certainly will not budge on the issue. The latest move to get rid of PSN was from a modder who tried to make it possible to circumvent the sign-in progress in God of War: Ragnarök's PC port, but the workaround has now been taken offline. 
"We've noticed that the popular PSN-bypass mod for God of War: Ragnarök has been removed from our site by the author, and so we've reached out to find out why," Nexus Mods said in a tweet on Thursday. In a reply, Nexus Mods later confirmed that the modder, known as iArtoriasUA, decided to remove the mod as it got too much traction, and they didn't want to get into hot water with Sony. 
"That was my personal decision because the mod has got too much attention (even IGN and PC Gamer) wrote an article about it," iArtoriasUA told Nexus Mods. "Thus, I thought that it would be better to remove it from the public to avoid any potential threats from the Sony side (even though the project never modified anything in memory related to Sony products, but better safe than sorry). I am sorry that it happened, but I cannot really put myself at risk since it was unclear. Hopefully, you understand. Peace!"
But this is the internet, so nothing's ever truly gone. Even though iArtoriasUA took the mod down, a few replicas are popping back up on Nexus Mods. Bypass PSN Login — No PSSDK Restored was uploaded yesterday, shortly after the original was taken down. "Re-upload of the deleted mod," an anonymous modder says in the description. "I am NOT the original author."
>> I understand him. These corporations are quite trigger happy when it comes to lawsuits even if they can’t win them, because not everyone has the money to go against them.

The Witcher 3: Next-Gen Mod overhauls its combat with better animations, better targeting and new dodging mechanics
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-witcher-3-next-gen-mod-overhauls-its-combat-with-better-animations-better-targeting-and-new-dodging-mechanics/
The Witcher 3 fans, here is something for you today. Modder ‘Riyusso’ has shared a new gameplay mod for TW3: Next-Gen that aims to overhaul its combat with better animations, better targeting, and new dodging mechanics. This is a must for those who want to improve the game’s combat system. So, let’s take a closer look at it.
Blood And Steel brings more attack variety and less spinning animations. Attacks will now be more dynamic, and they will be based on the situation and enemy type, enemy count, distance and direction. As the modder noted, the goal was to make the combat feel smoother while staying similar to the original style.
Then we have the new dodging mechanics. While holding the block, you will unlock new dodging animations. These include flanking, dodging enemy projectiles, and some pirouettes. For instance, if you hold block and press Dodge + Right you will do a ‘side dodge’ to the right. Or if you hold Dodge + Forward + Right you will ‘flank dodge’ forward and right.
The modder also added a smart system that makes your character do a rolling attack when it needs to dodge an enemy’s attack or move between enemies to reach a target. Also, animations will look smoother when leaving combat. Not only that but the combat camera has been slightly changed to improve how the fighting feels. Plus, there will be fewer times when you accidentally target something off-screen or when the target changes unexpectedly.
>> There’s a less than 1 minute video in the article.

The Doom mod that turns Margaret Thatcher into an undead cyberdemon has been removed by Bethesda yet again, this time for 'disobeying a ZeniMax employee'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-doom-mod-that-turns-margaret-thatcher-into-an-undead-cyberdemon-has-been-removed-by-bethesda-yet-again-this-time-for-disobeying-a-zenimax-employee/
The Thatcher's Techbase mod for Doom is gone again: Despite changing the title to [REDACED]'s Techbase and censoring all images of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Bethesda Softworks has removed the mod again and warned its creator that their account could be temporarily or even permanently suspended if they keep pushing it.
(*** a few paragraphs explainign the background of this situation***)
"This mod, [REDACED]'s Techbase, has been reported one or more times for a Code of Conduct violation; real-world politics and deliberately disobeying a ZeniMax employee, and has been removed," a new takedown message shared by Purvis states. "As a result, this account is receiving an official warning.
"Further violations of any part of our Terms of Service may result in a temporary suspension or even a permanent deletion of your account. Please take a few moments to review the Terms of Service and Code of Conduct, which must be acknowledged to participate in the Bethesda.net experience."
It all seems very odd to me. Bethesda had no problem embracing "real world politics" with the Wolfenstein games, and the whole Fallout series is built around very real-world fears of nuclear Armageddon, with a healthy dose of American imperialism thrown in for good measure. 

GAMING NEWS

Threads of Time is a new 2.5D JRPG, inspired by Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/threads-of-time-is-a-new-2-5d-jrpg-inspired-by-chrono-trigger-and-final-fantasy/
Now here is something really cool. Humble Games announced earlier today a new 2.5D turn-based JRPG that is heavily inspired by Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy, called Threads of Time. This new JRPG looks lovely, and you can find its debut trailer below.

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO Official PC Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dragon-ball-sparking-zero-official-pc-requirements/
Bandai Namco has revealed the official PC system requirements for DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO. So, let’s see what you’ll need to run this new Dragon Ball game.
>> Not too bad.

First Final Fantasy 16 PC Title Update Released & Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/first-final-fantasy-16-pc-title-update-released-detailed/
Square Enix has released the first update for the PC version of Final Fantasy 16, and it has shared its complete changelog. This patch is around 200MB in size, and it will improve game stability, add controller options, and address several other issues.

The second part of the Friday news:

Fallout Tactics lead on exploring the 'bigotry' of the Brotherhood of Steel long before Bethesda got there: 'I really enjoyed killing off the nobility of them'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/fallout-tactics-lead-on-exploring-the-bigotry-of-the-brotherhood-of-steel-long-before-bethesda-got-there-i-really-enjoyed-killing-off-the-nobility-of-them/
Almost every Fallout game has its stalwart defenders: People who will swear til they're blue in the face that New Vegas, or 3, or 2, or 1 is the best game in the series and, just maybe, the best game of all time. There's something about the Wasteland that inspires fanatical devotion. Usually.
Fallout Tactics is one of the few games you'd struggle to find a ride-or-die fan for. A combat-focused follow-up to Fallout 2, the game's blend of tactics and RPG elements didn't quite find purchase with fans of either genre. And who knows—maybe Fallout fans bristled at its depiction of the Brotherhood of Steel.
"I really enjoyed killing off the nobility of them," Fallout Tactics lead designer Ed Orman told PCG in a recent interview. In Tactics, players took on the role of a squad of Brotherhood soldiers, giving what was—at that point—one of the deepest looks yet at the faction in the series (though they had featured heavily in both the first and second games, naturally).

Satisfactory's developers had no idea how popular its 1.0 launch was going to be: 'We try not to focus too much on that stuff and just make it as big as we possibly can'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/satisfactorys-developers-had-no-idea-how-popular-its-10-launch-was-going-to-be-we-try-not-to-focus-too-much-on-that-stuff-stuff-and-be-like-lets-just-make-it-as-big-as-we-possibly-can/
I felt like I was late to the party when I started playing Satisfactory like mad in 2020, more than a year after the building game first released in early access on the Epic Games Store. Another four years later Satisfactory has finally arrived at its 1.0 release and proven just how off base I was. It peaked at close to 200,000 players the weekend after launch, more than four times its previous record. Apparently developer Coffee Stain was just as surprised as I was.
"I think I've finally gained my sleep cycle, but the last week has been insane," community manager Snutt Treptow said in an interview with PC Gamer. "I really thought once we dropped the game on release day, I'd be able to breathe, but no, it totally exploded, and we're super stoked. We broke all our records. I think our previous current player record was like 34,000 concurrent players. That weekend [after 1.0's launch] we got 186,000. Our YouTube channel had like 90,000 people watching the release stream concurrently. It's crazy."
>> And they won’t stop working on the game, as they were already thinking what to add after the 1,0 launch.

Videogame IP lawyer says Nintendo could've been planning its Pocketpair lawsuit before Palworld even released: 'If you know who you're going to go sue, you can draft claims to target them'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/videogame-ip-lawyer-says-nintendo-couldve-been-planning-its-pocketpair-lawsuit-before-palworld-even-released-if-you-know-who-youre-going-to-go-sue-you-can-draft-claims-to-target-them/
Last week, Nintendo released a statement announcing a patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair. Given Nintendo's infamous reputation for applying overwhelming legal pressure, the announcement led plenty of us to wonder when in the eight months since Palworld's release Nintendo might've started setting its litigation gears in motion. According to patent lawyer Kirk Sigmon, Nintendo might've been planning its patent lawsuit before Palworld even launched.
While Nintendo hasn't publicized which patents it's accusing Pocketpair of infringing, the generally-held assumption is that Nintendo's basing its lawsuit around patents it filed on creature-capturing and riding mechanics during the development of 2022 Switch game Pokemon Legends: Arceus. During an interview with PC Gamer covering the Palworld lawsuit, I asked Sigmon to explain the amendments, continuations, and divisional applications that those patents had received, according to US and Japanese patent databases.

This unique action-platformer lets you shapeshift into animal forms—but I just got obsessed with being a flat piece of paper
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/this-unique-action-platformer-lets-you-shapeshift-into-animal-forms-but-i-just-got-obsessed-with-being-a-flat-piece-of-paper/
Things are tough out there these days, and smaller developers are having to do whatever it takes to survive. Poor old Gyaar Studio—it's had to try and save money by making a whole game out of paper.
Hirogami, announced at the Tokyo Games Show 2024, takes place in a mystical, origami world. The earth is paper, the trees are paper, and, yes, our protagonist is paper. But that does have its advantages—he's able to unfold himself into a flat page, and then refold into animal forms that give him powerful new abilities.

Space Marine 2's latest patch adds ultrawide support, private co-op lobbies, and battle buddies who will actually be useful for something
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/space-marine-2s-latest-patch-finally-adds-ultrawide-support-private-co-op-lobbies-and-battle-buddies-who-will-actually-be-useful-for-something/
It took the better part of a month but Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, the tale of a boy and his buddies discovering a shared love of entomology, finally has support for ultrawide displays. And that's not all: Private lobbies for the co-op Operations mode are also live and there's a new Sparring Arena in the Battle Barge that lets players "compete in friendly PvP with the players in their squad." Players who like to fiddle with their look will be happy to hear that a convenient option to reset custom armor and color presets to their default settings has been added to the customization menu.

The Day Before studio returns from the dead and asks for a 'second chance': 'From now on, our development and marketing will be based on the principle of honesty'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-day-before-developer-comes-back-from-the-dead-and-asks-for-a-second-chance-from-now-on-our-development-and-marketing-will-be-based-on-the-principle-of-honesty/
Infamous open world survival game The Day Before bombed when it released late last year, and developer Fntastic shut its doors just four days later. "The Day Before has failed financially, and we lack the funds to continue," the studio said at the time—but now Fntastic has returned, saying it's going to do things differently this time and asking gamers to fund its next project on Kickstarter.
Given its reputation, the reanimated studio (which also made the once popular, now defunct Propnight) might have a hard time reaching even its modest $15,535 goal for Escape Factory, a "physics-based multiplayer co-op escape game." Kickstarter users once pledged $55,492 to fund a potato salad, though, so anything's possible.
>> The article has the link to the Kickstarter page, but I refuse to copy it here.

'There's a lot of psychological hurdles': Why Mossmouth charged $25 for 50 games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/theres-a-lot-of-psychological-hurdles-why-mossmouth-charged-dollar25-for-50-games/
When Mossmouth announced the price for UFO 50 it came as a pleasant surprise. The game famously contains 50 games—hence the name—so it's reasonable to expect a higher price than average for a new release indie game, especially one that's been in development for eight years. But no: it's priced at $25. 
I noticed a lot of people in forums and on social media were pleased and surprised about this, so I figured I'd ask the team during a recent interview what the thinking behind the price was. There had clearly been a lot of thinking behind it, ranging from the potential difficulty of selling it for more, through to the team's desire to surprise the player with unexpected depth—in the same way Hollow Knight perhaps did back in 2017, or Elden Ring in 2022.

Final Fantasy 14's developer band confirms one of Endwalker's most emotional songs, Close in the Distance, is from one specific character to your Warrior of Light
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/final-fantasy/final-fantasy-14-s-developer-band-confirms-one-of-endwalker-s-most-emotional-songs-close-in-the-distance-is-from-one-specific-character-to-your-warrior-of-light/
Final Fantasy 14 has a developer band, led by the game's sound director, Masayoshi Soken. Playing tunes from the game itself, The Primals are genuinely really popular with the fanbase, considering the long-standing MMO has plenty of bangers to choose from. It also has some tear-wrenching songs, too, such as Close in the Distance, an uplifting plea that plays during the finale of Endwalker. Spoilers for that expansion, as well as every expansion before it, to follow.

Blizzard is reportedly 'incubating' a StarCraft shooter again, which would be the developer's 3rd attempt at the accursed concept
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/blizzard-is-reportedly-incubating-a-starcraft-shooter-again-which-would-be-the-developer-s-3rd-attempt-at-the-accursed-concept/
Blizzard is reportedly making a shooter in the StarCraft universe again—no, not StarCraft Ghost, which was cancelled in 2014. It's also not Ares, which was, according to sources who spoke to Kotaku back in 2019, also canned. This one's a third, secret thing.

Valve is punishing Deadlock cheaters in the best way possible, turning them into helpless frogs
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/valve-is-punishing-deadlock-cheaters-in-the-best-way-possible-turning-them-into-helpless-frogs/
Deadlock has had a few issues with cheaters since it entered its closed beta test, as some players found ways to give them an unfair advantage over their opponents. But now we have a way to fight back—frogs. No, I didn't misspell 'frags'.
A recent Deadlock update, shared by Valve dev Yoshi, has given players a new way to combat cheaters: "When a user is detected as cheating during the game session, the opponents will be given a choice between banning the user immediately and ending the match or turning the cheater into a frog for the rest of the game and then banning them afterward," Yoshi says in a forum post. 

And yes, today there’s also a third part of the news:

All Genshin Impact codes from the 5.1 livestream
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/genshin-impact-codes-5-1-livestream/
The Genshin Impact 5.1 livestream codes are ready to collect. For those who haven't been playing Genshin all that long, or started in Natlan with the latest update. miHoYo puts on a livestream every six weeks detailing what's set to arrive in the upcoming version. As a little bonus for those who tune in, you can also claim three livestream codes that give you some Primogems you can use to pull characters.

The best-named game of all time nearly could've been called something else because some of its developers hated the pun
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/the-best-named-game-of-all-time-nearly-couldve-been-called-something-else-because-some-of-its-developers-hated-the-pun/
If you're here ready to debate my declaration of "the best-named game of all time," I'm going to suggest you've never played Satisfactory, because it embodies its name perfectly. It's the kind of pun you write on a white board to cause an entire room to spontaneously groan, because everyone wants to roll their eyes but also knows they'll never better it. When the developers at Coffee Stain were first working on Satisfactory, though, they weren't all in agreement that the name was destined. In fact, it was a bit of a fight.

The idea for a Pillars of Eternity: Tactics game has been floated at Obsidian, but it's still up in the air because 'the audience for them is not huge, typically, but very passionate'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-idea-for-a-pillars-of-eternity-tactics-game-has-been-floated-at-obsidian-but-it-s-still-up-in-the-air-because-the-audience-for-them-is-not-huge-typically-but-very-passionate/
Obsidian, as a studio, is both currently and understandably quite busy on Avowed—an RPG it's been very keen to remind you isn't Skyrim. It also made the Pillars of Eternity games (the world of which Avowed is set in), and while the second entry of the CRPG enjoyed critical success, it didn't sell as well as one might hope.
Josh Sawyer, studio design director at Obsidian, has gone on-record as wanting a Baldur's Gate 3-style budget if he was to ever make a third one—but what about a tactics game, as a treat?

Metaphor: ReFantazio's demo reveals the most vitally important information: The protagonist's canonical name
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/metaphor-refantazios-demo-reveals-the-most-vitally-important-information-the-protagonists-canonical-name/
I take real beef with Atlus's continued tradition of not giving its protagonist an actual damn name. It was all fine and dandy back when JRPGs had no voice acting, but that's not the case anymore! Even back when Square Enix refused to slap everyone with the name Tidus in Final Fantasy 10—though, perhaps that spared us of the atrocious "official" pronunciation—it annoyed the hell out of me.
I'm very much a canon name gamer. I'm not here calling my protagonists Farts McGee or John Persona. I want that official name, baby. I got baited in Persona 5 when the manga declared Joker's name to be Akira Kurusu, only for every subsequent piece of media to decide it was Ren Amamiya instead. I refuse to let that happen to me with Metaphor: ReFantazio, the latest Atlus JRPG to give us an unnamed hero and declare we do it ourselves.

And here are the GOG and Steam deals for the weekend:

+GOG

• Only one, the Autumn Sale with its over 5800 deals featuring up to 95% discounts for another 10 days.

+Steam

• The Indie Dev Day 2024 event takes place between today and Sunday 29. Besides many upcoming games, many with demos to try, there are a few games on sale with up to 60% discounts. The length of the discounts vary: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/IndieDevDay2024
• Bandai Namco finally joins the TGS Sales with up to 90% discounts until the 30th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/BANDAINAMCO/sale/tgs2024sale
• ANIMAL WELL will be 20% off until the 3rd of October: https://store.steampowered.com/app/813230/ANIMAL_WELL/
• Shadow Warrior 3: Definitive Edition features a 50% discount until the 3rd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1036890/Shadow_Warrior_3_Definitive_Edition/
• Remnant II is also going to be 50% off until October 3: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1282100/REMNANT_II/
• The Wolfenstein franchise is on sale, up to 85% off until the 3rd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/wolfensteinfranchise2024
• The First edition of the Convergence Games Showcase features lots of games aof many genres, as well as games up to 88% off until October, the 3rd: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45098973-Convergence-Games-Showcase/sale/convergence-games-showcase-2024
• Looking Up I See Only A Ceiling has a demo and a 25% discount until October 8: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1742930/Looking_Up_I_See_Only_A_Ceiling/
• And Publisher Hooded Horse is going to put its games up to 90% off until October 10: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/HoodedHorsePublisherSale2024

That’s all folks! Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

It's going to be interesting to see how the Founder Edition cards look given the alleged split PCBs and those possible designs. We'll see how third party cards fare as well.

Also, coming from that article, videocardz brings a Chiphell post stating that the 5080 will get a new model in the future with 24GB of VRAM thanks to GDDR7 having 3GB memory chips. Could that be the main selling point of the 5080 Super?

Not really sure what's going on with future super cards but the 5080 only having 16GB of vram seems to low for a card that will likely come in at $1200+

I expect between between $1200 and $1400 for the 5080, but we'll see.

I agree that the amount of VRAM is surprisingly low. I read on another discussion that this could be an intentional move from Nvidia because 24GB seem to be the sweet spot for AI training right now, and by limiting the 5080 to just 16GB, they could avoid getting the card trapped in the AI craze that's going on right now.

But I don't know how legit that may be.