Intel P-Core Only “Raptor Lake” CPUs Being Sold Online: Core i9-14901KE For $420, Core i7-14701E For $280, Core i5-14401E For $154

https://wccftech.com/intel-p-core-only-raptor-lake-cpus-sold-online-core-i9-14901ke-420-i7-14701e-280-i5-14401e-154/

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 3D V-Cache CPU Offers Much Higher Clock Speeds Than 7800X3D But Will Be Expensive, Retail Launch In Early November

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7-9800x3d-3d-v-cache-cpu-higher-clocks-than-7800x3d-expensive-launch-early-november/

NVIDIA To Incorporate A Whopping “100 Million” AI Assistants Moving Into The Future

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-incorporate-100-million-ai-assistants-moving-into-the-future/

China’s Research Institute Advises Local Firms To Stay On NVIDIA’s AI Chips, Voting Against Domestic AI Solutions

https://wccftech.com/china-advises-local-firms-to-stay-on-nvidia-ai-chips-voting-against-domestic-solutions/

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

Tiny Glade celebrates over 500,000 players with a much-needed quality-of-life patch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/tiny-glade-celebrates-over-500-000-players-with-a-much-needed-quality-of-life-patch/
Tiny Glade has been enchanting people for over three weeks, myself included, and players have shown no signs of slowing down with their phenomenal creations. In fact, this sweet city builder hit a huge milestone last week, which developer PounceLight was excited to immediately share.
As of last week, Tiny Glade has gained over 500,000 unique players, which is pretty remarkable for a game made by two people. But, given the game had over 800,000 wishlists before its launch, its player count definitely feels justified. As PounceLight announced on X, the player count is "bonkers" and the studio thanked anyone who has spent time building something from the ground up in Tiny Glade. PounceLight also added, "Seeing your creations, both big and small, is pure joy." It's not wrong. I've had as much joy looking at what other people have been creating as I have trying to create something myself.
This success milestone is one of many for Tiny Glade, too. According to SteamDB, the game has experienced a peak of 10,692 concurrent players, which was hit on the day it launched. Ever since this peak it's been seeing a consistent player count of around 1,000 to 1,500. Even though that's a pretty significant dip, considering all of this has happened in the three weeks since the game was launched, it's undoubtedly something to be proud of.
Following this success story, Tiny Glade has released a patch update as well, bringing several Quality-of-Life fixes such as remembering your last colour/style edit. This is a pretty significant and completely necessary addition: I've spent far too long individually inputting my colour schemes on a big project. I'm sure anyone else who's decided to build an entire village will also feel my pain on this one. And to make it even better, these aesthetics are saved even when you close the game, so they'll be ready to go when you decide to continue your build.

GOG brings the new Story Rich Promo, with up to 93% discounts during 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20241015_story_rich_promo.

Steam has several new deals, including new weeklong deals:

• RimWorld will be 20% off until October 18: https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/
• The Made in New Zealand 2024 showcase has games up to 90% off. Most deals will end on the 21st, but some will last loner than that: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/NZGames2024
• The Legend of Tianding features a 60% discount until the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1406850/The_Legend_of_Tianding/
• Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, that has a demo, gets a 20% discount until October, the 28th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2510710/KunitsuGami_Path_of_the_Goddess/
• Harold Halibut will be 33% off until the 28th of October: https://store.steampowered.com/app/924750/Harold_Halibut/
• Planet Zoo gets a 65% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/703080/Planet_Zoo/
• And here are some of the weeklong deals:
  • Flatworld, still in Early Access, is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1296540/Flatworld/
  • ΔV: Rings of Saturn, with a demo, has a 37% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/846030/DV_Rings_of_Saturn/
  • Stellar Tactics, also in Early Access, is 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/465490/Stellar_Tactics/
  • The VR ONLY Eye of the Temple has a 60% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/589940/Eye_of_the_Temple/
  • Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment gets a 70% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/589510/Shovel_Knight_Specter_of_Torment/
  • And the last one is Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, that has a demo and it’s 80% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1333470/Alex_Kidd_in_Miracle_World_DX/

Fanatical’s new Star Deal is Besiege for Steam, 78% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/besiege.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

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GAMING NEWS

Red Dead Redemption Remaster PC has visual improvements over the PS5 version
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/red-dead-redemption-remaster-pc-has-visual-improvements-over-the-ps5-version/
YouTube’s ‘Cycu1’ has shared a video comparison between the PC and PS5 versions of Red Dead Redemption Remaster. And, from what we can see, the PC version will have some visual/graphical improvements over the PS4/PS5 version. So, let’s take a look at them.

NVIDIA RTX 4090 runs Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 with 60fps at 4K/Ultra Settings with DLSS Quality
https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/nvidia-rtx-4090-runs-microsoft-flight-simulator-2024-with-60fps-at-4k-ultra-settings-with-dlss-quality/
Compusemble gained access to the Technical Alpha Test for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and shared a couple of videos from it. And, from what we can see, the game runs with 60fps at 4K and Ultra Settings with NVIDIA DLSS Quality Mode on an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
>> Between that and the up to 180MB/s of internet it will use while gaming, this game won’t be for everyone.

Tuesday news, part two:

Metaphor: ReFantazio's director looked to classic fantasy like Lord of the Rings before deciding doing that 'would lack that originality that defines us'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/metaphor-refantazios-director-looked-to-classic-fantasy-like-lord-of-the-rings-before-deciding-doing-that-would-lack-that-originality-that-defines-us/
Metaphor: ReFantazio director Katsura Hashino said the team decided to "abandon all of the inspirations" gained from researching material like The Lord of the Rings in favour of an "original creative endeavour" with stuff the developers actually liked about the genre.
>> And here’s a trick to make easy money early in the game.

Lunacid's Halloween update brings jack-o-lanterns to Wing's Rest, but most importantly a number of bug fixes and an update on language localization
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/lunacids-halloween-update-brings-jack-o-lanterns-to-wings-rest-but-most-importantly-a-number-of-bug-fixes-and-an-update-on-language-localization/
Dark and dingy fantasy dungeon crawler Lunacid has adorned its halls just in time for Halloween, and as a fantasy-loving Halloween fanatic, this is great news for me. Even though the game is already brimming with ghosts and ghouls, KIRA LLC has cut no corners in bringing even more decor to Wing's Rest to help every player celebrate the season, and anyone who feels the same about pumpkins and thematic lighting will probably be just as excited as I am. 

Don't be fooled by New World's rebranding—Aeternum is not a new game or spiritual successor, it's just an update
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/dont-be-fooled-by-new-worlds-rebranding-aeternum-is-not-a-new-game-or-spiritual-successor-its-just-an-update/
New World was Amazon's big swing into the world of MMOs, and when it launched in 2021 a lot was riding on it—especially after the embarrassing failure of Crucible. It couldn't have gone better. A perfect storm of Amazon marketing and an audience desperately hungry for a big blockbuster MMO led players to the shores of Aeternum in their droves. 
(...)
That new MMO smell started to grow stale, however, and those numbers dramatically dropped; by spring of 2022 they had plateaued to around 20-30,000. Now, that's hardly a low number. Tens of thousands of players kept coming back and playing together, and New World managed to maintain this level of popularity until this year, where by May it had dwindled to less than 10,000 concurrent players. 
This dip was most likely due to the impending launch of New World: Aeternum, and this is where New World's story gets a bit confusing. See, Amazon immediately started treating New World: Aeternum like the launch of a new game. The initial announcement focused mostly on it launching on consoles, but it also completely omitted the fact that it was an MMO. It was an action-RPG that you could play with your friends, Amazon said. 

Xbox Game Studios' new boss is the Rare boss
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/xbox-game-studios-new-boss-is-the-rare-boss/
The current head of Xbox Game Studios, Alan Hartman, is to retire at the end of November, with Rare studio boss Craig Duncan taking over (thanks, GI.biz). Hartman's been at Xbox for a long time, with a list of credits across everything from Age of Empires to Forza, though has only been in the head honcho role for a year. 

Terrifier, the indie horror film that managed to make 10x its budget while Joker: Folie à Deux flails in the water, is getting a videogame
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/terrifier-the-indie-horror-film-that-managed-to-make-10x-its-budget-while-joker-folie-a-deux-flails-in-the-water-is-getting-a-videogame/
Terrifier is a horror series that centres around a demonic serial killer clown called Art, who is still causing havoc in Miles County after three films and counting. The third film (which is currently in theatres) was actually a real success as it made 10x its budget with $18 million in its debut weekend. In comparison, while Joker: Folie à Deux did manage to make $37.8 million in its opening weekend, it still hasn't been able to break even. But before we can even think about what a fourth movie may bring to the table, Art is venturing into videogames. 

This upcoming first-person sim puts you in charge of a military base in an alternate future where we're still fighting World War 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/this-upcoming-first-person-sim-puts-you-in-charge-of-a-military-base-in-an-alternate-future-where-were-still-fighting-world-war-2/
Announced last week, War Mechanic is an upcoming sim that puts you in the boots of an enterprising grease monkey who has to build, defend, and make profitable a military base in an alternate future where we're still fighting the big one.

Legendary game designer Jordan Weisman's next project is an open world deck-building pirate romance tactical RPG
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/legendary-game-designer-jordan-weismans-next-project-is-an-open-world-deck-building-pirate-romance-tactical-rpg/
If you're anything like me, you probably spent long hours of your childhood afternoons playing BattleTech on the kitchen table and listening to the MechWarrior 2 soundtrack on your Discman. No? Just me? Well, if you do happen to be a sicko like me, you probably keep tabs on Jordan Weisman, the designer who brought us not only BattleTech but Shadowrun, Earthdawn, and Crimson Skies. He's got a Kickstarter campaign going until November 14th to fund a new PC game called Sea of Legends, based on an also-crowdfunded tabletop game by Zach Weisman.

Overwatch 2 just made it easier to mute and report annoying players in the upcoming Season 13 patch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2-just-made-it-easier-to-mute-and-report-annoying-players-in-the-upcoming-season-13-patch/
Overwatch 2 Season 13 has some exciting stuff in store for players. There's not just a stacked battle pass this season, along with some much-needed balance and map changes, but we're also getting tweaks to the scoreboard interface, making it easier to deal with annoying players. 

The culmination of Helldivers 2's 60-day patch plan canonises John Helldiver—less importantly, there's been major buffs to grenades, sentries, and the long-avoided anti tank mines
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/the-culmination-of-helldivers-2s-60-day-patch-plan-canonises-john-helldiver-less-importantly-theres-been-major-buffs-to-grenades-sentries-and-the-long-avoided-anti-tank-mines/
Helldivers 2 has finally completed its 60-day plan—well, its 63-day plan, but who's keeping score? Me, but that's only because it's my job. In case you've not fought for liberty in a while, here's some context:
(…)
Anyway, you can read the full patch notes yourself, though Arrowhead's also put out a blog post outlining its general philosophy, courtesy of Mikael Eriksson:

Intel & AMD Testing 12V-2×6 Power Connectors For Next-Gen GPUs, Following NVIDIA’s Footsteps

https://wccftech.com/intel-amd-testing-12v-2x6-power-connectors-for-next-gen-gpus/

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility “XTU” v10.0.0 Is Feature-Packed With Tuning & Overclocking Options For Core Ultra 200S CPUs

https://wccftech.com/intel-extreme-tuning-utility-xtu-v10-tuning-overclocking-options-core-ultra-200s-cpus/

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Lineup Launches In Q1 2025: 5090 & 5080 In January, 5070 Series In February, 5060 Series In March

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-50-q1-2025-launch-rumor-5090-5080-january-5070-february-5060-march/

Intel and AMD want to make x86 architecture better, by working together

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-and-amd-want-to-make-x86-architecture-better-by-working-together

New Xbox Series X console has 6nm SoC die-shrink, consumes less power when gaming and idle

https://videocardz.com/newz/new-xbox-series-x-console-has-6nm-soc-die-shrink-consumes-less-power-when-gaming-and-idle

The news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has a new set of Weekly Deals, with up to 93% discounts during 6 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20241015_weekly_deals_2_october.

Steam has three new deals:

• eSail Sailing Simulator is going to be 15% off until the 22nd oc October: https://store.steampowered.com/app/794860/El_Simulador_de_Navegacin_eSail/
• Ember Knights gets a 50% discount until the same 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1135230/Ember_Knights/
• And Sker Ritual, that has a demo, will be 30% off until October, the 29th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1492070/Sker_Ritual/

At Fanatical has a new Star Deal and a bundle:

• The Star Deal is Prey, for Steam, with a 91% deal during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/prey-game
• The Adventure Mystery Bundle has three unknown games to get: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/adventure-mystery-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Tales of The Witcher is another cool DLC-sized fan expansion for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/tales-of-the-witche-is-another-cool-dlc-sized-fan-expansion-for-the-witcher-3-next-gen/
Last week, we informed you about a DLC-sized mod for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen. And today, we have another cool fan expansion for all of our TW3 fans. So, let’s see what’s in store for you this time around.
Tales of The Witcher sees Geralt arrive in Cintra, long before the events of the books and games. In this expansion, you’ll experience a new story, explore a new world, and take on contracts. You’ll also get to do what a witcher was made to do, and that is killing monsters.
In First Chapter, two quests are available, serving as a prologue to the main storyline. These quests introduce the player to the world of ToTW, preparing the ground for future expansion. While the city area is still WIP, the early version is available to explore, giving players a taste of what’s to come, including future city-based quests.
To create this fan expansion, the modder used the REDkit tool. And the good news is that Gerwant plans to further improve it. Future updates will expand the map with new regions, quests, and deeper narrative elements, including moral choices.
Do note that this fan expansion does not have a map or quest markers. Instead, your conversations with the NPCs will guide you to your future objectives. The journal is written from Geralt’s perspective, where he comments on events and suggests future steps. In other words, this expansion attempts to offer a more old-school RPG experience.
>> There’s a roughly 3 minutes video of this mod.

GAMING NEWS

Dragon Age: The Veilguard won’t have Denuvo, gets Ray Tracing Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dragon-age-the-veilguard-wont-have-denuvo-gets-ray-tracing-requirements/
Bioware has just confirmed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard won’t have any 3rd party DRM on PC. This means that the game won’t have Denuvo, the anti-tamper tech that EA has used in pretty much all of its latest PC releases.
The devs have also shared some more detailed PC requirements for their action RPG. Alongside the “traditional” PC specs, we also got detailed requirements for its Ray Tracing version.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Gets Official PC System Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/call-of-duty-black-ops-6-gets-official-pc-system-requirements/
Treyarch and Beenox have revealed the official PC system requirements for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. COD: BO6 will come out on PC on October 25th, and from the looks of it, it will not require a high-end PC system.

Hilariously, the Next-Gen Ray Tracing Update for Darksiders 2 introduces shader compilation stutters
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/hilariously-the-next-gen-ray-tracing-update-for-darksiders-2-introduces-shader-compilation-stutters/
As we told you last month, a free update was planned to come out on PC for Darksiders 2 Deathinitive Edition. This patch promised to add RT to improve the game’s graphics. However, the update introduces shader compilation stutters in a game that originally did not have them. Now that’s a first.
The Deathinitive Edition of Darksiders 2 used DX9.0c. However, this update upgrades the engine to use DX12. And yes, due to that change, the game now has shader compilation stutters.

The second part of the news:

Skyrim's lead designer admits Bethesda games lack 'polish,' but at some point you have to release a game even if you have a list of 700 known bugs
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/skyrims-lead-designer-admits-bethesda-games-lack-polish-but-at-some-point-you-have-to-release-a-game-even-if-you-have-a-list-of-700-known-bugs/
I'm no fortune teller, but I can already pretty much guarantee a few of the features you'll find in The Elder Scrolls 6. First up, picking up any item on any surface will cause every item surrounding it to levitate a few millimetres in the air. Second, your companion will at some point jumpscare you by offering you some trash in the middle of battle. Third, land swimming.
(...)
Would it even be possible to polish up a Skyrim-style Bethesda game to a mirror sheen before release? Well, maybe—or at the very least these games could be more polished than they are at launch—but the demands of business are such that you do have to put a game out at some point. "Are you willing to let the game sit for six more months and be delayed six more months in order to try to polish it?" asks Nesmith, pointing out that even if you did do something like that, the final product would only be "better," not perfect. "So at some point you have to make the decision to publish," he says, even though you still have a big list of known bugs (the number Nesmith plucks out the air is "700").

RuneScape developer Jagex is making an open world survival game, and it's looking for testers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/runescape-developer-jagex-is-making-an-open-world-survival-game-and-its-looking-for-testers/
Jagex is working on a new survival game set in the RuneScape universe, and it's looking for some help with an upcoming closed alpha test.
"Jagex is developing a new Survival game set in the RuneScape universe using Unreal Engine 5," today's message states. "We know Jagex is at its best when we're working with players, so we're looking to recruit playtesters for our Closed Alpha."

Overwatch 2's latest patch has taken a sledgehammer to Sombra's kit, leaving the DPS hero in the dirt
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2s-latest-patch-has-taken-a-sledgehammer-to-sombras-kit-leaving-the-dps-hero-in-the-dirt/
Overwatch 2's Season 13 patch notes have covered a wide range of issues. There's changes to map layouts, the scoreboard, and, importantly, reworks for certain heroes who are either too strong or too weak. The last point is nothing new, but this time it looks like Sombra picked the short straw: Her reworks are pretty devastating. 

Flashy MOBA battle royale Supervive is opening its doors during Steam Next Fest—and it's already got that Blizzard/Riot polish from its expat devs in spades
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/flashy-moba-battle-royale-supervive-is-opening-its-doors-during-steam-next-fest-and-its-already-got-that-blizzard-riot-polish-from-its-expat-devs-in-spades/
Supervive, as part of Steam Next Fest, has opened its doors for a week—making it available to play until October 21 with matchmaking servers in Europe, North America, and Asia. Formerly known as Project Loki, it's an effort by Theorycraft, a studio of former devs from Riot and Blizzard, to carve out its own little nook of the MOBA market—and boy howdy does it show.

Microsoft has finally managed to settle against 10 gamers in court
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/microsoft-has-finally-managed-to-settle-against-10-gamers-in-court/
It's with my hat in my hand and a sorrowful expression on my face that I, standing outside the proverbial front door in this metaphor, must give you the sad news that 10 gamers have fallen in battle. They're still alive, it's just that Microsoft has settled against them in court "with prejudice". In case you're out of the loop, back in December 2022, a group of 10 Call of Duty fans filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft opposing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.
(...)
The lawsuit was tossed in March 2023, (…)
They were able to refile the action, which they did, though their request for a preliminary injunction to stop the merger dead was denied in May 2023 (…)
While the exact agreement of the settlement isn't clear, considering how little steam the suit itself seems to have gathered—and the fact that the suit has now been dismissed "with prejudice" as per Hollywood Reporter, meaning it can't be refiled.

In its next Tron game, Bithell Games is doing a Groundhog Day on The Grid
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/in-its-next-tron-game-bithell-games-is-doing-a-groundhog-day-on-the-grid/
Last week, Thomas Was Alone and Tron: Identity developer Bithell Games revealed Tron: Catalyst, its next entry in Disney's universe of identity discs, lightcycles, and lovely neon piping. With Catalyst, Bithell Games is trading the visual novel gameplay of Tron: Identity for a time-looping isometric action adventure, featuring a rogue program's attempt to escape her city's digital despots.

Six-shooter buffs in the latest Helldivers 2 balance patch have spawned a galaxy of Hulk-deleting Revolver Ocelots
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/six-shooter-buffs-in-the-latest-helldivers-2-balance-patch-have-spawned-a-galaxy-of-hulk-deleting-revolver-ocelots/
Earlier this week, Helldivers 2 completed its 60-day patch plan—an effort so admirable that we won't even detract any points over the fact that the tour of duty actually took 63 days. Patch 01.001.104 hit Helldivers 2 today, rounding out a sweeping collection of promised tweaks for weapons, stratagems, enemies, and core game mechanics. (...) Now, however, the P-4 Senator has become something different: something more. Rather than a last-ditch holdout sidearm, the revolver is now a purpose-built powerhouse, packing enough firepower and armor penetration to delete some of Super Earth's nastiest enemies.

Diablo 4 players dust off the other keys on their keyboards as Blizzard prepares to kill the one-button spiritborn build this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-4-players-dust-off-the-other-keys-on-their-keyboards-as-blizzard-prepares-to-kill-the-one-button-spiritborn-build-this-week/
The 'Spin 2 Win' spiritborn build was capable of killing anything in Diablo 4 with the press of one button, but it turns out there's one enemy it couldn't stand up against: Blizzard. A bug fix in a patch coming on October 17 will hit the brakes on the fastest build in the game and require everyone to go back to using more than one button. Truly the end of an era.

200 Bandai Namco employees reportedly moved into 'expulsion rooms' designed to bore them into quitting, though the company maintains its innocence
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/200-bandai-namco-employees-reportedly-moved-into-expulsion-rooms-designed-to-bore-them-into-quitting-though-the-company-maintains-its-innocence/
Bandai Namco employees are reportedly the latest victim of a wildfire of videogame layoffs that've scorched through the industry these past couple of years—although, owing to the unique nature of Japanese labour laws, the axe hasn't fallen quickly.
According to a report from Bloomberg, approximately 200 out of 1,300 employees have been sent to "expulsion rooms"—also known as oidashi beya—an unsavoury practice that is nonetheless still apparently a problem in the industry. Rather than butting up against the extremely strict dismissal laws, practising companies will instead transfer their employees to rooms or floors that are designed to bore them out of their skull, or culturally shame them into accepting severance deals.

You can try a taster of the Dead Cells dev's next roguelike Windblown ahead of its early access debut later this month, courtesy of Steam Next Fest
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/you-can-try-a-taster-of-the-dead-cells-devs-next-roguelike-windblown-ahead-of-its-early-access-debut-later-this-month-courtesy-of-steam-next-fest/
Motion Twin, the developer of Dead Cells, has given players an early peek at their next game for Steam Next Fest—a roguelike by the name of Windblown, which sees you (as one of several cute animal warriors) thrust into the storm alongside up to two of your buddies.

Man, shader compilation really is the bane of this generation. Next gen hardware and software better do something about it...

Yep. It was a problem last gen and it's still a big one in this one.

Epic should also do something about it, since most of the time it happens with games that use the UE engine and Epic knows about this problem.

*** Important info for those of you with some Western Digital SSDs ***

As Microsoft rolls out its Windows 11 24H2 update, owners of certain Western Digital SSDs have been greeted with constant Blue Screens of Death
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/ssds/as-microsoft-rolls-out-its-windows-11-24h2-update-owners-of-certain-western-digital-ssds-have-been-greeted-with-constant-blue-screens-of-death/
Another Windows update, another round of users complaining about crashes and bugs. While hardly news, this time around the fault is very specific but also very annoying, and it concerns Western Digital SSDs, specifically its SN770 and SN580 models. It seems that these drives just aren't ready for the 24H2 update and the result is a glut of crashes and infamous Blue Screens of Death (BSODs).

All of these troubles were flagged up by SN770/SN580 owners on Western Digital's community forums (via TechSpot). It looks like the problem revolves around something called the Host Memory Buffer (HMB). All SSDs store a map of where data is located within its flash memory chips and this constantly gets updated, as information gets deleted and added.

Some SSDs have a single DRAM module on them and store the map in that, but many gaming SSDs are DRAM-less (to reduce the price tag) and instead, store this map in a little bit of the PC's system memory. This is called the HMB and without it, performance takes a hit when doing lots of little writes and erases.

From what WD SSD owners have been saying, it would seem that the WD Black SN770 and Blue SN580 stick to a maximum HMB size of 64 MB but in the 24H2 update, Windows increases this to 200 MB. The SSD's firmware doesn't like this figure and the result is all the errors.

>> Remember, it's the SN770 and the SN580. The SN850/850X, that have DRAM cache, seem safe. I'm glad I went with this one for the OS, but I got a 770 for the games drive. But well, that would be a problem for future me once I move on from Win10.

Also, an update for an article I posted the other day:

Steam Deck app that unified your Epic and GOG games on Steam removed by Valve days after it appeared on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/steam-deck-app-that-unified-your-epic-and-gog-games-on-steam-removed-by-valve-days-after-it-appeared-on-steam/
Junk Store is an existing plugin for the Steam Deck homebrew launcher Decky Loader, and its purpose is simple: it allows installation of games from GOG and the Epic Games Store. It was recently announced that Junk Store would be releasing on Steam as standalone software, allowing players to play any and all games from competitors, with developer SDK Innovation saying it lets you "install and launch games directly in Game Mode without switching to Desktop or relying on external launchers."

That all sounds pretty convenient, but the big question is whether Valve would be cool with it: the nature of Junk Store would've made it the first product available on Steam that changes the functionality of Steam itself.

Readers: Valve was not cool with it. The Junk Store steam page went live earlier this month, but has now been unceremoniously yoinked from the Steam storefront (first noticed by SteamDeckHQ). 

Ok, a quick test to see our knowledge:

I don't even pass the exam. I only know 4 for sure, with the Skyrim one ringing a bell (but unable to write it) and I forget the San Andreas one, despite playing the game many years ago.