Tuesday news, part two:

Treyarch accidentally added legacy tokens to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, took them away, and then promised to restore them after realising they can't put the toothpaste back in the tube
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/treyarch-accidentally-added-legacy-tokens-to-call-of-duty-black-ops-6-took-them-away-and-then-promised-to-restore-them-after-realising-they-cant-put-the-toothpaste-back-in-the-tube/
There was a pleasant surprise waiting for players when Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 went live. XP tokens from previous Call of Duty games were there sat in everyone's inventory, making it easier to face the grind and level up characters or weapons. Usually, players can get these by completing limited time events, finishing the battle pass, or sometimes via collaborations.
(...)
Unfortunately, this time it didn't seem like the feature was intentional. One of the latest Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 updates erased legacy tokens, or as Activision put it: "Fixed an issue that incorrectly allowed legacy XP tokens to be activated in the Black Ops 6 UI." We just can't have nice things.
(...)
"With the start of Season 01, a UI bug allowed players to activate legacy XP tokens in Black Ops 6," Treyarch says. "Unfortunately, it also introduced some potential risk to game stability, which is why it was patched yesterday.
"We realize how much players appreciate being able to redeem legacy XP tokens in both BO6 and Warzone, so we are currently testing a way to implement this change correctly in a future update. This allows us time to ensure stability is maintained before we reintroduce this feature."

Sailor Moon-vibed farming sim Fields of Mistria gets its first major patch and finally lets me lay down some romantic groundwork for my spouse-to-be
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/sailor-moon-vibed-farming-sim-fields-of-mistria-gets-its-first-major-patch-and-finally-lets-me-lay-down-some-romantic-groundwork-for-my-spouse-to-be/
Fields of Mistria has been one of my most-loved games this year despite still being a relatively humble early access offering. It's set to be a genuinely fantastic contender in the Stardew-like space, even more so now that developer NPC Studio has released its first major patch.

Helldivers 2 players endure sarcastic propaganda that commends their 'undeniable tactical brilliance' after the 'blob' abandons a nearly-won objective for basically no reason
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-players-endure-sarcastic-propaganda-that-commends-their-undeniable-tactical-brilliance-after-the-blob-abandons-a-nearly-won-objective-for-basically-no-reason/
Folks, I think we might've democracy'd a little too close to the sun on this one. In case you've not been keeping up, Helldivers 2 recently introduced the democracy space station (DSS) which, after a brief hiccup where it kept blasting them into low orbit, has mostly served to empower the soldiers of liberty with eagle bombardments and special powers—guided across the galaxy by their vote. The wish for more control over the battlefield is granted, and yet the eagle's claw curls.
See, the latest major order, Operation Spark of Liberty, has ended in "success"—those quotes are Arrowhead's inclusion, not mine. While the major order's conditions have been technically met (to hold Gaellivare while killing 500 million Terminids), you might notice that Gaellivare is currently under automaton control.

Microsoft's Phil Spencer denies Avowed was delayed because it's janky: 'We didn’t move it because Obsidian needed the time. They’ll use the time'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/microsofts-phil-spencer-denies-avowed-was-delayed-because-its-janky-we-didnt-move-it-because-obsidian-needed-the-time-theyll-use-the-time/
Head of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer has been doing a few end-of-year interviews as 2024 draws to a close, and unsurprisingly the mood music is bullish. (...)
The company has such an embarrassment of riches, in fact, that Spencer says it's letting them take their time where it's needed. Obsidian's hotly anticipated Avowed, a fantasy RPG that it's desperate for people not to compare to Skyrim, was at one point scheduled for a fall 2024 release, but in August was delayed into February 2025. The reason? Microsoft said it was all about players! Giving us a chance to get through those backlogs, what kindness!
Speaking to GameFile's Stephen Totilo, Spencer re-iterates this rationale, and denies that it was down to the game being in bad shape. The latter is not some pie-in-the-sky suspicion, because Obsidian historically produces amazing RPGs that, like Alpha Protocol or New Vegas, have more than their fair share of bugs and jank.

US Air National Guardsman gets 15 years for leaking military secrets on a Minecraft Discord server: 'The scope of his betrayal is breathtaking… the amount of damage immeasurable'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/us-air-national-guardsman-gets-15-years-for-leaking-military-secrets-on-a-minecraft-discord-server-the-scope-of-his-betrayal-is-breathtaking-the-amount-of-damage-immeasurable/
A 22 year-old former member of the US Air National Guard has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for stealing classified American military secrets and sharing them on a Discord server ostensibly focused on Minecraft (thanks, The Register). Jack Teixeira had been employed by the service since September 2019 and worked for the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts until his arrest last year.

After dominating The Game Awards in 2023, Baldur's Gate 3 is in the running for even more gold in 2024
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/after-dominating-the-game-awards-in-2023-baldurs-gate-3-is-in-the-running-for-even-more-gold-in-2024/
The nominees for the 2024 Game Awards are in: This year's lineup is led by the PlayStation-exclusive Astro Bot and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, with seven nominations each including Game of the Year. Balatro, a PC Gamer favorite, is in the running for five awards, and it also pleases me to report that after crushing the 2023 Game Awards, Baldur's Gate 3 is back for more.

A summer intern once saved Valve from a near-fatal lawsuit after a publisher 'decided to go World War 3' on it, and it all hinged on one email
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/a-summer-intern-once-saved-valve-from-a-near-fatal-lawsuit-after-a-publisher-decided-to-go-world-war-3-on-it-and-it-all-hinged-on-one-email/
First Spotted by 80 Level, Secret Tape's massive documentary on the development of Half-Life 2 contains an almost unbelievable story of how Valve was saved from legal and financial ruin thanks to the actions of a single summer intern, paving the way for PC gaming as we know it today.

All Balatro's creator wants to do after the game received 5 nominations at the Game Awards is praise other overlooked developers: 'I just happen to be one of the lucky ones'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/its-been-a-really-surreal-day-balatro-creator-drops-heartfelt-message-after-landing-a-whopping-5-nominations-at-the-game-awards/
While The Game Awards nominations have heavily favoured big hitters like Metaphor: ReFantazio, Astro Bot, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth—the latter two of which are notably not on PC, boo—one indie game is standing among the bigger players: Balatro.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will simulate '3 trillion trees' and is borrowing all its animals from Planet Zoo
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/microsoft-flight-simulator-2024-will-simulate-3-trillion-trees-and-is-borrowing-all-its-animals-from-planet-zoo/
We were all pretty amazed in 202 when Microsoft Flight Simulator let us fly around a photorealistic, 1:1 scale planet Earth with real-time weather. Today, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is being released, and this time around its developers want you to spend a lot more time with your feet on the ground. Once you land in MFS 2024, you can exit your plane, walk around, and even take pictures of wildlife. That means a whole new level of simulation, as Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann told PC Gamer last week.
>> Or you can hire pilots to do the work for you.

This genre-blending indie game left me obsessed with the tales behind trinkets and knick-knacks, and wanting more
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/this-genre-blending-indie-game-left-me-obsessed-with-the-tales-behind-trinkets-and-knick-knacks-and-wanting-more/
Miniatures released on November 14, and after being nominated for several awards across the past two years I've been desperate to see what all the fuss is about. I get attached to objects pretty easily. If I see a little ceramic creature in a charity shop or if I look at a soft toy too long, there's a high chance it's coming home with me. Miniatures taps into this feeling and turns it into a heartwrenching narrative-driven story game reflecting on childhood memories, and now I've got an even deeper emotional attachment to my collection of trinkets. 

Here's how to watch the 42nd annual Golden Joystick Awards
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/heres-how-to-watch-the-42nd-annual-golden-joystick-awards/
It's that time of year again. The Golden Joystick Awards have rolled around to highlight the best bits of gaming from the past 365 days. Over 12 million votes (a new record) have been cast across 21 categories, and with Final Fantasy XVI's Ben Starr taking the stage to share the winners, there's a lot to get excited about. Potential new Ben Starr memes, most of all.

AMD has gone on record stating that they want to gain marketshare, and you can't achieve that if you're not aggressive with your pricing.

And let's be honest, there's no chance in hell that AMD will match, much less beat Nvidia at RT with the new cards. Nvidia isn't Intel and have never stopped pushing forward. We can hope AMD vastly improves it (it won't be too hard), but Nvidia will move away again with Blackwell.

I'm not saying Sony or MSoft are good, not in the slightlest, but this is not an objective measure, it's a subjective one. And in my opinion, Nintendo is curently worse than the other two.

I'm really curious to see how good are those "printed" displays and how much can the tech lower its cost.

With that said, 4K on a 22" display is... not great. Luckily, that display doesn't seem to be aimed at consumer products.

I've just noticed that Chrkeller has posted the last days because he has asked to be banned. Weird. Did he have a clash with someone?

I hope was it because he couldn't get into that VGC Steam group.

I'm personally hoping that manufacturers start making smaller 4k gaming monitors. Seems the smallest you can typically get right now is 27" and that's still a bit large for say a triple monitor setup like I'd like to have in my future home office. Kinda defeats the purpose of multitasking when you can't really see your other screens without fully turning your head.

Clashed with Ryuu on the politics board, then Ryuu took it to his wall, and since then I'm guessing he had enough, wanted to join the Steam group to talk there and asked to be banned on here.

The thing is, I don't even talk on Steam groups, I talk on discord servers instead (hence why I've been posting less and less on here as time goes on). 

OT: That Skyrim textures mod would have been better if it was bundled with the mesh textures, since I was just looking at the textures mod, and there are plenty of items/objects like chains and ropes that look rough as hell, but slightly crispy, and Mesh replacement mod would have rounded off those textures and gelled well with that texture mod. 

The mod author for the textures would likely need to ask permission though, but it's entirely possible to bundle it as one mod, and would have been great for an all in one visual mod changer. 

Valve’s Proton Experimental Update Integrates NVIDIA DLSS 3 & Various Enhancements For Games On Linux

https://wccftech.com/valve-proton-experimental-update-nvidia-dlss-3-various-game-enhancements-steam/

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU To Remain In Supply Even After RTX 5050 “Blackwell” Launch

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4050-laptop-gpu-to-remain-in-supply-even-after-rtx-5050-launch/

Intel reveals Jaguar Shores accelerator is set to follow Falcon Shores

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-reveals-jaguar-shores-accelerator-is-set-to-follow-falcon-shores

Qualcomm releases new GPU drivers only for Snapdragon X Elite powered Microsoft Surface devices

https://videocardz.com/newz/qualcomm-releases-new-gpu-drivers-only-for-snapdragon-x-elite-powered-microsoft-surface-devices

I think we all knew that RT won't be the 2060s forte but having access to DLSS certainly will continue to help the gpu

The Wednesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam has two new deals:

• The Witch of Fern Island is going to be 40% off until November 26: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1550010/The_Witch_of_Fern_Island/
• 9 Years of Shadows gets a 50% discount until the same 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1402120/9_Years_of_Shadows/

Fanatical has two deals to talk about:

• The new Star Deal is… the same as yesterday, Thymesia, with the same 65% deal. I guess they didn’t sell as many keys as they thought: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/thymesia
• The BYO Bento Bundle (Winter 2024) has 15 games to choose for your bundles of 3+, 5+ or 7+. It will last 49 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bento-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

INTEL Arc Graphics 32.0.101.6299 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-graphics-32-0-101-6299

Highlights
Gaming Highlights:

• Flight Simulator 2024
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chornobyl

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

-Empty-

GAMING NEWS

Starfield Update 1.14.74 Released & Detailed, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/starfield-update-1-14-74-released-detailed-full-patch-notes/
After a successful beta testing phase, Bethesda released Title Update 1.14.74 for Starfield to all PC and console players. This patch has almost the exact same tweaks, fixes and enhancements as its beta build. So, in case you missed it, let’s take a closer look at it.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins PC Demo coming on November 22nd
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dynasty-warriors-origins-pc-demo-coming-on-november-22nd/
KOEI Tecmo has announced that a PC demo for Dynasty Warriors: Origins will be released on November 22nd. To celebrate this announcement, the publisher has also shared a new trailer for it. This trailer gives us an overview of the gameplay mechanics that players can expect in this new DW game.

Wednesday news, part two:

'I can buy like 2 hot dogs': Mouthwashing's dev celebrates over 1 million Spotify downloads for the game's soundtrack
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/i-can-buy-like-2-hot-dogs-mouthwashings-dev-celebrates-over-1-million-spotify-downloads-for-the-games-soundtrack/
Mouthwashing is one of the most unsettling yet coolest games to release in 2024. And as if it hadn't already ticked most of my boxes, this horror game also has a brilliant soundtrack that has attracted mass attention.

As Guild Wars 2 continues to refine its new annual expansion cycle, today's major update adds its first raid in over 5 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/as-guild-wars-2-continues-to-refine-its-new-annual-expansion-cycle-todays-major-update-adds-its-first-raid-in-over-5-years/
Last year, Guild Wars 2 switched to a new annual expansion cycle—swapping out the sporadic expansions of old for more regular, smaller releases. Expansions now launch with two open world maps and a handful of new features, and then gets filled in across the rest of the year through major quarterly updates.
The first of this new style of expansion, last year's Secrets of the Obscure, suffered from being ArenaNet's first attempt at working to this scale—attempting to cram too much story into too little space, with later updates suffering for it. This year's expansion, Janthir Wilds, is a clear attempt to evolve and adapt—to take what the studio learned and to move forward with something that better fits the new structure.

Overwatch 2's new tank hero will be playable for a short time only this Friday, and so far, Hazard looks like he'll be a treat for brawlers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2s-new-tank-hero-will-be-playable-for-a-short-time-only-this-friday-and-so-far-hazard-looks-like-hell-be-a-treat-for-brawlers/
Overwatch 2's new tank hero Hazard, who was teased in the trailer for Season 13, will be available to play for everyone one day only this Friday before he gets added permanently in Season 14, which is only 21 days away. All we have to go off of right now is a short hero trailer, but it actually contains loads of information if you read between the lines.

Control 2 is an 'action RPG,' Remedy says, but unfortunately it doesn't explain what exactly that means
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/control-2-is-an-action-rpg-remedy-says-but-unfortunately-it-doesnt-explain-what-exactly-that-means/
We don't know much about Control 2 except that it's happening and will be self-published by Remedy rather than an external partner, as was the case with the original. But Remedy dropped an interesting tidbit as part of today's big Capital Markets Day presentation, revealing that the new game will be an "action RPG."

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 crashes on takeoff thanks to massive server woes, devs say they're working on it: 'The team is on it, and we will keep going'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/microsoft-flight-simulator-2024-crashes-on-takeoff-thanks-to-massive-server-woes-and-microsofts-advice-isnt-great-just-keep-waiting-until-something-happens/
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is out today, and it's not going well. Installation issues are being widely reported, and while Microsoft has some advice, it is unfortunately just this: Keep waiting until something starts happening.
Update: The developers have streamed a brief explanation (embedded above) of the launch issues, which involve a database cache that's been "completely overwhelmed" by the launch, causing "extremely long initial loading," or a failure to load entirely, and missing content. "We know everybody, a lot of people, are frustrated," said Flight Sim head Jorg Neumann. "We're really sorry, we want to apologize ... The team is on it, and we will keep going." Updates will be posted to the game's https://x.com/MSFSofficial">official social channels.
>> So, they learned nothing from the launch of the last game.

No Diablo 4 player will have to suffer its most grueling grind again thanks to a hidden perk with its new free character boost
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/no-diablo-4-player-will-have-to-suffer-its-most-grueling-grind-again-thanks-to-a-hidden-perk-with-its-new-free-character-boost/
I won't lie, I'm a little bitter that anyone who plays Diablo 4 from now on won't have to spend hours undertaking its most grueling grind. Back in my day, we had to open up a guide and play Where's Waldo before Diablo 4 really began. Now Blizzard is seemingly acknowledging how much it sucks to run around clicking statues for a minor, but necessary, benefit.
Starting today, the hunt for Altars of Lilith is over. Anyone who owns Diablo 4 can boost one character to level 50 on the 'eternal realm', or the non-seasonal mode, and receive a full set of legendary items, a bunch of gold, and the account-wide bucket of stats you get for clicking all 160 Altars of Lilith. And if you own the Vessel of Hatred expansion, you can boost a second character too.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will give away inactive character names in December, so if you want to protect your own personal Glup Shitto you better log in before then
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/star-wars-the-old-republic-will-give-away-inactive-character-names-in-december-so-if-you-want-to-to-protect-your-own-personal-glup-shitto-you-better-log-in-before-then/
The venerable MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic has a big update coming in December that will add a pile of new weapons, armor, mounts, overworld missions, and some big visual updates to boot. It looks like it could be a good reason for lapsed players to jump back in, but if you're part of that crowd you might want to make your return before the update goes live, or you could end up losing your character name.

Path of Exile 2 developer finally reveals how much it'll cost to play in early access
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2-developer-finally-reveals-how-much-itll-cost-to-play-in-early-access/
Next month, Path of Exile 2 will finally arrive. The long-awaited sequel will start as a paid early access game until it eventually transitions to the same free-to-play model as the original. Developer Grinding Gear Games has been quiet about the specifics of the launch, but yesterday it confirmed how much early access will cost in a post on X.

Early plans for Half-Life 2 sound wild, including visits to cities like Chicago and LA, several Combine bases, and a sequence where a plane crashed into a skyrise that was cut after 9/11
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/early-plans-for-half-life-2-sound-wild-including-visits-to-cities-like-chicago-and-la-several-combine-bases-and-a-sequence-where-a-plane-crashed-into-a-skyrise-that-was-cut-after-9-11/
Thanks to Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar and the Half-Life 2 beta leak from 2003, we've had a few little looks at concepts Valve considered for the FPS sequel but had to cut during development. For instance, thanks to files found in the leaked version, we know there were plans for a level set on an icebreaker ship that would lead to a mini-submarine trip to an underwater base—an idea that ended up being re-used in the Half-Life 2: Episode 3 synopsis, and the fan game based on it.
The recent 20th anniversary documentary has shone even more light on the earliest plans for Half-Life 2. Interestingly, those early plans weren't doing much to build on the plot of the first game. "The first two years we tried a lot of things," says writer Marc Laidlaw, "and a lot of those story arcs that we had initially didn't have really any carryover from Black Mesa or any of that."

Baldur's Gate 3 defies the laws of physics by being a single-player RPG with more daily users in 2024 than its release year
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/baldurs-gate-3-defies-the-laws-of-physics-by-being-a-single-player-rpg-with-more-daily-users-in-2024-than-its-release-year/
Baldur's Gate 3, pound for pound, has had more daily users in 2024 than in 2023, which feels a little bit like setting a coin spinning, going on holiday for a week, and then coming back only to find it still whirring away on your table.
That's as per Michael Douse, Larian Studios' director of publishing, who revealed some numbers on X today. According to him, Baldur's Gate 3 had 3% more daily peak concurrents, 20% more daily active users, and a 61% bump in daily Steam Deck users—in the second year of its release.

I've already played Stalker 2 for 50+ hours, and I promise you'll have a better time if you play with Ukrainian voice acting
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/ive-already-played-stalker-2-for-50-hours-and-i-promise-youll-have-a-better-time-if-you-play-with-ukrainian-voice-acting/
It's brilliant, bizarre, and a little busted, but I love Stalker 2. Which is lucky, since I've spent pretty much the entire past week doing almost nothing but play it. And now here I am, aglow with the wisdom of over two full days in Chornobyl’s exclusion zone, to give you my number one tip for playing. The one thing you should do before all else to make sure you have a good time.
For the love of god, switch the voiceover language to Ukrainian.

Wouldn't a 22" display with that resolution be a problem with text being rather small? There's a point where you'd have to set Windows scale beyond 100% and even increase the font size or the zoom of what you're trying to read to be able to see it easily.

There were quite a few 24" 4K monitors a few years ago, most of them TN, but nowadays they've disappeared.

I see. Thanks for sharing. There's a reason I stay away from some threads and discussions, and this only reinforce that decision.

Sadly for Chrkeller, I don't think he has managed to get in that Steam group yet but, even then, I've been checking it since he mentioned it and it hasn't had any chat activity, tho it can be because of the different timezones.

The reason for that, that the laptop RTX 50 series will be more expensive, isn't good news for the desktop parts.

But well, that could give AMD and/or Intel a better chance.

I couldn't put this in the gaming news, but I think some of you may be interested in this:

Wait, the Steam Controller 2 is in mass production? Someone grab the popcorn because nothing brought out the strong opinions like Valve's first controller
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/controllers/wait-the-steam-controller-2-is-in-mass-production-someone-grab-the-popcorn-because-nothing-brought-out-the-strong-opinions-like-valves-first-controller/
The original Steam Controller, which has been defunct now for half a decade, had a rocky history. Well, perhaps not so much rocky as controversial, it having a plethora of diehard fanboys and fangirls but also more than a smattering of detractors, including our very own hardware overlord Dave James. Now—someone shield Dave's ears—there's talk of a second iteration already being in mass production.

Valve boffin and leaker Brad Lynch shared on X (via The Verge) that, in addition to a VR controller, the Steam Controller 2, codenamed "Ibex" is "being tooled for a mass production goal in their factories right now" and "that's why I know they're in later stages of production."