I guess it's an option.

The Yogscast Jingle Jam 2024 bundle is now live. 

It includes the following games:

• Another Crab's Treasure
• Citizen Sleeper
• DeathSprint 66
• Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers
• Eternights
• Fights in Tight Spaces
• For The King II
• Frostpunk
• Hadean Tactics
• Mars First Logistics
• Orcs Must Die! 3
• Patrick's Parabox
• Scorn
• Shadows of Doubt
• Sticky Business
• Submachine: Legacy
• Two Point Campus
• Wildfrost

It also includes: a discount code for Displate, a key for Fanatical Wheel Spin, and MCC Island Jingle Jam Rewards Pack.

I mostly bought if for charity. I own nine games already. Two were on my wishlist and some of the others look interesting.

Ok, this year I hadn't bothered asking as I know very well the result, so I went ahead with it.

The Secret Santa thread is open for business. Follow the link if you want to join this year: https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=248714

It’s time for the Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has switched from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, and it will last another 40 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2024_black_friday.

Steam has, besides its Autumn Sale, another sale: the Be a Hero Sale sponsored by Comic CON Stuttgart, with up to 70% discounts until, in theory, December the 6th, tho most will end at the same time as the Autumn Sale on the 4th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45066451-Be-a-hero-CCON-Stuttgart-Sale/sale/be-a-hero-sale.

There’s a new Humble Bundle: the Disney Classics Black Friday Humble Bundle, with 17 games to get during 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/disney-classics-black-friday.

Fanatical has ended its Black Friday Deals, but it has a new Star Deal and the Bundle Festive:

• The new Star Deal is DARK SOULS™ II: Scholar of the First Sin, 56% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/dark-souls-ii-scholar-of-the-first-sin
• The first bundle of the week is the BYO Special Editions (BundleFestive Edition), featuring 26 games for yor bundle of 2+, 3+ or 5+ during 38 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-special-editions-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

The Callisto Protocol just got an AMD FSR 3.1 Frame Generation Mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-callisto-protocol-just-got-an-amd-fsr-3-1-frame-generation-mod/
Modder ‘amanisdeadnow’ has released a new mod that adds support for AMD FSR 3.1 Frame Generation Mod in The Callisto Protocol. This mod will allow you to play the game with high framerates, even when using its CPU-heavy Ray Tracing effects. As such, it’s a must for pretty much everyone.
(...)
It’s also worth noting that KRAFTON removed the Denuvo anti-tamper tech in March 2024. So, that’s another cool thing to keep in mind.
>> The article has a video… of Stalker 2, because it has a similar mod and both mods share the same way to enable them.

Elden Ring got a new Bleach mod, allowing you to use Hyorinmaru
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/elden-ring-got-a-new-bleach-mod-allowing-you-to-use-hyorinmaru/
Now here is something cool for all our Elden Ring and Bleach fans. Modder ‘Azeus’ has just released a new Bleach mod for Elden Ring which allows you to wield Captain Hitsugaya’s Zanpakuto, Hyorinmaru.
What’s really incredible here is that the mod comes with custom attack moves. These new attacks are heavily inspired by Bleach. And yes, you will also be able to use Bankai.
Going into more details, players will be able to power up with a 2 stage transformation, changing the abilities of the moveset and changing the AoW for buffs and burst damage. Under the effects of the AoW, heavy attacks in both 1h and 2h forms will become buffed with varied ice effects.
When 2 handing Hyorinmaru, players will be able to release the blade to its true form: Daiguren Hyorinmaru. Players will transform into the form that Toshiro has in Bankai, complete with Ice Dragon wings and tail.
And that’s not all. The Perfected Bankai of Daiguren Hyorinmaru is available after the effects of the AoW Tenso Jurin wear off. Marked by the Ice Lightning on the player, using the AoW while transformed will initiate the 2nd stage of the transformation.
>> There’s an almost 5 minutes video of the mod.

New STALKER 2 Mod adds a cool Parkour-like climbing system
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-stalker-2-mod-adds-a-cool-parkour-like-climbing-system/
STALKER 2 came out last week and we’ve already gotten some truly amazing mods for it. Today, we bring you a mod that adds a Parkour-like climbing system to the game. Thanks to this, players will have access to places that were previously inaccessible. As such, it’s a must-have mod, at least in my opinion.
Going into more details, the Ledge Grabbing Mod allows Skif to to mantle onto anything just above head height. This modded mantling system improves functionality and QoL. It will also allow for more vertical gameplay opportunities and environment traversal.
For instance, you can now climb to higher places to avoid mutants. You can also climb trucks and fences so that you can get to stashes that were previously inaccessible.
Here’s a good example. In the Rookie Village, there is a hidden stash right outside the town. This stash is on a rooftop inside a house, and there is a truck outside the house. So, normally, you’d assume that you’d be able to climb the truck. The front of the truck is at a similar height to the fences that Skiff can climb. And while you can climb the fences, you cannot climb the truck. I don’t know if this is a bug or not. What I know is that there is no other way to get to the rooftop (no ladders or crates to climb, no hidden passage from inside the house, nothing). So, without the mod, you cannot climb to the rooftop of that house. With this mod, you can finally climb the truck and get to the stash.
What’s also interesting here is that this mod comes in two variations. The default version allows Skif to climb all objects that are as high as himself. The second version allows you to climb objects that are a little lower than your head height. Both of them also come with Melee and jump Stamina reduction versions.
>> You’ll find a short video in the article.

Bloodborne Remaster is now a thing on PC thanks to shadPS4
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/bloodborne-remaster-is-now-a-thing-on-pc-thanks-to-shadps4/
Although Bloodborne has not been released on PC, modders are already working on improving the PS4 version which can now run on PC via shadPS4. And, these past couple of months, modder ‘fromsoftserve’ has been working on Bloodborne Remaster Project. So, let’s take a closer look at it.
Bloodborne Remaster Project brings major graphical enhancements to Bloodborne. The mod enables dynamic shadowcasting for the entire game. It also modifies the range and visibility of shadows. Not only that but it packs some higher-quality textures.
And that’s not all. This mod even adds new lights to the game. Plus, it adds pointlights for street lamps, and wall lamps, and many will be shadowcasting as well. The mod also enables more ambient occlusion to be used by the game, by modifying the gparam files. Hell, it even adds parallax occlusion mapping to various surfaces.
In short, this is exactly what you’d expect to see in a remastered version of Bloodborne. And now, PC gamers can experience it on the PC.
All you have to do is download the mod from this link. For an even better experience, you can get Bloodborne Visual Tweaks as it can add TAA, RTGI, MXAO, and more.
>> In the article you’ll find an almost 30 minutes video.

GAMING NEWS

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will use the Denuvo anti-tamper tech
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/assassins-creed-shadows-will-use-the-denuvo-anti-tamper-tech/
Ubisoft has updated the Steam store page for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, revealing that the game will be using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech. Moreover, the game will require a Ubisoft account, even if you purchase it on Steam.
(...)
What’s also interesting here is the game’s EULA. According to it, the game may monitor your RAM for unauthorized third-party programs. Since this is a single-player game, I don’t see the point of it. Perhaps Ubisoft copied the EULA from another title? Or will they start banning people for using trainers? You know, so that they will be forced to buy MTX if they want to avoid grinding. Now that will be hilarious.
>> I was tempted to buy AC Odyssey during the Autumn Sale, but because of things like this RAM thing, I didn’t felt like giving Ubi any money.

In just one day, STALKER 2 received its second title update
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/in-just-one-day-stalker-2-received-its-second-title-update/
Yesterday, GSC GameWorld released the first major update for STALKER 2. And after one day, the devs released its second update. Patch 1.0.2 is 8GB in size on PC, and it will address some quest blockers/issues.

The War of the Worlds: Siberia is a new story-driven adventure game
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-war-of-the-worlds-siberia-is-a-new-story-driven-adventure-game/
1C Game Studios has just announced a new story-driven adventure game, called The War of the Worlds: Siberia. To celebrate the announcement, the publisher shared an impressive in-engine trailer that you can find below.

Leaked gameplay footage from the Horizon ripoff, Light of Motiram
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/leaked-gameplay-footage-from-the-horizon-ripoff-light-of-motiram/
Earlier this week, POLARIS QUEST revealed a game that looked like a Horizon ripoff, called Light of Motiram. Light of Motiram had the exact same style and type of enemies as Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. And today, a video got leaked, featuring 16 minutes of gameplay footage from it.

Monday news, part two:

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's latest legendary operator skin is a fluorescent anime girl with cat ears, and it strikes fear into the hearts of all
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-duty-black-ops-6s-latest-legendary-operator-skin-is-a-fluorescent-anime-girl-with-cat-ears-and-it-strikes-fear-into-the-hearts-of-all/
Long before Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was released a couple months ago players have been complaining about highly stylistic skins that look ridiculously out of place in Call of Duty games. It got so bad that some players were even asking Activision if they could pay to have the guady skins removed from their matches.
Now there's a new legendary skin up for grabs and instead of looking like a flaming green dragon with enough particles to blind anyone, this time we've got an anime cat girl snowboarder on our hands.

No Man's Sky dev reflects on the new Very Positive rating on Steam and promises that this is only the beginning: 'We aren't even close to being finished yet'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/no-mans-sky-dev-reflects-on-the-new-very-positive-rating-on-steam-and-promises-that-this-is-only-the-beginning-we-arent-even-close-to-being-finished-yet/
Earlier this week, No Man's Sky finally managed to reach a very positive rating on Steam. It only took eight years and a ridiculous amount of effort to get there, but it turns out that even after this great milestone, the developers aren't planning to end development anytime soon.

Terraria dev won't have staff crunch to get its next big update out before the end of the year: 'Apologies for this one taking so long for sure, but it will be well worth it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/terraria-dev-wont-have-staff-crunch-to-get-its-next-big-update-out-before-the-end-of-the-year-apologies-for-this-one-taking-so-long-for-sure-but-it-will-be-well-worth-it/
The survival game that simply refuses to stop is pushing its next major update back just a bit further. Terraria 1.4.5 has been in the works for over two years, and in a recent State of the Game update, developer Re-Logic said it's almost complete, but won't release in 2024.

Just Grill the Steak—what else do you want from this micro-scale cooking simulator that made me very hungry?
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/just-grill-the-steak-what-else-do-you-want-from-this-micro-scale-cooking-simulator-that-made-me-v/
A rarely-mentioned risk of games news writing is the threat of covering a game like Just Grill the Steak in the wee small hours of the morning, where the stores are closed and it’s hard to justify doing anything in the kitchen. I am extremely hungry now, and it will only get worse as I continue to stare at this physics-driven cooking sim.

Valve stiffed speedrunners by adding an invisible wall in its Half-Life 2 tuneup, so now it's fixed the fix and says 'enjoy'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/valve-stiffed-speedrunners-by-adding-an-invisible-wall-in-its-half-life-2-tuneup-so-now-its-fixed-the-fix-and-says-enjoy/
The 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2 saw Valve release a major surprise update for the PC gaming hall-of-famer (as well as an excellent two hour documentary). It integrated Episodes 1 and 2 with the base game (so you can now play through the entire experience seamlessly), added a new commentary track from the old gang, and for the coup de grace every location was given a glow-up: "Every map in Half-Life 2 has been looked over by Valve level designers to fix longstanding bugs, restore content and features lost to time, and improve the quality of a few things like lightmap resolution and fog."
Lovely! Except perhaps if you're a Half-Life 2 speedrunner, one of those freewheeling souls who's long ago stopped seeing the G-Man and looks at City 17 like the Matrix, pinballing the Freeman from checkpoint to checkpoint on Valve's hidden flippers. It turns out that, when improving everything, Valve's current designers added an invisible wall to a large sewer pipe. And speedrunners promptly started slamming right into it.
>> The fact that it’s in a sewer makes it funnier, at least to me.

Retro RPG The Edge Of Allegoria does it like Nintendon’t, with rude words and fat blunts
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/retro-rpg-the-edge-of-allegoria-does-it-like-nintendont-with-rude-words-and-fat-blunts/
“Pssst! Hey kid… Want to go on an adventure?” asks the store-page for The Edge Of Allegoria, an upcoming Game Boy-styled retro RPG. It might look like an old Pokemon game (and play like one, too, minus the creature collecting part), but this one’s for GROWN UPS. Or at least teenagers discovering the siren song of games with swearing and the occasional (very) pixelated boob. The store page does promise “Nudity and Sexual Content, Pervasive Coarse Language, Alcohol and Drug Use”, after all.

If you missed April's total solar eclipse, you can see it in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/if-you-missed-aprils-total-solar-eclipse-you-can-see-it-in-microsoft-flight-simulator-2024/
Back in April, North America was treated to a rare celestial event: a total solar eclipse. Observers from Mexico to Maine witnessed an amazing sight as the moon passed in front of the sun and made it as dark as night in the middle of the day.
I don't live in the path of that eclipse so I didn't get to see it in person, but I made up for that today. If you've got a copy of Microsoft Simulator 2024, you can experience an amazing simulation of April's eclipse whenever you want.

Troy Baker isn't trying to do a 'bang on' impression of Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/troy-baker-isnt-trying-to-do-a-bang-on-impression-of-harrison-ford-for-indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle/
Vetern voice actor Troy Baker wasn't going to audition for Indiana Jones at all, apparently—because he didn't think he'd be able to pull it off. Despite that, Baker will be the voice of the famous archaeologist and pulp hero for Machine Games' sprawling and very large adventure Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
"I originally passed [on the Indiana Jones role] because, truth be told, I was so scared that I would not be able to pull it off. And fortunately, [voice acting director] Tom Keegan saw past my insecurities and encouraged me to put myself on tape for this still," said Baker in an interview with GamesRadar+.

CD Projekt promises that, compared to The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 4 'will not be smaller, and it will not be worse'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/cd-projekt-promises-that-compared-to-the-witcher-3-and-cyberpunk-2077-the-witcher-4-will-not-be-smaller-and-it-will-not-be-worse/
The Witcher 4 is finally in full production, as CD Projekt announced during its Q3 financial update. The game, which is still codenamed Project Polaris, moved into full-scale production several weeks ago, chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz said.
Speaking to Eurogamer, CD Projekt Red's vice president of technology, Charles Tremblay, discussed the switch from the internally developed REDengine, last used on Cyberpunk 2077, to Unreal Engine 5. "I will not say it's easy," he said, "but I think that we have some cool stuff going, and hopefully that will have some good showcase [of the technology]. The only thing I will say is that changing the tech for us does not change the fact that we always will be ambitious".
Tremblay went on to declare Project Polaris, which is currently being worked on by 400 members of CDPR's 650-strong staff, would be bigger and better than anything the studio had done before. "And the next game we do will not be smaller, and it will not be worse. So it will be better, bigger, greater than The Witcher 3, it will be better than Cyberpunk—because for us, it's unacceptable [to launch that way]. We don't want to go back."
>> He also talked about the switch to UE5, and why they did it.

CD Projekt wants to be more careful about marketing after, you know, everything that happened with Cyberpunk 2077
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/cd-projekt-wants-to-be-more-careful-about-marketing-after-you-know-everything-that-happened-with-cyberpunk-2077/
It will surprise no one that CD Projekt has been thinking long and hard about how not to repeat the mistakes of Cyberpunk 2077 with its upcoming Witcher game, currently codenamed Project Polaris. Speaking to Eurogamer, joint CEO of CD Projekt Michał Nowakowski said part of that was being "smarter in how we want to announce and kick off marketing campaigns" in the future.
>> I don’t think marketing was the biggest problem with the game, but ok.

Helldivers 2 composer almost gave up on orchestral scores before its monumental success
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/helldivers-2-composer-almost-gave-up-on-orchestral-scores-before-its-monumental-success/
Prior to the release of Helldivers 2, soundtrack composer Wilbert Roget was considering moving on from writing orchestral music for games, he recently posted. The overwhelming community response to the soundtrack, however, has renewed his faith in orchestral composition for games.

Monday news, the third part:

New physics fighter Gladio Mori sends animators where they belong: The gladiator pit
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/new-physics-fighter-gladio-mori-sends-animators-where-they-belong-the-gladiator-pit/
Anybody who has ever watched a sword fight in a movie (or even fencing at the Olympics) has probably had that little voice at the back of their head saying "He was wide open! They could have ducked!". Well, murder-backseaters, you've got the chance to prove yourself that blade genius that you think you are in Gladio Mori, a physics-driven gladiatorial sandbox new to Early Access where you get to animate your own moves.

Antonblast comes out swinging to challenge Pizza Tower's chaotic platformer rule
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/antonblast-comes-out-swinging-to-challenge-pizza-towers-chaotic-platformer-rule/
It could be argued that Nintendo's truest legacy in games is in carving out fun new niches and then leaving them unfulfilled. There hasn't been a new Wario Land game since 2008, and fans of its anarchic, aggressive brand of kleptomaniacal platforming has been going hungry, last year's fantastic Pizza Tower aside. Enter Antonblast, ideally through a solid brick wall, leaving a big Anton-shaped hole.

Fallen Aces adds a pulp superhero hideout and a small, unfriendly dog
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/fallen-aces-adds-a-pulp-superhero-hideout-and-a-small-unfriendly-dog/
Bloody, creative little shooter Fallen Aces has a new update out that adds a between missions rest and relaxation area for you to take a break in, score some upgrades from, and try out your weapons in. The release also has player profiles, collectible comics to find around the city, and a new enemy type at the end of chapter 3—the hammer wielding Big Palooka.

Dragon Age: Inquisition's final expansion was going to force us to blow up our home base to kill a fan favorite Origins companion
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/dragon-age-inquisitions-final-expansion-was-going-to-force-us-to-blow-up-our-home-base-to-kill-a-fan-favorite-origins-companion/
BioWare art lead Matt Rhodes just keeps coming with the development revelations about the Dragon Age series. As reported by Eurogamer, Rhodes shared some pieces of concept art for Dragon Age: Inquisition's Trespasser DLC that show a different, even darker ending for the status quo-upending expansion.

Pillars of Eternity director thought it had a 50/50 shot before it crowdfunded in 27 hours
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/pillars-of-eternity-director-thought-it-had-a-50-50-shot-before-it-crowdfunded-in-27-hours/
Though Obsidian Entertainment is now known for their shoot-the-moon success with Pillars of Eternity when the studio was at a low point, there was a time when a smart, nostalgic Kickstarter by a known company wasn't the guaranteed smash-hit success everyone assumes it would be now... and that was the era of uncertainty that Pillars of Eternity was pitched in.
In Issue 404 of Edge Magazine, Pillars of Eternity director Josh Sawyer noted that he thought the idea of a successful throwback CRPG was a good one, but couldn't guarantee its success. Though Feargus Urquhart, Obsidian's owner at the time and CEO to this day, was wary of crowdfunding, Sawyer said he "was actually ready to leave [the studio] to do it."
Despite that confidence, Sawyer still "thought there was a 50/50 chance that we would get funded in a month," and that "the fact that it was funded in 27 hours blew us away."

The actor behind Half-Life's G-Man based his iconic, halting delivery on the idea he was experiencing multiple timelines at once: 'His relationship to time is very different than you or I would think'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-actor-behind-half-lifes-g-man-based-his-iconic-halting-delivery-on-the-idea-he-was-experiencing-multiple-timelines-at-once-his-relationship-to-time-is-very-different-than-you-or-i-would-think/
As part of Valve's 20th anniversary Half-Life 2 documentary, Secret Tape (the same crew behind NoClip) spoke with some of the actors in the game's prominent roles. Among them, Barney Calhoun and G-Man voice actor Michael Shapiro explained some of his craft and theories behind the Half-Life series' iconic extradimensional stalker.

Satisfactory gets weird for a month with the adorable, festive FICSMAS event
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/satisfactory-gets-weird-for-a-month-with-the-adorable-festive-ficsmas-event/
Satisfactory released its big 1.0 update this year to pretty much universal acclaim from critics and record player numbers, the blend of first-person survival and factory building giving a unique flavor that's hard to put down once you get going. I think some of us figured that'd be it, but now developer Coffee Stain Studios has rolled out a revamped and upgraded version of their FICSMAS holiday event for its 1.0 version. Having happened throughout early access, FICSMAS is an in-game holiday that releases giant gifts, surprises, and an entire new research tree of stuff to mass produce for the pure holiday spirit of it all.

Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/blizzard-is-delisting-the-og-warcrafts-from-gog-but-gog-says-its-gonna-preserve-them-forever-anyway-hands-out-a-discount-and-announces-new-policy-for-its-preservation-program-to-boot/
Thank god for corporations, eh? Blizzard has acted swiftly to put an end to the scourge of people not spending $40 (£35) on its recent remasters of Warcraft 1 and 2. The studio is delisting the original versions of those games from GOG, ensuring no innocent consumer will accidentally pick up DRM-free, classic editions of those games for $15 (£12) when they could be spending a bunch more on Blizzard's own storefront. Phew.
Warcraft 1 and 2 will leave GOG this December 13, exactly one month after Blizzard surprise-dropped its remasters of the games, but if you already own the games—or buy them before the 13th—you won't lose access. GOG is actually launching a discount code, MakeWarcraftLiveForever, that you can use to knock $2 (£1.50) off the Warcraft 1 and 2 bundle if you pick it up before D-Day (the D is for delisting).
(...)
Well, props to GOG: it's promising to keep maintaining Warcraft in perpetuity for everyone who picked it up before the delisting. "Once the game obtains a badge, we pledge to maintain its compatibility even if it gets delisted from the store," it says, "This means that owners of those titles can still expect a seamless experience and tech support for those titles," up to and including dealing with changes to Windows that muck with old games' playability.

How two secret Stalker 2 hacks cut my loading time from 5 minutes to 52 seconds and got me in the Zone faster
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/how-two-secret-stalker-2-hacks-cut-my-loading-time-from-5-minutes-to-52-seconds-and-got-me-in-the-zone-faster/
As soon as I read our official Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl review I knew I needed to play this long-in-the-making sequel. However, like many PC gamers will no doubt have experienced, it's not exactly been smooth sailing at launch, with would-be Stalkers having to fight through a plethora of game-breaking bugs and mega patches to find fun and immersion.
There's another thing that's also been dampening my enjoyment of Stalker 2 as well—just how long I've been having to wait to actually get playing it. Thanks to a smorgasbord of intro videos as well as a forced Unreal Engine 5 shader compilation every single time you boot up the game, it's been a severe trial of patience, and especially so when trying to play on my gaming laptop, which isn't as fast and powerful as my main rig.
But, luckily, there is now something that all Stalker 2 PC gamers can do about it, with two simple Stalker 2 hacks (both take seconds), allowing the complete removal of both the game's forced intro videos and shader compilation. And, let me tell you as someone who has just done this himself, the results are superb. Check out the videos below for conclusive proof, which show me loading Stalker 2 on my gaming laptop both without and with these hacks in play.

Russian disinfo is trying to spark a boycott of Stalker 2 by claiming it's going to draft you into the war in Ukraine somehow
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/russian-disinfo-is-trying-to-spark-a-boycott-of-stalker-2-by-claiming-its-going-to-draft-you-into-the-war-in-ukraine-somehow/
Not for the first time, Stalker has found itself at the centre of a Russian propaganda campaign against Ukraine. As reported by 404 Media, journalists have recently been opening their inboxes to find a curious anomaly: a video purportedly from Wired that claims Stalker 2 is helping the Ukrainian government "locate citizens suitable for mobilization" using data-mining technology that's impossible to turn off.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger Quits, Leaving The Company’s Foundry Strategy Potentially In The Doldrums

https://wccftech.com/intel-ceo-pat-gelsinger-quits-leaving-the-companys-foundry-strategy-potentially-in-the-doldrums/

AMD Radeon RX 8800 XT “RDNA 4” GPU Allegedly Offers 45% Faster RT Performance Than 7900 XTX, On-Par With RTX 4080 In Raster & Lower Power Too

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-8800-xt-rdna-4-gpu-faster-rt-performance-7900-xtx-on-par-rtx-4080-raster/

Rumour but if legit, it's about time Radeon got the memo of where the industry is headed. Hopefully it's priced correctly

AMD’s First “B850” Motherboard Images Surface Online, Showcasing An “All-White” Design

https://wccftech.com/amds-first-b850-motherboard-images-surfaces-online-showcasing-an-all-white-design/

Intel Arc Graphics appear on Steam Hardware Survey for the first time

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-arc-graphics-appears-on-steam-hardware-survey-for-the-first-time

That came out of the blue.

I won't say that he did an amazing job, but he has had to face the worst time Intel has had since, I don't know, maybe ever?

We'll see what the new heads of Intel do, but I hope they realize that they need to keep their GPU business alive.

Percentages alone don't really mean much without the proper context, at least to me, so I tried to find something to do with it and went to the easiest place, Techpowerup. Here's what I've found:

1) They reviewed RE4 before Nvidia and AMD launched their mid-to-high range cards, like the 7800XT:

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/resident-evil-4-benchmark-test-performance-analysis/4.html

2) RE4 is NOT a demanding RT title, we should compare it only to the other AMD cards.

3) They did use RE4 with the review of the 7800XT:

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-radeon-rx-7800-xt/34.html

4) The numbes between one test and the other don't match perfectly. The results in the 7800XT review are lower than they were during the game review despite using the same hardware.

With that in mind, what we get is that, at 1080p, those 157.9fps from the 7900XTX with a 45% increase turn into 228.96fps, which is twice what the 7800XT delivers (114.2 vs 228.96).

It's an impressive result, but I'd wait until we get leaks, or better, proper reviews with more RT demanding games like Cyberpunk or Control/Alan Wake 2 before claiming that AMD has finally good enough RT performance.

That said, and looking at recent leaks/past rumors we've lately, this card could actually be quite good compared to what Nvidia may offer. If it perform like a 4080 in raster, have ok-ish RT, bring hardware AI for the upscaler, come with 16GB AND (a big part of the whole plot) AMD prices it like the 7800XT at $500 or less, it could blew Nvidia's rumored 5070 out of the water. But of course, that's a lot of IFs.

Welp, that really looks increasingly grim at Intel.

I have a feeling that even at $600 most people would still rather buy a 4080 for twice the price because it's NVidia 

Jizz_Beard_thePirate said:

Intel Arc Graphics appear on Steam Hardware Survey for the first time

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-arc-graphics-appears-on-steam-hardware-survey-for-the-first-time

That's not the only GPU to finally make an appearance in the Steam Survey:

NZXT has become even more scummy as they were with some hardware last year. In fact, this could be very much considered an outright scam:

Renting a PC for a price that would take 7-9 months of rent to outright buy the PC on NZXT is scammy enough, but it's made even worse by:

1. You can NEVER own the system, it's not a rent-to-own or somathign akin to smartphone subscritions, just a pure rental
2. They actually downgrade the hardware in the rental compared to the system you can buy, yet
3. They still show the same benchmarks despite the worse hardware, which sometimes is very substantial, like switching out a 4090 for a 4080.
4. NZXT adds items "at no cost" thart actually increase the price
5. They constantly increased the price of the subscription

So yeah, after hardware that catches fire and other scummy practices, it's pretty safe to say you'd better avoid NZXT now like the plague. Gamer's Nexus does now, as they cancelled a $23000 Advertisement deal within the video with them, which is quite a substantial financial loss for them.