NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 mass production faces delays

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-and-rtx-5060-mass-production-faces-delays

Did they put an underpaid intern in charge of Blackwell launch or what? This feels like a gpu famine at this point since you can't even buy 40 series.

GeForce RTX 5070 Ti launch shows very few MSRP models and fake promotions

https://videocardz.com/newz/geforce-rtx-5070-ti-launch-shows-very-few-msrp-models-and-fake-promotions

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D launch on March 12, reviews available the day before

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-ryzen-9-9950x3d-and-9900x3d-launch-on-march-12-reviews-available-the-day-before

NVIDIA launches Verified Priority Access for GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-launches-verified-priority-access-for-geforce-rtx-5090-and-5080

Grand Theft Auto V PC March 4th Free Upgrade Will Introduce Ray-Traced Global Illumination and Ambient Occlusion, NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR Support and More

https://wccftech.com/grand-theft-auto-v-pc-ray-traced-global-illumination-ambient-occlusion-dlss-fsr/

Pretty cool to see how CPUs from each generation perform over the course of AM4s support. Not sure if we will ever see such insane support for a single socket ever again.

The Thursday news are here:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Civilization 6 still has more daily Steam players than Civilization 7
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/civilization-6-still-has-more-daily-steam-players-than-civilization-7/
The last two Civilization games are still very popular, which is a testament both to how good they are and to how good they are at becoming the default time-killing activity for those they get their hooks into. The just-released Civilization 7 also has some good qualities, but it looks like it'll need to evolve if it's going to attain the same legendary status, because its Steam player count isn't consistently surpassing those of its older siblings.
Both Civ 5 and Civ 6 have hit higher peak concurrent player counts on Steam: 91,363 and 162,657 respectively, according to data from SteamDB, with Civ 7 so far managing 84,558 following its full launch last week. And Civ 5 managed to hit that 91,363 peak over 11 years ago, when Steam had fewer users.
On Steam's top concurrents chart, which shows which games the most people are playing right now, Civ 7 isn't always the winner of the three. As I write, Civ 7 does have a slight edge, sitting at #27 while Civ 6 is a few doors down at #33. But when I checked earlier this week, both Civ 6 and Civ 5 were sitting above Civ 7. On the more stable daily players chart, which compares total players across 24 hours, Civ 6 is currently beating Civ 7 by a few places.
We saw a similar, though much more acute, situation play out with the launch of Payday 3. Many players who'd spent a decade with Payday 2 were just not interested in switching to a new game that felt smaller and less complete than the game they were used to, and it didn't help that Payday 3 hit some big snarls at launch.
The Civ 7 reception hasn't been nearly that dire. We gave it a 76% in our review, which for us means it's a good game that we recommend. But it's not the unreserved praise we awarded the past two games: 93% for Civ 5 and another 93% for Civ 6.

The survival game with the best car ever has sold over a million copies in a year, and is now 40% off on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/the-survival-game-with-the-best-car-ever-has-sold-over-a-million-copies-in-a-year-and-is-now-40-percent-off-on-steam/
Time flies when you're driving. It's somehow already been a year since Pacific Drive launched and became my favorite survival game of 2024. And in those 12 months a whole lotta people have gotten behind the wheel: according to publisher Kepler Interactive, the driving survival game has sold over a million copies.
(...)
Yeah, great game, great car, so I'm not surprised to learn a million people have taken Pacific Drive for a spin. And it's a great time to hit that milestone, almost exactly a year after its launch, because there's a nice bonus for those who haven't played it yet: Pacific Drive is currently 40% off.
That means it's only $18 on Steam, though that discount is gonna expire in about 17 hours from the time I'm writing this. So, if the time you're reading this is 16 hours and 59 minutes after that, that means you have only one minute left to buy it on sale. Hurry! Don't even read the rest of this sentence. Or this one! There's no time. Here's Pacific Drive on Steam.
>> The deal ends with today’s refresh so yeah, you may not be able to take advantage of it.

This week, the Epic Store gives away two titles

• Garden Story: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/garden-story
• World War Z: Aftermath: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/world-war-z

Next week, they’ll give away Mages of Mystralia.

Steam has three deals:

• Crysis 3 Remastered will be 55% off until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2096610/Crysis_3_Remastered/
• Everhood features a 60% discount until February 26: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1229380/Everhood/
• ISLANDERS is going to be 75% off until the 1st of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1046030/ISLANDERS/

Humble Bundle presents the House Flipper and Friends Bundle, with up to 10 items to get during the next 12 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/house-flipper-and-friends-bundle.

And Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Street Fighter™ 6 - Ultimate Edition, with a 60% discount during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/street-fighter-6-ultimate-edition
• The new BYO Frenzy Bundle has 18 games for yout 1+, 5+ or 10+ bundles during the next 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-frenzy-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 572.47 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-572-47
Highlights
Game Ready for GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and Marvel Rivals
This new Game Ready Driver supports the new GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU and provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS 4 technology including Marvel Rivals

Fixed Isses

• Driver stability issues when waking up monitor from extended sleep time [5089560]

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

-Empty-

GAMING NEWS

Delta Force – Black Hawk Down will be free, gets PC requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/delta-force-black-hawk-down-will-be-free-gets-pc-requirements/
Now here is a pleasant surprise. When TiMi Studio Group and Team Jade announced Black Hawk Down, I assumed it would be a paid expansion for the F2P Delta Force. However, it appears that this single-player campaign will be free to everyone.

Avowed Update 1.2.2 Released, Is 66GB in Size, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/avowed-update-1-2-2-released-is-66gb-in-size-full-patch-notes/
Obsidian has released the first major update for its latest RPG, Avowed. Title Update 1.2.2 is 66GB in size and brings a lot of tweaks, fixes and improvements. So, let’s see in more detail what this patch brings to the table.

Black Myth: Wukong February 20th Patch Released & Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/black-myth-wukong-february-20th-patch-released-detailed/
Game Science has just released Title Update 1.0.14.17737 which is 1.9GB in size on PC, and shared its full patch notes. This patch brings a number of fixes for Quests, Legels, Protagonist and Interaction. So, let’s take a closer look at them.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Patch 3 Released & Fully Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/marvels-spider-man-2-patch-3-released-fully-detailed/
Nixxes has just released Patch 3 for the PC version of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and shared its complete changelog. This new update includes stability improvements and bug fixes based on player feedback. So, let’s take a closer look at it.

Thursday news, part two:

When asked if they still want to make an MMO, Riot's co-founder replies: 'Oh yeah,' but don't get too excited, the ETA is 'before we go to Mars'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/when-asked-if-they-still-want-to-make-an-mmo-riots-co-founder-replies-oh-yeah-but-dont-get-too-excited-the-eta-is-before-we-go-to-mars/
Riot is making an MMO—that's not exactly news, given it's been technically making one since 2020. But its continued survival has been brought into question because, well, it's been making one since 2020. Plus, in March of last year, the company hit the reset button on it, which isn't typically a sign things are going well in an industry that's rather cutthroat.
There's still plenty of hope to go around, though—despite some layoffs early last year, Riot's mysterious MMO is still a bucket list item for its co-founder, Marc Merrill. That's as per a recent Game File interview with journalist Stephen Totilo. When asked by Totilo if they still thought an MMO was worth its weight in dev time, Merrill says: "Oh yeah. It's probably the project I personally spend the most time on as well."

League of Legends is getting a hotly anticipated skin for its lich necromancer Mordekaiser, but fans' joy has been 'obliterated' because it's 'stuck in a $200 fomo gacha store'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/league-of-legends-is-getting-a-hotly-anticipated-skin-for-its-lich-necromancer-mordekaiser-but-fans-joy-has-been-obliterated-because-its-stuck-in-a-usd200-fomo-gacha-store/
League of Legends developer Riot Games recently announced that a hotly coveted character skin is coming to the MOBA. Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser will convert the game's necromantic top-laner from his default lich appearance back to his human form. It's a cosmetic with a lot of significance to League's canonical story, and Riot clearly knows it, putting together a dramatic trailer to accompany the announcement, viewable above.
In short, it's a big moment for the League of Legends community. But any player wanting to play as human Mordekaiser will likely have to pay through the nose to do so. That's because Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser will be added to League's recently created 'Exalted' tier of skins, and these can only be acquired by engaging with League's gacha-style Sanctum. Nabbing an Exalted skin from the Sanctum can be eye-wateringly costly, with League fans recently calculating that two-thirds of players won't receive an exalted skin before spending 32000RP, which converts to $246.15. Or as I like to think of it, four Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2s.

Call of Duty's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover costs like $90 and even the die-hards are in shellshock: 'Cash cow-abunga!'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-dutys-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-crossover-costs-like-usd90-and-even-the-die-hards-are-in-shellshock-cash-cow-abunga/
The latest crossover for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Radical! Except it turns out that the cost… that's gonna be a major bummer, dude. The TMNT content arrives as part of the Season 02 Reloaded content, and in its infinite rapaciousness Activision Blizzard has separated-out each of the four turtles into their own premium bundle.
The announcement post doesn't give the exact cost but, based on the standard pricing across previous collaborations, each premium bundle will cost 2,400 COD points, which themselves will set you back $19.99 (£16.70). So if you want to run around as Leo, Donnie, Raph and Mikey that'll be a cool $80, and even then there's one more thing: The premium TMNT event pass, which among other cosmetics includes the Splinter skin, is another 1,100 COD points or $10. So if you want to go all-in on the TMNT, we're likely looking at $90.

Ubisoft apologizes for 'oversight' in Rainbow Six Siege's upcoming new operator after people notice the New Zealand-born character's birthday is the same date as the 2019 Christchurch mosque killings
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/ubisoft-quietly-changes-rainbow-six-siege-character-from-new-zealand-after-people-notice-her-birthday-is-the-same-date-as-the-2019-christchurch-mosque-killings/
Following an uproar over the new Rainbow Six Siege operator Rauora, Ubisoft has quietly made a change to the character's biography, moving her date of birth from March 15 to May 11. The original birthdate coincided with two mass shootings at mosques that left 51 people dead and 89 others injured in Christchurch, New Zealand, the city where Rauora was born.
>> That’s not the only face-palm mistake from Ubi you’ll see today.

BioWare veteran calls out the 'cruelty' of fans celebrating layoffs: 'You are crossing a line, and you're probably attacking the wrong person anyway'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mass-effect/bioware-veteran-calls-out-the-cruelty-of-fans-celebrating-layoffs-you-are-crossing-a-line-and-youre-probably-attacking-the-wrong-person-anyway/
Mark Darrah is a true BioWare veteran, having worked at the studio for 24 years before returning in a consultancy role to shepherd Dragon Age: The Veilguard over the finish line. Darrah is now freelance once more, and has been using some of his time to post YouTube videos about both the company's history and future in what he calls "an unprecedented time for BioWare."
Darrah's latest video, however, has another subject: The more toxic elements of videogame fandom, which are much more of an issue for developers than some players might think. In a 2023 GDC survey of game developers, 91% of respondents said abuse from players was a problem and, if we're being honest, we've all seen some people go way OTT at developers online. The problem feels even more pronounced at the bigger-budget end of the industry, where certain folk seem to feel that, if they've paid their money, that entitles them to open season on the people who made it.
The video's called "Your $70 Doesn't Buy You Cruelty" (thanks, GR+) and sees Darrah address issues as diverse as players celebrating layoffs to the kind of persistent personal harassment and threats that can result in the courts having to get involved. The former producer makes clear he's not talking about folk criticising a game they've paid good money for or telling others they don't like it, which feels like it doesn't really need saying but I guess you have to be explicit about this stuff on the Internet.

Croteam 'never planned to make' its philosophical puzzler The Talos Principle, but it emerged as a 'happy accident' while working on Serious Sam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/croteam-never-planned-to-make-its-philosophical-puzzler-the-talos-principle-but-it-emerged-as-a-happy-accident-while-working-on-serious-sam/
There's always been strong evidence of shared DNA between Croteam games Serious Sam and The Talos Principle, with the latter borrowing many of the effects and environment objects from its FPS cousin to construct its philosophical brainteasers. But Croteam game designer Davor Hunski recently revealed the specifics of how the studio's beloved puzzler emerged from its bigger FPS brother, and apparently it was all a "happy accident".

Capcom already has 'many things planned down the line' that reinforce Monster Hunter Wilds' core theme: the relationship between hunters and nature
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/capcom-already-has-many-things-planned-down-the-line-that-reinforce-monster-hunter-wilds-core-theme-the-relationship-between-hunters-and-nature/
Monster Hunter always makes it clear that you are not not the bad guy. Hunters aren't just rogue poachers killing for sport; they're part of a guild that takes very seriously how people live in harmony with nature, only greenlighting hunts when monsters act aggressively—which is usually the result of something in the world gone awry. It's an admittedly thin justification for slaughtering hundreds of majestic beasts to turn into hats, pants, and weapons that you then use to slay more of their friends with, but Capcom has consistently tried to give Monster Hunter a noble sheen over the years. Wilds is no different. If anything, it's the company's most overt attempt yet to deliver an eco-positive message around the edges of its combat.

Marvel Rivals' next patch will finally fix my beautiful boy Captain America
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-next-patch-will-finally-fix-my-beautiful-boy-captain-america/
Wam, bam, clonk, clonk, bonk. That's the sound of a Captain America main barging straight past Magneto to smack around the backline supports with two full servings of manifest destiny. I love Marvel Rivals' rendition of Cap as the load-bearing pillar of his team—a mobile, aggressive dive tank who weaves defense into his offense and disrupts the other team's equilibrium. He's an exceptionally fun tank archetype in a game full of fun tanks, but there's one aspect of his kit that's bugged me to no end these last few months: Why can't Cap hold up his shield while he jumps?
I clearly wasn't the only one asking, because in a Marvel Rivals patch dropping on February 21, the ability to shield while leaping is the headliner of a handful of Captain America buffs
>> And be ready for the next season, that will make Storm a tougher opponent.

13 years on, Ubisoft adds Steam achievements to the one mainline Assassin's Creed game you can't actually buy, but not the updated version you can
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/assassins-creed/13-years-on-ubisoft-adds-steam-achievements-to-the-one-mainline-assassins-creed-game-you-cant-actually-buy-but-not-the-updated-version-you-can/
Ubisoft's been returning to Steam with all the enthusiasm of a groom at a shotgun wedding for a good few years now, and most recently it's been adding Steam achievements to its back catalogue of games. In the last month alone, both Watch Dogs 2 and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon have found themselves redolent with cheevos.
But now, in a move I can't help but find a bit funny, Ubi has gone ahead and added achievements to Assassin's Creed 3. Original, 2012 Assassin's Creed 3, I mean, not the remastered version from 2019. That's, uh, the version you can't actually buy anymore: the one with a big orange "Assassin’s Creed 3 is no longer available on the Steam store" notice on its page. AC3 remastered, meanwhile, remains cheev-less. It means only people who already bought AC3 Cool Original back when it was available will be able to earn 'em.
>> Here’s the second face-palm.

Survival MMO Dune: Awakening launches in May and I am way more excited about it than I thought I'd be
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/survival-mmo-dune-awakening-launches-in-may-and-i-am-way-more-excited-about-it-than-i-thought-id-be/
Friends, I have consumed a lifechanging amount of mind-altering substances and reduced my brain to wet goo, and in return the tides of time have revealed to me the release date for Dune: Awakening, Funcom's survival MMO take on Herbert's sandy-verse that I had a surprisingly good time with at a demo last month. Now you're all the recipients of the same grand message, because the studio's gone and put out a release date trailer today.
Dune: Awakening hits PC on May 20 this year for $50, with console release dates yet to come. For some reason—probably because of my Pavlovian response to anything under the 'survival' rubric—I keep thinking of the game's launch as an early access thing, but that's not right. May 20 will be the game's full, 1.0 release. I didn't know we were allowed to do those anymore.

At this point, the launch price of the 9070(XT) becomes less and less relevant if they are just actually available to buy. And considering that board partners had them already ready at CES, I guess there are higher stocks of those cards at launch than all Blackwell taken together so far.

A game based on an old anime was just announced, Samurai Pizza Cats: Blast from the Past!

Blast from the past indeed.

It's like Nvidia knows they have next to no current competition, feature set and high end, but also feels like they've taken a page from that time Nintendo's Amibos were purposefully low on stock, which in turn drove up demand (I still remember the scalping from back then). 

I want to say "yeah they hired someone really bad at managing all of this", but between AMD's constant fuck-ups and Nvidia just laying back, this feels like it's being done on purpose (that and the tariffs are still in effect, and they could be delaying deliberately. 

Between cables melting, sub-par gains, higher prices and the delays, I cannot take Nvidia seriously, not in terms of "they didn't do this on purpose, surely not", because it all just seems hyper convenient that this all happens on their end, while AMD just sits on the sidelines, reminding themselves to blow their feet clean off every now and then (I still think the two work together like a Chinese market does). 

What's weird about this is that the delay is rather short, only a month. Surely that's not enough time to fix a hardware level problem, leaving it to the BIOS or microcode for those cards not doing what it's supposed to do. Right?

I'd keep my expectations in check. While it's true that AMD has had far more time to prepare for launch, they are notoriously known for having low stock at launch. And given that their cards are also done in China like Nvidia, they've also been affected by the Luna New Year closure of factories.

In short, AMD may have more supply than Nvidia at launch, but it may not last as much as we think.

Truly awful state of gpus

Ahh, now I understand Jensen equating the 5070 to a 4090. He wasn't talking about the performance, he was talking about it's real MSRP.

Suddenly I'm not feeling that terrible about getting an RTX 4060 anymore... It was a bad deal even then, but who knew things would get even worse. 2020 was and is terrible for GPUs.