Those 'remakes' like the Minecraft one are really cool, until you realize 99 % exist probably only as a demonstration of the creator's skills, probably for employment purposes. They do the relatively easy stuff only, usually mostly environments and movement to make it resemble gameplay, then when they get to nontrivial gameplay stuff, the project ceases to progress. I'm OK with that, but it's a bit frustrating to see them be called remakes or whatever, because it doesn't seem like that is almost ever the real objective anyway. I'm thinking the creators often just want the attention they can get by calling them remakes, and it works because gaming journalists are suckers.

The Tuesday news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

Fanatical’s Spring Sale has entered its Encore mode, signaling that it will end “soon”. Meanwhile, it has three new 24h Flash Deals:

• God of War Ragnarök will be 30% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/god-of-war-ragnarok
• Let's School - Super Headmaster Edition is half its price: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/lets-school-super-headmaster-edition
• And Sniper Elite 5 gets a 79% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/sniper-elite-5

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

"Eager to get me on my knees, Raphael?" Baldur's Gate 3 mod lets you romance the silk-tongued cambion devil, although maybe you shouldn't, yeah?
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/eager-to-get-me-on-my-knees-raphael-baldurs-gate-3-mod-lets-you-romance-the-silk-tongued-cambion-devil-although-maybe-you-shouldnt-yeah/
There are plenty of potentially intense romances to get involved in with your Tav in Baldur's Gate 3, ranging from being pummeled by your new 'hot githyanki girlfriend' to getting fresh with a full-grown bear, but none are potentially as hot as the ability to romance Raphael, the silky-tongued proprietor of the House of Hope and heir apparent to the archdevil Mephistopheles.
What a shame, then, that a route to romancing Raphael was strictly off the cards in vanilla BG3. Clearly, this is something that upset modder foundatlantis, as they have moved to rectify Larian's obvious error with the release of Raphael Romance Route – Part 1, a mod that 'adds a new quest that allows the player to romance (or alternatively 'befriend') Raphael.'
Featuring a new dialogue and location, any Tav with a desire for some hot bad guy romancing can start the quest by speaking to Raphael in the Last Light Inn, which is encountered in Act 2 of Baldur's Gate 3. Providing that you then help Mol win the game of Lanceboard she is playing with Raphael, a new quest will then begin, with 'a mysterious White Pawn Piece' added to Tav's inventory.
Speaking in the mod's notes, foundatlantis confirms that the mod's new dialog 'contains some class/origin/race unique options. I believe the ones with the most unique content are Wyll and Gale (followed by Karlach and Astarion). It's a pretty big dialog tree, so even though I've checked for unfinished routes, there might be one or two left. Let me know!' Included in the mod's images tab shows a picture of Raphael sitting at a Lanceboard table with a variety of Tav dialogue and action options, the top one reading 'Eager to get me on my knees, Raphael?', as well as the ability to say nothing, kneel, or leave.
The mod's creator also confirms that there are a bunch of easter eggs in the mod, too, with references to William Shakespeare, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Hamilton, among others. Clearly, a good dose of thought and creative endeavor has been poured into this mod, and will continue to be according to the notes, as foundatlantis is also very clear that this is a work-in-progress project.
>> The mod is still in beta and with some nasty bugs.

The Half-Life 2 RTX demo is out now and well worth a go… if your graphics card can take it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-half-life-2-rtx-demo-is-out-now-and-well-worth-a-go-if-your-graphics-card-can-take-it/
Hey, you can finally try out Half-Life 2 RTX. It's been a long ol' wait for this one, the team of modders/developers at Orbifold Studios have spent a good few years on this already, but at least two levels are ready to play right now.
Head over to the Half-Life 2 RTX steam page and it's available to download. Once in, you can play through Ravenholm, and if it's the set-up the same as when I played through it last week, Nova Prospekt will unlock once you're done there.
If you want to hop ahead then the old HL2 commands still work. Hit ~ to bring up the console, type sv_cheats 1 to enable cheats, then type sv_unlockedchapters 15. That won't unlock all 15 chapters and bypass the confines of the demo, sadly (I had hoped it might at first), but you can play both levels.
One thing to note with this version is that it's much, much, much, much more demanding than the original Half-Life 2. Take a look at the minimum system requirements here and make your own mind up:
>> DSOG has run some bechmarks and… it will bring even your 4090 to their knees, at least at 4K.

GAMING NEWS

Burning Sword: Death Sun PC Demo is available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/burning-sword-death-sun-pc-demo-is-available-for-download/
Nomadic Games has released a PC demo for its upcoming Wuxia hack n’ slash game, Burning Sword: Death Sun. In addition, the team has shared a new trailer, as well as the game’s official PC system requirements. So, let’s take a closer look at them.

Tuesday news, the second part:

Avowed's new patch just gave you 6 more talent points to muck around with, along with a heap of fixes and improvements
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/avoweds-new-patch-just-gave-you-6-more-talent-points-to-muck-around-with-along-with-a-heap-of-fixes-and-improvements/
Avowed, which I've temporarily put down while I grind for drip in Monster Hunter Wilds, is slowly-but-surely summoning me back to the Living Lands with some incremental improvements. It's nice to see that Obsidian's keen to make what's already a dang solid action RPG into the best version of its focused self—like with that 60+ gig update that sorted out its resource economy.
This time, Obsidian's taken aim at its talent system. Namely, you'll get more talent points to spread across your trees, as the patch notes read: "The player will now receive an additional talent point at levels five, 10, 15, 20, 25, [and] 30. Players with save files past those levels will receive the additional points."

Ubisoft reportedly has an anti-harassment plan in place for Assassin's Creed Shadows developers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/assassins-creed/ubisoft-reportedly-has-an-anti-harassment-plan-in-place-for-assassins-creed-shadows-developers/
With Assassin's Creed Shadows just a few days from release, Ubisoft has reportedly implemented an anti-harassment plan for developers to protect them from potential backlash on social media.
>> This comes roughly a year too late.

'I want to raise this glass to our fans, to our community': 4A Games celebrates Metro 2033's 15th anniversary and hints at next Metro game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/i-want-to-raise-this-glass-to-our-fans-to-our-community-4a-games-celebrates-metro-2033s-15th-anniversary-and-hints-at-next-metro-game/
"You've given us 15 years of support, 15 years of passion, and 15 years of love. Thank you."
4A Games creative director Yevhen "Lin" Fedorets shared that heartfelt message alongside more words of gratitude from the Metro 2033 team in a video celebrating the game's 15th anniversary this week.

Rise of the Ronin's PC troubles continue as players report disappearing saves on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/rise-of-the-ronins-pc-troubles-continue-as-players-report-disappearing-saves-on-steam/
Rise of the Ronin was already having a rough start on PC after its Steam release last week, but the situation just got even worse as reports have begun rolling in from players about their save data getting erased.
>> They didn’t test it enough.

'It was a very depressing day': Palworld community manager reveals studio's reaction to Nintendo lawsuit
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/it-was-a-very-depressing-day-palworld-community-manager-reveals-studios-reaction-to-nintendo-lawsuit/
Nintendo's announcement that it was suing Pocketpair, the developer of the massively successful Palworld, came as a shock last year, not the least to Pocketpair itself. The lawsuit stunned the games industry, and internally, it sent Pocketpair scrambling for answers.
Looking back on the studio's reaction to the lawsuit during a talk at GDC 2025 today, Pocketpair global community manager John Buckley said that "it didn't feel good obviously" when the announcement arrived.
"We did legal checks before Palworld released and they were all cleared in Japan," Buckley remembers. "So obviously when the lawsuit was announced we were like, 'What?' And we went back to the lawyers, and the lawyers contacted the courts and asked, 'What's going on?' and that's when we realized it was patents they were going for."
>> He said that at GDC 2025, where he alse said that it was popular to hate Palworld after launch.

Ark 2 is still on: The next Ark expansion 'leads into the events of Ark 2,' says Studio Wildcard
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/ark-2-is-still-on-the-next-ark-expansion-leads-into-the-events-of-ark-2-says-studio-wildcard/
It's been a while since we've heard much about Ark 2, the sequel to survival game Ark: Survival Evolved which was announced all the way back in 2020. We started to wonder if the Vin Diesel-powered sequel was still happening (and we aren't the only ones), but it's apparently still on: It just got a mention in a press release about upcoming Ark expansion Lost Colony.
Ark: Lost Colony "connects the storylines of Ark's Extinction and Genesis expansions and leads into the events of Ark 2," says Studio Wildcard.

Space Marine 2 CEO puts the boot into the Saints Row team's twitching corpse from his private jet: 'Who's going to fund them for the next game after that disaster?'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/space-marine-2-ceo-puts-the-boot-into-the-saints-row-teams-twitching-corpse-from-his-private-jet-whos-going-to-fund-them-for-the-next-game-after-that-disaster/
Call me soft, but I'm still sad about the sudden, undignified death of Volition, the 30-year-old Saints Row studio that got executed by the Embracer Group after the latter's $2-billion mystery deal—pitched as a "groundbreaking strategic partnership"—collapsed at the last minute.
With Embracer scrambling to stay afloat and Volition's final game, a rebooted Saints Row, meeting a lukewarm critical and commercial response, the writing was on the wall for the developer that also made Red Faction and Descent back in the day.
It was a sad and shocking turn of events for such a storied studio. That is, unless you're Saber Interactive CEO—and former Embracer Group interim chief operating officer—Matthew Karch, who recently took the opportunity to put the boot into the dearly departed studio in a chat with Game File, held on Karch's private jet.
>> I’m currently playing it (thanks EGS for giving it away for free), and I have to say that it’s not a bad game. Sure, it’s far from being perfect, but had it being called something else, it would have fared much better,

Zenless Zone Zero developer finally embraces its divine domain as the god of jiggle physics, goes mad, adds them to cat balls
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/zenless-zone-zero-developer-finally-embraces-its-divine-domain-as-the-god-of-jiggle-physics-goes-mad-adds-them-to-cat-balls/
If there's one thing that can be relied upon in our increasingly confusing digital age, it's the jiggly opiate of the masses that games like Zenless Zone Zero provide. Gachas ostensibly make their money peddling cute anime girls (and boys, to be fair) to the average consumer. This isn't an assertion I'm making so much as it is a basic statement of fact. There's real, 4D-chess level market research that goes into this sort of thing.
And with… aesthetic appeal comes the technology required to back it up. miHoYo is perhaps, statistically-speaking, the best at this—given it's released three games along this line, carving itself out a comfortable little empire, it knows a thing or two about jiggle physics. So much, in fact, that it's made a move I can only describe as 'something you do when you've gone mad with power'.
As noticed by users on the ZZZ subreddit (thanks, Eurogamer), cats—who are rendered in Zenless Zone Zero with little sphincters and a coinpurse, for some reason—now have jiggle physics on their testes. Which is a sentence I resent having to write as part of my professional career.

Helldivers 2's next warbond'll let you be a real space cowboy, and draw on those Automaton scum with a lever-action rifle
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2s-next-warbondll-let-you-be-a-real-space-cowboy-and-draw-on-those-automaton-scum-with-a-lever-action-rifle/
Alright, pardner, it's time to hike up your cowboy boots and put on your best duster—because Helldivers 2 has just announced a new warbond, and reports say it's both rootin', tootin', and potentially shootin'. As per the video above, the Borderline Justice warbond is the next in the line of Arrowhead's goodie bags, and it's got some real nuggets of gold in the pan already.

Ratings board gives away Silent Hill f's gut-churning tricks, listing face-slicing, arm-sawing and, worst of all, 'exposed buttocks'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/ratings-board-gives-away-silent-hill-fs-gut-churning-tricks-listing-face-slicing-arm-sawing-and-worst-of-all-exposed-buttocks/
The ESRB—Entertainment Software Rating Board—is, notionally, there to stick age ratings on games that make sure little Timmy and Sally aren't scarred for life by the torture scene in GTA 5. In reality, I'm beginning to suspect the whole thing is a gigantic operation made to scupper games industry PRs' carefully laid marketing plans. Like when it leaked the Horizon remaster, or Skull & Bones, or Quake, or Catherine.
It's not doing much leaking today, but the ESRB has nonetheless gone absolutely ham describing just what kind of nastiness you can expect from Konami's upcoming Silent Hill f, which just recently broke cover with a new trailer after a prolonged period of silence following the success of Bloober Team's third-person wife-finder. It takes place in the '60s, is the first Silent Hill set in Japan, and its core concept is, says script-writer Ryukishi07, "Find the beauty in terror."

I agree.

DSOG has lots of articles about these "remakes", and in most articles it even says that they're done just as a portfolio to show in job interviews.

That's the reason I decided to only share the ones that have at least a demo to download, because that way we can actually do something with them.

Ah, I see. I guess that makes sense. I just skip to the graphical material when I do decide to spend that bit of my time on them... And I do enjoy the 'remakes' to an extent, it's more of a 'labeling issue' to me.

The Wednesday news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Major performance issues aside, over half of Monster Hunter Wilds’ sales are from Steam alone
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/major-performance-issues-aside-over-half-of-monster-hunter-wilds-sales-are-from-steam-alone/
I remember a time when the only place I saw Monster Hunter games was the 3DS eShop. Those days are well and truly over, because the eShop is fully defunct and Monster Hunter Wilds is effortlessly pulling in over 400,000 players a day on Steam alone, according to Steam Charts and SteamDB.
To give you a sense of scale, Circana’s executive director Mat Piscatella took to socials and reported that Monster Hunter Wilds—February’s best selling game across each platform it’s on—got more than half its total sales from Steam. These launch numbers are double what Monster Hunter Rise pulled off back when it was a Switch exclusive, according to the same report, which called Monster Hunter Wilds the best-selling game of 2025 so far.

Surprise, surprise! GOG has launched its Spring Sale, with over 7500 skus on sale with up to 95% discounts until the 2nd of April: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2025_spring_sale.

One comes and one goes. The Steam Spring Sale will end in 26 hours. You don’t have much time left to decide new purchases: https://store.steampowered.com.

And Fanatical only has a new bundle: the BYO Spring Bundle, with 18 games to choose from for your bundles of 1+, 5+ or 10+ during 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-spring-bundle.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 572.83 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-572-83

Highlights
Game Ready for Half-Life 2 RTX Demo and inZOI
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 the Half-Life 2 RTX Demo and Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. Further support for titles leveraging DLSS technology includes Assassin’s Creed Shadows, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and the enhanced update for Control. In addition, this driver supports inZOI which features the first integration of NVIDIA ACE technology.

Gaming Technology

• Adds support for GeForce RTX 5090, 5080, and 5070 Ti notebooks

DLSS Override update

• *** a long list of games I’m too lazy to copy ***

Fixed Issues
Fixed General Bugs

• [GeForce RTX 5080/5090] Graphics cards may not run at full speeds on system reboot when overclocked [5088034]
• [GeForce RTX 50 series] GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs crashes with black screen [5120886]
• Some NVIDIA Control Panel / NVIDIA App settings changes immediately get reset or give error [5160516]
• PC may bugcheck IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL 0xa during gameplay with HDR enabled [5091576]
• [VRED 2026] Optix compile error with R570 branch drivers [5122360]
• [Derivative TouchDesigner ] Application stability issues [4606316]

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

-Empty-

GAMING NEWS

Assassin’s Creed Shadows suffers from major optimization issues on NVIDIA GPUs
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/assassins-creed-shadows-suffers-from-major-optimization-issues-on-nvidia-gpus/
Ubisoft has lifted the review embargo for Assassin’s Creed Shadows and it appears that this new AC game suffers from major optimization issues on PC. The game does not currently appear to be able to take advantage of modern-day CPUs and GPUs. And, like most of the previous AC games, it runs horribly on NVIDIA’s hardware.
>> Just what the game needed.

STALKER 2 Patch 1.3 released, packing over 1200 fixes & tweaks
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/stalker-2-patch-1-3-released-packing-over-1200-fixes-tweaks/
GSC GameWorld has released Patch 1.3 for STALKER 2, packing over 1200 fixes, tweaks, improvements and changes. So, let’s take a closer look at it, shall we?

The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered will support DLSS 4 & Multi-Frame Gen at launch
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-last-of-us-part-2-remastered-will-support-dlss-4-multi-frame-gen-at-launch/
NVIDIA has just announced that The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered will support DLSS 4 and Multi-Frame Gen at launch. This will be possible via the NVIDIA App, which will allow you to enable DLSS 4 for this title.

Croc Legend of the Gobbos Remaster releases on April 2nd
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/croc-legend-of-the-gobbos-remaster-releases-on-april-2nd/
Argonaut Games has announced that the official remaster for Croc Legend of the Gobbos will be released on April 2nd. To celebrate the announcement, the team has also shared a new trailer that you can find below.

Resident Evil/Silent Hill-inspired game, Post Trauma, gets final PC requirements and launch trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/resident-evil-silent-hill-inspired-game-post-trauma-gets-final-pc-requirements-and-launch-trailer/
Raw Fury has released the launch trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil/Silent Hill-inspired game, Post Trauma. Moreover, RED SOUL GAMES shared the final PC requirements for this new horror game. So, let’s take a closer look at them.

PHASE ZERO is a tribute to the classic 32-bit Resident Evil games
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/phase-zero-is-a-tribute-to-the-classic-32-bit-resident-evil-games/
SPINA Studio has just announced PHASE ZERO, a game with 32-bit graphics and fixed camera angles that is a tribute to the classic Resident Evil games. This will put a smile on the face of a lot of old-school fans. So, if you are one of them, you should definitely check it out.

Here comes the second part of the news:

Rockstar hornswoggles lapsed GTAO players with $3 million welcome-back offer that actually requires you to spend money to get most of it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/grand-theft-auto/rockstar-hornswoggles-lapsed-gtao-players-with-usd3-million-welcome-back-offer-that-actually-requires-you-to-spend-money-to-get-most-of-it/
I regard GTA Online the same way I regard the Seven Years' War: I only know it at a distance, it sounds like a living nightmare, and whenever I learn something new about it I'm sure glad I'm not there.
Maybe I'm not the only one, because Rockstar is giving away $3,000,000 to any lapsed player who returns to its loving bosom. If you're currently playing then you're already hooked, and Rockstar has nothing for you but scorn.
>> What a sacumbag move.

Cities: Skylines 2 celebrates 10 years of Cities with more nuanced homelessness and six new DLCs
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/cities-skylines-2-celebrates-10-years-of-cities-with-more-nuanced-homelessness-and-six-new-dlcs/
It’s hard to believe, but the premiere metropolis maker this side of SimCity 4 has just hit a 10-year milestone—and in classic city builder fashion, Cities: Skylines 2 is honoring the occasion with traffic bug fixes, new buildings and radio stations, and major changes to homelessness.

PC gamers spend 92% of their time on older games, oh and there are apparently 908 million of us now
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/pc-gamers-spend-92-percent-of-their-time-on-older-games-oh-and-there-are-apparently-908-million-of-us-now/
Ben Porter, director of consulting at videogame market intelligence company Newzoo, is giving a GDC talk this week that picks out some highlights from the firm's annual look at the state of the games industry. PC Gamer was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at his slides, and one of the takeaways is that PC gaming is bigger than ever: And we love to play old games.

The Silent Hill F system requirements look pretty modest at first but that's only for all my 720p gamers out there
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/the-silent-hill-f-system-requirements-look-pretty-modest-at-first-but-thats-only-for-all-my-720p-gamers-out-there/
If you are able to competently run Silent Hill 2 Remake on your rig, the Silent Hill F system requirements suggest you can run it too, but there's a caveat.
(...)
For Silent Hill F, the minimum system requirements allow you to play the game on 'Performance quality settings', getting 30 fps at 720p. Given few gamers actually play at 720p, this method of getting the minimum requirement is a tad flawed. You will want a more powerful rig than the minimum to play at 1080p.

'People like to hate EA, I don't know why': Split Fiction's Josef Fares says he has a good relationship with his publisher, but 'nobody believes' him
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/people-like-to-hate-ea-i-dont-know-why-split-fictions-josef-fares-says-he-has-a-good-relationship-with-his-publisher-but-nobody-believes-him/
EA doesn't have the best reputation. Whether it's being awarded with the title "worst company in America" multiple times, its role in the downfall of previously beloved developers like BioWare, its love of microtransactions, or continually heralding the demise of singleplayer games, it hasn't earned much goodwill.
Hazelight Studios founder Josef Fares, whose team just released Split Fiction, one of the best co-op games ever made, doesn't share that sentiment.
>> Well, they fought hard to earn that reputation.

Larian's Swen Vincke subtweets anyone still fixated on singleplayer games' commercial viability: 'They just have to be good'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/larians-swen-vincke-subtweets-anyone-still-fixated-on-singleplayer-games-commercial-viability-they-just-have-to-be-good/
When Swen Vincke took the stage at 2024's Game Awards to call out the entire games industry for being more committed to "market share" and "arbitrary sales targets" than making good games for their own sake, he noted that the secret formula which led to Larian’s meteoric rise had nothing to do with audience expectations or brand value. Instead the team made good, trailblazing games and things just kind of worked out after that.
He's doubled down in a recent post on X which addresses skeptics of his point directly, as well as anyone saying that games need to start falling in line with multiplayer live service trends, saying it's "that time of the year again when big single player games are declared dead. Use your imagination. They're not. They just have to be good."

After 12 days and 100s of wipes, World of Warcraft's latest world first raid ends in anticlimax: 'That's the boss?!?'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/after-12-days-and-100s-of-wipes-world-of-warcrafts-latest-world-first-raid-ends-in-anticlimax-thats-the-boss/
The latest World of Warcraft world first race, in which teams compete to finish a new Mythic raid faster than the others, has been settled: But the final boss was so anticlimactic that the winners almost surprised themselves (thanks, GR+).
>> Why? You’ll have to read the article to find out.

World of Warcraft Classic’s Season of Discovery may be teasing a legendary weapon that players have speculated is in the game for two decades
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcraft-classics-season-of-discovery-may-be-teasing-a-legendary-weapon-that-players-have-speculated-is-in-the-game-for-two-decades/
It’s long been a running joke in the World of Warcraft Classic community that the Ashbringer, known by lore nerds as the legendary sword wielded by Tirion Fordring, can be obtained by fishing in just the right spot. Or killing just the right amount of arbitrary mobs. Or doing a secret quest to cleanse the Corrupted Ashbringer. People have lots of ideas, really.
Back in the day, the only version of the weapon you could actually get was the Corrupted Ashbringer in Naxxramas, but that didn’t stop anyone from wishing for the real thing. In the live version of WoW, paladins eventually got their hands on it in the form of an artifact weapon when Tirion Fordring got melted by a demon and dropped it at the beginning of the Legion expansion, but it was drained of its power and disposed of with all the other artifacts when Legion’s last patch rolled in. It seems like Classic players will finally get their hands on the old-school legendary item that was hinted at and datamined by sites like Wowhead but never implemented.

Hasbro will be ready to share news about the future of Baldur's Gate 'in pretty short order'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/hasbro-will-be-ready-to-share-news-about-the-future-of-baldurs-gate-in-pretty-short-order/
Somehow, a year and a half after the smash hit singleplayer RPG Baldur's Gate 3 went into full release on Steam, it's still drawing in tens of thousands of concurrent players every day—on Steam alone. In just about every other instance, that would mandate expansions, sequels, and relentless franchising until we're all finally sick of it; but in the case of BG3, developer Larian Studios decided not to take the money and run, leaving Baldur's Gate owner Hasbro with an extremely hot, valuable property and nobody doing anything with it.
It shouldn't come as any great surprise that won't likely be the case for long. Speaking to IGN at the 2025 Game Developers Conference, Hasbro's senior vice president of digital games Dan Ayoub said the company has "a lot of people very interested in Baldur's Gate," and that it's "kind of working out our plans for the future."
"Actually, in pretty short order, we're going to have some stuff to talk about around that," Ayoub said.

After years of playing as stupid, boring humans in Fallout, you can finally channel your inner Walton Goggins and become a ghoul in Fallout 76
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/after-years-of-playing-as-stupid-boring-humans-in-fallout-you-can-finally-channel-your-inner-walton-goggins-and-become-a-ghoul-in-fallout-76/
For too long, Walton Goggins has been out in the Hollywood hills living my dream: wandering the wasteland as a rotting, irradiated zombie with a beer in one hand and a shotgun in the other. That finally ends today thanks to Fallout 76’s new Ghoul Within update, which adds a whole host of ghoul-related features and rewards.
The headlining feature is, as you might guess, ghoulification: a new questline will allow players to become a feral ghoul for the first time in the series’ history, though you’ll want to subdue any urges to devour your fellow vault dweller with a cocktail of consumable drugs. The bright side is you’ll be immune to disease and mutations, and in fact, radiation will give you increased max health and interact with your new ghoul perks (which the patch notes call gherks).
>> And some are already thinking of ways to benefit from those who will turn into ghouls.

And here’s the third part of the Wednesday news:

In good news for Sim-murdering sickos, Inzoi has '16 different types of deaths'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/in-good-news-for-sim-murdering-sickos-inzoi-has-16-different-types-of-deaths/
Toward the tail end of a recent global showcase, Inzoi's game director Hyungjun "Kjun" Kim answered questions about the upcoming life sim. One, which came from a content creator who had endured the lengthy process of killing her Zoi via unmet needs, was basically: how many ways can Zois die?

Inzoi will cost as much as a Sims 4 expansion pack and until it leaves early access 'all DLCs and updates will be free'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/inzoi-will-cost-as-much-as-a-sims-4-expansion-pack-and-until-it-leaves-early-access-all-dlcs-and-updates-will-be-free/
Hyungjun "Kjun" Kim, game director of upcoming life sim Inzoi, is humble about making a game in such a complicated genre. He recently described creating a game of this scale as "reckless", and in a global showcase revealing Inzoi's pricing and roadmap, he said that, "as a developer I think Inzoi still has a lot to improve on."
Which is why, he explained via an official translator, it'll launch in early access for $40 and "until there's a full launch all updates and DLCs will be provided for free."
>> They’re really trying to succeed.

'We balance for fun, first and foremost': Marvel Games' executive producer discusses Marvel Rivals' priorities and why competitive balancing comes second
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/we-balance-for-fun-first-and-foremost-marvel-games-executive-producer-discusses-marvel-rivals-priorities-and-why-competitive-balancing-comes-second/
Marvel Rivals has already established itself as one of the go-to hero shooters, but unlike most other options, there's less of an onus placed on competitive balancing—instead, NetEase is more focused on making the game as fun as possible.
"So every character we balance for fun, first and foremost, as in if the character is fun or not [to play], that's always number one," Danny Koo, executive producer of Marvel Games, tells PC Gamer in an interview at GDC. "And then the team has data on win rates, making sure that no one character is too painful and oppressive so that everybody's still having fun. But that's secondary."
>> That’s likely why they like throwing in “curve balls” in the game in the form of unexpected heroes.

Monster Hunter Wilds' next set of event quests let you snag a snazzy earring, plus armor and weapon decorations
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/monster-hunter-wilds-next-set-of-event-quests-let-you-snag-a-snazzy-earring-plus-armor-and-weapon-decorations/
Monster Hunter Wilds just released its next set of event quests—which'll give you a chance to snag some snazzy drip, and a bit of loot, too.
In case you're unfamiliar with the program, event quests are limited-time hunts that give you specific rewards, making for great opportunities to grind (or to just get a stupid-looking sugar glider hat).

After launching as an Epic Store exclusive, World of Goo 2 dribbles onto Steam this spring: 'We’re grateful to Epic for funding development of the game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/after-launching-as-an-epic-store-exclusive-world-of-goo-2-dribbles-onto-steam-this-spring-were-grateful-to-epic-for-funding-development-of-the-game/
World of Goo 2, sequel to the beloved 2008 physics-puzzler about building towers and bridges out of wibbly wobbly slime balls, will slop onto Steam this spring following almost a year of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store.

Some Fallout 76 players have encountered a 'major game-breaking bug' which either makes it impossible to complete the ghoul quest or just makes you temporarily invisible
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/some-fallout-76-players-have-encountered-a-major-game-breaking-bug-which-either-makes-it-impossible-to-complete-the-ghoul-quest-or-just-makes-you-temporarily-invisible/
Fallout 76's Ghoul Update is live as of last night, and while most players are already plotting all sorts of ways to use the new rad-loving character to their advantage, there are a few players who've encountered a not-so-fun bug.
"Major game-breaking bug with the new ghoul update—please be careful," Both_Emu_2131 says. They then go on to describe how they were disconnected from the server midway through customising the look of their new ghoul character after completing the mission. Unfortunately, when they restarted their game, they were "stuck as a ghoul and unable to complete the mission."

Apparently, AMD has shipped 200000 RX 9000 cards and calls the demand for them unprecedented:

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/amd-calls-over-200000-gpus-shipped-unprecedented

This comes from an AI event last weekend, but since the RX 9000 cards are just out for a couple weeks, those numbers must be the first week or first batch of cards.