I'm considering buying a higher refresh rate monior. I've been stuck in 60fps purgatory all my life until I switched my phone of all things to 90hz.

Been using an ASUS PB287Q 4k monior these past 10 years, along with my parents old 1080p SHARP Televison as a second monitor.

I don't think I'll get an OLED, because the burn in repels me and I want my monior to last 10+ years. The Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 Mini LED monitor looks nice, it's 4k and 240hz, though it apparently can suffer from scanline issues. Hmmmm....decisions....

From the little I know, OLED monitors are fine for games, but if they're used as a regular monitor then yes, burn in can be an issue.

It looks like you're after another 4k monitor, but what size are you aiming to get?

Probably 32 inches to replace my SHARP Televison. It looks weird when placed next to my 28 inch 4k monitor, but I'm used to it.

Well, if it helps, here are some guides that may introduce you to monitors you didn't know about:

TFTCentral: https://tftcentral.co.uk/recommendations/tftcentral-recommendations-list-gaming-monitors
(they're listed by size and there's regular monitors and then OLED ones)

RTings: https://www.rtings.com/monitor
(they have several guides and score for several uses)

I highly recommend a high refresh rate monitor. It just feels so much nicer even in desktop use. I could certainly manage with 60 Hz, but do I really want to? No, never again, not without a really good reason.

Why not just create a burner MS account, log in and create yourself a manual password to log into the computer.

Thats what I'm doing.

Though I dont really see an issue with having a MS account to begin with - I'm using my old Microsoft account I've had since 2005 for my Xbox, Onedrive, O365, etc.

I don't think burn in is really much of an issue these days although I did decide against one because of it with my last purchase due to my bad habit of just leaving the desktop on whilst I go do other stuff and whilst OLED is still the best the gap to other panels is a lot closer than it was 5 years ago so I'd just read the sites JEMC posted and see what fits your need  and consume a week of your life looking at specs, Or is that just me who does that? You're also going to need some beefy hardware to support a 4k 240hz screen so you could also look at 144hz and 165hz options as well.

NVIDIA Might Have Lost AI GPU Pricing Power, Says Bank As It Downgrades Stock To Hold

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-might-have-lost-ai-gpu-pricing-power-says-bank-as-it-downgrades-stock-to-hold/

Quite the bad year for Nvidia thus far

AMD reportedly preparing Radeon RX 9070 GRE

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-reportedly-preparing-radeon-rx-9070-gre

GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs now power custom AI servers in Vietnam – 4000W and 28x 8-Pin cables in use

https://videocardz.com/newz/geforce-rtx-5090-gpus-now-power-custom-ai-servers-in-vietnam-4000w-and-28x-8-pin-cables-in-use

AMD Captures Nearly 80% Of CPU Market According To March Amazon US Stats: Generates Five Times More Revenue Than Intel

https://wccftech.com/amd-captures-nearly-80-of-cpu-market-according-to-march-amazon-us/

NVIDIA Blackwell & AMD MI325X Showdown In Latest MLPerf Inference Benchmarks: B200 Shatters Records, Instinct Fights Against Hopper

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-blackwell-amd-mi325x-showdown-mlperf-inference-benchmarks

Nintendo Confirms Switch 2 Uses DLSS and Ray Tracing, but Is Being Super Vague About the Details

https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-confirms-switch-2-uses-dlss-and-ray-tracing-but-is-being-super-vague-about-the-details

Lexar unveils 1TB MicroSD Express card compatible with Switch 2 for $200

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/lexar-unveils-1tb-microsd-express-card-compatible-with-switch-2-for-200.1682540/

Here come the Thursday news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding's now had over 20 million players, and the fact folk are still playing 'makes me the happiest'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/hideo-kojima-says-death-strandings-now-had-over-20-million-players-and-the-fact-folk-are-still-playing-makes-me-the-happiest/
Three months before the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which looks absolutely bananas, Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions have announced that Death Stranding, a Hideo Kojima game directed by Hideo Kojima (OK I'll stop), has surpassed 20 million players.
Yes that's players not sales, though it does suggest a very healthy sales count: Death Stranding was also very briefly a freebie on the Epic Game Store, and included with PC Game Pass for a time.

The Epic Store gives away Cat Quest II: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/cat-quest-ii-9dbefc.
Next week, the free games are going to be Arcadgeddon, Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms and River City Girls.

GOG has finished its Spring Sale and now makes me work extra with five new sales:

• There are new Weekly Deals with up to 91% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250403_weekly_deals_1_april
• The Hack 'n' Slash Promo also has games up to 91% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250415_hack_n_slash_promo
• The Freshen Up Your Library Promo has games of all kinds with up to 95% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250403_freshen_up_your_library_promo
• In the Indie Games Promo there are games up to 95% off during the next 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250403_indie_games_promo
• And laastly, there’s the spicy NSFW Promo, with up to 95% discounts during 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250403_nsfw_promo

Steam has three new deals and three new sales:

• Dungreed is going to be 50% off until the 9th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/app/753420/Dungreed/
• WrestleQuest has an 80% discount until the same 9th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1867510/WrestleQuest/
• PegIdle, that has a demo, will be 35% off until the 16th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2821890/PegIdle/
• And these are the sales:
  • The London Games Festival celebrates its 10th Anniversary with demos and up to 90% discounts. The festival will last until the 13th, but the deals are something else, with some ending tomorrow and others lasting until, at least, the 16th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/LondonGamesFestival2025
  • The Devil May Cry franchise is on sale and the games are going to be up to 75% off until the 16th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33273264/sale/devilmaycryfranchise
  • The Neptunia franchise is also on sale with up to 80% discounts until April, the 16th: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/ideafactoryintl/sale/Neptunia2025

There’s a new Humble Bundle: the Fellow Traveller Publisher Bundle featuring up to 9 items to get (8 games plus 1 coupon) during 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/fellow-traveller-publisher-bundle.

And Fanatical has the new Platinum Collection BYOB – April 2025, with 16 titles to choose from for your bundles of 3+, 5+ or 7+ games during 27 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/platinum-collection-build-your-own-bundle.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

INTEL Arc Graphics 32.0.101.6732 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-graphics-32-0-101-6732

Highlights
Intel Game On Driver support on Intel Arc B-series, A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel Core Ultra with built-in Intel Arc GPUs for:

• The Last of Us Part II Remastered

Game performance improvements on Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs versus Intel 32.0.101.6653 software driver for:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (DX12)
  • Up to 15% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Balanced settings

Fixed Issues
Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

• Returnal (DX12) may experience lower than expected performance during gameplay.

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

• Returnal (DX12) may experience lower than expected performance during gameplay.

Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• FragPunk (DX12) may experience an application crash while launching game.
• Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition (DX9) may exhibit white corruption while playing the game in windowed mode.
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (DX11) may experience intermittent crash during gameplay.

Intel Graphics Software Fixed Issues:

• Intel Graphics Software may not uninstall entirely when uninstalling using Add or Remove Programs

>> This is a Beta driver, if that matters to you.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New Mass Effect 2 Legendary Edition Mod overhauls all enemies
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-mass-effect-2-legendary-edition-mod-overhauls-all-enemies/
Modder ‘Ravager’ has released a cool new mod for Mass Effect 2 Legendary Edition. This mod aims to overhaul all of its enemies, so make sure to get it if you are planning to replay it.
Going into more details, the mod adds lore friendly weapons, more powers, and improved power usage. Enemies will also have shields/barriers/armor regardless of difficulty, and there are now correct colors for blood. Plus, there are other minor additions and changes to most enemies throughout the game, including all DLC.
All enemies that have powers now use them regardless of what you or your squad is doing and try to use their shield powers immediately after they lose their shields/barriers. Moreover, most enemies with shields or barriers now have a boost power that restores them.
Most enemies now have shields/barriers/armor that are added on higher difficulties, on all difficulties. Not only that, but NPCs in hubs, missions and cutscenes will now have lore accurate weapons.
You can go ahead and download the mod from this link. To install it, you’ll need the Mod Manager. Plus, you’ll have to install it before any texture mods or other texture files.
>> The article has no media.

Wicked Whims for Inzoi is just an April Fools joke for now but The Sims' most famous sex mod is probably coming eventually
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/to-nobodys-surprise-wicked-whims-for-inzoi-is-here-less-than-a-week-after-launch-bringing-over-the-sims-most-famous-sex-mod/
There are two kinds of life simmers: Those who like playing happy families, and those who contort the games' tween age ratings into something that'd probably give your nan a heart attack.
Wicked Whims is easily one of The Sims' most popular mods for anyone who falls into the latter camp. It turns the game into something that is most definitely not safe for work—nudity, startlingly detailed sex animations, and even STDs that can spread. Outside of being relentlessly horny, there are some cool immersive features like menstrual cycles and birth control.
Correction: You win this round, Turbodriver. In our April fools announcements haze we thought we caught a real one but this release of Wicked Whims for Inzoi in fact was just a joke. The download link goes to a video—shame on us for not trying that in the middle of the office, huh? This one is probably only a joke for now until those modding tools on the Inzoi roadmap show up and the popular mod gets an Inzoi version for real.
>> There’s a couple of screenshots, but not of the not-mod.

'This is a gift': Baldur's Village mod maker says thanks to all (especially Swen) and promises more content including an 'Astarion's Ten Hearts event' is on the way
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/this-is-a-gift-baldurs-village-mod-maker-says-thanks-to-all-especially-swen-and-promises-more-content-including-an-astarions-ten-hearts-event-is-on-the-way/
It's been quite a ride for Baldur's Village, the big Stardew Valley mod that brings Baldur's Gate 3 characters and content to the world's most popular life sim. It launched in early March and everyone loved it including Larian boss Swen Vincke, but then whoops, Wizards of the Coast clobbered it with a DMCA takedown request. Everyone got mad, Swen wagged his finger, and then WotC said whoops, it was a mistake! And now it's back.
With all that water now under the bridge, mod developer XunHe1145 has shared a "full explanation" of what happened on X. It's not really a full explanation to my reading, in the sense that it doesn't explain how all of this was allowed to happen in the first place (and we will probably never know), but the important thing is confirmation that the matter is now "thoroughly clarified and resolved," and more Baldur's Village stuff, including an Astarion event, is on the way.

GAMING NEWS

New trailers for Blades of Fire focus on The Forge and Weapons
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-trailers-for-blades-of-fire-focus-on-the-forge-and-weapons/
505 Games has released two new videos for Blades of Fire, focusing on the Forge and the game’s weapons. Blades of Fire is a third-person action-adventure game from MercurySteam. According to the devs, players will forge their own weapons and face fierce enemies in a unique combat system.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Update 7 Released, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/marvels-spider-man-2-update-7-released-full-patch-notes/
Nixxes has just released Title Update 7 for the PC version of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s take a look at all of its fixes, tweaks and improvements.

Thursday news, part two:

Assassin's Creed Shadows didn't have yellow paint originally, but unfortunately players like me are stupid
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/assassins-creed/assassins-creed-shadows-didnt-have-yellow-paint-originally-but-unfortunately-players-like-me-are-stupid/
Yellow paint: it's the scourge of our time. Or at least, that's what I've gathered from the approximately 4,000,000 online arguments that are happening about it at any given moment. People—some people—really don't love it when games splash helpful dashes of yellow on every surface you can climb on, calling it daft and immersion-breaking.
Which, hey, I kind of get, and I confess that the sheer volume of lemon daubed across the walls and trees of Assassin's Creed Shadows has stood out to me, a little. But in a chat with GamesRadar, the game's creative director Jonathan Dumont says there's a real good reason for it: we're idiots.
Well, OK, he puts it more delicately. Per Dumont, AC Shadows originally didn't have any yellow paint in it at all, but playtesters kept banging their heads against walls they couldn't climb, or failing to realise a given surface actually was climbable.

Here's what happens to your base in Dune: Awakening if you take a long break from Arrakis
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/dune-awakening-base-decay/
Survival MMO Dune: Awakening releases next month on May 20, and Funcom is churning out information about it faster than a sandworm poops out spice. (Wait, is spice just sandworm poop? It must be, right? Gross.)
In a recent livestream, members of the Dune: Awakening team answered questions from chat, and interestingly one of those questions wasn't about what happens when you play Dune: Awakening, but what happens when you don't play it.

Psychologist breaks down The Last of Us Part 2's most traumatic and realistic moments: 'Revenge is sweet. Otherwise why would we hold onto it?'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/psychologist-breaks-down-the-last-of-us-part-2s-most-traumatic-and-realistic-moments-revenge-is-sweet-otherwise-why-would-we-hold-onto-it/
On the eve of The Last of Us Part 2's long-awaited release on PC, Reality Check is here to grade its realism. Psychologist Dr. Audrey Tang returns to break down the biggest moments of Naughty Dog's sequel and grade its depiction of trauma, fear, and sweet, sweet revenge. Spoilers for TLOU2's story within, of course.

Astroneer studio announces its next game, 'a multiplayer voyage of discovery' in deep space
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/astroneer-studio-announces-its-next-game-a-multiplayer-voyage-of-discovery-in-deep-space/
Seemingly lost amidst the Nintendo Direct excitement of actual Silksong info, not Bloodborne 2, and specs for the Nintendo Switch 2 is word of a new game from Astroneer developer System Era Softworks called Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions, "a multiplayer voyage of discovery, cooperative expeditions, and camaraderie" in Deep Space.

7 years after its debut, Deltarune chapters 3 and 4 are finally coming in June
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/7-years-after-its-debut-deltarune-chapters-3-and-4-are-finally-coming-in-june/
Hollow Knight: Silksong wasn't the only long-awaited game to finally get a release date (or, at least, a release year) at today's Nintendo Direct showcase: After long years of waiting, Deltarune developer Toby Fox announced today that Deltarune Chapters 1-4 will be released on June 5 as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2—and that chapters 3 and 4 will come to PC on the same day.

Capcom says it will 'take action against any fraudulent ranking activity' if Monster Hunter Wilds cheaters goof up the arena quest leaderboards
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/capcom-says-it-will-take-action-against-any-fraudulent-ranking-activity-if-monster-hunter-wilds-cheaters-goof-up-the-arena-quest-leaderboards/
The first title update for Monster Hunter Wilds arrives this Friday, and with it comes arena quests. I'll confess I'm having a bit of difficulty parsing the exact differences between Arena Quests, Free Challenge Quests, and Challenge Quests—even with the provided arena quest explainer—but one thing is clear: Capcom doesn't want people meddling with the arena quest leaderboards.

Stray Gods studio reveals its next game, an 'unholy roguelite deckbuilder' about hunting demons in a festering city
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/stray-gods-studio-reveals-its-next-game-an-unholy-roguelite-deckbuilder-about-hunting-demons-in-a-festering-city/
Following the success of the musical RPG Stray Gods, Summerfall Studios has unveiled its next project: a "demonic roguelite deckbuilder" called Malys.
The Kickstarter pre-launch page—and yes, it's going to Kickstarter—lays out the story, written by former Dragon Age lead writer and Summerfall co-founder David Gaider: "As Noah, former priest turned exorcist and demon hunter, you ride the streets of this festering city in the dead of night. The city teems with demons, and among them lies your prey: Malys, a demon of extraordinary cunning and power.

Elden Ring Nightreign gets a new trailer showing that, finally, you get to be the nightmare archer of Anor Londo
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/elden-ring-nightreign-gets-a-new-trailer-showing-that-finally-you-get-to-be-the-nightmare-archer-of-anor-londo/
FromSoftware's Elden Ring Nightreign is almost upon us, and publisher Bandai Namco is ramping up the marketing with the first of what is likely to be a series of short videos on the game's characters.

It's better than Slay The Spire, it was our best card game of 2020, and now the sequel has a proper release date
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/its-better-than-slay-the-spire-it-was-our-best-card-game-of-2020-and-now-the-sequel-has-a-proper-release-date/
(...)
Monster Train 2 is due out six weeks from now on May 21, and promises a continuation of the first game's multi-level card-battling with "five brand new clans" and new room and equipment cards, which let you add modifiers to your units or to the whole dang train itself. Like I said, I lost more time than I'm comfortable admitting to the first game, and I suspect the imminent release of the second will jeopardise both my career and interpersonal relationships.