Friday news, part two:

Frostpunk 2's first major content update introduces 'several long-requested community features' like a massive new map and an easier survival experience
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/frostpunk-2s-first-major-content-update-introduces-several-long-requested-community-features-like-a-massive-new-map-and-an-easier-survival-experience/
The last time I played Frostpunk 2, I was about a hair's breadth away from a political breakdown. I had somehow managed to anger every faction. I fell behind on promises I made to pass laws, and every time I get something done I end up pissing off more people than I impress. In the end, a vote of no confidence that would've certainly seen me stranded in the tundra was the last straw—I haven't been back in over five months.
But even with all the stress, I'm still morbidly intrigued to see first-hand what Frostpunk 2's first major content update has in store for us today. "This substantial update introduces transformative new systems, a sprawling new map, and several long-requested community features to the city builder," a press release says.

Mojang has just killed support for Minecraft VR, an underrated but very flawed VR experience
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/mojang-has-just-killed-support-for-minecraft-vr-an-underrated-but-very-flawed-vr-experience/
The power of nostalgia is an incredible thing. It can make you really crave spaghetti hoops after a hard day's work, it can make you feel like a kid when you get a whiff of a scent that you can't quite place, and it can make you restart Minecraft for the tenth time, only to stop playing it after a week.
VR was the first time I felt surprised opening up a new blocky world in years, and it happened about thirty minutes after my Oculus Quest (yes, the first one) arrived. Now, almost a decade after its first implementation, Mojang has removed VR support.

Lae'zel's voice actor was recording Baldur's Gate 3 lines a mere 2 days before giving birth: 'I'm gonna be here right up until the due date, just you watch'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/laezels-voice-actor-was-recording-baldurs-gate-3-lines-a-mere-2-days-before-giving-birth-im-gonna-be-here-right-up-until-the-due-date-just-you-watch/
Lae'zel is a lot of things—a proud warrior of Vlaakith, a fierce combatant, and a genuinely impressive character, able to grapple with her faith and still come out determined to do things the right way. Turns out, her voice actor shares that determination.
In a recent interview with ReadyAimFire, Devora Wilde tells two understandably-astonished interviewers that she was recording voicelines for the character "two days" before giving birth.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's soundtrack tops Billboard's Classical Album Chart with 18 million streams since launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/clair-obscur-expedition-33s-soundtrack-tops-billboards-classical-album-chart-with-18-million-streams-since-launch/
One of the first things I heard about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was how incredible its soundtrack is, so I was already expecting big things, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. So it comes as absolutely no surprise at all that the album has topped the charts.
>> I’ll need to keep this is mind for the Steam Awards later this year (I never know what to vote for this category).

Palworld devs 'disappointed' as they patch out a game mechanic to appease Nintendo, but 'the alternative would have led to an even greater deterioration'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/palworld-devs-disappointed-as-they-patch-out-a-game-mechanic-to-appease-nintendo-but-the-alternative-would-have-led-to-an-even-greater-deterioration/
Today, Palworld received a new patch. Update v0.5.5 doesn't add any new features, Pals, or environments. It doesn't fix any bugs or offer any optimization improvements. Instead, the accompanying Steam news post from developer Pocketpair only includes one patch note:

• Mechanics Adjustment: The mechanics for gliding with a Pal have been changed. Until now, you could use certain Pals as a glider, however from this patch you will only be able to glide by using a glider. Glider Pals will now provide a new passive partner skill effect while gliding, but the player must have a glider equipped to actually glide.

Pocketpair offered additional context for the update in a post on X, explaining that the adjustment to Pal gliding was "another compromise" made in response to Nintendo's ongoing lawsuit, which alleges that Pocketpair infringed on a series of patents protecting Pokémon game mechanics.

Schedule 1's latest update adds a jukebox, because drugs without music is just kind of a drag, man
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/schedule-1s-latest-update-adds-a-jukebox-because-drugs-without-music-is-just-kind-of-a-drag-man/
You know what goes great with drugs? Music. Or at least that's what I've been told by other people, because I would have no way of knowing myself. But it's something I've definitely heard—again, from other people—and it's relevant in this moment because Schedule 1, everyone's favorite drug dealing simulator, is now offering a jukebox.

Eric Barone says he 'might eventually make a Stardew Valley 2,' but not because it'd make a zillion dollars: 'I honestly don't care about money that much'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/eric-barone-says-he-might-eventually-make-a-stardew-valley-2-but-not-because-itd-make-a-zillion-dollars-i-honestly-dont-care-about-money-that-much/
Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone, who's presently considering hiding away in a cabin to finish his long awaited next game, Haunted Chocolatier, says he might one day get around to making a sequel to the farming life sim that made him famous.
Stardew Valley 2 could "eventually" happen, Barone told comedian Bobby Lee on a recent episode of the TigerBelly podcast (via GamesRadar).

'This is not our first rodeo': Dune: Awakening team confident servers won't implode at launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/this-is-not-our-first-rodeo-dune-awakening-team-confident-servers-wont-implode-at-launch/
It's something we've seen happen so many times previously it's now an expected part of gaming: the launch of a highly-anticipated multiplayer game and the immediate failure of that game's servers to handle the massive influx of players on day one.
Survival MMO Dune: Awakening has a weekend beta beginning tomorrow and a full launch planned for June 10. Will it suffer the same server issues as so many other games before it? Developer Funcom wants to preemptively settle your nerves.
>> The beta will start today.

Titan Quest 2 early access delayed due to 'a lot of noise' from ARPG competitors, but the developers say closed playtest results have been 'incredibly motivating'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/titan-quest-2-early-access-delayed-due-to-a-lot-of-noise-from-arpg-competitors-but-the-developers-say-closed-playtest-results-have-been-incredibly-motivating/
I have unfortunate news for everyone else who spent too much time reading about Greek mythology when you were a teen: We can't play Titan Quest 2 as soon as we'd hoped. In a Steam news post today, developer Grimlore Games announced that the Ancient Greek Diablo-like's early access launch is being pushed back to summer.

Outer Wilds studio finally confirms it's working on a new game but says it will be 'years' before it's ready to share details
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/outer-wilds-studio-finally-confirms-its-working-on-a-new-game-but-says-it-will-be-years-before-its-ready-to-share-details/
Six years after the release of the most excellent sci-fi camping game Outer Wilds, developer Mobius Digital is working on something new, a fact it let slip in a recently-released update—which is also the final "major update" planned for the game.0.

And here's the third and final part of today's news:

How do you get fresh blood in a 22-year-old, infamously impenetrable MMO? EVE Online hopes it's a 'player-created gig economy' that has veterans making missions for newbies: 'We're 100% sure that you will do a better job'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/how-do-you-get-fresh-blood-in-a-22-year-old-infamously-impenetrable-mmo-eve-online-devs-hope-its-a-player-driven-player-created-gig-economy-that-has-veterans-making-missions-for-newbies-were-100-percent-sure-that-you-will-do-a-better-job/
At EVE Online's yearly Fanfest in Reykjavik, Iceland, developer CCP Games announced the 22-year-old MMO's next expansion, Legion. In addition to new ships and quality of life features, Legion looks to offer one of the most creative solutions I've ever seen for getting new players invested in a complex, long-runner MMO: Just put the veteran players in charge.

A Chrono Trigger revival seems inevitable at this point, with its creator admitting 'I want to do something' after recent mistranslation incident
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/a-chrono-trigger-revival-seems-inevitable-at-this-point-with-its-creator-admitting-i-want-to-do-something-after-recent-mistranslation-incident/
It's been a tumultuous year for Chrono Trigger enthusiasts. Rumors of a potential remake have cropped up several times, only to be quickly debunked. I can't blame fans for their gullibility: it really is very weird that Square Enix hasn't done anything with the Chrono series for so long, though the publisher did indicate in March that it intends to honor the 30th anniversary of Chrono Trigger with projects that "go beyond the world of the game."
Corporate mysticism aside, JRPG legend Yuji Horii, who among other things had a hand in writing Chrono Trigger, and has worked on countless Dragon Quest games including the forthcoming Dragon Quest 12, has indicated in an interview with Gamereactor that he wants to work on Chrono Trigger.

Legions of Helldivers 2 players are currently banging their head against a password terminal, as Arrowhead plays coy with a new reveal
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/legions-of-helldivers-2-players-are-currently-banging-their-head-against-a-password-terminal-as-arrowhead-plays-coy-with-a-new-reveal/
Helldivers 2 is revealing, uh, something? Typically I'd position myself as a seat of authority on gaming news, but I'm just about as confused as the rest of the game's playerbase right now.
This morning, a livestream dubbed STATION-81 // OFFLINE _ [ REBOOT ] kicked into gear, displaying what appears to be a five-part authentication code, a repeating attempt to sign into it, and a call to head to the game's official Discord server. Here's the current livestream.
Update, 11:15 BST: They've cracked the first code, leading to a secondary screen (shown below) displaying Super Earth from orbit: But there are clearly more passwords to crack

All Honkai: Star Rail 3.3 livestream codes
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/honkai-star-rail-3-3-livestream-codes/
The Honkai: Star Rail 3.3 livestream codes have arrived, giving you a little bump of Stellar Jade you can put to use when pulling for new or returning characters in the big update. For those of you who might have only started playing recently, miHoYo runs a livestream for Honkai: Star Rail every six weeks, previewing what's expected to arrive in the upcoming version.

We just got our first look at one of Elden Ring: Nightreign's new bosses, Libra Creature of Night
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/we-just-got-our-first-look-at-one-of-elden-ring-nightreigns-new-bosses-libra-creature-of-night/
FromSoftware finally showed off what one of the new Elden Ring: Nightreign Night Bosses is going to look like in the heat of battle, and it looks every bit as chaotic as the frenzied flame and painful as the golden order.

Overwatch 2 remembers it can collab with videogames outside the Blizzard catalogue, bringing Street Fighter 6 to the battlefield
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2-remembers-it-can-collab-with-videogames-outside-the-blizzard-catalogue-bringing-street-fighter-6-to-the-battlefield/
Overwatch 2 has been on a roll when it comes to all the collaborations that it's had over the last couple of years. What started as an uncommon occurrence has quickly escalated into a frequent event, with the latest crossover bringing Street Fighter 6 into the mix.

And these are the Steam deals for the weekend:

+Steam

• No Rest for the Wicked, still in Early Access, is going to be 30% off until the 14th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371980/No_Rest_for_the_Wicked/
• ANIMAL WELL will have a 25% discount until the 15th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/813230/ANIMAL_WELL/
• Little Kitty, Big City will be 40% off until the 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1177980/Little_Kitty_Big_City/
• The House of Da Vinci gets a 90% discount until May 15: https://store.steampowered.com/app/522470/The_House_of_Da_Vinci/
• Timberborn, also in Early Access, is going to be 30% off until the 17th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1062090/Timberborn/
• Car Mechanic Simulator 2021, that has a demo, features a 70% discount until the 18th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1190000/Car_Mechanic_Simulator_2021/
• Frostpunk 2 will be 35% off until the 22nd of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1601580/Frostpunk_2/
• InfraSpace is going to have a 60% discount until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1511460/InfraSpace/
• And these are the sales/events:
  • The Kingdom Come: Deliverance franchise is on sale, up to 75% off until the 15th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/4283115/sale/KCD2Sale
  • The WW2 Games Sale features up to 80% discounts in some of the games that are on sale. The event page will last until the 12th, but some deals will last up to the 18th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/WW2GamesSale
  • To celebrate the announcement of Europa Universalis V, that hasn’t had an article from neither of DSOG or PCG, Paradox celebrates a Publisher Sale with games up to 90% off until the 19th of May. Oh, and Stellaris will be free to try during the weekend: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/ParadoxPubSale2025
  • The Toplitz Productions Publisher Sale has games up to 80% off until May 22: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33018175/sale/ToplitzMayPubSale
  • And the Mafia franchise is on sale with up to 85% discounts until the 22nd of May: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/mafiafranchisesale

And that’s it. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

If that's the real price of those cards, AMD is out of their f*cking mind, and Nvidia will be very happy about it sine AMD won't sell sh*t.

But there's no way AMD will price the 9060Ti 16GB so close to the 9070 official MSRP.

Well, 9070 XT supply situation seems to be so bad that, currently, 5070Ti can be found for equal or less in US, albeit both quite above MSRP - which is absurd, given the $150 difference in their MSRP in favor of 9070XT and that 5070Ti is better card.

The problems here, I think, are that AMD didn't take into account the tariffs when they finally announced the price of the 9070 cards, and that they were also surprised by how Nvidia priced their cards (lower than expected). And of course, the demand has surprised them, making things even worse.

For those of you with Steam Decks, this may interest you:

Valve is using Steam Deck's beta build to test 80% battery limit
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/valve-is-using-steam-decks-beta-build-to-test-80-percent-battery-limit/
The release of Valve's Steam Deck has supercharged the portable PC gaming scene. It harkened changes to Steam that have allowed it to flourish in the Switch-like form factor, welcoming in a new generation of handheld gaming computers and now the Steam Deck OLED. With more competition on the rise, Valve has remained committed to updating the firmware that keeps the Steam Deck ticking in this landscape. One such new update is currently available on the preview build sporting a feature that might help improve the long-term battery health of your Steam Deck.

Batteries wear out with use and charge, and dealing with this degradation is probably one of the biggest lamentations of current technologies. On almost all the portable tech you own, I'd wager the battery life is likely one of the first places you'll start to notice it aging. It's why so many new pieces of tech are coming out with a battery limiting feature, just like the one in the May 8th Steam Deck Beta Client update.

Those with that update installed can navigate to the Settings on their Steam Deck to find a new Battery Charge Limit control in the Power section. Here you can limit a full charge on the unit to only charge until 80% battery. Of course, this will mean your battery life on a single charge will go down by about 20% but the overall life of the battery may thank you.

The 5060Ti 16GB is $820 AUD.
The 5070 is $1099 AUD.
The 9070 is $1149 AUD.

This is fucked. I am not paying north of $400 AUD for a mid-range/low-end GPU.

Hoping the 9060 16GB is a decent price, but I doubt it, might just end up being another year I stick with the 6600XT.

I've seen $519 USD for 9060XT 16GB - yeah, good luck with that AMD, that some terrible value, given that it's questionable if it will even match 5060Ti, which goes for lower than that.

Forgot to post this (then again been too busy lol)

I've finished Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on Steam few days ago

----

Game: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Genre: Action RPG
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
System: Steam (PC)
Year of Release: 2022
Date of Completion: May 8th 2025
Length of Playthrough: 56 Hours

Score: 100/100

+More fleshed out/expanded story and characters of original FFVII and the Midgar section of the story
+Gameplay is a great mesh of action RPG with turn based like mechanics (classic mode and ATB commands).
+Great cast of new characters and more personality/character given to older characters through extended story scenes
-Hard mode only available after beating the main game

------

PC Specs

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
RAM: 32 GB DDR5 SDRAM
STORAGE: 2 TB SSD
OS: Windows 11 Home

Game played at 4K resolution and 120 FPS

-----

Score wise comparison to all the games I played and beaten in the series...


Final Fantasy I Dawn of Souls (GBA): 82
Final Fantasy I Anniversary (PSP): 85
Final Fantasy I (iOS): 81
Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster (NS): 87
Final Fantasy II Dawn of Souls (GBA): 83
Final Fantasy II Anniversary (PSP): 85
Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (NS): 87
Final Fantasy III (NES): 80
Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (NS): 90
Final Fantasy III (DS): 86
Final Fantasy IV (SNES): 90
Final Fantasy IV (PS1): 89
Final Fantasy IV (GBA): 86
Final Fantasy IV (DS): 92
Final Fantasy IV (PSP): 94
Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (NS): 95
Final Fantasy IV After Years/Prologue (PSP): 88
Final Fantasy V (SNES): 84
Final Fantasy V (PS1): 83
Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA): 88
Final Fantasy V (PC): 91
Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster (NS): 93
Final Fantasy VI (SNES): 95
Final Fantasy VI (PS1): 94
Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA): 95
Final Fantasy VI (PC): 97
Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster (NS): 96
Final Fantasy VII (PS1): 93
Final Fantasy VII (PC): 93
Final Fantasy VII (NS): 94
Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core (PSP): 93
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PC): 100
Final Fantasy VIII (PS1): 88
Final Fantasy VIII (PC): 88
Final Fantasy IX (PS1): 95
Final Fantasy IX (PC): 97
Final Fantasy X (PS2): N/A
Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2): N/A
Final Fantasy XII (PS2): N/A
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3): 88
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3): 86
Final Fantasy XV (PS4): 89
A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV (PS4): 70
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (PS4): 87
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (DS): 82
Final Fantasy Dissidia (PSP): 100
Final Fantasy Dissidia 012 Duodecim (PSP): 96
Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1): 94
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA): N/A

Needless to say that you've enjoyed the game.