New gold and oil?

For me it looks more like new tulip bulbs and dotcom bubble...

NVIDIA giving away custom GeForce RTX 5090 painted with “Superman” and “Krypto”

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-giving-away-custom-geforce-rtx-5090-painted-with-superman-and-krypto

Chinese AI Firms Plan Massive Domestic Data Centers With 100,000+ NVIDIA AI Chips — But Where Will the Chips Come From?

https://wccftech.com/chinese-ai-firms-plans-massive-domestic-data-center-with-100000-nvidia-ai-chips/

TSMC Revenue Climbs 39% in Latest Sign of AI Spending Boom

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-10/tsmc-revenue-climbs-39-in-latest-sign-of-ai-spending-boom?srnd=phx-ai

Intel’s CEO: ‘We are not in the top 10’ of leading chip companies

https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2025/07/intels-ceo-we-are-not-in-the-top-10-of-leading-chip-companies.html

The Thursday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

The Epic Store gives away two games:

• Figment 2: Creed Valley: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/figment2-creed-valley
• Sky Racket: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/sky-racket-4cf23a

And next week, the free game will be Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI Platinum Edition.

If you thought the end of the Summer Sale would mean no good deals at GOG, think again:

• There are new Weekly Deals, with up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250710_weekly_deals_1_july
• The Slitherine Publisher Sale has games up to 90% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250710_slitherine_publisher_sale
• Vive la France ! Promo features games up to 93% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250710_vive_la_france
• Emerging from the shadows comes the Stealth Promo, with up to 95% discounts during the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250710_stealth_promo
• The Summer Sale Encore, for those that don’t want to move on, is here and has up to 95% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250710_summer_sale_encore
• And the last one is the Hot Summer Nights Promo, with NSFW games up to 95% off during 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250710_hot_summer_nights

We get a new Humble Bundle: the Humblecraft: RTS Rush Bundle with 11 items to get (10 games + 1 coupon) during 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/humblecraft-rts-rush.

Fanatical is back to normal business and has a new Star Deal and a bundles:

• The new Star Deal is Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, 44% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/warhammer-40000-space-marine-2
• The BYO Unbreakable Bundle has 14 titles to choose from for your bundles of 2+ or 4+ games during 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-unbreakable-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

The Witcher Mod upscales almost all of the game’s 3000 textures
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-witcher-mod-upscales-almost-all-of-the-games-3000-textures/
Modder Exist released an HD Texture Pack for the first The Witcher game. This mod upscales all of its textures. According to the modder, these are around 3000 textures in total. As such, if you’re planning to replay this classic The Witcher game, you should use it.
The modder used the bc1_smooth model and Kim’s PBRify_UpscalerV4 DAT2 tool to improve the game’s textures. He says this version looks cleaner and not as overly sharp or “upscaley” as the older upscale mod from 2019.
The mod has two versions: a 2X version and a 4X version. Exist recommends the 2X version as it gives the best balance between image quality and file size. The difference in texture quality is easiest to see on objects that are close to the player. You will also get some benefits from it when playing at higher resolutions. Do note, though, that this isn’t a “game-changing” pack. However, it will help make close-up textures look better and less rough.
You can go ahead and download the mod from this link. At its NexusMods page, you can also find some comparison screenshots. These will give you an idea of what you can expect from them. As you will see, there is a visual difference, but it’s not THAT huge. Still, the 2X version is only 1.8GB in size. So, you should get it as this isn’t an HD Texture Pack that weighs over 10GB (or anything like that). It’s a relatively small mod.
>> The article doesn’t have any media.

This Mod Transforms Dark Souls 3 Into a Bloodborne-Style Game
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-mod-transforms-dark-souls-3-into-a-bloodborne-style-game/
Bloodborne is a game that a lot of PC gamers would love to play. And, as we all know, Sony does not currently plan to port it to PC. This sucks but hey, at least we can use shadPS4 to emulate and play the PS4 version. And if you want something more, you can use this mod that aims to transform Dark Souls 3 into a Bloodborne-style game.
Dark Souls 3: The Beast Presence is a project that merges the dying world of Dark Souls 3 with the haunting dread of Bloodborne. The idea is to keep the same Dark Souls 3 world, same paths and progression — but experienced entirely through the skin, mechanics and dread of a Bloodborne hunter.
This is a really cool concept, and something that the fans of both Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne will appreciate. Its first version is now out, and you can download it from this link.
Dark Souls 3: The Beast Presence brings the rally combat system of Bloodborne to Dark Souls 3. This means that you can regen health after getting hit by an enemy. This is a cool mechanic that never found its way to the Dark Souls series.
The mod also changes a few other things. It updates the way your character moves, fights, and interacts with certain objects, like the bonfire and the sign of darkness, to feel more like Bloodborne. It also swaps out some music, like boss battle themes and the Firelink Shrine song, with tracks that match Bloodborne’s dark and spooky style.
In future versions, mrSYMB plans to add the Hunter’s Dream as a hub. He also aims to replace the game’s enemies and bosses with those from Bloodborne. Plus, he will remove the classic DS3 classes so that players can start unarmed in the Foreigner set.
>> The article has a roughly 2 minutes video.

Modder behind the 'Swiss army knife of PC gaming' deletes their 20 year-old Steam account with anti-Valve manifesto: 'By the end of my bitter dealings with Valve… there was zero hope'
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/modder-behind-the-swiss-army-knife-of-pc-gaming-deletes-their-20-year-old-steam-account-with-anti-valve-manifesto-by-the-end-of-my-bitter-dealings-with-valve-there-was-zero-hope/
If you have, at any point, attempted to wrestle the PC version of Nier: Automata into submission, odds are you've downloaded and installed Special K, a graphics and performance enhancement suite that you can plug into all manner of games (both Niers, Elden Ring, Persona 4, and plenty else besides) to hopefully get them running a little smoother. It's been supplanted by other mods—at least for some games—over the years, but the self-described "Swiss army knife of PC gaming" marches on.
What doesn't march on, though, is its creator's Steam account. Kaldaien, Special K's creator, took to GitHub yesterday to announce that they had "deleted my Steam account after 20 years," posting an eight-point denunciation of the platform over its update policies, indifference to feedback, and general impact on PC gaming as a whole.
Kaldaien's post is pretty long, but to boil it down, their frustration with Steam revolves mostly around its update policies. "In 2002, the client ran on Windows 98. Over the years, they bloated the living hell out of the DRM client with all kinds of unnecessary and undefeatable features that hinder software compatibility. Games you purchased on a Windows 98 machine later had their system requirements bumped up to Windows XP, then to Windows 7, then to Windows 10."
>> The article is longer and goes into a bit more detail about what happened.

GAMING NEWS

Oblivion Remastered – Beta Patch 1.2 Released & Fully Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/oblivion-remastered-beta-patch-1-2-released-fully-detailed/
Bethesda has just released the beta version of Patch 1.2 for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on PC. Moreover, the team has shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this update brings to the table.

STALKER 2 Update 1.5.1 Now Available, Full Patch Notes Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/stalker-2-update-1-5-1-now-available-full-patch-notes-detailed/
GSC GameWorld has just released Title Update 1.5.1 for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this new patch brings to the table.

Thursday gaming news, part two:

Dune: Awakening studio says sorry for accidentally wiping a bunch of stuff in the last patch, promises to replace everything by the end of the week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/dune-awakening-studio-says-sorry-for-accidentally-wiping-a-bunch-of-stuff-in-the-last-patch-promises-to-replace-everything-by-the-end-of-the-week/
The fun thing about videogame patches—and I'm using "fun" in the definitely-ironic sense here—is that sometimes they'll cause new, interesting, and entirely unanticipated problems: Fix this, break that, it's the circle of life. Such is the case with a recent update to Funcom's survival MMO Dune: Awakening, which saw several PvE areas of the Deep Desert to become PvP enabled, resulting in "people suffering an unfortunate amount of lost bases and equipment."
(...)
"We’re incredibly sorry that this happened and we want to acknowledge that this should have been handled better," Funcom wrote. "We’ve changed our internal processes as a result of this and will be better in the future.
"We are working to reimburse vehicles and items (to the best of our ability) to players who were impacted by this. You can expect the reimbursed materials, items, and vehicle components to show up in the in-game ‘Claim Rewards’ tab by the end of this week."

The anime horse girl who's terrorizing gacha players in Umamusume is based on a real, chaotic racing horse who once instantly obliterated 12 billion yen in betting losses
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/the-anime-horse-girl-whos-terrorizing-gacha-players-in-umamusume-is-based-on-a-real-chaotic-racing-horse-who-once-instantly-obliterated-12-billion-yen-in-betting-losses/
If you've been on social media at all this week, there's a good chance you've encountered the horse-crazed masses who've succumbed to the absurd siren call of Umamusume: Pretty Derby. It's a gacha game about horse racing, except the horses are anime girls, and it's got a pretty compelling spreadsheet simulator underneath all the gratuitous wobbling and the inherent villainy of its gacha trappings.

Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton confirms 2026 delay, says the change 'was not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/subnautica-2-reportedly-delayed-into-2026-just-months-before-krafton-was-due-to-pay-a-usd250-million-bonus-to-developer-unknown-worlds/
Just a week after gutting the leadership of Subnautica 2 studio Unknown Worlds, a Bloomberg report says Krafton is going to delay the game's early access release into 2026. The decision comes mere months before the PUBG publisher was slated to pay Unknown Worlds a $250 million bonus that developers say hinged on Subnautica 2's release this year.
Recent updates
Shortly after this story went live, Krafton confirmed that Subnautica 2 has been delayed into 2026, saying that playtests "provided some insight that there are a few areas where we needed to improve before launching the first version of Subnautica 2 to the world. Our community is at the heart of how we develop, so we want to give ourselves a little extra time to respond to more of that feedback before releasing the game into Early Access."

Escape From Tarkov blindsides players with immediately controversial 'Hardcore Wipe' that removes quests and disables most maps
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/escape-from-tarkov-blindsides-players-with-immediately-controversial-hardcore-wipe-that-removes-quests-and-disables-most-maps/
Escape From Tarkov got a new wipe today, and it's not going down too well.
The community is in open revolt in reaction to today's Hardcore Wipe, a sweeping patch that upends the extraction shooter's economy, format, and progression in a bid to slow things down. At least, that's how players are reading the decision to disable all maps but two, limit ammo crafting, and make core features like insurance wildly expensive.

The new 'UK Video Games Council' has announced its members—including reps from Larian Studios, Microsoft, and non-profit advocacy groups UKIE and TIGA
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/the-new-uk-video-games-council-has-announced-its-members-including-reps-from-larian-studios-microsoft-and-non-profit-advocacy-groups-ukie-and-tiga/
Despite showing signs of ill health, videogames are still an enormous slice of the worldwide entertainment industry—making more than $100 billion across the globe each year, which is more than the film and music industries combined. The UK government is finally giving us some bloomin' recognition for this fact, announcing the formation of a UK Video Games Council in its creative industry sector plan late last month.

Not that it's a problem, at least now, but Nvidia could have chosen to go with Krypton, instead of Krypto. That brings back bad memories.

As they say, if only Nvidia had given the card 12GB of VRAM, it would have been a real gem, at least compared to previous generations. But no, they had to nerf it so anyone buying one will have to buy a new GPU in 3 or 4 years.

They'll probably release a 5060 Super 12GB this time next year. Just to stick it to any poor soul stuck with a current model.

I don't know if Nvidia will bother to improve such low end card (they didn't launch a 4060 Super last gen), but everything is possible with them.

Steam Keys for anyone who wants them.

Commandos 3: Destination Berlin.
Q40A8-HNPZG-FWEEM

Commandos 2: Men of Courage.
XAYV9-66LTI-E600F

Commandos: Behind enemy lines.
TI6JI-NMIQ6-6H7GZ

Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty.
HCQHX-8KBV4-E9X6I

I got a thread specifically for that, remember? 😉

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan Reportedly Admits to Falling Behind the Competition, Saying That Turnaround Would be a Difficult Marathon

https://wccftech.com/intel-ceo-lip-bu-tan-admits-to-falling-behind-the-competition/

AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE reviewed by German media: solid RDNA4 midrange card held back by 12GB VRAM

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-9070-gre-reviewed-by-german-media-solid-rdna4-midrange-card-held-back-by-12gb-vram

First AMD next-gen Ryzen CPU samples with Zen 6 cores reportedly reach partners

https://videocardz.com/newz/first-amd-next-gen-ryzen-cpu-samples-with-zen-6-cores-reportedly-reach-partners

Silicon Motion introduces PCIe Gen6 SSD controller: promising up to 28 GB/s speeds

https://videocardz.com/newz/silicon-motion-introduces-pcie-gen6-ssd-controller-promising-up-to-28-gb-s-speeds