The Tuesday gaming news. Since DSOGaming only has one article about a mod, they’ve all fitted in one long post:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

Steam has a lot of deals and sales/events:

• The Early Access title Dark Hours, currently having a playtest, will be 25% off until the 3rd of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2208570/Dark_Hours
• Zoochosis gets a 35% discount until September, the 8th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2458560/Zoochosis
• The Riftbreaker, that has a demo, is going to be 55% off until the 8th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/780310/The_Riftbreaker
• Overcooked! All You Can Eat will have a 66% discount until the 8th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1243830/Overcooked_All_You_Can_Eat
• Longvinter will also be 66% off until the 8th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1635450/Longvinter
• PHOGS! has a demo and an 80% discount until September 8: https://store.steampowered.com/app/850320/PHOGS
• XX: ZZ
• These are the new sales/events:
  • Publisher Arc Games puts its titles up to 90% off until September, the 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/ArcGamesPublisherSale2025
  • The D3 Publisher Sale brings up to 90% discounts until the 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33518623/sale/D3P2025_2
  • The Back to School Games Celebration 2025 features up to 80% discounts. The sale will last until September 1st, but a few deals will last longer than that: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44695353/sale/BacktoSchoolGamesCelebration2025
  • Warner Bros brings the Back to Hogwarts Sale, with several titles being 80% off until the 2nd of September: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/backtohogwarts2025
  • The Sudden Strike franchise will be up to 80% off unti lthe 4th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/SuddenStrikeFranchise2025
  • Publisher Spike Chunsoft presents its End of Summer Sale, with games up to 90% off until the 8th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32618574/sale/25SCEndSummer
  • The MIX Fall Game Showcase has lots of upcoming games, demos and even three games on sale: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/TheMIXFallGameShowcase2025
  • The Seattle Indies Expo 2025 should last until the 1st of Septembre and, like the previous one, has lots of upcoming games, demos and a few more deals: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30111208/sale/SeattleIndiesExpo2025
• And there are also new weeklong deals, of course.

The Humble Store has two new sales:

• The Ubisoft Summer Sale has games up to 85% off during 5 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/ubisoft-summer-sale
• The Playstation Third person shooter Sale has three games and 4 SKUs with up to 60% discounts during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/playstation-third-person-shooter-sale

Fanatical has a new sale and a bundle:

• Publisher Slitherine puts its games on sale with up to 92% discounts during 5 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/slitherine-ltd
• Monster Hunter BYOB (Stories Edition) has 7 items to combine for your 2+, 3+ or 5+ bundles during 27 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-monster-hunter-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Just Got a 4K Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-just-got-a-4k-texture-pack
One of the best things about emulating Nintendo Switch games is that modders can enhance them with new HD Texture Packs. In February 2024, Breath of the Wild got one. And now, Tears of the Kingdom got a 4K Texture Pack.
This mod, made by HDPacks, upgrades all the game’s textures, even the terrain. The modder used AI tools to make the old textures look sharper and more detailed, while still keeping the original art style of the game.
Going into more details, many textures have been changed to use less memory and to load faster. If your PC has a lot of VRAM (like 12GB or more at 4K), you can skip texture recompression to get slightly better texture quality. But if you don’t have much VRAM, or if the game crashes, you should turn on texture recompression (BC3). This pack also adds some new textures, improves memory use, and fixes texture glitches in shrines. Most other bugs (not caused by emulators) should also be gone.
In other words, this isn’t a simple AI Texture Pack. Instead, it brings numerous memory tweaks and visual improvements. So, kudos to the modder for creating something this good.
In a way, PC players can now enjoy a “remaster” of Tears of the Kingdom. They can run the game in 4K and use this texture pack to make everything look sharper and better. Let’s be honest. If Nintendo makes a remaster for the Switch 2, it would probably look just like this. So, PC gamers basically got a free remaster already.
You can go ahead and download this 4K Texture Pack from this link. Do note that you will need an emulator with 8GB extended DRAM to use it.
>> There is a 10 minutes video in the article.

Exactly 20 years after it was released exclusively in Japan, the Cowboy Bebop PS2 game is now playable in English
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/exactly-20-years-after-it-was-released-exclusively-in-japan-the-cowboy-bebop-ps2-game-is-now-playable-in-english/
In 2005 I lived and breathed fansites, many of which I can still name off the top of my head: Eyes on Final Fantasy, Zelda Universe, Animal Crossing Ahead, DK's Jungle Vine—outside of gaming magazines, these sorts of websites dominated my bookmarks folder so that I could hunt down any scrap of news from the games I was obsessed with.
Another that I somehow still have bookmarked, a dozen PCs later, is The Jazz Messengers, which is remarkably still online despite having a single page of news updates over the last 22 years. The webmaster popped back up to post some photos from the doomed live action Cowboy Bebop series in 2021, but didn't bother to post anything else about the series. I hope, wherever they are, that they see fit to share their reaction to this bit of news: the Cowboy Bebop PlayStation 2 game that they first wrote about on June 13, 2004 is finally playable in English.
Cowboy Bebop: Serenade of Reminiscence was released exactly 20 years ago on August 25, 2005, but sadly only in Japan. While there were seemingly some early plans to localize it for the West, where Cowboy Bebop had by that point become a hit on Cartoon Network's late night Toonami block, the merger of developer Bandai with Namco that same year may have doomed it to falling between the gaps of corporate restructuring.
Or maybe the issue, as guessed by the Jazz Messengers' webmaster in that 2004 post, was that "games based on anime rarely ever pan out to something worth playing."
They may have been right, but I'm delighted that English-speaking Bebop fans now have a way to experience it for themselves. Fan translator Sonicman69 released a fully translated patch for the game's 20th anniversary, including English UI, subtitles for all the cutscenes and re-edited textures where needed. Sonicman69 kept their work on the game under the radar for the last year to drop it as an anniversary surprise, though this isn't their first release: they also helped translate the 2004 PlayStation 2 Detective Conan game for its anniversary last year.
The Cowboy Bebop game is playable on original hardware, though these days I'd suggest the easier route: the excellent PlayStation 2 emulator PCSX2, which happens to work very well on the Steam Deck. The art looks like it scales up quite well to high resolutions, too.
>> The article has some screenshots and a video, but it’s not from the game.

It's downright nuts how good this fan remake of Fallout 1 in Doom looks, and I'm begging Bethesda to take note
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/its-downright-nuts-how-good-this-fan-remake-of-fallout-1-in-doom-looks-and-im-begging-bethesda-to-take-note/
Of the many things that keep me awake at night—tinnitus, climate collapse, the fourth coffee of the day, man's inhumanity to man—none is more pressing than the continued and inexplicable absence of Beamdog-style Enhanced Editions for Fallout 1 and 2. I don't ask for much: just versions of the classics that run out-of-the-box at modern resolutions. And maybe even have less aggravating inventory systems, if someone could see their way to it.
Alas, I'm probably not getting that any time soon, but at least I can content myself with drooling over gameplay footage for Fallout: Bakersfield, a GZDoom total conversion remake of Fallout 1 that recently resurfaced after going silent for three years.
Well, it ain't silent now. It just got a new extended gameplay footage reel that I've been poring over like a one-man Warren Commission, desperate to find the subtle flaw that reveals the project as some kind of elaborate hoax.
I've not found it. What I have found is one of the most delicious and faithful recreations of the OG Fallout vibe in first-person that I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. Really, it's nuts how good this thing—filled to the brim with art by dev Alexander "Red888guns" Berezin—looks.
The 3D Fallouts of the Bethesda and Obsidian era have never quite captured the grimy, pulpy aesthetics of the original games (a limitation of the engine as much as anything, I think), but GZDoom is an absolutely perfect match for it. The way the ghouls of Necropolis melt into puddles of gore 'n' goo when set upon by our heroic(?) protagonist is pitch-perfect: a startlingly effective recreation of the isometric original, just transplanted to ground level. There's even a bit where he misses despite a 94% chance of hitting. We're home.
Release date? Ah, well, there's the rub. Fallout: Bakersfield has no date on it, and despite how incredibly slick Berezin's art looks here, I suspect it's still a long ways away—if it ever releases at all. Still, even a sumptuous-looking mod that may or may not ever come out is more than anyone official has done with FO1 and 2 in the last couple of decades.
>> The article has an over 5 minutes video.

GAMING NEWS

After cancelling 8 of the 12 live service games Sony promised to release by 2025, PlayStation studios boss says the number doesn't really matter: 'What is important to me is having a diverse set of player experiences'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/after-cancelling-8-of-the-12-live-service-games-sony-promised-to-release-by-2025-playstation-studios-boss-says-the-number-doesnt-really-matter-what-is-important-to-me-is-having-a-diverse-set-of-player-experiences/
By the time Sony started printing money releasing its exclusives onto PC, the company had made a name for itself delivering the biggest and best singleplayer games on the market. Its run of solo PS4 exclusives from Bloodborne to The Last of Us Part 2 was so strong that it blew Microsoft's console strategy out of the water, in a way that the Xbox has arguably never recovered from. Even we PC heads with our vast Steam libraries had to acknowledge those games were pretty great.
Yet for the PlayStation 5, Sony decided it would almost completely ignore that legacy, and instead be all about live service. In 2022, former CEO Jim Ryan promised Sony would make and release 12 live-service games by 2025. As of 2025, only one of these—Helldivers 2—has enjoyed a successful launch. Seven were cancelled before release. Three are supposedly still in development (including the deeply troubled Marathon) and one of them was Concord.
It's a strategy that has, so far, proven catastrophic, leaving the PS5 largely bereft of quality first-party exclusives. But if you thought gazing upon this virtual graveyard might cause Sony to reconsider its priorities, think again.
>> One very successful live-service game can bring tons of money. We’ll see what will happen first, Sony running out of money or finding that unicorn game.

Six years after launch, The Division 2 is getting an 'updated take' on extraction shooting
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/six-years-after-launch-the-division-2-is-getting-an-updated-take-on-extraction-shooting/
Extraction is the hot new mode for multiplayer shooters, even though it's been around since 2016 and therefore can hardly be considered "new". Every game from Delta Force to Marathon is trying to muscle in on stuffing your backpack with guns and skipping your way out of a map, with varying degrees of success.
Anyway, scrambling to get to the helicopter before it flies off is The Division 2, which Ubisoft has just announced is getting its own take on the game mode popularised by Hunt: Showdown and Escape from Tarkov—six years on from its launch in 2019. It's an odd time to start bolting on additional modes to this aging looter shooter, though I suppose it's good that The Division 2 is receiving such long-term support.

Larian publishing chief says mainstream game industry has a 'perverse attachment' to indie studios, because indies still know how to follow their gut
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/larian-publishing-chief-says-mainstream-game-industry-has-a-perverse-attachment-to-indie-studios-because-indies-still-know-how-to-follow-their-gut/
Larian publishing director Michael Douse, never shy about sharing his opinions on the videogame business, did so again over the weekend with thoughts on why the big-budget game industry isn't able to drive innovation and is thus becoming "perversely fascinated by indie," which operates much more by gut instinct.

Tactical RPG Demonschool flees to November as Silksong claims another victim: 'We would not be doing Demonschool any favors by wading into waters we can clearly see are blood red'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/tactical-rpg-demonschool-flees-to-november-as-silksong-claims-another-victim-we-would-not-be-doing-demonschool-any-favors-by-wading-into-waters-we-can-clearly-see-are-blood-red/
The Silksong behemoth has claimed another victim. The tactical RPG Demonschool, which was set to launch on September 3, has been delayed to November 19, because 2025 has been "brutal" and launching the day before one of the most anticipated indie games to come along in years would just be asking for trouble.

Everyone can try Path of Exile 2 for free when its gigantic new update drops later this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/everyone-can-try-path-of-exile-2-for-free-when-its-gigantic-new-update-drops-later-this-week/
For the first time since its early access release, Path of Exile 2 will be completely free to play for a limited amount of time.
From August 29 to September 1, the action RPG will open its gates to everyone so they can try out the new Third Edict update. There will be no limitations: You can start a character and play through the campaign like everyone else.

Schedule 1's Rival Cartel update solves its biggest problem, and the beta is available now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/schedule-1s-rival-cartel-update-solves-its-biggest-problem-and-the-beta-is-available-now/
I didn't foresee spending almost 50 hours with Schedule 1 earlier this year, and I'm a tad embarrassed by how much of that I accumulated in just a couple of weekends. It was the go-to for my friends and I in early April, and then we just… fell off hard.
The 50 hours playtime in just a short window probably explains why we stopped, but Schedule 1's biggest point of friction starts to show when you really beef up your drug dealing infrastructure. And well, that's the problem—there is no friction. At least nothing beyond the same handful of obstacles the game introduces early on. Outside of a few annoying cops standing around on street corners, there's not much to worry about despite your status as a kingpin.
The Rival Cartel update changes that, adding the Benzies family to Schedule 1's beta branch for anyone to try. I hopped in not really expecting much, but after making a few rounds selling homemade goodies, two guys jumped out of the bushes near my place in Westville and shot me. I've never even fooled with the weapons in Schedule 1 since there was no immediate need, so of course I couldn't do anything but run.

World of Warcraft's player housing won't lock out casual players: 'We're not gonna put a beautiful bookcase behind killing a raid boss'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcrafts-player-housing-wont-lock-out-casual-players-were-not-gonna-put-a-beautiful-bookcase-behind-killing-a-raid-boss/
When I heard player housing is coming to World of Warcraft, I immediately thought of the sheer amount of stuff in the game that could find its way into your home. Blizzard could reward housing items like they do rare mounts for achieving some of the most grindy or challenging things in the game. It could be a real time sink.
But thankfully that doesn't seem like that's the direction Blizzard wants to go in when it comes to collecting decorations. Speaking to IGN at Gamescom, game director Ion Hazzikostas said they won't be locked behind "content that is too hardcore."

Borderlands 3 'sometimes felt like parody' of itself, say writers, but 4 aims to fix that: 'If I tried to put a meme in the game, he would come to my house with a baseball bat'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/borderlands-3-sometimes-felt-like-parody-of-itself-say-writers-but-4-aims-to-fix-that-if-i-tried-to-put-a-meme-in-the-game-he-would-come-to-my-house-with-a-baseball-bat/
Borderlands 3's story is… interesting. As someone who has played most of Gearbox's loot'em shoot'ems, I agree with the general consensus that 3's story is kinda the worst. Mind, I've never hopped into Pandora's (or its associated moons') deep narrative—but after hours of outdated memes, when a certain character sacrificed themselves to Beyonce's "This Girl Is On Fire", I straight-up laughed. Which is generally not a good sign.
Per a recent interview with IGN, that's something the Borderlands 4 team is keen to fix: "I think that we had [our] own internal critiques about the tone and the level of humor present in Borderlands 3," says narrative director Sam Winkler.
>> The game will also have an emotional Claptrap moment.

Upcoming tactical FPS MMO Cinder City has maps that are so detailed you can tour Seoul and visit NCsoft's office full of 'Zombie workers with name tags'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/upcoming-tactical-fps-mmo-cinder-city-has-maps-that-are-so-detailed-you-can-tour-seoul-and-visit-ncsofts-office-full-of-zombie-workers-with-name-tags/
There's nothing quite like a good videogame map, whether you just like to sit back and take in the view or claw your way through cracks in the wall on the hunt for collectables. And in the case of NCsoft's upcoming MMO FPS, Cinder City has both, well, if you find time to admire the view between bloody gunfights and ravenous zombies.

Crusader Kings 3's new DLC has a release date and even more opportunities to be murdered spectacularly by your vassals
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/crusader-kings-3s-new-dlc-has-a-release-date-and-even-more-opportunities-to-be-murdered-spectacularly-by-your-vassals/
The thing about monarchs is they are, on the whole, very keen for you to know they're monarchs. Thus the crown, the ermine, the jewellery, the palaces and, most of all, the coronations. Whether it's the Pope dumping a crown on Charlemagne's head in 800 CE, Napoleon getting ideas above his station in 1804, or Charlie the Third looking bored while they daub him in oils two years ago, they've always liked to make a big song and dance of accession and they always will.
Which makes it all the stranger that Crusader Kings 3—first in the market of king-sims—has never made much of coronations. Your forebear dies, you get the crown, and all their vassals hate you. Bish-bash-bosh, you're done. Well, no more. Paradox has just announced its release date for Coronations, a new event pack for CK3 that makes your coronation, uh, more of an event.

Helldivers 2's upcoming patch will see you diving deep into Terminid nests where your stratagems won't save you—also, the bugs have dragons now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2s-upcoming-patch-will-see-you-diving-deep-into-terminid-nests-where-your-stratagems-wont-save-you-also-the-bugs-have-dragons-now/
Everyone excited to dive deep into an insect nest early September? What do you mean, Silksong? I'm talking about Helldivers 2. What the heck is a 'silkpost'.
In an impressive case of parallel thinking, Arrowhead Games has announced it'll be updating Helldivers 2 with the ability to dive deep into the heart of the Terminid's lairs, where they conduct all kinds of insect fascism—and also take turns hitting a stolen voting booth with a baseball bat. At least, that's what my democracy officer tells me.

‘A succulent Silent Hill meal’: Silent Hill f devs admit ‘we’re going a little different’ but assure longtime fans that it stays true to the series they know and love
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/a-succulent-silent-hill-meal-silent-hill-f-devs-admit-were-going-a-little-different-but-assure-longtime-fans-that-it-stays-true-to-the-series-they-know-and-love/
Silent Hill f has a lot to live up to. It’s not only following on from a well-received Silent Hill 2 remake, but it also has to wrestle with over 20 years of nostalgia. To make matters worse, the news of Silent Hill f indulging in more action and fight sequences was enough to have an OG fan or two shaking in anger.
But after playing three hours at Gamescom, I’m not convinced that Silent Hill f actually strays very far from what players have come to expect from the series. So I asked NeoBards' game director Al-Yang, and series producer of Silent Hill, Motoi Okamoto, what they thought of all the hullabaloo surrounding Silent Hill f's changes.

I don't know how many things can MSoft break with one update, but here's another one:

A recent Windows 11 update broke a popular streaming method on OBS but a temporary fix is now here
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/windows/a-recent-windows-11-update-broke-a-popular-streaming-method-on-obs-but-a-temporary-fix-is-now-here/
If you use OBS to stream, and most of all if you're hooking up multiple PCs to broadcast, you may have noticed "severe stuttering, lag, and choppy audio/video". According to the latest Windows release known issues, you aren't the only one.
As pointed out in the latest Windows 11 Version 24H2 update post, OS build 26100.4946 (which launched on August 12) has broken NDI use for some streamers. Over in forums like the VideoEngineering Subreddit, users have been complaining about 'sudden lag and framedrops' in NDI streams for a while now.
>> Other than Basil, I don’t know if this may affect the rest of you.

But if you're tired of MSoft breaking Windows after every new update, let me tell you that there's new coming at some point... but I really, really doubt it's going to be better:

Elon Musk claims to be making Microsoft competitor named Macrohard and despite the 'tongue-in-cheek name', the project is unfortunately 'very real'
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/elon-musk-claims-to-be-making-microsoft-competitor-named-macrohard-and-despite-the-tongue-in-cheek-name-the-project-is-unfortunately-very-real/
Windows 11 has picked up a fair bit of ire, and for understandable reasons. In the last year alone, we've seen reports of undeletable caches and some SSDs not playing nice with the software. Well, if you want a "purely AI" alternative from the man who ruined Twitter, Elon Musk has a bridge to sell you just announced Macrohard. Yeah, I don't think it's a good name either.

As announced via Elon Musk's X account, "It’s a tongue-in-cheek name, but the project is very real!" He goes on to state, "given that software companies like Microsoft do not themselves manufacture any physical hardware, it should be possible to simulate them entirely with AI."
>> I have so many thoughts abput this,  and none of them are good.

Named it after the cybertruck, lol!

Both are huge, hard in name only and utterly useless

Elon Musk is one person that went, in my book, really fast from an eccentric billionaire to someone who really irks me any time I hear about him. Nothing good ever seems to come from his mouth (or keyboard, rather).

The more I hear about Borderlands 4, the happier I am I haven't had time to try any of the earlier games yet. I wasn't too excited about the earlier games even before, but I figured since they're so well liked, they're probably worth trying out. They probably still are, but it's getting harder and harder to get excited.

It's the kind of name someone chooses to compensate for something. Therefore, if he likes Macrohard, he's probably compensating for something that's micro and likely also limp...

When he was Musk the excentric billionare, and that was all we knew about him, he seemed likeable. Nowadays we know way too much about him and how he really is, to make that mistake again. With this Macrohard name, like he did with his boring company, he has chosen a name that tries to convey some kind of ironic or edgy personality, but we know that it's a rather poor attempt to grab people attention and be liked for it. It's quite lame.

As for Borderlands, I liked the first game a lot, but for some reason the second one didn't click to me despite everyone saying that it was like the first one but better. I have 3 and Tiny Tina (thanks EGS!) but I'd rather play the remaster of the first one than these two.

But your mileage may vary.

Possible AMD RDNA 5 / UDNA GPU SKU Configs Point To 96, 40, 24, 12 CU Dies

https://wccftech.com/possible-amd-rdna-5-udna-gpu-sku-configs-point-to-96-40-24-12-cu-dies/

NVIDIA Dissects Its GB10 Superchip For DGX AI PCs: 3nm With 20 ARM v9.2 CPU Cores, 1000 TOPS NVFP4 Blackwell GPU, LPDDR5x-9400 Memory Support, 140W TDP

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-gb10-superchip-soc-3nm-20-arm-v9-2-cpu-cores-nvfp4-blackwell-gpu-lpddr5x-9400-memory-140w-tdp/

AMD’s Instinct MI350 GPU Is A AI-Hardware Powerhouse: 3nm 3D Chiplet Based on CDNA 4, 185 Billion Transistors, 1400W TBP, Over 4000B LLM Support With Massive 288GB Memory

https://wccftech.com/amd-instinct-mi350-gpuai-hardware-powerhouse-3nm-3d-chiplet-cdna-4-185-billion-transistors-1400w-tbp-over-4000b-llm-support/

Latest Versions Of DLSS And Streamline SDK Released: Some Bug Fixes And Stability Improvements Introduced

https://wccftech.com/latest-versions-of-dlss-and-streamline-sdk-released-some-bug-fixes-and-stability-improvements-introduced/

AMD Reportedly Preparing 16 GB Radeon RX 9070 GRE Graphics Card, Launch Expected In September-October

https://wccftech.com/amd-preps-16-gb-radeon-rx-9070-gre-launch-in-september-october/

Phison Dismisses Reports of Windows 11 Updates Bricking SSDs, Runs Rigorous Tests Involving 4500 Hours on Drives But Unable To Reproduce Errors

https://wccftech.com/phison-dismisses-reports-of-windows-11-updates-bricking-ssds-runs-rigorous-testing-unable-to-reproduce-errors/

Intel Nova Lake-S 28 Core & Arrow Lake-S Refresh Desktop CPUs Spotted, Next-Gen Desktop Already In Pre-QS Stage

https://wccftech.com/intel-nova-lake-s-28-core-arrow-lake-s-refresh-desktop-cpus-spotted-18a-desktop-already-in-pre-qs-stage/

Laptop OEM Roadmap Confirms Intel Nova Lake As “Core Ultra 400” Series In 2027, Panther Lake & Medusa Point “AMD Zen 6” In 2026

https://wccftech.com/roadmap-confirms-intel-nova-lake-as-core-ultra-400-series-2027-panther-lake-medusa-point-amd-zen-6-2026/

NVIDIA pushes Neural Rendering in gaming with goal of 100% AI-generated pixels

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-pushes-neural-rendering-in-gaming-with-goal-of-100-ai-generated-pixels

GeForce RTX 5090 capacitor goes pop, tries origami with its heatsink

https://videocardz.com/newz/geforce-rtx-5090-capacitor-goes-pop-tries-origami-with-its-heatsink

Time to check the Wednesday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

GOG has launched its Back To School 2025 Sale, with up to 95% discounts on over 7500 deals during the next 14 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2025_back_to_school

Steam has three new deals:

• Toodee and Topdee is going to be 70% off until the 9th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1303950/Toodee_and_Topdee
• Islanders will have a 75% discount until the 9th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1046030/ISLANDERS
• LEGO® Bricktales, that has a demo, will be 87% off until September 9: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1898290/LEGO_Bricktales

Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Dying Light 2 Stay Human: Reloaded Edition, with a 68% deal during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/dying-light-2-stay-human
• The Shooter Mystery Bundle has up tp three unknown games to get during an unknown amount of time: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/shooter-mystery-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

INTEL Arc Graphics 32.0.101.7028 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-graphics-32-0-101-7028

HIGHLIGHTS
Gaming 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:

• Hell is Us
• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Fallout: Bakersfield Got an Incredible Extended Gameplay Video
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/fallout-bakersfield-got-an-incredible-extended-gameplay-video
Fallout fans, get ready for a treat. Back in July 2025, we shared a short video of a fan-made remake of the classic Fallout games in GZDoom, called Fallout: Bakersfield. Now, Saur X has released a longer video that shows six full minutes of gameplay. Make sure to check it out. This could very well be one of the coolest things you’ll see today.
Fallout: Bakersfield is a total conversion mod for GZDoom. This mod basically re-imagines the classic Fallout games as an FPS/RPG hybrid. This is one of the best retro remakes, and I seriously hope Bethesda will not shut it down.
What really caught my attention in this gameplay video was the animations. Everything looks so smooth and polished. The mod is also full of gore. Players will be able to dismember their enemies. You will also be able to disarm them. This looks dope. A lot of people accused the artist of “faking” everything. And here we are today with an extended gameplay video. So, no. This isn’t fake.
From what I know so far, the mod is 60% complete. Right now, Saur X aims to release Fallout: Bakersfield sometime in 2027. So, it will take a while until we get our hands on it. However, from what we can see here, it will be worth the wait.
>> The video is over 5 minutes long.

GAMING NEWS

Gears of War: Reloaded Day-1 Update Detailed – Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/gears-of-war-reloaded-day-1-update-detailed-full-patch-notes
Microsoft and The Coalition have released and detailed the day-1 title update for Gears of War: Reloaded. This patch will be automatically applied to the game. So, let’s take a look at what it brings to the table.

Wednesday gaming news, part two:

Activision finally acknowledges Call of Duty skins problem, decides cosmetics won't carry forward in Black Ops 7: 'Some of you have said we’ve drifted from what made Call of Duty unique in the first place. That feedback hits home'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/activision-finally-acknowledges-call-of-duty-skins-problem-decides-cosmetics-wont-carry-forward-in-black-ops-7-some-of-you-have-said-weve-drifted-from-what-made-call-of-duty-unique-in-the-first-place-that-feedback-hits-home/
The improbable has happened. Following a lukewarm reception to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's reveal, Activision is walking back its decision to carry forward all Black Ops 6 weapons and skins into the new game.
While forward compatibility is generally a popular feature, this is really about Call of Duty's uglification problem: Many weren't excited that a year's worth of gaudy crossover skins, cel-shaded operators, and anime bundles from Black Ops 6 would immediately tarnish Black Ops 7's near-future art style. Now, it will have a clean break.
In a blog post published today that also addressed anti-cheat, Activision engaged with its cosmetic criticisms.
>> Can you smell it? It’s fear.

You can accidentally doom your Elden Ring Nightreign team by attacking its newest enhanced boss at the wrong time
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/you-can-accidentally-doom-your-elden-ring-nightreign-team-by-attacking-its-newest-enhanced-boss-at-the-wrong-time/
I've been playing Elden Ring Nightreign since it came out. I've killed ice dragons, flying centaurs, and a jellyfish god. What could be so hard about fighting a three-headed dog?
Quite a lot, it turns out. The enhanced version of Nightreign's first boss is easily one of the hardest fights in the game. When he's not waving a sword around, he's splitting into three angry dogs and chasing you around the arena. And if you're not careful, hitting him at the wrong time can make him stronger.

EA's Skate reboot will finally launch into early access in September
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/eas-skate-reboot-will-finally-launch-into-early-access-in-september/
PC Gamer's Lincoln Carpenter said last year that Skate, the reboot of EA's long-in-the-tooth skateboarding series, would "frontside pop shuvit" into early access in 2025. This annoyed me slightly, as he knew it would, because I didn't know what a frontside pop shuvit is, or even if it was just something he made up to mess with me. Whatever the case (I never looked it up, let me preserve a little mystery in the world), he was correct: It is now 2025, and EA has announced that Skate is set to launch into early access on September 16.

Chris Roberts hopes Star Citizen's launch will be 'almost as big an event' as Grand Theft Auto 6, still targeting 2026 for its Squadron 42 singleplayer campaign
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/chris-roberts-hopes-star-citizens-launch-will-be-almost-as-big-an-event-as-grand-theft-auto-6-still-targeting-2026-for-its-squadron-42-singleplayer-campaign/
Star Citizen is unique among videogames. It's been in development for well over a decade—hell, it was a decade ago that Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, and Mark Hamill got on board—yet still has no release date. It's also raised more than $858 million in crowdfunding (yeah, you read that right), yet the money is still flooding in: It only surpassed the $800 million mark in April of this year. Some people are adamant that the whole thing is some sort of scam, but plenty of others are playing the alpha and seemingly enjoying it.
A recent La Presse interview (Google translated) with Star Citizen director Chris Roberts doesn't shed a whole lot more light on what exactly is going on over there, but it does provide a hint—very vague and unspecific, but a hint—of when this unique beast will finally hit the 1.0 finish line. The report says Star Citizen is now set for a full release sometime in 2027 or 2028 (I told you it was vague), preceded by Squadron 42, the singleplayer part of the game, which is targeting a launch sometime in 2026.
>> The game has been in development for so long, that the Gillian Anderson screenshot in the article that looked amazing when Squadron 42 was announced, now looks meh.

Haunted Chocolatier has fishing, books, and a new screenshot so pretty I want to live in it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/haunted-chocolatier-has-fishing-books-and-a-new-screenshot-so-pretty-i-want-to-live-in-it/
Every couple of weeks my daughter asks if Haunted Chocolatier is out yet. I always have to say no, but at least next time I'll be able to confirm that Haunted Chocolatier will have fishing, and also show her a new screenshot, which is embedded above.

Vermintide 2 just got another annual event with its own level and rewards
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/vermintide-2-just-got-another-annual-event-with-its-own-level-and-rewards/
Every year Vermintide 2 players get to enjoy limited-duration events like A Quiet Drink, a special pub crawl level that takes them from the Hungry Troll Tavern to the Obese Megalodon, and the Halloween-themed Geheimnisnacht, based on the Warhammer world's own night of mystery. This year a new event's been added to the calendar, and it's already begun.

Atari now owns the rights to five Ubisoft games: Cold Fear, I Am Alive, Child of Eden, Grow Home, and Grow Up
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/atari-now-owns-the-rights-to-five-ubisoft-games-cold-fear-i-am-alive-child-of-eden-grow-home-and-grow-up/
Ubisoft has reached into the back of the cupboard, grabbed the intellectual property rights for five games it wasn't doing anything with, and sold them to Atari. The five games are Cold Fear (which is basically Resident Evil on a boat), I Am Alive (a post-apocalyptic survival platformer), Child of Eden (a psychedelic rhythm game), and both Grow Home and its sequel Grow Up (which are physics-based climbing games where you're a cute robot).
>> A new Cold Fear could work well, if given to a good studio and with enough budget.

Metal Gear Solid Delta devs would love Kojima to see how 'respectful' their remake is, but the big man himself has already said he's not touching it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/metal-gear-solid-delta-devs-would-love-kojima-to-see-how-respectful-their-remake-is-but-the-big-man-himself-has-already-said-hes-not-touching-it/
Konami sure is an odd company. On the one hand, it seems almost desperate to assure Metal Gear fans that—no, really—it has nothing but love and worship for the Metal Gears of old, and that it can be trusted to steward the series into the future. On the other, it's pathologically averse to ever saying the name of series creator Hideo Kojima, to the extent that it put out a whole Metal Gear retrospective without uttering his name even once. It's like the entire corporation is undergoing some weird form of de-Stalinisation.
But while the suits seem loath to say Kojima's name, the same can't be said for Noriaki Okamura and Yuji Korekado, lead devs on Metal Gear Solid Delta. In a recent chat with Inverse (via GamesRadar), the pair were only too happy to chat about Kojima, saying they'd love it if ol' Hideo set aside some time to try their remake of MGS 3.

WoW devs want to 'step back' from the 'world-ending' stakes where you get called a pitiful mortal lots, and back to quests like 'oats for Blanchy'—presumably without sending the horse to hell afterwards
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wow-devs-want-to-step-back-from-the-world-ending-stakes-where-you-get-called-a-pitiful-mortal-lots-and-back-to-quests-like-oats-for-blanchy-presumably-without-sending-the-horse-to-hell-afterwards/
World of Warcraft's Worldsoul Saga is gonna be a big'un—in case phrases like "Midnight", "The Last Titan", or, indeed, "Worldsoul" were any indication, this trio of expansion packs are focusing on some pretty intense story beats. The void wielded by Xal'atath, harbinger of the old gods; the Sunwell, a font of incredible power, under threat. It's all very endgame.
Spectacle creep has been something WoW's struggled with for some time, so much so that Dragonflight was a much-needed reset button. For example, the expansion preceding it, Shadowlands, saw you going to the actual afterlife—and it mostly lost people when a big guy in armour said "pitiful mortal" several dozen times.
Speaking to PC Gamer's own Elie Gould at Gamescom this year, art director Ely Cannon and technical director Frank Kowalkowski have both shared an eagerness to get back to the local stories that really stick with players; using the Worldsoul Saga as a means to tie off all the epic fantasy stuff with a neat bow.

FF14 director Yoshi-P is 'kind of glad and relieved' that Dawntrail's story is over, because players will have 'the fate of the world on their shoulders' again—but that was never the expansion's problem
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/ff14-director-yoshi-p-is-kind-of-glad-and-relieved-that-dawntrails-story-is-over-because-players-will-have-the-fate-of-the-world-on-their-shoulders-again-but-that-was-never-the-expansions-problem/
Final Fantasy 14's going to be moving on from Dawntrail… uh, eventually, given the MMO's recent troubles with patch cadence. But still, having played through 7.3, I'm genuinely quite hopeful for the game's storyline to kick up again. I had an uncomplicated good time pushing Calyx's stupid mug in, and it feels like Square's slowly getting back to narrative form.
A recent Gamescom interview with director Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) by our friends over at GamesRadar+, however, has me scratching my head a tad—to be clear, when Yoshi-P speaks to English journalists, it's often live-translated by an interpreter, as was the case with me last year. As such, Yoshi-P's statements simply could be coloured by language barriers. Spoilers for Dawntrail to follow.
>> What aren’t a spoiler are the dates of the new Fan Fest.

And here’s a small part three of today’s gaming news:

No Man's Sky adds buildable custom spaceships big enough to fit all your friends on board
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/no-mans-sky-voyagers-update/
How many bases do you need in a single game? Ask someone who likes base-building, like me, and they'll probably say "As many as you can give me."
No Man's Sky already has a few kinds of player bases. Base-building was added to the space sandbox in 2016, along with freighters that can be parked in orbit and customized. Settlements can also be built and managed, which is like making an entire alien town your base.
And in the new No Man's Sky Voyagers update, you can build and customize huge new ships called Corvettes that are big enough to fly around the galaxy with your friends acting as crew. You can even get out of the cockpit while in flight, stroll around the ship, and edit the layout while you're in transit.

Sean Murray says the Earth-sized planet in Light No Fire will have 'real oceans' that players will need 'large boats and crews' to cross
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/sean-murray-says-the-earth-sized-planet-in-light-no-fire-will-have-real-oceans-that-players-will-need-large-boats-and-crews-to-cross/
Every few months the No Man's Sky community gets a treat: a new update is announced that introduces new features and systems for the sci-fi sandbox. Something else that happens every few months: the Light No Fire community gets its hopes up that the announcement will actually be about Hello Games' upcoming Earth-sized fantasy sandbox.
Today both communities got their wish. (Note: I'm pretty sure the No Man's Sky community and the Light No Fire community are the same community.) Yes, a big new No Man's Sky update has arrived, called Voyagers, but Sean Murray also gave all those eager Light No Fire fanatics a tidbit of information, too.
(…)
"Much of the technology we’re introducing with Voyagers is shared with our next game, Light No Fire, which is a truly open world, a shared Earth-sized planet, with real oceans to traverse, needing large boats and crews," Murray said. "We love that we get to share this technology with players early."

Paradox is 'making adjustments' to Bloodlines 2's Toreador and Lasombra DLC after the entirely predictable backlash
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/paradox-is-making-adjustments-to-bloodlines-2s-toreador-and-lasombra-dlc-after-the-entirely-predictable-backlash/
Paradox and The Chinese Room are currently juggling the impending launch of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 with the backlash from last week's DLC announcement, which went down like a fart in an elevator.

Two more heroes have been leaked for Marvel Rivals, but unless NetEase plans to turn Deadpool into a healer, I don't want either in Season 4
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/two-more-heroes-have-been-leaked-for-marvel-rivals-but-unless-netease-plans-to-turn-deadpool-into-a-healer-i-dont-want-either-in-season-4/
There's not much time to sit back and appreciate what we have when it comes to Marvel Rivals, as NetEase manages to pump out a staggering amount of new heroes every few months. We only just got Blade added to the game after the world's longest nap, and now everyone's attention has been redirected.
Prominent leaker X0X_LEAK shared a couple of voice interaction clips for both Daredevil and Deadpool, which see both chatting to various Marvel Rivals characters like Squirrel Girl, Venom, and Hulk.

Overwatch 2 players are waking up to mountains of loot boxes and silver coins as part of Season 18's Progression 2.0 update
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2-players-are-waking-up-to-mountains-of-loot-boxes-and-silver-coins-as-part-of-season-18s-progression-2-0-update/
Overwatch 2 Season 18 has brought the usual new additions, like a small map overhaul, a new hero, and an upcoming rank reset. But the best part of the new season, in my humble opinion, has to be the truckloads of loot boxes that have been left for players like myself to open.