Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

If you look in the statistics, Moores Law is Dead is around 45-55% accurate with his claims.
That's NOT a good track record and not an outlet I would regard as reliable... I am honestly baffled how people argue their support MLID with those statistics.

nVidia is basically synonymous with A.I and Data center now... AMD and Intel need to really change their perception as viable alternatives to claw some of that marketshare.

$60 AUD is getting a bit rich for a bundle I think... They are supposed to support charity, not try and make bank.

Intel Accepts That Arrow Lake CPUs Weren’t A Good Desktop Offering, Says Nova Lake Will Address The High-End Desktop Market Better Next Year *

https://wccftech.com/intel-accepts-arrow-lake-cpus-werent-good-says-nova-lake-address-high-end-desktop-market-next-year/

Someone in the Philippines Apparently Scammed Their Mayor by Selling a PC for a Whopping $175,000 That Should Have Cost Only a Few Hundred Dollars

https://wccftech.com/someone-in-the-philippines-scammed-their-mayor-by-selling-a-pc-for-a-whopping-175000/

Alibaba Reportedly Develops New AI Chip To Counter NVIDIA’s Uncertainty as Beijing Pushes Harder for Independence in AI Tech

https://wccftech.com/alibaba-reportedly-develops-new-ai-chip-to-counter-nvidia-uncertainty/

New FidelityFX SDK reportedly enables manual DLL swap of FSR 4 in FSR 3.1 games

https://videocardz.com/newz/new-fidelityfx-sdk-reportedly-enables-manual-dll-swap-of-fsr-4-in-fsr-3-1-games

Lenovo Legion Go 2 with Ryzen Z2 Extreme to officially debut next week

https://videocardz.com/newz/lenovo-legion-go-2-with-ryzen-z2-extreme-to-officially-debut-next-week

It’s time for the Friday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Fanatical’s new Star Deal is NORCO, 73% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/norco.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 581.15 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-581-15

HIGHLIGHTS
Game Ready

• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giant
• Wuthering Waves

Added DLSS Overrides

• ***There are 13 new profiles. Check the TPU article about this driver to see them***

FIXED ISSUES

Fixed Gaming Bugs

• Marvel's Avengers - The Definitive Edition: Game crashes to desktop on startup [5350712]

Fixed General Bugs

• Certain monitors may display a random flicker when hot plugged over HDMI [5280259]

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Take a look at Max Payne 2 with RTX Remix Path Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/take-a-look-at-max-payne-2-with-rtx-remix-path-tracing
Here is something for our Max Payne fans. YouTube’s ‘Digital Floundry’ (I know, catchy name, but he should be careful otherwise Digital Foundry may close his account) is currently working on an RTX Remix Mod for Max Payne 2.
So far, the modder has finished the Prologue. Every texture has been upscaled four times with PBR materials like height, shine, roughness, normal, glow, and metallic effects. The modder is also almost done with Chapter 1 (the warehouse level).
As always, do note that everything you are about to see is a WIP. The mod is in a very early dev stage. Still, it looks really cool, which is why I’ve decided to share it with you.
Digital Floundry is also working on an RTX Remix Mod for Dead to Rights. He’ll soon post a demo for it, and I’ll be sure to share it with you once it’s out. Until then, you can watch two videos from it.
Digital Floundry used to go by the name Digital Clowntree. He’s the same person who made the RTX Remix Mod for American McGee’s Alice. (...)
>> The article has three videos, one for the Max Payne remix and the other two for Dead to Rights.

A multiplayer mod for Marvel’s Spider-Man is available in early access
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/a-multiplayer-mod-for-marvels-spider-man-is-available-in-early-access
Now here is something really cool for our Spider-Man fans. A team of modders has been working on a multiplayer mod for the first Marvel’s Spider-Man game and has released a beta version of it.
Do note that this first beta build for this MP Mod is behind a Patreon wall. My guess is that the team will fully release it for free once it has addressed most of its major issues. Sadly, though, there is no ETA on when this will happen.
Right now, the mod supports up to 16 players. The mod let’s you play with your friends some of the game’s main missions. Right now, the team is working on free roam content. Once it has tweaked the game to be fun when doing side-quests, it will look into resuming its work for the main story.
Friends can see your suit mods so long as you both have the same suit mods installed. If you don’t, then the person who doesn’t have the suit mod installed will not be able to see the person with the suit. Additionally, if you use animation mods, it’s better for all players to have them installed.
>> There is an almost 20 minutes video in the article.

Total War: Warhammer 3 finally playable now someone's modded in an entire crab empire faction with its own mechanics, lore, and enormous crustacean units
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/total-war-warhammer-3-finally-playable-now-someones-modded-in-an-entire-crab-empire-faction-with-its-own-mechanics-lore-and-enormous-crustacean-units/
I'm not a scientist, but my understanding of the concept of carcinisation is that, in essence, all evolutionary roads lead to crab. You and me? Some day we'll be crabs. Spiders? Crabs. Butterflies? Crabs. Total War: Warhammer 3? You better believe it's on the road to crabdom, baby.
In fact, in the case of that last one, it's already at the end of the road. It's thanks to The Crustacean Nation, from a modder named Pegaz (brought to my attention by a video from YouTuber MonstersAbound), which does the good and necessary work of adding "a fully playable campaign race of Crabs to the game."
These crabs are fully custom, because anything less would be an insult, and the faction features five legendary lords, three generic lords, three generic hero types, and 30 units of general crab fodder. They've all got their own mechanics and, in general, have a slightly terrifying amount of work poured into them. Ever wanted to dispatch a crack squadron of airborne prawns at your enemies? Of course you have. What young child hasn't?
It's one of those mods that feels like it could have been a genuine DLC, in some alternate universe where the Creative Assembly team fully cracked, and I can't help but deeply admire it. It's not just the unique abilities, skilltrees, and various other mechanics that make the whole thing so profoundly crabby, it's that it all has its own appropriate flavour text to round out the lore of the whole thing. You know that feeling of admiration you get when you encounter something with an overriding and bottomless interest in a subject that's entire universes away from anything you've ever thought about? That's what this sparks in me.
>> The article has a screenshot and the over 30 minutes video mentioned in the article.

GAMING NEWS

Here’s how you can unlock the framerate in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/heres-how-you-can-unlock-the-framerate-in-metal-gear-solid-delta-snake-eater
Konami has just launched Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater to those who have pre-ordered it. As I’ve informed you, the PC version is locked at 60FPS. However, there is a simple way via which you can unlock the framerate.

Mafia: The Old Country August 28 Patch Released & Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/mafia-the-old-country-august-28-patch-released-detailed
Hangar 13 has released the August 28th Title Update for Mafia: The Old Country and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this new patch brings to the table.

Battlefield 6 Gets Final PC System Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/battlefield-6-gets-final-pc-system-requirements
DICE has revealed the final official PC system requirements for the new BF game, Battlefield 6. So, let’s see what PC system you’ll need to run it.
>> EA says they want the game to “run great without relying on DLSS”… but Nvidia has already announced that the game will support DLSS4 Multi-Frame Gen.

Path of Exile 2 Free Weekend Goes Live Today
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/path-of-exile-2-free-weekend-now-live
Grinding Gear Games will launch the first free weekend for Path of Exile 2 later today. This means that everyone can play it for free. So, if you’ve been looking forward to it, this is your chance to try it.

Lost Soul Aside PC Demo Is Now Available for Download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/lost-soul-aside-pc-demo-is-now-available-for-download
Now here is a pleasant surprise. Sony has released a PC demo for its new third-person action game, Lost Soul Aside. PC gamers can visit the game’s Steam store page and download its demo right now.

Friday gaming news, the second part:

'Man, I wish we didn't have to turn on Secure Boot': Battlefield 6 technical director knows the anti-cheat measure is a pain, but believes 'the trade off was worth it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/man-i-wish-we-didnt-have-to-turn-on-secure-boot-battlefield-6-technical-director-knows-the-anti-cheat-measure-is-a-pain-but-believes-the-trade-off-was-worth-it/
If you were hoping that Battlefield 6 would ease up on its Secure Boot requirement ahead of launch, I'd stop holding that breath.
Battlefield Studios has reaffirmed its requirement for the BIOS-level setting, which some fans complained was incompatible with their system or required jumping through too many hoops just to try the game.
>> They also know that the settings menu was a mess, and it will still be at launch.

In a major win for playing Battlefield 6 however the heck you want, EA just confirmed Portal servers are actually persistent: 'It's always listed in the browser for easy access'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/in-a-major-win-for-playing-battlefield-6-however-the-heck-you-want-ea-just-confirmed-portal-servers-are-actually-persistent-its-always-listed-in-the-browser-for-easy-access/
The Battlefield 6 server browser had my curiosity, but now it has my attention: Battlefield Studios just confirmed that servers spun up in its "Portal browser" can be made persistent. Theoretically, that means the Portal browser will behave like a classic FPS browser, allowing someone to host a "24/7 CAIRO ONLY" server that won't disappear after everybody goes to bed.

We almost got a third-person horror Call of Duty set in Vietnam with 'stuff you've never seen before', but instead we just got more Modern Warfare
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/we-almost-got-a-third-person-horror-call-of-duty-set-in-vietnam-with-stuff-youve-never-seen-before-but-instead-we-just-got-more-modern-warfare/
As of 2023, Sledgehammer Games has worked on not one but two versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but I would have been much more interested to play the studio's original pitch to Activision: a third-person CoD in a "scary version of Vietnam".

My inner Morrowind sicko is howling over the new game from the Dread Delusion devs, a turn-based RPG where you play a theatre troupe fighting demons
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/my-inner-morrowind-sicko-is-howling-over-the-new-game-from-the-dread-delusion-devs-a-turn-based-rpg-where-you-play-a-theatre-troupe-fighting-demons/
"In this dying age, only pockets of humanity remain. There was no apocalyptic event to speak of; only the cruel march of time and the inexplicable infertility of the world," reads the blurb. "Accursed creatures stalk the barren lands between settlements, which are themselves terrible places; squalid, medieval and mostly ruled by tyrants."
An accurate description of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire*, but also the copy for Entropy, the next game from Lovely Hellplace, the dev behind the incredibly weird and much-beloved Dread Delusion. Where Dread Delusion was a first-person, open-world RPG, Entropy is a throwback to the RPGs of yore: a turn-based, party-based thing where you and your crew venture across the land to stop a demonic threat.

Borderlands has been too hot, too cold, and will now be just right, says Randy Pitchford: 'We can see those times we've gone too far'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/borderlands-4-has-been-too-hot-too-cold-and-will-now-be-just-right-says-randy-pitchford-we-can-see-those-times-weve-gone-too-far/
Turns out, videogame development is a lot like porridge, and it can take a bit of fiddling to get things right. And if you think that doesn't make sense, you might not be Randy Pitchford, who said something similar in a Future Games interview with the Gearbox boss himself.

'No more James Sunderland': After a successful Silent Hill 2 remake, Bloober Team is ready to move on and 'treat ourselves'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/no-more-james-sunderland-after-a-successful-silent-hill-2-remake-bloober-team-is-ready-to-move-on-and-treat-ourselves/
It seems like only yesterday that Konami announced Bloober Team would be developing the Silent Hill 2 remake, a decision that, while at first questioned by horror fans, soon seemed like the right call once players actually got their hands on the remake.
But Bloober Team couldn't just bask in the success of the Silent Hill 2 remake forever; no, there was a point during its development where it became clear that now was the time to move on to the next venture.

Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a new 'high difficulty mode' in September, including an 'endless battle for those seeking even greater thrills'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/elden-ring-nightreign-is-getting-a-new-high-difficulty-mode-in-september-including-an-endless-battle-for-those-seeking-even-greater-thrills/
Back in 2024, as the soulslike difficulty discourse once again reared its silly head, Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki said FromSoft "could just crank the difficulty down," but warned that doing so "would break the game itself." That doesn't seem to be a concern going the other direction, though, as Bandai Namco says a new "high-difficulty challenge mode" called Deep of Night is coming to Elden Ring: Nightreign in September.

Fed up with 'living in fear' of mass layoffs, Diablo developers take action against Microsoft: 'We are ready to begin fighting for real change'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/fed-up-with-living-in-fear-of-mass-layoffs-diablo-designers-take-action-against-microsoft-we-are-ready-to-begin-fighting-for-real-change/
The Diablo team is the next in line to unionize at Blizzard. Over 450 developers across multiple disciplines have voted to form a union under the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and they're now the fourth major Blizzard team to do so.

We're still feeling aftershocks from Microsoft's destructive July layoffs and cancellations
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/were-still-feeling-aftershocks-from-microsofts-destructive-july-layoffs-and-cancellations/
Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics has imposed another round of layoffs, putting an undisclosed number of people out of work in the face of "evolving business conditions."
>> Quick reminder that they were co-developing the new Perfect Dark.

The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 development teams continue to grow as CD Projekt's headcount expands to nearly 800
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-witcher-4-and-cyberpunk-2-development-teams-continue-to-grow-as-cd-projekts-headcount-expands-to-nearly-800/
The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 are still a long way off, but CD Projekt is slowly but surely ramping things up. The company said in its H1 financial report today that the development teams for both game have continued to expand, and that further "gradual growth" is expected by the end of the year.

Today there’s a third news post:

The combined fury of angry Overwatch players forced Blizzard to reverse a change it made less than 72 hours ago: 'We’re grateful to everyone who tried it out and shared feedback'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-combined-fury-of-angry-overwatch-players-forced-blizzard-to-reverse-a-change-it-made-less-than-72-hours-ago-were-grateful-to-everyone-who-tried-it-out-and-shared-feedback/
Countless Reddit threads and social media posts piled up this week strongly criticizing Blizzard's decision to add a MOBA-style draft system to Overwatch 2's popular Stadium mode. Specifically, players were against the removal of mirror matchups where both teams can play as the same heroes.
The response in the last few days, following the launch of the new season, has been so overwhelmingly negative that Blizzard has abandoned the system less than 72 hours after implementing it. The draft mode will stay, but mirror matchups are allowed again.

Space Marine 2 unveils a roadmap for its second year of updates including a new playable class, bosses, weapons, and more
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/space-marine-2-unveils-a-roadmap-for-its-second-year-of-updates-including-a-new-playable-class-bosses-weapons-and-more/
Good news for fans of Space Marine 2's multiplayer modes, which Saber Interactive has committed to supporting for a whole 'nother year. As the developer announced, patch 10, on the first anniversary of Space Marine 2's release, will be the beginning of a second year of updates and additions.

RPG throws the ring of monetization into Mount Doom, drops gacha mechanics right before launch to avoid 'pay-to-win mechanics and forced spending as much as possible'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/rpg-throws-the-ring-of-monetization-into-mount-doom-drops-gacha-mechanics-right-before-launch-to-avoid-pay-to-win-mechanics-and-forced-spending-as-much-as-possible/
I don't think gacha games are a rot, or anything—plenty of folks enjoy them, and grown ups can do whatever they want with their disposable income—but I'd be lying if I said that monetisation model didn't turn me right off whatever the latest horse-based craze is. Which is why I'm downright impressed by Duet Night Abyss.
Faced with the eternal power of the one ring—I mean, er, the monetisation potential of gacha mechanics—the developers of the upcoming Chinese action-RPG have decided to simply drop all of their RNG-dependent character pulls and dungeon stamina systems right before launch in late-October.

All Genshin Impact 6.0 livestream codes
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/genshin-impact-codes-6-0-livestream/
The Genshin Impact 6.0 codes are here, and with them, our first proper look at the upcoming region of Nod-Krai. Though Nod-Krai is technically autonomous, we're finally headed to the last Archon-inhabited region of Snezhnaya (though we'll likely be going to Khaenri'ah in the future at some point). What better way to celebrate than some free Primogems?

And these are the weekend deals at Steam (no new sales or promos at GOG):

+Steam

• Space Engineers is free to try and 75% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/244850/Space_Engineers
• SCUM will have a 50% discount until the 4th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/513710/SCUM
• Griftlands is going to be 60% off until the 4th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/601840/Griftlands
• Streets of Rage 4 gets a 65% discount until September 4: https://store.steampowered.com/app/985890/Streets_of_Rage_4
• No Man's Sky will be 60% off until the 8th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/No_Mans_Sky
• The The Exit 8 + Platform 8 Bundle gets a 30% discount. The games will also be 30% off until September 11: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/54814/The_Exit_8__Platform_8
• The Early Access title Unrailed 2: Back on Track will be fre to try during the weekend and will have a 30% discount until the 11th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2211170/Unrailed_2_Back_on_Track
• Nightingale is also in Early Access and will also be free to try during the weekend. But it will be 50% off until the same September, the 11th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1928980/Nightingale
• Darkest Dungeon® II matches the previous two, being free to try during the weekend and with a 63% discount until the 11th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1940340/Darkest_Dungeon_II
• Ultros has a demo and is going to be 75% off until the 11th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2386310/Ultros
• And these are the two new sales/events:
  • SEGA puts its games on sale with up to 75% discounts. The length of the deals vary between the 4th and the 11th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/SEGAPublisherSale2025
  • Publisher Draknek & Friends celebrates its 12th anniversary and puts its games on sale, up to 75% off until the 11th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33018631/sale/Draknek12Years

That’s all for this week. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

Can someone explain to me why all those sites, and now apparently also game stores, need to have their own way to verify the user's age? Has no one thought about doing it at the OS level so users only have to go through that once instead of giving away their information to God knows how many places?

As far as I know, based on what little I've heard, the UK half-assed its age restriction law and refused to do anything to ensure age verifications are done sensibly or in a unified manner. They just mandated age restrictions and didn't do much more.

Also, it can't be done at OS level only, because websites don't have access to the OS. If you want OS support, you need browsers aboard too. Now you need to get all major operating systems and browsers aboard, so have fun trying to standardize that! All in all, this seems like a terrible mess, and I'm not sure anyone is sure of the best way to handle the whole age verification thing, especially in a privacy-aware manner. Or maybe some parties are aware of a way, but I bet that's not what's going to happen, at least any time soon.

Thanks for the reply.

If it can't be done at an OS level, then maybe just do it once for the browser and let it handle it with the sites you visit. It would still involve giving your data to less parties.

Standards can be a pain in the arse, but if something like the EU made one for all the members, other countries would also adopt it.

All in all, I still think the best way to handle this hot mess is actually very easy: make parents do the parenting! All OSes and browsers have privacy settings that allow to us control the sites we can access. We can also create several users accounts so that each member of the family can have a personalized experience more suited for its age.
But of course, that requires that parents get involved and actually exercise their duties, and that's a very impopular take for many people, that don't want to do the work.

I think the EU is also cooking up something regarding these topics, but I'm not exactly sure what and what the current situation even is. I'd have to look it up. Anyway, I definitely agree with what you say about parenting. Beyond that, I hesitate to touch more on this subject since this is not the politics section of the forums (not that I have very much to add anyway, but still).

I have to use a debit card for steam purchases anyway.