NVIDIA Did Test Intel’s 18A Process, But Reportedly Stopped Moving Forward, Suggesting No Foundry Deal From the AI Giant for Now

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-had-tested-out-intel-18a-process-but-stopped-moving-forward/

DDR4 Memory Is Back from the Dead, But Manufacturers Are Looking to Milk the Shortage by Delaying the Phase-Out Cycle

https://wccftech.com/ddr4-memory-is-back-from-the-dead-but-manufacturers-are-looking-to-milk-the-shortage/

AMD Preps EXPO 1.20 Memory Technology For Enhanced DDR5 OC Profiles, CUDIMM Support Coming To AM5 Next Year

https://wccftech.com/amd-expo-1-20-memory-technology-enhanced-ddr5-oc-profiles-cudimm-support-am5/

NVIDIA & AMD Are Back in China Once Again —This Time With Far More Powerful AI Chips, But Regulatory Guardrails Have Tightened Significantly

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-amd-are-back-in-china-once-again/

Samsung Unveils World’s First 6K 3D And The First 1040Hz Gaming Monitors; Introduces More High-End Models

https://wccftech.com/samsung-unveils-worlds-first-6k-3d-and-the-first-1040hz-gaming-monitor/

I just might get that 6k glass-free 3d monitor to replace my second 4k 32 inch monitor

Solder-It-Yourself DDR5: Russian modders pitch the Idea of making their own RAM

https://videocardz.com/newz/solder-it-yourself-ddr5-russian-modders-pitch-the-idea-of-making-their-own-ram

Japanese modder builds a giant LEGO-style Game Boy with an electroluminescent display and a custom video card

https://videocardz.com/newz/japanese-modder-builds-a-giant-lego-style-game-boy-with-an-electroluminescent-display-and-a-custom-video-card

DLSS Swapper v1.2.2.0 adds Ray Reconstruction presets, next version to focus on FSR4 and Ray Regeneration

https://videocardz.com/newz/dlss-swapper-v1-2-2-0-adds-ray-reconstruction-presets-next-version-to-focus-on-fsr4-and-ray-regeneration

Samsung, SK hynix Reportedly Plan ~20% HBM3E Price Hike for 2026 as NVIDIA H200, ASIC Demand Rises

https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/12/24/news-samsung-sk-hynix-reportedly-plan-20-hbm3e-price-hike-for-2026-as-nvidia-h200-asic-demand-rises/

Ten former Samsung employees arrested for industrial espionage charges for giving China chipmaker 10nm tech — executives and researchers allegedly leaked DRAM technology to China-based CXMT, resulting in trillions of losses in Korean Won

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/ten-former-samsung-employees-arrested-for-industrial-espionage-charges-for-giving-china-chipmaker-10nm-tech-executives-and-researchers-allegedly-leaked-dram-technology-to-china-based-cxmt-resulting-in-trillions-of-losses-in-korean-won

The Wednesday’s gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

During the next 24 hours, the Epic Store will give away The Callisto Protocol : https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-callisto-protocol.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Unreal RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod Now Supports the Return to Na Pali Expansion
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/unreal-rtx-remix-path-tracing-mod-now-supports-the-return-to-na-pali-expansion/
Modder ‘mstewart401’ has released a new version of his RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for the first Unreal that adds support for the Return to Na Pali expansion. As such, you can now experience both the main game and the expansion pack with real-time path tracing.
Created by mstewart401, this mod adds real-time Path Tracing to the classic Unreal game. It includes fully ray-traced lighting, dynamic shadows, and amazing emisive effects. It also adds PBR materials. As such, surfaces will now react to light more realistically with better metals, roughness, and depth. Some world objects and props have also been replaced to make the game look even more detailed and modern.
What’s also great here is that you don’t even have to buy the game. Since Epic made Unreal freeware, you can simply download it from GitHub. Then, you can apply the mod, and you will be good to go. Without paying a single dollar, you can enjoy a modern remaster of this classic Unreal game.
You can download the full game from this link. Then, you have to download and install the Unreal 227k_12 Patch from this link. Finally, you can download and install the RTX Remix Mod from here.
Owners of the NVIDIA RTX 50 series GPUs were constantly crashing with the previous version of Unreal RTX Remix. You can see those crashes in my video at the end of the article. So, I’m not sure whether the modder has fixed those crashes. I’m downloading it right now, and I will report back with my findings.
>> The video is almost 4 minutes long.

Dr. Mario 64 Unofficial PC Port Is Available for Download
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/dr-mario-64-unofficial-pc-port-is-available-for-download/
Mario fans, here is something special for you today. An unofficial native PC port of Dr. Mario 64 has just been released, allowing you to experience this Mario game natively on PC. This is a must-have for everyone who wanted to play this 2001 tile-matching action puzzle game on PC.
Dr. Mario 64 Recomp focuses on improved rendering, smoother motion, and quality-of-life enhancements while remaining faithful to the original game. Dr. Mario 64 Recomp renders the pills on the GPU instead of the CPU. Thus, it will run smoothly on a wide range of PC systems. Moreover, it has interpolation support for smooth 60+ FPS gameplay. There is 4-player controller support, as well as CRT filters.
This unofficial PC port is similar to all the other PC ports of the console-only games we’ve covered in the past. In other words, it does not contain any assets. As such, you’ll also need its ROM file, otherwise, you won’t be able to run it. To be more precise, you’ll need the US version.
>> The article doesn’t have a link to the ROM, for obvious reasons, but it has an over 10 minutes video of the port.

GAMING NEWS

007 First Light Has Been Delayed Until May 27th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/007-first-light-has-been-delayed-until-may-27th/
IO Interactive has announced that its upcoming James Bond game, 007 First Light, has been delayed until May 27th, 2026. The game was meant to come out on March 27th, 2026. This means that 007 First Light has been delayed by two months.

The second part of the gaming news:

Turns out that Fallout: New Vegas beta stuffed with cut content also contains early versions of the DLCs with some big differences
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/turns-out-that-fallout-new-vegas-beta-stuffed-with-cut-content-also-contains-early-versions-of-the-dlcs-with-some-big-differences/
PCG recently reported on what our own Jody Macgregor called a "humdinger" of a Fallout: New Vegas discovery: a pre-release build of the game from a month before it went on-sale. The find was made by a new YouTube channel called Games' Past, and is two gigabytes larger than the release version of New Vegas and filled with cut or altered content that the team has been slowly teasing out.
Now there's more. The pair of Xbox 360 devkits that contain the build also have a drive containing early versions, in some cases very early versions, of the New Vegas DLC. The recovered files include PDBs with debug information that's invaluable in reverse-engineering efforts, and now the intrepid explorers have accessed cut content from the expansions, although some of it is far from what would be considered playable.

Grand Theft Auto could have been a globetrotting series like Assassin's Creed, according to former Rockstar technical director: 'We had ideas about GTA games in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Istanbul' while 'Tokyo almost actually happened'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/grand-theft-auto/grand-theft-auto-could-have-been-a-globetrotting-series-like-assassins-creed-according-to-former-rockstar-technical-director-we-had-ideas-about-gta-games-in-rio-de-janeiro-moscow-and-istanbul-while-tokyo-almost-actually-happened/
Outside of a trip to London in 1997, Grand Theft Auto has always stuck to fictional analogues of American cities for its settings. But there is a reality where Rockstar's hugely successful crime epic is as globetrotting as Assassin's Creed. According to Rockstar North's former technical director Obbe Vermeij, the company toyed with numerous international locations at various moments in its history. And at one point, we very nearly had a Grand Theft Auto set in Japan.

The games industry pays tribute to the late Vince Zampella: 'Thank you, Vince—You were one of the good ones'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/games-industry-titans-pay-tribute-to-the-late-vince-zampella-thank-you-vince-you-were-one-of-the-good-ones/
Yesterday brought the tragic news that Vince Zampella, co-founder of Call of Duty studio Infinity Ward and head of Respawn and Ripple Effect at Electronic Arts, died in a car crash in north Los Angeles. A passenger in the car was also killed in the crash.
(...)
In the 24 hours since the news broke, industry figures have been sharing their shock at Zampella's death, and memories of their time working with him. One word of warning: while preparing this article I did the usual Google / social media searches for Zampella's name. If you do that on sites such as X you risk coming across some widely distributed footage of a crash: you don't want to see it, and it's also unclear whether the clips are legitimate.
>> I’ve seen the footage and, to me, it looks fishy.

Polish analyst adds fuel to rumors that The Witcher 3 will get new DLC in 2026 to set up The Witcher 4
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/polish-analyst-adds-fuel-to-rumors-that-the-witcher-3-will-get-new-dlc-in-2026-to-set-up-the-witcher-4/
It's been 10 years since the debut of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and nine since the release of the second and final expansion, Blood and Wine. But while CD Projekt is now full steam ahead on The Witcher 4, there are rumblings—not much more than vibrations, really—of something new coming for Witcher 3.
Ears pricked up following a Strefa Inwestorów report (Google translated) quoting Noble Securities analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski predicting a Witcher 3 expansion for May 2026.
>> I doubt it, but we’ll see. Talking about The Witcher, tho, did you know that Netflix released a movie with Dolph Lundgren this last October? (link)

And here’s the rest of the news:

Fallout 4's lead designer reckons it is the 'most replayable' game in the series thanks to its interweaving quests, which I'm sure will go down swimmingly with New Vegas sickos
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/fallout-4s-lead-designer-reckons-it-is-the-most-replayable-game-in-the-series-thanks-to-its-interweaving-quests-which-im-sure-will-go-down-swimmingly-with-new-vegas-sickos/

Hideo Kojima says Super Mario Bros. 'was the catalyst that brought me to the game industry', and made him realise 'this medium would one day surpass movies'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/hideo-kojima-says-super-mario-bros-was-the-catalyst-that-brought-me-to-the-game-industry-and-made-him-realise-this-medium-would-one-day-surpass-movies/

Hollow Knight: Silksong player discovers Hornet's taunt does damage, proceeds to spend hours trying to beat every boss with it: 'This is like watching Sisyphus push the boulder and win'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/hollow-knight-silksong-player-discovers-hornets-taunt-does-damage-proceeds-to-spend-hours-trying-to-beat-every-boss-with-it-this-is-like-watching-sisyphus-push-the-boulder-and-win/

Electronic Arts shareholders vote overwhelmingly in favor of Saudi-led takeover
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/electronic-arts-shareholders-vote-overwhelmingly-in-favor-of-saudi-led-takeover/

There will be no more news during the rest of the week. Until then, I wish you all Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays! I wish you have some great days, cool gifts and enough time to enjoy our hobby and play some games.

Have fun!

Merry Christmas everyone.
If the Vince Zampella tragedy is any example... Stay safe on the roads this silly season.

Also a massive thanks to JEMC and Jizz for their tireless efforts in posting news and information consistently all year round... And everyone who engages with it.
Even though Zarx isn't with us anymore, I am sure he would be happy to see the thread still going after all these years.

Thank you!

The news alone wouldn't make it what it still is today so thank you Pem and the rest for keeping this thread alive.

On a lighter mood, Oh, my God. I hadn't checked my Steam Replay before and it's hilarious!

I mean, I know it would be bad since I decided to spend most of my time this year playing games on other stores, but it's even worse that nI thought:

https://store.steampowered.com/replay/76561198021652235/2025

Only 4 games and a bunch of demos

It won't be too difficult to do better next year.

The guys at Guru3D have something for us:

*** NEW COMPETITIONS ***

Guru3D 2025 Christmas Eve Competition: Win an MSI Prize Pack GeForce RTX 5070 12G INSPIRE 3X OC
https://www.guru3d.com/review/guru3d-2025-christmas-eve-competition-win-an-msi-prize-pack-geforce-rtx-5070-12g-inspire-3x/

There are 4 prizes:

• GeForce RTX 5070 12G INSPIRE 3X OC
• MSI STRIKE PRO WIRELESS
• FORCE GC300 WIRELESS
• VERSA PRO WIRELESS

Guru3D 2025 Christmas Day 1 Competition: Win a Palit GeForce RTX 5080 GameRock
https://www.guru3d.com/review/guru3d-2025-christmas-day-1-competition-win-a-palit-geforce-rtx-5080-gamerock/

Both competitions will last until the 31st of December and are GLOBAL.

Good luck!

Today's free game on the Epic Store is Disco Elysium - The Final Cut: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/disco-elysium

https://store.steampowered.com/replay/76561197983772456/2025
I didn't do much better. I spend to much time playing games off GOG and Battle.net. 

At-least we both support Age of Empires!

Those two games are almost eternal. Ensemble did an amazing job with them.