Amd did the same they took a 5500 and gave it GDDR5 instead of GDDR6 but they called it 5300XT so there was no complains.

Steam Controller has no speaker, but it can still ‘scream’ if dropped

https://videocardz.com/newz/steam-controller-has-no-speaker-but-it-can-still-scream-if-dropped

Micron is now sampling 256GB DDR5 RDIMM modules rated for 9200 MT/s

https://videocardz.com/newz/micron-is-now-sampling-256gb-ddr5-rdimm-modules-rated-for-9200-mt-s

Subnautica 2 reportedly leaks 48 hours before Early Access launch

https://videocardz.com/newz/subnautica-2-reportedly-leaks-48-hours-before-early-access-launch

TCL X11L TV reportedly hits nearly 11,000 nits, living rooms may need sunglasses

https://videocardz.com/newz/tcl-x11l-tv-reportedly-hits-nearly-11000-nits-living-rooms-may-need-sunglasses

NVIDIA Says Five-Year-Old GPUs Are Aging Like ‘Fine Wine,’ As Prices Climb Due To Growing AI Demand

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-five-year-old-gpus-aging-like-fine-wine-prices-climb-due-to-big-ai-demand/

AMD Rolls Out Six New Ryzen PRO 9000 Chips Headlined by the 9965X3D, Months After the SKU First Surfaced Online

https://wccftech.com/amd-rolls-out-six-new-ryzen-pro-9000-chips-headlined-by-the-9965x3d/

Broadcom Targets Mass-Market Broadband With 10G PON and Wi-Fi 8 SoCs

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/broadcom-targets-mass-market-broadband-with-10g-pon-and-wi-fi-8-socs/

These are today’s gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

GOG has the new Vault of Variety Promo , with up to 95% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20260513_vault_of_variety_promo

Steam has two new deals and three sales:

• Drop Duchy will be 40% off until the 19th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2525310/Drop_Duchy/
• Wobbledogs gets a 75% discount until May 26: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1424330/Wobbledogs/
• And here are the three new sales/events:
  • PlayX4 2026 Event features lots of upcoming games and up to 30% deals that will end between the 18th and the 24th of this month: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/PlayX4_2026
• Publisher Skystone Games showcases its upcoming releases and puts its current games on sale, up to 90% off. The deals will end between the 18th and the 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/SkystonePublisherSale2026
• Star Your Engine Festival is all about games with vehicles in them, not just cars, with up to 90% discounts. The deals will end between the 19th and the 26th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45993102/sale/startyourengine2026

Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, 40% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/moonlighter-2-the-endless-vault
• The BYO Indie Showcase Bundle features 20 games for your 3+, 5+ or 7+ bundles and will last 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-indie-showcase-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 596.49
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-596-49

HIGHLIGHTS
Game Ready for Forza Horizon 6
This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS and RTX technologies including Forza Horizon 6, Directive 8020, and Subnautica 2.

FIXED ISSUES
Fixed Gaming Bugs:

• Enhanced smoothness when DLSS Frame Generation is used with V-SYNC. [5999586]

Fixed General Bugs:

• Foundry Mari 7.0v2 viewport displays flickering [6102981]

Valve made more than 27 million unique images for Counter-Strike listings as part of its new 'major update' to Steam's Community Market
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/valve-made-more-than-27-million-unique-images-for-counter-strike-listings-as-part-of-its-new-major-update-to-steams-community-market/
As Steam has grown over the years, so has the Steam Community Market, the online marketplace where Steam users buy and sell in-game items and other digital stuff to one another. To accommodate that growth, Valve has kicked off a beta test for a major update to the market, designed to make it easier to sell your stuff, and buy other people's stuff.
"Over the past few years, the number of games participating in the Market has grown significantly," Valve wrote. "More than 13,000 games now have Steam Community items available on the Market, and more than 700 have in-game items. These game economies have outgrown the Market’s existing browsing and discovery tools, so it's time for an upgrade."
The upgrade in question is very Valve-like, featuring new and expanded tools that provide "a deeper understanding of item data from games," thereby making it easier to find what you want and understand what you're looking at.
Some of it is very basic stuff—bigger listing images, for instance—and other bits, like improved graphs, dive deeper into the data for the benefit of serious buyers and sellers. The market search function has been upgraded with new dynamic filters, and switching between in-game items and community items has also been simplified. You'll also find similar items now grouped together on a single page, and like Steam itself, "a new, wider layout to accommodate a full-width grid of items for sale."

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

How to Install 4K Textures in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/how-to-install-4k-textures-in-the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess-on-pc/
A couple of days ago, we informed you about an unofficial native PC port of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. And, from the looks of it, you can use an HD Texture Pack to overhaul most of its textures to 4K.
In its current state, the texture pack includes over 1.8K custom 4K textures, remade from the ground up. They cover most areas of the game, but some locations, such as some specific interiors or dungeons are not yet fully covered.
According to its creator, this pack is compatible with both recompilation ports (Dusk and Courage Reborn) of Twilight Princess for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. So, no matter your preference, you can download and use it to get a crisper image.
The 4K version of the texture pack is scaled to 8x the default resolution (some textures are as large as 4096×4096). For those who cannot run it, there is also a 1080p version. The 1080p version is scaled to 4x the default resolution (4096×4096 textures become 2048×2048).
You can go ahead and download this HD Texture Pack from here. To install it, you’ll have to copy four folders. These folders are: Languages, QtPlugins, Sys, and User. Then, you’ll have to paste them to the Dusk/texture_replacements folder. And that’s it.
Right now, this unofficial PC port is the best way to experience The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess in 2026. And thanks to this 4K Texture Pack, you can enjoy it with sharp, crisp textures. This is something that will please a lot of Zelda fans. In a way, this feels like a remaster of the GameCube version.
>> There’s a 10 minutes video in the article.

Popular PlayStation emulator clamps down on AI submissions: 'Leave behind something useful to humanity when you're gone, instead of peddling slop'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/popular-playstation-emulator-clamps-down-on-ai-submissions-leave-behind-something-useful-to-humanity-when-youre-gone-instead-of-peddling-slop/
Open-source dev teams have been fighting a rising tide of AI slop contributions ever since LLM tech was loosed upon the Earth, as we documented earlier this year with news that free and open-source game engine Godot was buckling under the weight of AI-generated pull requests (or PRs—that is, code contributions asking to be 'pulled' into the main project).
Well, here's another one. As spotted by GamingOnLinux, popular PS3 emulator RPCS3 has had to come out swinging against the number of LLM-generated pull requests currently being submitted to the project. In a post on X, the devs put it plain: "Please stop submitting AI slop code pull requests to RPCS3. We will start banning those who do without disclosing.
"There are plenty of resources online to learn how to debug and code instead of generating slop that you don't understand and that doesn't work."
Expanding in the replies, the team wrote that RPCS3 has been receiving greater and greater numbers of AI-generated PRs for its macOS build in particular, which most of the project's team do not use save one member, who also handles most of the testing for the emulator on Apple systems. "We have had to revert a few slop PRs that caused big regressions a few times, enough is enough," wrote the team.
In response to questions (and more than a little AI evangelist bellyaching), the devs pointed out that it is not the use of AI code in PRs that is the issue for them, but that it is undisclosed. "We won't ban if disclosed, except for abuse cases, e.g. throwing a lot of random slop at us to see what passes reviews. Hint: programmers that can understand the problem, the solution, and the implementation can write the same code without AI, and tend to use LLMs to automate repetitive code refactoring instead. It is not the case with the AI slop PRs we have seen."

Dark Souls 2 path tracing mod is now available for all, and yes, it inevitably makes the game harder
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/dark-souls-2-path-tracing-mod-is-now-available-for-all-and-yes-it-inevitably-makes-the-game-harder/
Back in February some amazing footage emerged of path tracing implementation in Dark Souls 2. At the time I was pretty impressed, but I didn't have my fingers crossed that the ambitious mod—which is an update to the beloved DS2Lighting Engine Mod—would be available to the public anytime soon.
I was wrong: the DS2LightingEngine mod on Nexus Mods was updated today with path tracing implemented. It's compatible with the Scholar of the First Sin version of Dark Souls 2.
The mod actually released on Discord late last month but is now more widely available on Nexus for people who might not be actively following its development. It's a beta, so you should expect some hiccups here and there, but it's an impressive feat and it brings the often scrappy-looking RPG to life.
It's worth pointing out, as per mod creator Ragevitamins on the DSLightingEngine Disord, that path tracing will inevitably make Dark Souls 2 more challenging, which I'm sure is music to the ears of sickos the world around. If there aren't light sources the game's going to be dark, meaning you'll need to use in-game light items like Prism Stones, torches, or the Cast Light spell if you can't see anything. "If there is a cave without [a] possible light source, it means you must be prepared for the dark."
>> The article has, I kid you not, an over 7 HOURS video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Former Tekken Boss Katsuhiro Harada Creates New SNK Studio “VS Studio”
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/former-tekken-boss-katsuhiro-harada-creates-new-snk-studio-vs-studio/
SNK Corporation has just announced that it has decided to invest in a newly established game development studio founded by Mr. Katsuhiro Harada. For those who did not know, Harada was the boss of the Tekken franchise.

New Screenshots Released for Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-screenshots-released-for-resonance-a-plague-tale-legacy/
Shinobi602 has shared three new screenshots from the third A Plague Tale game, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy. This may be our first proper look at some of the game’s environments. So, if you were a fan of the previous two games, you should definitely check them out.

Part two of the gaming news:

Singleplayer simulated MMO Erenshor is getting raids this summer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/singleplayer-simulated-mmo-erenshor-is-getting-raids-this-summer-and-im-praying-its-simplayers-are-capable-of-messy-dkp-drama/
Last year, solo developer Brian—operating as developer Burgee Media—released Erenshor in early access on Steam to offer the MMO experience he was denied in his EverQuest years by a shoddy internet connection that made group play impossible. It's a fully simulated, singleplayer MMORPG, with dozens of quests, zones, and computer-controlled "simplayers" who'll group up, join guilds, and hunt their own loot.
It's been a successful experiment: At time of writing, Erenshor boasts an impressive 94% positive review rating. And later this year, it'll be adding new endgame challenges for both its real and simulated players: Erenshor's getting raids.

Former NetEase exec's new investment group is funding Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic because 'everyone wins' if you 'give the best creator the opportunity to work on a dream project'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/former-netease-execs-new-investment-group-is-funding-star-wars-fate-of-the-old-republic-because-everyone-wins-if-you-give-the-best-creator-the-opportunity-to-work-on-a-dream-project/
One of the bigger showings at The Game Awards 2025 was the surprise reveal of Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, a successor to the beloved Knights of the Old Republic series being developed under the leadership of original KotOR director Casey Hudson at a new studio staffed with other BioWare veterans.
A year after the project's announcement, we now know how Arcanaut Studios is paying the bills. Bloomberg reports that Fate of the Old Republic is being funded by investment from GreaterThan Group, a new holding company launched by former NetEase president of global investments and partnerships, Simon Zhu.

One of the best rated games on Steam this week is an action platformer where you can parry a giant industrial digger with a chainsaw
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/one-of-the-best-rated-games-on-steam-this-week-is-an-action-platformer-where-you-can-parry-a-giant-industrial-digger-with-a-chainsaw/
If there's one thing I know about human nature, it's that we have a universal affection for a giant, derelict megastructure. Who among us, when presented a hauntingly massive brutalist shape, isn't possessed by a profound, inchoate yearning to clamber all over it like a sort of reverent bug?
Fulfilling that fundamental drive is the basis of Motorslice, an action platformer that released on Steam last week and earned a very warm reception. It also, coincidentally, fulfills the other fundamental human drive, which is the urge to carve into giant hostile machinery with a chainsaw.

Gang of Dragon studio website disappears without notice as NetEase funding dries up
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/gang-of-dragon-studio-website-disappears-without-notice-as-netease-funding-dries-up/
Remember in April, when the Nagoshi Studio YouTube channel disappeared without explanation? Panic ensued—or, at least, mild concern was felt by Yakuza aficionados—because just a month prior to that, NetEase pulled its funding for the studio, leading to the immediate assumption that Gang of Dragon was cooked just a few months after it was revealed. But then the channel just as suddenly reappeared—literally within hours—and sighs of relief were heaved.
Now, though, the situation appears to have gotten significantly worse. The YouTube channel is still there—entirely bereft of content, but extant—but as noticed by Shacknews, the Nagoshi Studio website itself, which the https://www.nagoshistudio.com/">Wayback Machine indicates was alive and kicking as recently as April 24, is gone.

Bioshock lead's fears about Judas were banished by Baldur's Gate 3 gibbing a main character on his second playthrough: 'He was gone'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/bioshock-leads-fears-about-judas-were-banished-by-baldurs-gate-3-gibbing-a-main-character-on-his-second-playthrough-he-was-gone/
Judas, the next game from Bioshock lead Ken Levine, is going to have a lot of branching content in it—if you've been following along with its development, you've probably heard the phrase "narrative legos" more times than you can count on one infusion-enhanced hand.
(...)
Levine, in a recent interview with IGN, says he's fully relinquished the creative desire to make sure players see every little thing in their video game thanks to Baldur's Gate 3: "playing Baldur's Gate, I really understood the power of that. I played a second playthrough, and like one of the main characters got killed very early.
>> Levine also said that the Steam Machine shows we're hitting 'diminishing returns' with bleeding-edge graphics tech (link).

And this is part three of the gaming news:

Protesters 'raid' EA to oppose Saudi Arabia acquisition
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/protesters-raid-ea-to-oppose-saudi-arabia-acquisition/

Path of Exile's overwhelming complexity isn't the real reason new players pass on it, director believes: 'I think that PoE 1's being such an old game is in itself the accessibility problem'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exiles-overwhelming-complexity-isnt-the-real-reason-new-players-pass-on-it-director-believes-i-think-that-poe-1s-being-such-an-old-game-is-in-itself-the-accessibility-problem/

Lies of P studio is hiring an 'AI Creator' for future projects but says the role will not be 'directly involved' in the development of the sequel
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/lies-of-p-studio-is-hiring-an-ai-creator-for-future-projects-but-says-the-role-will-not-be-directly-involved-in-the-development-of-the-sequel/

True 3rd-person view has been hidden in a single Metal Gear Solid 2 variable for 15 years—now we're finally getting it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/true-3rd-person-view-has-been-hidden-in-a-single-metal-gear-solid-2-variable-for-15-years-now-were-finally-getting-it/

Subnautica 2 release date and launch times
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/subnautica-2-release-times/

One of BioShock's directors has been questioning the point of one of its key systems: 'I don't care about how many different plasmids I have'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/one-of-bioshocks-directors-has-been-questioning-the-point-of-one-of-its-key-systems-i-dont-care-about-how-many-different-plasmids-i-have/
>> It’s not Levine, but Jonathan Chey, who is working on his own game, not Judas.

Taking a heroic stand against the holy trinity, 5 bears beat a WoW dungeon on its highest difficulty—Blizzard says oops, quickly reverts 200% buff that caused it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/taking-a-heroic-stand-against-the-holy-trinity-5-bears-beat-a-wow-dungeon-on-its-highest-difficulty-blizzard-says-oops-quickly-reverts-200-percent-buff-that-caused-it/

I didn't know that. Thanks.

Which is incidentally what inspired me of the idea, as it would be pretty similar. Though I didn't remember how big the gap was in MT/s between GDDR5 and GDDR6; using GDDR5 would cut the bandwidth to about a third, which is way too slow even for an entry-level GPU.

Five-year old GPUs alludes to the professional GPUs like Hopper, but on desktop we got the RTX 3000, which is so memory-starved that the generation, which looked great at first glance, aged pretty badly.

This will definitely not help making emulators better.

This here, however...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjYmSniQyM

Wonder if similar tests can be made for other, newer consoles, too.

Depends on actual RTX 30 series GPU:

- 3050 6GB - 2024 card with memory capacity of GTX1060 from 2016...bitch, please

- 3050/3060 8GB - can struggle with higher settings even at 1080p

- 3060Ti/3070/3070Ti with 8GB - yeah definitely

- 3080 10GB - still chugging along, but you definitely feel lack of memory in modern games (I have this one, needs to go away, but now it's definitely not the time)

- 3060 12GB/3080/3080Ti 12GB - mostly still fine, especially 3060 12GB (also have this one), since it's aimed at 1080p, but 3080s are hitting EOL with 12GB in higher resolutions

- 3080 20GB/3090/3090Ti 24GB - perfectly fine for few more years.

The 3090 was the only one that had enough memory from the start, along with the 12GB 3060.

3080 having less memory than a 1080Ti is imo an even bigger sin than the 3050, and the 3080Ti and later 3080 models only having a single GB more is basically nothing.

While the 12GB allows them to survive, the 3070Ti should already have come with that back then. 8GB already started to be limiting the card when it was in its prime.

Yeah, if you look at launch models, only 3060 12GB (which is launch model) and 3090 make sense - 3080 20GB came later. I got that 3080 10GB second hand, so can't say I'm sorry...well, that much...though I can see it being obsolete sooner that 3060.