And here’s the third part of the gaming news:

Backrooms actor Chiwetel Ejiofor was surprised to find out the 30,000 square foot set is the first of its kind: 'I thought that somewhere it had been built before'
https://www.pcgamer.com/movies-tv/backrooms-actor-chiwetel-ejiofor-was-surprised-to-find-out-the-30-000-square-foot-set-is-the-first-of-its-kind-i-thought-that-somewhere-it-had-been-built-before/

007 First Light's James Bond (probably) won't be a sexist, misogynist dinosaur: 'Some things fall by the wayside,' IO Interactive says
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/007-first-lights-james-bond-probably-wont-be-a-sexist-misogynist-dinosaur-some-things-fall-by-the-wayside-io-interactive-says/

Valve asks New York court to dismiss Counter-Strike lawsuit, says 'people enjoy surprises' and equating loot boxes to gambling is 'nonsensical'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/valve-asks-new-york-court-to-dismiss-counter-strike-lawsuit-says-people-enjoy-surprises-and-equating-loot-boxes-to-gambling-is-nonsensical/
>> A rather weak argument.

WoW: Midnight's hardcore raiders are on a gold treadmill, with a first-time clear of Mythic Midnight Falls costing around 87,750 gold in repairs alone
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wow-midnights-hardcore-raiders-are-on-a-gold-treadmill-with-a-first-time-clear-of-mythic-midnight-falls-costing-around-87-750-gold-in-repairs-alone/

Witcher 3's heaviest scene stunned its devs into silence, but Cyberpunk 2's associate director says it was crucial for 'understanding the craft' of quest design
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/witcher-3s-heaviest-scene-stunned-its-devs-into-silence-but-cyberpunk-2s-associate-director-says-it-was-crucial-for-understanding-the-craft-of-quest-design/

They took a lot of "inspiration" from Uncharted for the new games, that's for sure. But well, if you still don't have them, now you can get the remasters for free at the Epic Store.

When it comes to movies, I have to admit that I didn't like the ones with Jolie. They were the typical videogame adaptation that doesn't use the source material for anything. The one with Alicia Vikander was better (not that it's hard to do), but it's based on the rebooted games and it looks like it flopped. I don't see Sophie Turner in the role.

The price is just insane. Handheld PCs have gone in three years from a cheaper yet capable alternative to gaming laptops to overpriced devices that can no longer compete with the versatility of those laptops.

It's not like they've become useless, but they've certainly become a smaller niche kind of device than they were.

So, the same MSoft that raised the recomended specs of Win11 to 32GB (link) before lowering them again to 16GB because of the backlash (link), now wants to sell a Win11 computer with only 8GB of RAM.

I'd stay the hell away from that thing.

Talking about requirements, the LEGO Batman that Telltale launched with those outrageous system recomdations has been put to test by Hardware Unboxed and,  other than the 4K ones, it looks like those requirements were full of sh*t:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtOnTm5dqGI

Contemporary media always takes iconic IP and makes changes they never liked about them to begin with.

That Sophie Turner pic doesn't mean anything. 

Here's Rhona Mitra as Lara: 

Doomsday was a was a bad movie, but it showed that she would have been a great Lara Croft in a movie.

And here's a gallery of all the models and actresses that played the part during the promos of the games: https://laracroftonline.com/pictures/tomb-raider-models-images-gallery-page-one.html

Holy shit it looks amazing! Just what I wanted to see out of a modern VF game. 

First one with Angelina was OK - not exactly what I wanted from TR movie, but she was fairly descent as Lara...who is, in her original version, a bit posh, sarcastically witty and confident, instead of whiny traumatized mess that she's in Reboot trilogy.

Not sure if this is the right thread to use, but any thoughts on Vortex mod manager and Nexus mods? I have been eye balling path tracing for Dark Souls 2, some texture packs for Dark Souls 1, etc. Looks really cool, but wasn't sure how safe and easy it is to use. Any experience? Apologies if this isn't the right thread for said questions.

Riot Games on Valorant DMA cheat firmware block: “Congrats to the owners of a brand new $6k paperweight”

https://videocardz.com/newz/riot-games-on-valorant-dma-cheat-firmware-block-congrats-to-the-owners-of-a-brand-new-6k-paperweight

AMD updates Polaris and Vega GPUs driver after long pause

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-updates-polaris-and-vega-gpus-driver-after-long-pause

NVIDIA puts PCs and game consoles under Edge Computing in latest financial results

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-puts-pcs-and-game-consoles-under-edge-computing-in-latest-financial-results

It's so over

Samsung’s Chairman Lee Jae-yong Has Reportedly Slipped Into Taiwan To Steal MediaTek As A Foundry Client From TSMC

https://wccftech.com/samsungs-chairman-lee-jae-yong-has-reportedly-slipped-into-taiwan-to-steal-mediatek-as-a-foundry-client-from-tsmc/

Intel Xeon 6+ “Clearwater Forest” Enters Mass Production on 18A With 288 Darkmont E-Cores, & 576 MB Cache

https://wccftech.com/intel-18a-full-production-clearwater-forest-288-darkmont-cores-576-mb-cache-xeon/

China's new homegrown gaming GPU flops in performance and price — flagship $485 LX 7G100 can't keep pace with Nvidia's older RTX 4060

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/chinas-new-homegrown-gaming-gpu-flops-in-performance-and-price-flagship-usd485-lx-7g100-cant-keep-pace-with-nvidias-older-rtx-4060

Samsung chip workers will get an average $340,000 bonus as AI profits soar

https://qz.com/samsung-chip-workers-bonus-ai-profits-052126

It’s time for the Friday gaming news!

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

One of the hundreds of Warhammer games is currently free to keep forever on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/one-of-the-hundreds-of-warhammer-games-is-currently-free-to-keep-forever-on-steam/
The annual Warhammer Skulls event happened earlier today and it spawned a lot of announcements. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster is a 2D brawler starring a wretched skaven, XCOM-like Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is getting a sequel, and—the announcement in most want of further context—Darktide is getting a cog boy.
And that's not even all. A demo for Boltgun 2 dropped and apparently it's sick (in a good way). You'd be forgiven for feeling a bit flummoxed by all the Warhammer happenings, which is why one of the most important announcements has gone somewhat unremarked upon.
Warhammer 40,000 Gladius - Relics of War is currently free-to-keep if you redeem it on Steam quick smart. I don't know how long the offer lasts, but Epic Games Store, for example, isn't giving it away willy-nilly so I don't think it's a permanent thing. Normally "free game" is a big deal.
>> Several things: you’ll read more about those announcements ,in the second post. Gladius will be free to get until the 28th of May and it has been given away several times in the part so, you may already have it. And it’s not the only free game at Steam...

Bad news for Krafton: Subnautica 2 broke 4 million copies sold in less than a week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/bad-news-for-krafton-subnautica-2-broke-4-million-copies-sold-in-less-than-a-week/
Like a toothy, grinning leviathan prowling the depths, waiting for unsuspecting explorers to come toodling along in hopelessly delicate, defenseless mini-subs Subnautica 2 continues its reign of terror: Unknown Worlds announced today that the game has now surpassed 4 million sales in less that one week.
The latest sales milestone comes after Subnautica 2 pushed out one million copies in its first hour of release, and then doubled that to two million in its first 12 hours. And despite some professed trepidation from Unknown Worlds parent Krafton, the game's early access state has not diminished enthusiasm for it: Subnautica 2 currently holds a "very positive" rating across more than 74,000 user reviews on Steam.

Humble has a couple of deals about Warhammer:

• Humble Bundle presents the Warhammer Skulls 2026 Bundle, with up to 10 games to get during 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/warhammer-skulls-2026-bundle
• Humble Store has the Warhammer Skulls 2026 Sale, with games up to 92% off during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/warhammer-skulls-2026

Fanatical has new Flash Deals, Warhammer and a bundle:

• These are the 24h Flash Deals:
  • Sniper Elite: Resistance has a 52% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/sniper-elite-resistance
  • Tomb Raider I-VI Remastered is 66% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/tomb-raider-i-vi-remastered
  • Legacy of Kain™ Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered features a 69% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/legacy-of-kain-soul-reaver-1-and-2-remastered
• Warhammer Franchise Sale has games up to 92% off. Some deals will end in 3 days while others will last 10 : https://www.fanatical.com/en/franchises/warhammer
• The BYO Bethesda Bundle - GOG Edition (Summer 2026) has 18 games for your 2+, 3+ or 5+ bundles and will last 38 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bethesda-bundle-gog-edition

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Nope-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This Mod Adds 154 New Lore-Friendly Vehicles to GTA 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-mod-adds-154-new-lore-friendly-vehicles-to-gta-4/
Modder ‘DrShagz’ has released a cool new mod for Grand Theft Auto 4 that adds 154 new lore-friendly vehicles to it. And, since this is new free content for the game, I highly recommend downloading it and giving it a go.
According to the modder, these new vehicles will spawn naturally in traffic (apart from some unique vehicles). All vehicles now display manufacturer and model, and all cars have custom audio, including police scanner audio.
It’s also worth noting that DrShagz has added optional handling for all sports cars and motorbikes. He also tweaked and changed the handling for almost all new cars to better fit into the base GTA IV world. This means that this pack may not be compatible with this mod, which adds a fully functional vehicle fuel system.
You can go ahead and download the mod from this link. At the end of the article, you can also find a 20-minute gameplay video for it.

GAMING NEWS

First-Person RPG, Fatekeeper, Will Be Released on June 2nd in Early Access
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/first-person-rpg-fatekeeper-will-be-released-on-june-2nd/
THQ Nordic has announced that its upcoming first-person RPG, Fatekeeper, will be released on June 2nd in Early Access. To celebrate this announcement, the publisher has also shared a brief gameplay trailer that you can find below.

IO Interactive Adds Denuvo to 007 First Light a Week Before Release
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/io-interactive-adds-denuvo-to-007-first-light-a-week-before-release/
IO Interactive will release 007 First Light on May 27th. And an hour ago, the publisher added the Denuvo anti-tamper tech to its Steam store page.

Crimson Desert Update 1.08.00 Drops – 6.3GB Download + Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/crimson-desert-update-1-08-00-drops-6-3gb-download-full-patch-notes/
Pearl Abyss has just released Title Update 1.08.00 for Crimson Desert, which is 6.3GB in size, and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what it brings to the table.