The Tuesday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here) for the Top 100)

GOG has a new GIVEAWAY: Silence will be free to get during the next 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/silence

Fanatical’s new Star Deal is ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN , 33% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/elden-ring-nightreign

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 610.74 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-610-74

HIGHLIGHTS

Game Ready for DOOM: The Dark Ages | Revelations
This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS and RTX technologies including

• DOOM: The Dark Ages | Revelations
• Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced

FIXED ISSUES

• Tencent Meeting: Flickering may be observed when Smooth Motion is enabled globally [6329207]

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

How do you reconcile your lore-heavy, dark sci-fi MMO with mod tools that might let people get way too goofy? 'Everything's canon,' say the developers of EVE Frontier
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/how-do-you-reconcile-your-lore-heavy-dark-sci-fi-mmo-with-mod-tools-that-might-let-people-get-way-too-goofy-everythings-canon-say-the-developers-of-eve-frontier/
Two of the most interesting aspects of early access space survival MMO EVE Frontier always seemed to exist in opposition to me: Its striking, deliberately crafted vision of a dark future, and its uniquely freeform modding ecosystem. How are you supposed to get in the mood of the former if you're at risk of stumbling across somebody's particularly anarchic or memey mod?
When I spoke to some of Frontier's dev team at this year's EVE Fanfest, they had a surprising answer: It's no big thing, that's just what the inhabitants of Frontier's galaxy are getting up to, god help them.
"I don't want to say this is a problem, but this is an evergreen challenge, an evergreen balance to maintain," said Frontier creative director Pavlo Savchuk. "We're really careful about balancing how much we're revealing to them, so that they have enough for role playing, for third party development, and so that they have strong anchors to art direct themselves, which is working surprisingly well."
According to Savchuk, many modders have already gravitated toward Frontier's design language of their own accord, picking fonts, colors, and UI elements that compliment the ones already in the game. And when push comes to shove, the team's priority is making sure Frontier's fiction encourages player expression, rather than disciplining that player base to fall in line with a set tone or aesthetic.

Skyrim Gets a Gothic-Inspired Quest Mod and a Major Thieves Guild Overhaul
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/skyrim-gets-a-gothic-inspired-quest-mod-and-a-major-thieves-guild-overhaul/
Two new quest mods have been released for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition. The first mod brings a Gothic-inspired quest mod. The second one overhauls the Thieves Guild questline. So, let’s take a closer look at them.
Let’s start with The Truth of the Old Cathedral. This is a short adventure that will see the player visit and explore the grounds surrounding a Gothic Cathedral.
Its gameplay is a mixture of combat and puzzle solving. When in combat, players will have to keep moving and not let themselves be surrounded. For puzzles, you can take your time and pay attention to the clues given. You’ll have to keep your eyes open for readable plaques and tablets.
As the modder noted, the area is not designed to be a player home. As such, you should not store any of your items in any of the containers.
You can go ahead and download the mod from this link.
The second mod is a complete overhaul of the Thieves Guild questline. It brings new dialogue lines voiced with spliced vanilla lines, as well as new and alternate scenes to account for your choices.
It is also worth noting that the mod makes all main and side characters fully killable at any point. This includes Mercer, Brynjolf, Karliah, Brand-Shei, Madesi, Keerava, Bersi, Haelga, Sabjorn, Mallus Maccius, Gulum-Ei, and many others.
Most quest items can now be found from the start of the game and can be misplaced. This has direct consequences on the quest where these items are involved. Not only that, but there are now brand new choices throughout most of the quests to truly role-play.
All in all, this is a cool mod that will alter the Thieves Guild questline. Those who have experienced it will now have another reason to complete it in their second or third playthrough. You can download it from this link.
>> The article has two mods, yet it lacks any media for them.

GAMING NEWS

Since DSOGaming doesn't have any articls for this section, I'll share here the short for mat articlsfrem PCGamer:

Xbox's CEO wants its games to cater to 'more than a billion people each day', or 24 times more than the peak population of Steam, which is delusional
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/xboxs-ceo-wants-its-games-to-cater-to-more-than-a-billion-people-each-day-or-24-times-more-than-the-peak-population-of-steam-which-is-delusional/
>> Delusional seems like quite fitting. “Out of touch with reality” was too long.

Legendary former Tekken boss says people don't 'properly evaluate' Hidetaka Miyazaki's 'remarkable' FromSoft career
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/legendary-former-tekken-boss-says-people-dont-properly-evaluate-hidetaka-miyazakis-remarkable-fromsoft-career/

The games industry reacts to Xbox layoffs: 'We are clearly at a turning point'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-games-industry-reacts-to-xbox-layoffs-we-are-clearly-at-a-turning-point/

Kingdom Come: Deliverance star says it didn't lead to work in other games: 'The industry at large has never really given a f***'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/kingdom-come-deliverance-star-says-it-didnt-lead-to-work-in-other-games-the-industry-at-large-has-never-really-given-a-f/

John Romero commiserates with ousted id devs as around half the studio reported axed, says he hopes someone is preserving its work like he did before he left
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/john-romero-commiserates-with-ousted-id-devs-as-around-half-the-company-reported-axed-says-he-hopes-someone-is-preserving-its-work-like-he-did-before-he-left/

The second part of the Tuesday gaming news:

Arkane temporarily spared in Xbox bloodbath thanks to French law, but its future is up in the air
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/arkane-temporarily-spared-in-xbox-bloodbath-thanks-to-french-law-but-its-future-is-up-in-the-air/
In today's announcement of a staggering 3,200 layoffs at Xbox, the fate of one fan (and PC Gamer) favorite studio was left up in the air. Arkane Lyon, the remaining half of the modern immersive sim maestros, appears to be entering negotiations for an indie exit similar to other former Xbox studios.
"In France, Arkane's management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options," Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wrote in her missive on the mass layoffs. Former Kotaku editor Stephen Totilo has more context in his newsletter, Game File.

Bethesda Game Studios and ZeniMax hit hard by Xbox layoffs, says union
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/bethesda-game-studios-and-zenimax-hit-hard-by-xbox-layoffs-says-union/
Today's Xbox layoffs may have hit Bethesda and ZeniMax particularly hard, as reports of "significant" cuts have begun to surface and the Bethesda Game Workers Union says that "many" employees at Bethesda Game Studios have been let go.
>> Zenimax Online seems to have been hit quite hard (link).

It looks like Blizzard's escaped Xbox's grim reset scythe for now, though there's still time to be caught in the second 1600-strong layoff wave coming 2027
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/it-looks-like-blizzards-escaped-xboxs-grim-reset-scythe-for-now-though-theres-still-time-to-be-caught-in-the-second-1600-strong-layoff-wave-coming-2027/
The Xbox reset is afoot, and while there aren't strictly speaking any studio closures yet, with multiple developers in the process of moving elsewhere, the shockwaves from its impact are still being felt across Xbox's continually-shrinking staff. (...)
The evidence points towards Blizzard escaping the reaper's scythe, for now. First up is this Windows Central article, which both quotes anonymous sources to the affirmative and has an email from Blizzard President Johanna Faires that reads: "While you can expect to hear more details regarding the day's events and what they mean for Blizzard in further communications."
>> Sadly, Obsidian hasn’t been so lucky (link).

IO Interactive says Project Fantasy isn't dead, but confirms that layoffs are happening
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/io-interactive-says-project-fantasy-isnt-dead-but-confirms-that-layoffs-are-happening/
Hitman and 007 First Light developer IO Interactive announced last week that it had lost funding for Project Fantasy, an "online fantasy RPG" first announced in 2023, and that as a result, "we have to adapt to this new reality and its short-term consequences, including staffing decisions." That sure sounded like layoffs were incoming, and today, the studio confirmed it, saying that it is closing its studio in Istanbul and beginning the layoff process for an unspecified number of employees.
"Following the end of our external finance partnership on Project Fantasy, IOI has regained full ownership of the project and our IP," the studio wrote on X. "We will continue to develop and fund it independently amongst our other projects.

Arc Raiders has finally added 'one of the most requested matchmaking features' meaning players can now Jekyll and Hyde their way through lobbies
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arc-raiders-has-finally-added-one-of-the-most-requested-matchmaking-features-meaning-players-can-now-jekyll-and-hyde-their-way-through-lobbies/
Understanding matchmaking in Arc Raiders has been something of a white whale for players, especially since we first got confirmation that aggression-based matchmaking did actually play a part in creating lobbies. Since then Embark has been more open about what actually goes into its matchmaking and is more responsive to players who asked for changes, with its latest update adding perhaps the most sought after change.
Following on from the matchmaking survey Embark put out in May Arc Raiders has "implemented one of the most requested matchmaking features," according to the latest patch notes for Arc Raiders. "We now track your playstyle separately for Solo, Duo, and Trio rounds, and match you accordingly.

*Sigh* Here we go again:

A nasty Windows 11 bug is taking upwards of 500 GB worth of storage, and is surprisingly difficult to spot, but there's a fix
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/windows/a-nasty-windows-11-bug-is-taking-upwards-of-500-gb-worth-of-storage-and-is-surprisingly-difficult-to-spot-but-theres-a-fix/
If you've found yourself with much less storage than you otherwise anticipated, to the tune of hundreds of missing gigabytes, there's a chance you've fallen victim to a new Windows 11 bug. That, or you're not very good at managing your storage (same).

As spotted by Windows Latest, this new bug involves the CapabilityAccessManager. This function in Windows 11 is responsible for app permissions like allowing apps to access your camera or microphone. It's a file that can reportedly grow in size, but it shouldn't take up to 500 GB, and it definitely shouldn't hold onto that storage indefinitely.

Good thing the problem got solved. I hope we don't see more cases like this one.

I can't help but wonder how will the market look once the AI craze finally passes.

In one of their Q&As from a couple months ago (I think), Steve from Hardware Unboxed said that CXMT had gone from 4 to an 8% of the market, quite a big jump in a short amount of time, and it got me thinking if going all in with HBME will come back to bite the big three in the butt in the long run by allowing chinese memory makers to expand and gain access to more brands and expanding outside of China.

And if there's someting we all know about Chinese brands is that once they get a foothold, they're here to stay, and they'll be a pebble in the shoes of Samsung, Micron and SKHynix.

The games for Humble Choice July 2026 have been revealed.

• Dicefolk
• Drop Duchy - Complete Edition
• Neon White
• Our Adventurer Guild
• Police Simulator: Patrol Officers
• Sea of Stars
• Sledders
• TUNIC

Thanks for sharing them, Rhonin.

Tunic! Almost bought it in the Steam Sale.

We will probably see a lot of components hit record low in attempts to sell off inventory that they over manufactured like last time. The problem is PC components seems to continuously getting intertwined with the next tech craze. First was cypto, then had a small break for a year or two, now its Ai and then what? I know one architecture is good for business but I really hope we go back to the pascal days of separating gaming focused architecture and datacenter architecture.

Next time memory prices go back down though, I'll be upgrading straight to 128gb while I have the chance 

Sony is having their Disney moment and don't realize what's going to hit them. When the super hero and Disney in general craze was happening, it felt like Disney could do no wrong. Whether it be star wars, marvel or live action remakes, they all made money. Even their shat movies made tons of money. But eventually, especially after End Game, things changed as there was a new Ceo.

Disney's new ceo needed TV shows and content to attract and keep audiences for their streaming service: Disney+. Marvels forte was movies and never really took tv shows seriously. As their focus begun to split between tv shows for streaming as well as movies, we started to see a drastic quality change. They rarely had movies and tv shows that were hits and instead had constant flops. They were no longer making tons of money with bad movies and even good movies were barely making money due to how expensive they were. Even after getting rid of the new ceo and putting back the old one that lead them to their success, the train has crashed. Something like mando and grogu movie got killed in the box office by the likes of smaller and unique films like Obsession and Backrooms.

Does this sound familiar? Perhaps like with Playstations new ceo that chased games as a service instead of the studios forte being single player games. Playstation lost tons of money thanks to their awful leadership and direction. And now they are going nuclear by pissing off all the fans that supported them all these years.

There was a time where Disney thought they could do no wrong. Playstation thinks they same. Even Playstation copied their intros to be similar to Marvels. Which makes the situation all the more hilarious that they are following the same fate.

Just my take

I'm still very happy with my 32 GB DDR4 memory in combination with my Ryzen 5800X3D.

Should be "good enough" until PS6 + Xbox Helix raise the bar... perhaps even another few years in the "crossgen phase".

My Haswell/DDR3 combo also served me well over 7 years through the whole 8th console gen, with my current setup 8 - 10 years should be possible:

Perhaps I skip DDR5 and save my money for an AM6 mainboard and 64 or 128 GB DDR6 memory.