Was also fine on my Linux work laptop a couple of years ago while running several virtual machines, among other things. Getting a new laptop was certainly an improvement, but I don't feel like the tight RAM fit was ever an issue. Meanwhile a colleague had issues with 8 GB on Windows much before that... If you need a breath of air for a low-RAM PC, just install Linux.

I forgot about Linux, I may try it one day. 

Someone at MSoft saw the Macbook Neo and thought they should do the same, but they forgot how bloated and memory hungry Windows is.

What a waste of a product.

Windows 11 ran like arse on my old 4GB laptop with discord and a Firefox tab and it was already chugging and ran much better on Linux whilst my newer 16GB laptop I bought 1.5 years ago has never even booted into Windows just installed Linux the moment I got it there's not really much point in Windows in general anymore unless your productivity tasks specifically require it.

AMD Prepares Entry-Level Radeon RX 9050 GPU, Comes in 8 GB & 4 GB, With The Latter Cutting The Memory Bus In Half

https://wccftech.com/amd-preps-entry-level-radeon-rx-9050-gpu-comes-in-8-gb-4-gb-flavors/

Surface Laptop Ultra RTX Spark performance revealed several weeks before launch

https://videocardz.com/newz/leaker-reveals-surface-laptop-ultra-nvidia-rtx-spark-performance-weeks-ahead-of-launch

TCL launches fourth-generation WOLED monitors with up to 480Hz refresh rate

https://videocardz.com/newz/tcl-launches-fourth-generation-woled-monitors-with-up-to-480hz-refresh-rate

HKC to debut tri-mode 1300Hz gaming monitor and 12K 83.4-inch ultrawide display

https://videocardz.com/newz/hkc-to-debut-tri-mode-1300hz-gaming-monitor-and-12k-83-4-inch-ultrawide-display

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro to support AI upscaling and frame generation

https://videocardz.com/newz/snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-pro-may-support-ai-upscaling-and-frame-generation

Xbox owners of 13 Ubisoft games receive PC versions at no extra cost

https://videocardz.com/newz/xbox-owners-of-13-ubisoft-games-receive-pc-versions-at-no-extra-cost

Digital-only future teaser: Xbox goes down days after PlayStation outage

https://videocardz.com/newz/digital-only-future-teaser-xbox-goes-down-days-after-playstation-outage

NVIDIA Hikes Graphics Card Prices For The Third Time This Year And By Up To 30%, As Distributors Enter Panic Mode

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-hikes-graphics-card-prices-for-the-third-time-this-year-and-by-up-to-30-as-distributors-enter-panic-mode/

Intel 18A-P and 14A gain Cadence’s full EDA toolchain, tightening the ecosystem push to challenge TSMC’s foundry lead

https://wccftech.com/intel-18a-p-14a-gain-cadence-full-eda-toolchain-tightening-the-ecosystem-push/

The Tuesday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

GOG doesn’t have any new sales or promo, but has announced that two titles of the Star Ocean franchise have landed on the store. And, to celebrate that, the games will be between 50 to 60% off until the 9th of August. Check them out here: https://www.gog.com/en/news/the_legendary_star_ocean_series_has_arrived_on_gog

Steam ha new deals and sales/events:

• FOR HONOR is going to be 85% off until Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/304390/FOR_HONOR/
• Forbidden Solitaire will have a 25% discount until the 10th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/Forbidden_Solitaire/
• Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates will be 33% off until August 10: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3549020/Caribbean_Legend_Age_of_Pirates/
• The Early Access Stoneshard , that has a demo, has a 35% discount that will last until the 10th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/
• Terra Invicta is going to be 50% off until the same August, the 10th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1176470/Terra_Invicta/
• These are the new sales/events:
  • Monochropoly is a sale full of games with a limited range of colours (mostly black and white). There are upcoming releases, demos and games up to 85% off. The length of the deals vary, : https://store.steampowered.com/curator/46149935/sale/Monochropoly2026
  • From Poland With Love 2026 brings upcoming releases, demos and games on sale with up to 94% discounts. The length of the deals also vary from game to game: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/FromPolandWithLove2026
  • WB LEGO Franchise Sale has mostly Batman games with up to 90% discounts. Most, but not all, deals will end by the 10th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/WBLegoFranchiseSale
• And there are also new weeklong deals

The Humble Store has two new sales:

• Koei Tecmo Publisher Sale has games on sale with up to 80% discounts and will last 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/koei-tecmo-summer-sale-26/
• WB LEGO Franchise Sale will have games up to 90% off during 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/lego-franchise-sale/

Fanatical has the new VIP Mystery Bundle has three unknown games and will last and unknown amount of time: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/vip-mystery-bundle.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 610.88 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-610-88

HIGHLIGHTS
Game Ready for Halo: Campaign Evolved & Gears of War: E-Day Beta
This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS and RTX technologies including Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day Multiplayer Beta, and Mistfall Hunter.

FIXED ISSUES
Fixed Gaming Bugs:

• [Halo: Campaign Evolved]: Resolved game crashes observed on RTX 50 Series GPUs with R610 drivers. [6259837]
• Path of Exile 2: Fixed intermittent long pauses that could occur after extended gameplay sessions in DX12 mode [5090018]
• Silent Hill F: Gaming stability improvements [6432954]
• [Strange Brigade/Zombie Army 4:Dead War]: Game may crash when exiting if NVIDIA App In-Game Overlay is enabled [6392324]
• Improves frame pacing in certain DX11 games when Smooth Motion is used while GSYNC is enabled [6300603]

Fixed General Bugs:

• RTX Dynamic Vibrance is incorrectly applied to Wallpaper Engine [6244021]
• Paint.NET may crash during launch when NVIDIA Surround is enabled [5366537]

You won't have to worry about limited bandwidth or data now that Valve has fixed local network game transfers on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/you-wont-have-to-worry-about-limited-bandwidth-or-data-now-that-valve-has-fixed-local-network-game-transfers-on-steam/
One saving grace of a flat mate is setting up 'family sharing' on each other's Steam libraries at the earliest opportunity. Another saving grace is leveraging local network game transfers to then have a go at whichever game has become your roommate's flavour of the month, and judging them accordingly.
Recently though, Steam's local network game transfers hadn't been working as intended. For instance, some folk would attempt to kick off a local transfer, only for Steam to download via the internet instead. That's less than ideal if your bandwidth is scarce or you're working with limited data. Thankfully, Valve shipped a fix to the stable channel of the Steam Client on Monday.
That means, you should now be able to transfer games between gaming desktops, laptops, and handhelds like the Steam Deck once more—so long as you've got the most up to date version of the Steam client installed. Stick with me, because I'll tell you how to check Steam is up to date on your PC and Steam Deck.

After leaving Epic Games last month, its former 'Unreal evangelist' is now building his own game engine
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/after-leaving-epic-games-last-month-its-former-unreal-evangelist-is-now-building-his-own-game-engine/
In June, Sjoerd De Jong—an Unreal Engine modder and map creator turned full-time specialist at Epic Games—announced that he was leaving the company after 12 years as a senior director and Unreal Engine "lead evangelist." In a cryptic departure message, he said the games industry was at a "pivotal point," and he's aiming to "work out how to adapt and excel" at addressing the changing needs of videogame development.
We now have a clearer idea of De Jong's plans for navigating the games industry's future. In an interview with This Week in Videogames, De Jong revealed what he's tackling next: He's building a game engine of his own.
De Jong's nascent game engine competitor is called the Immens Engine, and he's building it alongside a small team of co-founders that includes former Epic technical director Arjan Brussee.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

-Nothing today-

GAMING NEWS

Gears of War: E-Day Multiplayer Open Beta Begins on August 6
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/gears-of-war-e-day-multiplayer-open-beta-begins-on-august-6/
NVIDIA has revealed that the multiplayer open beta phase for Gears of War: E-Day will begin on August 6. Moreover, the green team has released a new driver that you can get from here.

The second part of the Tuesday gaming news:

Blade and Magik lead as Marvel Tōkon's most popular characters during its beta
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/blade-and-magik-lead-as-marvel-tokons-most-popular-characters-during-its-beta/
The Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls beta has been and gone, and while I'm not usually a fighting game person, oh boy did this new superhero tag fighter have the sauce. It was only marred by the fact that PlayStation Network was down for almost the entire opening day, and its PC performance was terrible at best for many—I was one of the lucky few who didn't have any issues.
The highlight of the beta was, as you'd expect, getting to grips with the roster—16 of the 20 available in the full build. I saw a hell of a lot of Blade and Iron Man in my matches, and it turns out I'm not alone.
Fighting game content creator AlietteFaye gathered data from their high-tier Viranium-rank matches to crunch the numbers and figure out who the most popular heroes are. Overall, Blade and Magik were tied for the top position, followed up by Iron Man, Magneto, and Black Panther. Danger, bless her, was right at the bottom.
>> The devs have apologized for the poor performance of their game on PC and are working on a fix (link).

Cyan releases teaser for the first new Myst game in 20 years, then breaks the news that it's not actually being made
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/cyan-releases-teaser-for-the-first-new-myst-game-in-20-years-then-breaks-the-news-that-its-not-actually-being-made/
Myst was a massive success: Not only was it the best-selling PC videogame of all time for years, it helped usher in the CD-ROM era, opening the door to expansive new technologies and previously unseen levels of fidelity in gaming. In 1993, Myst was nothing short of a revelation.
The fortunes of Myst, and developer Cyan Worlds, have waned since then. (...)
The studio laid off "roughly half" its staff in 2025, leading PC Gamer's Justin Wagner to write that "it's galling to see a historic indie like Cyan Worlds hit so hard" by the brutal, ongoing contraction of the game industry. Justin sure wasn't wrong about that, but some folks are finding this even more galling: Over the weekend Cyan released a teaser for a new Myst game, codenamed Project Anglerfish, which looks really good—and then said it's not in development because apparently publishers aren't interested.
Cyan said it spent about four months developing a prototype for the game in 2025, which was "purpose-built for publisher-eyes only," as was the teaser video. "For a variety of reasons, this project couldn’t move forward at the time, BUT we’re still proud of the work the team did—so we’re sharing the teaser for the prototype with you all now."

'Wtf is going on': Indie dev discovers their neglected Steam game is powering an Undertale multiplayer mod following its freak 1700% jump in player activity
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/wtf-is-going-on-indie-dev-discovers-their-neglected-steam-game-is-powering-an-undertale-multiplayer-mod-after-noticing-its-freak-1700-percent-jump-in-player-activity/
A few months ago, indie developer RetroSpecter noticed something unusual about Crashphalt, their first completed game that launched on Steam in 2018: Since their last check-in on the neglected platformer, Crashphalt had suddenly gained over 500 reviews. In its first four years, it had barely managed a dozen.
And almost none of those new reviewers had anything to say about Crashphalt itself. Mostly, they just talked about Undertale.

Cringe '90s stoner icons Jay and Silent Bob are getting a cosy farming sim, but wait for it: you farm weed
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/cringe-90s-stoner-icons-jay-and-silent-bob-are-getting-a-cosy-farming-sim-but-wait-for-it-you-farm-weed/
Jay and Silent Bob first appeared in the 1994 grunge film Clerks as eccentric weed dealers. Jay was the sweary, loquacious, long haired slacker, and Silent Bob was the silent, ruminative long haired slacker. They were cult figures in the '90s. Most of my teenage friends thought they were very funny, and Clerks is still a fun time capsule of the early '90s.
(...)
More recently they've started getting their own videogames: Jay and Silent Bob Mall Brawl is a 2020 sidescrolling beat 'em up developed for NES but also ported to PC and consoles. In April, Atari published Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch, which is also a sidescrolling beat 'em up but with a modern comic book presentation. There are also two Jay and Silent Boss phone games, and an in-development VR game, and they both cameoed in Black Ops 6. Talk about selling out!
Now they're back again: Jay and Silent Bob's Joint Venture is a cosy farming sim about running a farm. "Armed with some old tools, a handful of seeds, and a couple of questionable business partners, you'll turn a trashed yard into a thriving weed business," the Steam description reads. "Get your hands dirty doing things the way it used to be done before corporate cannabis moved to town – slinging dank dimes outside the Quick Stop!"

Arc Raiders is changing its matchmaking again to fully soothe your self-defence fears
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arc-raiders-is-changing-its-matchmaking-again-to-fully-soothe-your-self-defence-fears/
Over the past few months, Embark has been pulling some levers behind the scenes to improve Arc Raiders' matchmaking. Despite the devs previously saying matchmaking wasn't "binary," it didn't feel like that in practice. My solo lobbies were peaceful walks in the park, while trio lobbies were much more violent.
From these experiments, "one change has stood out with the community," Embark explains in a new blog outlining changes. That being, "defending yourself is no longer treated the same as starting a fight."
At launch, fighting back against aggressors would, for some reason, contribute to your playstyle profile, so to speak. In a mythbusting update at the end of May, defending yourself was finally changed so that it mattered less than initiating the fight, but it was still considered aggression.
In today's update, 1.39.0, defensive PvP no longer has any impact on your matchmaking tendencies: "Only the fights you choose to start will influence your playstyle estimate, and defending yourself won't affect it at all."

Nioh 3's first DLC hits in August, brings new weapons, a trip to the (sort of) future, and there's a mega-hard difficulty mode for the sickos
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/nioh-3s-first-dlc-hits-in-august-brings-new-weapons-a-trip-to-the-sort-of-future-and-theres-a-mega-hard-difficulty-mode-for-the-sickos/
I will be truthful: if you grabbed me by the lapels and demanded I tell you when Nioh 3 came out, I would answer something along the lines of 'the late 1980s'. The fact that the third Nioh—a rather good game, per our 90% Nioh 3 review—only released in February of this year feels like a weft in the tapestry of space-time.
But so it was, and so it is that Nioh 3 will, on August 19, get its first DLC in the form of Hell Rising: "Our protagonist and appointed shogun, Takechiyo, journeys through time and is led to Edo in the future by an unknown yokai he met in his dreams," goes the blurb.

Next year's Fallout 76 major expansion will explore a 'prequel story to Fallout 3'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/next-years-fallout-76-major-expansion-will-explore-a-prequel-story-to-fallout-3/
A few weeks ago Bethesda Studios hit the big red button and announced that both Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas remasters are in pre-production, but that wasn't all—there was also news of Fallout 76's next major expansion.
"Fallout 76 continues to be home to millions of players exploring Appalachia together," an official news post from Bethesda explains. "With nearly 70 free updates released to date, the journey is far from over. In fact, we have a major Fallout 76 expansion planned for next year; Raven Rock, a prequel story to Fallout 3."

I'm pretty sure we know Final Fantasy 14 Evercold's second job, unless Soken's playing a big trick on us
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/im-pretty-sure-we-know-final-fantasy-14-evercolds-second-job-unless-sokens-playing-a-big-trick-on-us/
Call me delusional, but I think I—well, a collection of sharp eyes from the Final Fantasy 14 community—have cracked what Final Fantasy 14: Evercold's next job is going to be. We were introduced to the Bastion during the latest fanfest, but we've still got one more job to go—a job we happen to know is a ranged physical dps.

Since there’s only one short form article, I’ll also post it here:

EA is 'a hedge fund with a videogame hobby,' former Dragon Age boss says, and that's why he reckons the series is probably dead and buried
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/ea-is-a-hedge-fund-with-a-videogame-hobby-former-dragon-age-boss-says-and-thats-why-he-reckons-the-series-is-probably-dead-and-buried/

It feels surreal that Linux has advanced and improved so much in just a few years while at the same time Windows have gotten worse and intrusive that, for a lot of regular folks, going with Linux is actually the best course of action.

For f*cks sake AMD! Is it really that hard to give two GPUs with different specs different names? Even a simple LT or something like that in the lower-end one would be enough.

Nice and surprising move from two companies from whom I wouldn't have expected such move.

Microsoft says Xbox outage should not have blocked disc games

https://videocardz.com/newz/microsoft-says-xbox-outage-should-not-have-blocked-disc-games

Gigabyte RTX 4060 boards may burn due to faulty VRM design

https://videocardz.com/newz/gigabyte-rtx-4060-boards-may-burn-due-to-faulty-vrm-design

Steam Machine gets AMD FSR 4.1 support and official external CAD files

https://videocardz.com/newz/steam-machine-gets-amd-fsr-4-1-support-and-official-external-cad-files

AMD confirms Radeon RX 9050 4GB exists, but it is OEM-only

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-confirms-radeon-rx-9050-4gb-exists-but-it-is-oem-only

Intel Nova Lake desktop APU with 12 Xe3P graphics reportedly needs 65W power tier for full performance

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-nova-lake-desktop-apu-with-12-xe3p-graphics-reportedly-needs-65w-power-tier-for-full-performance

Chinese chipmaker shares surge nearly 470% in blockbuster stock market debut

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q9w3x9qn2o

Nvidia employee detained in Taiwan as part of chip smuggling probe — held on suspicion of falsifying business documents, company says smuggling 'a nonstarter'

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/nvidias-taipei-office-searched-as-taiwan-detains-employee-in-ai-chip-smuggling-probe

Here come the gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Pragmata defies my expectations by selling 2.5 million copies in just 3 months as Capcom celebrates a very successful start to 2026
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/pragmata-defies-my-expectations-by-selling-2-5-million-copies-in-just-3-months-as-capcom-celebrates-a-very-successful-start-to-2026/
Capcom just released its Q1 2026 financial report, and to absolutely no one's surprise, the company is doing well, really well. But to my surprise, so is Pragmata. As part of the report Capcom shared sales figures for its recent releases, and Pragmata sold more than 2.5 million copies since it was released earlier this year.
Now, to be clear this isn't because I think Pragmata is a bad game—I liked its old-timey shooter vibes and QTE hacking when I played its preview way back when. And Justin Wagner really loved its puzzles, main duo, and "poignant" narrative moments in our Pragmata review. But even still it's a completely new story from Capcom with no existing fanbase to go to bat for it.
I also felt that its release fell a little flat as hype seemingly petered out rather quickly—I certainly didn't feel the need to tell the world about my adventures around the collapsing moonbase. Nevertheless, I'm happy that Pragmata was successful and that it translated into healthy sales numbers. Hopefully this gives Capcom renewed confidence when it comes to pursuing new worlds and ideas.
Capcom also touts the Devil May Cry animated series and the latest Resident Evil game as facets that "helped to drive sales", with Resident Evil Requiem selling over 8 million copies since its release—a sizeable jump from its 6 million units sold back in March.
All of this success means that Capcom is "on track to achieve its full-year earnings forecast" as net sales increase 54.7% year-on-year, alongside a 66.9% year-on-year increase in operating profits. It's certainly a massive improvement on last year's report which was hampered by cratering Monster Hunter Wilds sales, falling more than 95% from its launch quarter. It ended up selling fewer copies in Q1 2025 than Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 4 remake, and Resident Evil Village—so yeah, it's only up from there.
>> firebush03  has made a thread about Capcom’s financial results.

Subnautica 2 is responsible for Krafton's 'record second quarter performance' despite the messy legal battle and accusations of sabotage
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/subnautica-2-is-responsible-for-kraftons-record-second-quarter-performance-despite-the-messy-legal-battle-and-accusations-of-sabotage/
Subnautica 2 might be a chill survival game, but the journey to May's early access launch was filled with drama, legal battles and accusations of sabotage. Just recalling it all is giving me a massive headache, which I'm now going to give to you.
(***And I am going to save you from those next three paragraphs***)
Krafton, meanwhile, has been trying to draw a line under the whole mess by celebrating Subnautica 2's success. Today, it announced a record second quarter performance, with reported revenue of KRW 1.29 trillion and operating profit of KRW 410.9 billion, both the highest they've ever been for the second quarter.
"The success of Subnautica 2 and steady growth of the PUBG IP were the main drivers" of this, it said in a press release. PC revenue has exceeded KRW 500 billion for the first time, too, and is much higher than console and mobile revenue—though both have still risen year-over-year.
But Subnautica 2 has also cost the publisher a lot, thanks to the expensive acquisition and, more recently, the $250 million earnout. While the KRW 410.9 operating profit is a new record, the net profit actually shows a deficit of KRW 29.9 billion.
>> Krafton isn’t cool enough to get its own thread.

GOG has launched the Revolution Software Publisher Sale, featuring games up to 90% off during the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20260727_revolution_publisher_sale

Steam only shows two new deals and one event:

• Drug Dealer Simulator 2 will have a 51% discount until the 4th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708850/Drug_Dealer_Simulator_2/
• ENDLESS Legend is going to be 90% off until the 11th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/289130/ENDLESS_Legend/
• And the event is: Adult Heaven Showcase. It goes without saying that this is a NSFW event, with upcoming releases and games on sale with up to 75% discounts that will end between the 3rd and the 10th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45750054/sale/AdultHeavenShowcase

Fanatical’s new Star Deal is Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes , 78% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 26.7.1 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/amd-radeon-software-adrenalin-26-7-1

HIGHLIGHTS
New Product Support

• AMD Radeon™ RX 9050

New Game Support

• Gears of War: E-Day Open Beta Early Access
• Out of Control Evolution

FIXED ISSUES

• Model flickering or rendering failure may be observed in Maxon Cinema 4D and Blender on Radeon™ RX 7000 series and above graphics products.
• Intermittent application crash may be observed on some models while running Blender on Radeon™ RX 7000 series and above graphics products.
• Directional indicator icon may fail to render while playing Fortnite on Radeon™ RX 7000 series and above graphics products.
• Intermittent application crash may be observed in some games with AMD FSR Upscaling 4.1 enabled on Windows® 10 systems for Radeon™ RX 7000 series graphics products.
• AMD FSR Upscaling and AMD FSR Frame Generation may show as inactive in AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition while playing Battlefield™ 6 when enabled on Radeon™ RX 9000 series graphics products.

GOG Galaxy for Linux is officially in the works
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/linux/gog-galaxy-for-linux-is-officially-in-the-works/
GOG Galaxy, GOG's official app, is the best way to play GOG games on PC, and it's been lacking Linux support ever since it arrived. But an official Linux version is reportedly in the works, even if we don't yet have a confirmed date.
That is according to GamingOnLinux, which spoke to joint-CEO Krzysztof Papliński. Papliński said, "Linux continues to be one of the topics we hear the most about from our community, and we really appreciate the passion and patience of everyone who’s been asking about it."
They continue, "Following the role we announced earlier this year, we now have the specialist on board and are actively exploring the best way to approach Linux support for GOG Galaxy. This is a significant undertaking, so while we’re not ready to share any specific plans, timelines, or results just yet, it’s very much an area we’re investing time and effort into. We’re excited about the possibilities and will be happy to share more when the time is right!"

Blizzard's former Battle.net lead is moving his expertise over to the Epic Games Store to 'elevate player, creator, and developer experiences'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/blizzards-former-battle-net-lead-is-moving-his-expertise-over-to-the-epic-games-store-to-elevate-player-creator-and-developer-experiences/
What would it take to make you use Epic's launcher? Free games? Even better revenue for devs? Or perhaps an experience that doesn't make you want to pull your hair out? Well, Epic's already tried the first two, so now it's onto the third as it hires a new VP to oversee and hopefully fix the storefront's struggles.
Martin Keely is the new Epic Games Store VP and GM (via GamesRadar), replacing Steve Allison who left the company earlier this month to join Saber Interactive. Keely's got seven years of experience under his belt with his last role being the SVP overseeing Activision Blizzard's Battle.net launcher—the only launcher other than Steam that doesn't actively piss me off. Which is why I'm actually quite interested to see what Keely does with Epic's launcher.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Modders Have Enabled Local Split-Screen Co-Op in Halo: Campaign Evolved on PC in Less Than a Day
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/modders-have-enabled-local-split-screen-co-op-in-halo-campaign-evolved-on-pc-in-less-than-a-day/
Halo: Campaign Evolved has just been released. And while its console version has local split-screen co-op, the PC version does not. However, in less than a day, modders have enabled it, allowing all PC gamers to enjoy local split-screen co-op with their friends.
There are currently two split-screen co-op mods you can download. So, it’s really up to you to decide which one you prefer. Both of them do the exact same thing.
What’s really funny here is that Halo: Campaign Evolved launched with this mode fully implemented on PC. The devs have not simply enabled it.
The split-screen was already enabled in config. All the split-screen HUD layouts, the sign-in UI, the split-screen VFX variants, and the audio parameters were all still cooked into the game files. So, the co-op mode simply wasn’t exposed in the menus. And that’s where the first mod comes in. It just calls the code that is already sitting there.
The second mod attempts to make some improvements. For instance, it adds independent Player 2 armor and weapon customization. It also introduces settings and customization for Player 2. Furthermore, it adds keyboard/mouse plus controller split-screen mode. It fixes the pause menu and Player 2 UI issues, and it adds an editable Player 2 name.
>> The article has an over 4 minutes long video about one of the mods.

You can now play Morrowind entirely in your browser: 'Honestly just wanted to see if it could be done'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/you-can-now-play-morrowind-entirely-in-your-browser-honestly-just-wanted-to-see-if-it-could-be-done/
With Bethesda making us wait going on 15 long years for the next Elder Scrolls game (I'm not including Oblivion Remastered), we've been left to our own devices. A phenomenon I've noticed spike as of late is calls for a Morrowind remaster, and a lot of chatter surrounding Bethesda's seminal 2002 RPG in general, like game devs weighing in on how it would fare if it came out today, and the history behind The Lusty Argonian Maid. We're all getting cabin fever.
To make up for it not being ported to every platform in existence like its older sibling Skyrim, crafty Reddit user Dumpster Buddy (as spotted by Eurogamer) has somehow managed to get Morrowind running in your browser.
"I got OpenMW (the open-source Morrowind engine) compiling to WebAssembly," they explain, "so the whole game runs in a browser tab now. You open a link and you're standing in Seyda Neen. No install, no launcher."
The most baffling detail is that it's the actual game engine flowing through your browser, "not a stream and not an emulator." It looks exactly like it would if you booted it up from Steam, you can save your progress, and it has controller and mod support. The developer is even considering adding features like multiplayer and a mod manager to their makeshift browser port.
"Getting it there meant rebuilding the parts of the engine that expect a desktop," the creator explains in the associated YouTube video's description. "The renderer (OpenSceneGraph) had to be brought over to WebGL2, and most of the graphics work went into shadows that stop crawling when you move, water reflections done with a custom shader blur, and per-pixel lighting. Hardware anti-aliasing doesn't survive post-processing on WebGL2, so we supersample instead."
But there is a big drawback: you need to have the game files installed so that your browser can read them from your disk, in which case you might as well just play it on Steam. Theoretically, though, as one commenter points out, you could chuck these files onto a portable drive and take your browser-based Morrowind with you on the go, say, on your work computer.
>> The article has the almost 2 minutes video linked in above.

GAMING NEWS

Once again, there are no new DSOGaming articles to share here. Therefore, here are the short ones from PCGamer:

Clair Obscur developers see Sony's no-disk announcement as 'a sad decision', because they 'like to go outside, buy a game, and come back home with it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/clair-obscur-developers-see-sonys-no-disk-announcement-as-a-sad-decision-because-they-like-to-go-outside-buy-a-game-and-come-back-home-with-it/

Silent Hill: Townfall's director finds it 'utterly terrifying to be the next one in the series' but is still confident fans will enjoy the experience
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/silent-hill-townfalls-director-finds-it-utterly-terrifying-to-be-the-next-one-in-the-series-but-is-still-confident-fans-will-enjoy-the-experience/