EA's luring program has updated their "On the House" with Dungeon Keeper.
https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house
Have they also updated the site? It looks different here.

The PC forum is getting livelier, I wonder if we should make a freebie thread? I'm becoming more and more dutch lately, so there's nothing better than a giveaway, even if it's shit. Already made a Ubi30 thread, but was thinking of doing one for Origin... or should we make it generic? Any takers? Should I call dibs?

Sad. But true. There was one bloke on here a few years ago who told me that CPU's will never ever exceed 4ghz.
As soon as AMD released it's first 4ghz CPU, I messaged him and he still flatout denied it, even with all the proof. Haha

****

As for Hardware... A Geforce 960 would be roughly equivalent to a Radeon 7970/280X/380X.

.. Which is between a Radeon 460 and 470.

Can't say much about Euro pricing... But Australia is typically expensive.

However...
* Quad Core AMD 7650K 3.3ghz APU. - $129
* Asrock Motherboard. - $79
* Silverstone Case - $49
* 1 Terabyte HDD. - $69
* Corsair 550 watt PSU. - $65
* Radeon 470 OC - $289
* 8Gb Ram - $59
For a total of $739 you have a VR capable PC.

If you threw roughly another $50 in you could get a 6-Core AMD 6300 chip which would be worth the jump IMHO and another $50 would get you a Radeon 480.

You can pick up a Gear VR for about $88-$98 down from $150 if you wait for the right opportunity to arise.
The price on VR-capable hardware is constantly coming down in price... By the time Sony releases it's VR solution, there would likely be further price movements in favour of the PC.

I've been thinking about it this night (don't sleep well lately), and I think the account thing is only for the GeForce Experience thing, which is something that Nvidia said would do a few months ago, but not the actual game drivers.

We'll need someone without the G.E. to tell us if he/she needs to create an account to install the new drivers.

Early(-er) this year Basil made a thread about free games and competitions to win games and hardware, but I don't know if he didn't had enough time or got bored with it and asked to get it closed.

I wouldn't mind having a similar thread, but you must have something better than Ubi's monthly and EA's once-in-a-while free games to make it work.

By the way, wccftech has an article where they claim that AMD will launch VEGA at the end of this year.

Given that they don't cite any sources or mention where they got this info, and the fact that AMD themselves listed Vega for "1H2017" in their latest investors meeting (source: AMD's own slides), I'm not giving their article any credibility, and I'm just posting it here to warn you about it.

He was pricing it in Euro's. I'm pricing it in Australian.

You are looking at about $827 AUD to jump into VR in the land down under on PC.

PS4 you are looking at $438 for the base console and $549 for the VR headset which is $938.
If you want the Pro console, it's $559 which brings the total to $1108 AUD.

But let's round the PC up to $900 and round down the PS4 Pro+ VR to $1100.
That's still a $200 difference in hardware costs or roughly 22%.

There is obviously other costs as well. I.E TV vs Monitor, Audio, Peripherals, Online, Game Prices that should be taken into account as well.

Things will get interesting once we have Raven Bridge. You might be able to get a VR powered PC for a few hundred bucks cheaper.

But in retrospect, considering there is only a few hundred dollar price difference, the deciding factor should come down to the games you like.

Nice. It says the Fury Pro will have a TDP of 230W!

I hope that becomes true. It may mean that AMD still is a bit behind in perf/watt, but it means they're making the card as powerful as they can. I'm hoping for it to become 10-15% faster than a GTX 1080, but slightly slower than a 1080Ti.

Yea but now, you have to go to their website in order to install drivers again instead of automatic updates and shadowplay as well as the game thing is locked behind the account system. All I m saying is that its a lot more nonsense than it needs to be.

And my 1080 arrived. Let's see what kind of defect this one is sporting.

Time for the last news of the week.

In yesterday's Oculus conference, there was a few VR games announced. It's because of that that today I'm making a special VR section to put all those news into one place, so it's easier for you to skip it completely in case you're not interested.

1-VR Games

Metro 2033 DEVELOPER ANNOUNCES Arktika.1, AN OCULUS TOUCH-EXCLUSIVE FPS
http://www.pcgamer.com/metro-2033-developer-announces-arktika1-an-oculus-touch-exclusive-fps/
After weeks of teasing, Metro studio 4A Games has finally revealed its new project as Arktika.1, a "big, atmospheric shooter" that's designed exclusively for the Oculus Touch.

EPIC GAMES ANNOUNCES NEW VR FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER, Robo Recall
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/epic-games-announces-new-vr-first-person-shooter-robo-recall/
Epic Games has just announced a new VR first-person shooter exclusive to Oculus Touch, Robo Recall. In order to celebrate this announcement, Epic Games released the debut trailer for this brand new game that can be viewed below.

THE ORDER: 1886 DEVELOPER REVEALS NEW VR FIRST-PERSON TITLE, LONE ECHO
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-order-1886-developer-reveals-new-vr-first-person-title-lone-echo/
Ready at Dawn has announced a new VR first-person title exclusive to Oculus Touch, Lone Echo. In order to celebrate this announcement, Ready at Dawn released its launch trailer that can be viewed below.

EVE: Valkyrie GETS CO-OP MODE IN PLAYSTATION CROSS-PLATFORM UPDATE
http://www.pcgamer.com/eve-valkyrie-gets-co-op-mode-in-playstation-cross-platform-update/
Sci-fi dogfighter and Oculus Rift debutante EVE: Valkyrie will receive its latest update today—named Joint Strike.
Ahead of Valkyrie's PlayStation VR launch on October 13, Joint Strike sets Rift players up for cross-platform support with their console cousins, and sees a range of new features introduced to the space-flung multiplayer shooter.

2-The usual news

BIOSHOCK: THE COLLECTION – NEW PATCH IMPROVES FOV, ADDS SUPPORT FOR 21:9 RESOLUTIONS, IMPROVES MOUSE
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/bioshock-the-collection-new-patch-improves-fov-adds-support-for-219-resolutions-improves-mouse/
2K Games has released a new patch for BioShock: The Collection. According to the release notes, this patch makes Field-Of-View adjustable from 75 to 130, adds support for 21:9 resolutions, improves the mouse functionality and improves overall performance.

MAFIA 3 – UPDATE WILL ADD SUPPORT FOR HIGHER FRAMERATES, POST-LAUNCH PC IMPROVEMENTS PLANNED [UPDATE]
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/mafia-3-update-will-add-support-for-higher-framerates-post-launch-pc-improvements-planned/
Hangar 13 has issued an official statement about the state of Mafia 3’s PC version. According to the development team, an update will add support for higher framerates. Although there isn’t any ETA, Hangar 13 aims to release this patch very soon.
UPDATE:
According to the development team, a patch that will add an option for 30fps, 60fps and unlimited fps to Mafia 3 may be released this weekend.

THE SILVER CASE REMASTERED & WRC 6 ARE NOW AVAILABLE
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-silver-case-remastered-wrc-6-are-now-available/
Grasshopper Manufacture and Bigben Interactive announced the release of The Silver Case Remastered and WRC 6, respectively. The Silver Case Remastered is an adventure visual novel game, while WRC 6 is a rally racing game.

FINAL FANTASY XV DIRECTOR HAJIME TABATA CLAIMS THAT IT WOULD TAKE A YEAR TO CREATE A PROPER PC VERSION
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/final-fantasy-xv-director-hajime-tabata-claims-that-it-would-take-a-year-to-create-a-proper-pc-version/
Final Fantasy XV is a game that has been rumoured to be coming to the PC. Even though Square Enix has not officially revealed anything yet, we are pretty sure that it will, eventually, hit our platform. And according to its director, Hajime Tabata, it would take a whole year to create a proper PC version of it.

>>Well, that tells us how long we'll have to wait until S-E decides to launch the game on PC. Or they may do it earlier, as we all know that the game will come to PC and that they're already working on it. In any case, go to Basil's thread to share your thoughts.

BERSERK AND THE BAND OF THE HAWK GETS A NEW GAMEPLAY TRAILER
http://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/berserk-and-the-band-of-the-hawk-gets-a-new-gameplay-trailer/
KOEI Tecmo has released a new gameplay trailer for Berserk and the Band of the Hawk. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is a new tactical action game that blends the gameplay of Dynasty Warriors with the world of BERSERK. The game is coming to the West on February 24th.

DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED – NEW PATCH OFFICIALLY ADDS DX12 SUPPORT, FIXES VARIOUS BUGS
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/deus-ex-mankind-divided-new-patch-officially-adds-dx12-support-fixes-various-bugs/
EIDOS Montreal and NIXXES have released a new patch for the PC version of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. This patch adds DX12 support (no longer listed as a beta) and fixes a number of bugs that have been reported.

The second news post:

CLOCKWORK EMPIRES, THE ELDRITCH HORROR COLONY SIMULATOR, WILL BE OUT THIS MONTH
http://www.pcgamer.com/clockwork-empires-the-eldritch-horror-colony-simulator-will-be-out-this-month/
Clockwork Empires, the "colony explosion simulator" that mashes together The Sims and Cthulhu in a strange, steampunk world, has been in Early Access for a couple of years now. It's undergone a number of updates over that span, including one in which Frontier Naturalist and Man of Science Amon Chalkbracket unearths a strange artifact, turns into a fishman, and runs away to the sea (which I mention mainly because of his fantastic name). A beta began in May, and today developer Gaslamp Games announced that it will go into full launch on October 26.

IT LOOKS LIKE OVERWATCH IS GETTING HALLOWEEN-THEMED LOOT BOXES
http://www.pcgamer.com/it-looks-like-overwatch-is-getting-halloween-themed-loot-boxes/
A slip of the lip from the Xbox Store, captured by the quick-fingered folks ofReddit, suggests that Halloween Loot Boxes are coming to Overwatch. Each loot box will contain up to four cosmetic items, according to the leaked description, "including at least one Halloween skin, highlight intro, emote, victory pose, player icon, voice line, or credits that you can use to unlock other items."

COUNTER STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE MONETISES AND LIMITS GRAFFITI SPRAYS
http://www.pcgamer.com/counter-strike-global-offensive-monetises-and-limits-graffiti-sprays/
After years of player-led lobbying, Valve has reintroduced graffiti sprays to Counter-Strike. There is, however, a catch.
Absent since Counter-Strike: Source, graffiti sprays have now been added to Counter Strike: Global Offensive as consumable patterns—which means players can obtain them in one of three ways: purchasing individual patterns from the Steam Market; purchasing Graffiti Boxes which "feature art created by Steam Community Artists"; or collecting patterns via free weekly drops as rewards for ranking up.

DEMOCRACY 3 DEV TEASES FIRST PRODUCTION LINE PRE-ALPHA FOOTAGE
http://www.pcgamer.com/democracy-3-dev-teases-first-production-line-pre-alpha-footage/
Last week, Positech Games' Cliff Harris announced Production Line—a complex isometric car manufacturing sim that echoes the likes of Car Tycoon and Factorio. In order to succeed, players must "constantly subdivide the production process in order to squeeze every possible optimisation and making each stage of the production line as simple and fast and efficient as possible," so says thegame's site, and while Harris noted the game is in the earliest stages of development, he's now released some intriguing pre-alpha footage.

INSIDE USED A REAL LIFE HUMAN SKULL TO CREATE ITS MUSIC AND SOUND
http://www.pcgamer.com/inside-used-a-real-life-human-skull-to-create-its-music-and-sound/
Inside—Playdead's haunting indirect Limbo follow-up—revels in its fleeting moments of terror and obstinate violence. Minus words, Andy described its narrative as one told with a "hazy, dreamlike quality" where its meaning is "open to interpretation." Without words, much of that interpretation is levied by sound and music—some of which was recorded through a real-life human skull.

>>That's disgusting.

GET THE DARK SOULS SERIES CHEAP IN THIS BANDAI NAMCO STEAM SALE
http://www.pcgamer.com/get-the-dark-souls-series-cheap-in-this-bandai-namco-steam-sale/
Bandai Namco is offering significant discounts on its Steam catalogue this weekend, which means all of the Dark Souls games can be had for not much money. Not much, though that depends which one you want: Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition can be purchased for $4.99, while Dark Souls II is available for $13.74. As for the most recent instalment, you'll need $38.99.

And talking about sales:

+Steam

• Sniper Elite 3 is free to play this weekend, and has a 80% off discount http://store.steampowered.com/app/238090/

+GOG

• This weekend's publisher promo features EA and a slew of its games https://www.gog.com/promo/20161007_weekend_promo_ea_collection

And that's it for the week. Have a nice and gaming weekend.