Anyone watching Blizzcon?, it's on live right now.

Grabbed a second monitor and streaming all the Overwatches while I am busy with other things. - It will be all the Blizzcons after that.

Apparently we're soon going to witness history. Intel is planning to introduce mobile CPUs with AMD GPUs inside.

Sounds fun.

The video of it is definitely fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHs_guCp2o

Monday news:

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

GOG's weekly sale is now live, featuring games from Strategy First and also 1C Publishing. Games like King's Bounty, Mena of War or Jagged Alliance can be yours for up to 85% less: https://www.gog.com/promo/20171106_weekly_sale_1c_strategy_first

SOFTWARE

Steam data suggests gamers are ditching Windows 10, but there’s another explanation
http://www.pcgamer.com/steam-data-suggests-gamers-are-ditching-windows-10-but-theres-another-explanation/
There is an interesting trend happening on Steam. A look at its hardware and software survey indicates a massive drop in Windows 10 usage—it is down more than 18 percent in the month of October, while Windows 7 jumped 22.45 percent. The two OSes effectively swapped places, with nearly two thirds of Steam gamers now using Windows 7, and just over a quarter of gamers rocking Windows 10. Are gamers ditching Windows 10 in droves? Should Microsoft be concerned?
The answer to that is, 'probably not.' At first glance, it appears there is a mass exodus from Windows 10, which could occur if something catastrophic happened, like the discovery of a major vulnerability like Windows has never seen before. But that hasn't happened. The much more likely explanation is that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' popularity in China is the reason why the two OSes traded spots.

>>Here's a possible answer to your doubts, Conina.

AMD's latest GPU driver aims to improve performance in Call of Duty: WWII
http://www.pcgamer.com/amds-latest-gpu-driver-aims-to-improve-performance-in-call-of-duty-wwii/
With so many games on the horizon, you can expect a frantic pace of new GPU driver releases from AMD and Nvidia. Today it was AMD that released a new Crimson ReLive 17.11.1 driver package for Radeon graphics card owners, with an emphasis on Call of Duty: WWII performance.

>>You can get them from here

MODS/EMULATORS

Brutal Doom Version 21 Public Beta is now available to everyone
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/brutal-doom-version-21-public-beta-now-available-everyone/
Modder ‘Sergeant_Mark_IV’ has launched the public beta phase for Brutal Doom version 21. Even though this beta is more stable than v20b and has a giant list of new things implemented, it still is unfinished. This basically means that the modder still hasn’t implemented all the features that will be available to it.

>>You can download the Beta from moddb.

Brutal Wolfenstein 3D Version 5.0 Demo is now available, featuring reworked weapons and sprites
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/brutal-wolfenstein-3d-version-5-0-demo-now-available-featuring-reworked-weapons-sprites/
Modder ‘ZioMcCall’ has released a demo for the upcoming 5.0 version of Brutal Wolfenstein 3D. As its title suggests, this mod for Wolfenstein 3D brings the chaos, enhancements and improvements found in Brutal Doom. And it looks retro-amazing.

>>You can also get this mod from moddb.

This mod adds 30 brand new levels with co-op support to Monolith’s classic shooter, Blood
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/mod-adds-30-brand-new-levels-co-op-support-monoliths-classic-shooter-blood/
Modder ‘Bloatoid’ has released a new version of his Death Wish mod for Blood. Death Wish adds a new campaign with over 30 new levels, cut scenes, and more. In addition, these new maps have been modified for co-op play.

>>Guess what, you can also download this mod from moddb.

The Witcher 3 – Beautiful Grass Mod Version 3 is available, further improving the game’s grass
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/witcher-3-beautiful-grass-mod-version-3-available-improving-games-grass/
Back in October, we informed you about a grass mod for The Witcher 3 called Beautiful Grass. Created by modder ‘Boostin4kix’, this mod aims to make the game’s grass look closer to the pre-downgraded E3 version. And today, the modder released a new version of it.

>>For a bit of a change, this time you can download the mod from nexusmods.

Fan-made Gothic 2 mod claims to add 250 hours to the RPG
http://www.pcgamer.com/fan-made-gothic-2-mod-claims-to-add-250-hours-to-the-rpg/
What if you took Piranha Bytes' much-loved RPG Gothic 2 and made it four or five times bigger? That's the question that a fan-made mod called Gothic 2 Returning claims to answer, adding more than 300 new quests, 100 named NPCs and enough swords to bring down an army of cave trolls.
The main catch is that the voice acting is in Russian (with English subtitles), and at the moment there's no English installation guide. If you speak Russian or German you can follow the instructions here or here. You'll need a copy of Gothic 2 to install it. You can obviously auto-translate them if you don't mind filling in some of the gaps, but the creators are creating an English guide soon, alongside a let's play of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Starcraft 2 goes free to play on November 14th
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/starcraft-2-goes-free-play-november-14th/
Blizzard has announced that Starcraft 2 will go free to play on November 14th. Beginning November 14th, players around the world will get free access to the full award-winning Wings of Liberty campaign and the multiplayer competition of StarCraft II’s ranked ladder, including all the latest units and balance updates through the latest release in the series, Legacy of the Void. Players will also enjoy expanded access to StarCraft II’s highly popular co-op mode, with all Co-op Commanders playable for free.

Runic Games, creator of Torchlight, has shut down
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/runic-games-creators-torchlight-shut/
Runic Games, the team behind Torchlight and HOB, has announced that it is closing down. We don’t know the reasons behind this closure, though we can assume that the latest game from Runic Games, HOB, did not sell well.

>>Wow, I wasn't expecting that! Very sad news.

Halo Wars 2 now supports crossplay between Xbox One and PC
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/halo-wars-2-now-supports-crossplay-xbox-one-pc/
As promised, 343 Industries has released a patch that adds crossplay support between the Windows 10 and the Xbox One versions of Halo Wars 2. According to the release notes, crossplay will be supported for Campaign, Blitz Firefight, Terminus Firefight, Custom Games, and all unranked playlists.

3D Realms Wants You To Play Test Their New Title
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/3d-realms-wants-play-test-new-title/
From classic games of Duke Nuken 3D, Wolfenstein 3D and Shadow Warrior, 3D Realms has quite a few respected titles amongst the gaming community. Now the developer is taking it one step further and allowing for gamers to play test their new announced title.

Despite controversy, Assassin’s Creed Origins’ DRM has secured its first week sales
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/despite-controversy-assassins-creed-origins-drm-secured-first-week-sales/
At the time of writing, and after over one week, the game has not been cracked yet. Considering all the latest Denuvo games that were cracked in just a day, this is definitely a win for Ubisoft. We don’t know whether other developers will implement a similar protection system in order to protect their games. However, and since Ubisoft will not remove its protection system from its games, we’d like to see more games using this combination. The reason? Quite simple actually. We want to see whether any future games will stress the CPU similarly to what Watch_Dogs 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Origins are currently doing.

Part 2 of the news, with so many articles from Blizzard, that I've had to do a sub section only for them:

Wild West Online rides into early access, full release later this year
http://www.pcgamer.com/wild-west-online-rides-into-early-access-full-release-later-this-year/
Gun-slinging MMO Wild West Online will enter non-Steam Early Access on November 15, offering early purchasers the chance to shoot their way through 100 quests. The servers will be live 24/7 for the first time, and would-be cowboys will fire 20 historically-modeled guns, hunt animals, mine for gold, unlock new gear and upgrade their horses (which is the bit I'm most looking forward to).

PUBG developer apologises for hackers, vows to adopt stronger anti-cheat measures
http://www.pcgamer.com/pubg-developer-apologises-for-hackers-vows-to-adopt-stronger-anti-cheat-measures/
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' anti-cheat service is banning as many as 42,000 players a day but it's still not enough, with some matches plagued by hackers. It's a fact that the development team apologised for earlier today, adding that it is introducing new measures to catch players that are ruining the game for everyone else.

Remastered version of .hack//G.U. RPG trilogy lands on Steam
http://www.pcgamer.com/remastered-of-hackgu-rpg-trilogy-lands-on-steam/
The PS2 .hack//G.U. series of action-RPGs has slashed onto Steam, offering all three games in the trilogy plus a new, fourth chapter called Reconnection.

Two 15-year-olds made this promising 2D action platformer
http://www.pcgamer.com/two-15-year-olds-made-this-promising-2d-action-platformer/
Alter Army is a fast-paced 2D action platformer currently in development at Vague Pixels, a small indie studio based in Jaipur, India. How small is the studio? Well, Vague Pixels has two members: Mridul Pancholi and Mridul Bansal. They are both 15 years old.

A new Destiny 2 Faction Rally starts next week, here's what you need to know
http://www.pcgamer.com/a-new-destiny-2-faction-rally-starts-next-week-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
Destiny 2 Faction Rallies are restricted to players who have reached level 20 and finished the campaign, so if you're not there yet and have no idea what "factions" are, don't sweat it—go finish the game and then come on back when you're done. (Don't feel a need to rush, though, these are repeating events.) For everyone else, since the new one announced yesterday will be the first Faction Rally that PC players can take part in, read on.

>>As it's usually the case with Monday news, the event starts this week, tomorrow to be more precise.

Destiny 2's 'hitching' issue to be hotfixed tomorrow (updated)
http://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-2s-hotfix-solves-one-performance-problem-but-creates-another-worse-one/
You know the old saying: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if it is broke, make sure you don't break something more important when fixing it. Unfortunately, that seems to be what happened to today when Bungie rolled out a hotfix as part of the 1.0.6 Patch, which was intended to solve the performance degradation being caused by a bug that also means clan rosters were not displayed in-game.
UPDATE (November 5) : Bungie has announced hotfix 1.0.6.2 will roll out on Monday, November 6 (or November 7 in the southern hemisphere).

Perception's haunted house revamped with new difficulty modes and plot points
http://www.pcgamer.com/perceptions-haunted-house-revamped-with-new-difficulty-modes-and-plot-points/
Perception had an interesting premise—you controlled a blind woman navigating a haunted house using echolocation—but failed to impress Samuel in his review thanks to its cut-and-paste environments and lack of inventive scares. Developer The Deep End Games this week attempted to address some of the horror game's big issues with an update that adds two new difficulty modes, boosts the frame rate, streamlines the plot and reworks the checkpoint system.

Multiplayer FPS Squad is having a free weekend starting Thursday
http://www.pcgamer.com/multiplayer-fps-squad-is-having-a-free-weekend-starting-thursday/
Squad may still be in alpha but it's good enough already for you to consider jumping in: Evan named it in his list of best Multiplayer FPSes you probably aren't playing (and the reload animation for its M4 is one of the best in gaming). If you haven't formed your own band of brothers yet then you'll get your chance next weekend—the game is free from Thursday (November 9) at 10am PST.

Futuristic shooter Ironsight coming to Western PCs with beta later this month
http://www.pcgamer.com/futuristic-shooter-ironsight-coming-to-western-pcs-with-beta-later-this-month/
Ironsight, a futuristic multiplayer FPS from South Korean developer Wiple Games, is coming to Western PCs later this month with a closed beta that launches November 14. Its multiplayer matches look fast and furious and from what I can tell it's in the mould of the modern Call of Duty games—the guns have virtually no recoil and you'll call in airstrikes, pilot attack drones and throw sticky grenades.

Minecraft players will choose a new mob during Minecon Earth
http://www.pcgamer.com/minecraft-players-will-choose-a-new-mob-during-minecon-earth/
At this year's Minecon (called Minecon Earth) players will be able to vote for the next mob coming to Minecraft. The shortlist has been whittled down to four, and the candidates include a stingray, a monstrous squid with a mouth that splits four ways, and what looks like some kind of dog/crocodile mashup with a bulbous head.

Decksplash's free week is here, game still a long way from it's 100,000-or-cancelled player goal (Updated)
http://www.pcgamer.com/decksplashs-free-week-is-here-game-still-a-long-way-from-its-100000-or-cancelled-player-goal/
There were strong reactions all round when Bossa Studios announced that it would cancel its skateboard turf-war game Decksplash if it didn't reach 100,000 players during a free week. That free week is now upon us, lasting until next Friday, and so far around 7,000 players have jumped on board since the launch on Thursday, according to Steam Spy.
UPDATE (November 6): Decksplash developer Bossa Studios has been in touch with some more up-to-date figures for the game's free week. Since the event launched on Thursday, there have been 27,261 'first-time downloads', a daily average of around 5,500.

Pillars of Eternity: Definitive Edition arrives later this month, includes brand new items
http://www.pcgamer.com/pillars-of-eternity-definitive-edition-arrives-later-this-month-includes-brand-new-items/
Pillars of Eternity: Definitive Edition is coming out on November 15, developer Obsidian Entertainment has announced, and it looks to be a decent deal. For $39.99 you'll get the excellent isometric RPG plus both parts of its beefy expansion, The White March. At the moment, you can buy them combined for slightly cheaper, but that's a time limited deal on Fanatical (the renamed Bundle Stars) that runs out tomorrow.

Call of Duty: WWII's social hub is empty because of connectivity problems
http://www.pcgamer.com/call-of-duty-wwiis-social-hub-is-empty-because-of-connectivity-problems/
Call of Duty: WWII's social hub isn't all that social at the moment. High player volume since launch has caused connectivity problems across all platforms, and one of the fixes has been to make Headquarters a solo experience for now, Sledgehammer Games said yesterday.

Elder Scrolls modders are crowdfunding their own RPG about bears and spirit animals
http://www.pcgamer.com/elder-scrolls-modders-are-crowdfunding-their-own-rpg-about-bears-and-spirit-animals/
A group of Elder Scrolls modders have banded together to make Witanlore: Dreamtime, an action RPG about humanoid bears called Ursines and their spirit totem animals. The Druid Gameworks team—who were previously responsible for popular Oblivion mods such as Kvatch Rebuilt and Reclaiming Sancre Tor—put their game on Steam Early Access in January but have hit some financial trouble that could derail the project. So they've turned to Indiegogo, searching for around $135,000.

And now, the Blizzard sub-section:

• Hanzo and Alextrasza confirmed as the next Heroes of the Storm characters: http://www.pcgamer.com/hanzo-and-alextrasza-confirmed-as-the-next-heroes-of-the-storm-characters/
• The next Overwatch map is a Blizzard theme park called Blizzard World: http://www.pcgamer.com/the-next-overwatch-map-is-a-blizzard-theme-park/
• New Overwatch hero Moira announced at BlizzCon: http://www.pcgamer.com/new-overwatch-hero-moira-announced-at-blizzcon/
• Blizzard is making Vanilla servers for World of Warcraft: http://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-is-making-vanilla-servers-for-world-of-warcraft/
• Overwatch's Scott Mercer says addressing toxic players "is an issue across Blizzard": http://www.pcgamer.com/overwatchs-scott-mercer-says-addressing-toxic-players-is-an-issue-across-blizzard/
• See the Warcraft, Starcraft crossover skins coming to Overwatch: http://www.pcgamer.com/new-overwatch-skins/
• World of Warcraft will soon have level-scaling for all of Azeroth: http://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcraft-will-soon-have-level-scaling-for-all-of-azeroth/
• Blizzard is ditching WoW's PvP servers for an opt-in system: http://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-is-ditching-wows-pvp-servers-for-an-opt-in-system/
• Blizzard on 'reintroducing' Blackthorne and The Lost Vikings: 'We talk about it quite a bit': http://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-on-reintroducing-blackthorne-and-the-lost-vikings-we-talk-about-it-quite-a-bit/
• The Overwatch team originally considered making a multi-class MMO called Crossworlds http://www.pcgamer.com/the-overwatch-team-considered-making-a-multi-class-mmo-called-crossworlds-before-landing-on-the-hero-shooter/

And I was looking around to purchase a laptop for my sister.
Now I have to tell her what I always do, let's wait yet another year

Yeah... I still have my doubts that this is the whole reason.

For example: the Mac and Linux share both halved within 2 months (macOS from over 3% to 1.6% and Linux from 0.7% to 0.35%).

For this to happen, the Windows base must have grown about 100% while the absolute numbers of Macs and Linux systems stayed around the same as before

Who hasn't said that at least once?

What I find amazing is that we've been waiting for AMD to make that move for a lot of time since they were the ones that invested in HBM and launched products with it. And now, when they finally have a CPU architecture worth buying and energy efficient that would be perfect for this kind of thing, they sell their graphics tech to Intel and let them launch it first.

It's like a joke. 

Well then, if that's not it (at least, not all), it must be a combination of several things working together to make this month's stats a mess. We will have to wait until we have the stats of November to see if Valve have managed to fix it or if these are the numbers we'll have from now on.

But Valve should really come out and say something about it. It's their credibility that's in doubt.

xD

The first "official" sightings of the Ryzen mobile chips came a few weeks ago: https://videocardz.com/newz/hp-envy-x360-spotted-with-ryzen-5-2500u-and-vega-graphics

Guess I'll wait for CES and maybe some price ranges will be disclosed. Either way I might just buy her the laptop during the Dutch tax-free days which is normally around the end of January.