I am a massive Age of Empires fan. Microsoft has already lost a sale here by not having it on Steam.
The memories of Games For Windows Live are still fresh.

Not all NAS units need to be tied to your network, some come with eSATA/USB 3/Firewire/Thunderbolt and can connect directly to your PC.
It's like a giant external Hard Drive that can sit next to your rig.

I am at that point where I can't be bothered opening my rig up to swap drives anymore, rather just have them all external. - But I am about to have 30 terabytes worth of storage, so I am not exactly a "casual" user by any means.

It's Multiplayer is also a desolate wasteland.

To be fair, it looks better in motion and while you are gaming.

And it was far more impressive looking back in 2009 when it released on the 360.
I did buy a copy. :P Yay.

When Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings first released my parents were going to buy it for my birthday.
What a fucking disappointment getting Kings Quest instead because they mixed the names up. Hahaha

Thankfully the shop let us exchange it... And I spent years playing it on Zone.com thereafter on my super fast 56k dial up modem, even dialed into my neighbors computer and would play against them on the weekend.

Yeah, I'm not that heavy of a user. I'd rather touch my PC or anything about it as little as possible. I don't really need the expansion of my storage, I'm doing it on a whim because I have to touch my PC anyway. Unless my PC breaks or I have the urge to get a completely new one I won't ever touch my internal storage. I'm hoping I won't touch my SPC at least for the next 3 years. And I mean that literally.

Last week there was an interesting deal for a data grave with two 10 TB WD Reds: https://www.mydealz.de/deals/western-digital-my-book-duo-20tb-2x-10tb-wd-red-usb-c-raid-1122144

Looks like AMD hasn't been able to fix Zen+ against "Meltdown" and "Spectre", and we'll have to wait until Zen 2 for a hardware fix. The upcoming Zen+ units will simply ship with the software patch applied.

https://www.techpowerup.com/241106/highlights-from-amd-earnings-call-hardened-zen2-and-7-nm-vega-by-2019

Oh, and AMD was in the black again last quarter.

Wait what? Since when was Zen affected by Meltdown?

I think they only name the two vulnerabilities out of habit.

Thursday news:

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

RimWorld has now sold over one million copies
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/rimworld-has-now-sold-over-one-million-copies/
Ludeon Studios has announced that its sci-fi colony sim driven by an intelligent AI storyteller, RimWorld, has sold over one million units worldwide. RimWorld is described as a story generator and it’s designed to co-author tragic, twisted, and triumphant stories about imprisoned pirates, desperate colonists, starvation and survival.

Dragon Ball FighterZ has shipped two million copies, first minor patch now available
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dragon-ball-fighterz-has-shipped-two-million-copies-first-minor-patch-now-available/
Bandai Namco has revealed that Dragon Ball FighterZ has shipped two million copies worldwide. In addition, the company has released a minor patch for its PC version that weights around 2.8GB and fixes one particular issue.

SOFTWARE

-empty-

MODS/EMULATORS

Steamed Hams but it's a Team Fortress 2 map
https://www.pcgamer.com/steamed-hams-tf2-map/
Well, you can add Team Fortress 2 to the growing list of entries into the Steamed Hams meme. A mapper called Whomobile has created a Steamed Hams map for TF2, in which players collect steamed hams and deliver them to Skinner's house, which intermittently catches fire. Players, upon dying, drop steamed hams. (That's what Skinner calls hamburgers. It's an Albany expression.)

GAMING NEWS

2D side-scrolling brawler, Wulverblade, is now available
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/2d-side-scrolling-brawler-wulverblade-is-now-available/
Darkwind Media has announced that its barbaric 2D beat ‘em up Wulverblade is now available on Steam. History fiends and retrogaming fans alike can now purchase this immaculately designed side-scrolling brawler.

Bluehole will ban at least 100K PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds cheaters
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/bluehole-will-ban-at-least-100k-playerunknowns-battlegrounds-cheaters/
Bluehole Studios has announced that it will launch a massive ban wave for PC servers of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) after managing to crack down on at least 100,000 cheaters. The development team discovered a pattern the cheaters have been exploiting to cheat on the game.

Dragon Ball FighterZ online issues are caused by the massive fan support, dev team working on fixing them
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dragon-ball-fighterz-online-issues-are-caused-by-the-massive-fan-support-dev-team-working-on-them/
As we claimed in our PC Performance Analysis, Dragon Ball FighterZ suffers from major online issues. Thankfully, Bandai Namco has acknowledged them, claiming that these issues are caused by the overwhelming support and that the development team is working on fixing them.

Gigantic to be shut down on July 31st
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/gigantic-to-be-shut-down-on-july-31st/
And another one bites the dust. Perfect World Entertainment and Motiga have announced that Gigantic will be shut down on July 31st. Gigantic was free to play and pits teams of five heroes—each with a massive guardian monster—against each other in explosive battles across a variety of fantasy battlefields.

First major update for Fade to Silence Early Access is now available, still suffers from performance issues
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/first-major-update-for-fade-to-silence-early-access-is-now-available-still-suffers-from-performance-issues/
Black Forest Games has released the first of four major patches for the Steam Early Access build of Fade to Silence that addresses the difficulty of the game. With today‘s “Hope“ update, the developers not only added a big overhaul to the weather effects, but also the first part of their so-called “catch-up mechanism“.

Attack on Titan 2 gets a Battle trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/attack-on-titan-2-gets-a-battle-trailer/
KOEI Tecmo has released a new Battle trailer for the sequel to the hugely successful ‘A.O.T. Wings of Freedom’, the titanic action game based on the worldwide anime series phenomenon, Attack on Titan. Attack on Titan 2 will release on March 20th and players will be able to create their own custom Scout.

Third episode of VAMPYR’s webseries features new gameplay footage and focuses on its NPCs
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/third-episode-of-vampyrs-webseries-features-new-gameplay-footage-and-focuses-on-its-npcs/
Focus Home Interactive has released the third episode of VAMPYR’s webseries in which we meet the citizens of Vampyr’s 1918 London, and learn how DONTNOD will make players feel the death of each one you decide to feed on. This video introduces more exclusive gameplay footage, while focusing on the citizens of London and how each individual has been hand-crafted to feel as human as possible.

A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia releases on April 19th, official PC requirements revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/a-total-war-saga-thrones-of-britannia-releases-on-april-19th-official-pc-requirements-revealed/
SEGA has announced that A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia will release on April 19th. A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia focuses on Alfred the Great’s victory at the Battle of Edington, in which he stood fast against the Viking invaders and changed the future of the British Isles.
SEGA has also revealed the official PC requirements for A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia.

Battlezone: Combat Commander releases on March 1st, will support DX11, 4K & cross-play between Steam & GOG
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/battlezone-combat-commander-releases-on-march-1st-will-support-dx11-4k-cross-play-between-steam-gog/
Rebellion has announced that the remaster for Battlezone 2: Combat Commander will release on March 1st. This remaster will be titled Battlezone: Combat Commander, will be played from a first-person perspective and players will be able to pilot futuristic, customizable war machines.

Thursday news, part two:

Diablo creator David Brevik is releasing a 2D sandbox RPG called It Lurks Below later this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-creator-david-brevik-is-releasing-a-2d-sandbox-rpg-called-it-lurks-below-later-this-year/
Diablo creator David Brevik has announced his own indie game: a 2D sandbox RPG called It Lurks Below. Players will explore randomly generated levels, delving into dungeons and fighting baddies while collecting as much loot as they can get their pixely hands on.

Hearthstone's 'Quest for Packs' will award 3000 card packs and the Lich King helm to one player
https://www.pcgamer.com/hearthstones-quest-for-packs-will-award-3000-card-packs-and-the-lich-king-helm-to-one-player/
Blizzard is wrapping up Hearthstone's Year of the Mammoth with a "Quest for Packs" sweepstakes that will reward the grand prize winner with 3000 card packs—1000 packs from each of the expansions released during Year of the Mammoth (Journey to Un'goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne, and Kobolds & Catacombs)—plus the Lich King's Helm (the real one, apparently) and a package of Hearthstone swag.

Rocket League to add tournament mode in March or April, beta test next month
https://www.pcgamer.com/rocket-league-will-add-tournament-mode-by-april-beta-tests-next-month/
Rocket League's long-awaited tournament mode will finally arrive in either March or April, developer Psyonix has said. Players will be able to test out these bracketed, single elimination tournaments for the first time next month as part of a Steam public beta.

CS:GO 'Dragon Lore' AWP skin sells for more than $61,000
https://www.pcgamer.com/csgo-dragon-lore-awp-skin-sells-for-more-than-61000/
Cloud9 became the first North American team to win a CS:GO major over the weekend, defeating the favored FaZe Clan in tight overtime action. The following day, a very different sort of eye-popping mark was set when a Dragon Lore CS:GO weapon skin sold for more than $61,000.

>>Another proof that there's people with more money than brains.

Avernum 3 remake launches alongside free demo
https://www.pcgamer.com/avernum-3-remake-launches-alongside-free-demo/
Avernum 3: Ruined World, an HD reboot of Spiderweb Software's old-school fantasy RPG, is out now. It's $18 on Steam and GOG through Wednesday, February 7, and $20 on Humble and Spiderweb's site. There's also a free demo available here.

Yume Nikki sequel Dream Diary gets another weird trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/yume-nikki-sequel-dream-diary-gets-another-weird-trailer/
After a cryptic teaser campaign, Yume Nikki sequel Dream Diary was officially announced last week. It's a direct successor made with original developer Kikiyama's input, and it's coming to Steam on February 23. Today, publisher Active Gaming Media Playism stoked the fires once again with a new trailer titled "Reimagine."

Destiny 2 'development roadmap' lays out schedule of coming changes
https://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-2-development-roadmap-lays-out-schedule-of-coming-changes/
Destiny 2 took its first big step of 2018 yesterday with the release of the 1.1.2 update that enabled Masterwork armor, reduced Illuminated Engram XP requirements, and brought in new perks for Raid armor. Today Bungie shared a more detailed breakdown of its plans for the game over the next few months, which will include the addition of a public chat function, better rewards, a 6v6 Iron Banner mode, private matches, and quite a bit more.
Update: according to game director Christopher Barrett, the second Destiny 2 expansion will launch in May, alongside season 3.

Co-op stealth game Hacktag sneaking onto Steam February 14
https://www.pcgamer.com/co-op-stealth-game-hacktag-sneaking-onto-steam-february-14/
Hacktag is a two-player co-op stealth game about two spies from rival agencies working together to infiltrate corporations. It's set in "a parallel world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals," and launched on Steam Early Access last summer. Today, developer Piece of Cake Studios announced its offical release date: February 14, 2018.

Go behind the scenes of '80s-style action-adventure Crossing Souls
https://www.pcgamer.com/go-behind-the-scenes-of-80s-style-action-adventure-crossing-souls/
Fourattic are a Spanish studio who ran a successful Kickstarter for their game Crossing Souls, which looks like the Goonies and Fat Albert and maybe Stranger Things all mashed up together. It's about kids in the '80s getting into hijinx, which involves a magic crystal that lets them travel to the land of the dead. As you do.

GOG makes U-turn on Opus Magnum following initial rejection (Updated)
https://www.pcgamer.com/why-exquisite-puzzler-opus-magnum-was-barred-from-gog/
Update: After failing GOG's idiosyncratic internal curation system earlier this year, Zachtronics' Opus Magnum was denied access to the CD Projekt-owned digital storefront.
Now, GOG has reversed its decision. "We did it! You did it! And then we did it! It's good to finally have the brilliant-yet-approachable Opus Magnum," reads this tweet, before pointing those interested towards the game's newly-launched store page and a limited-time ten percent discount.

Dynasty Warriors 9 reveals army-slaughtering opening cinematic
https://www.pcgamer.com/dynasty-warriors-9-reveals-army-slaughtering-opening-cinematic/
(...) Dynasty Warriors 9—a so-called open-world "rebirth" of the series, according to producer Akihiro Suzuki. Due on PC two weeks from yesterday, we've so far seen how its combat and scrolls systems work and have heard from five of its main characters.
Now, Koei Tecmo has revealed DW9's opening cinematic which contains a typical amount of army slaughter, flashing lights and electric guitar riffs.

Colony management sim Surviving Mars will arrive in March with full mod support
https://www.pcgamer.com/colony-management-sim-surviving-mars-will-arrive-in-march-with-full-mod-support/
Paradox Interactive and Haemimont Games have announced a release date of March 15 for colony management sim Surviving Mars. And, we're told in a press release from Parabox, when the game arrives it will be with "full modding tools and support—including mods available at launch from some of Paradox’s most talented community creators." Neat.

A new Chuchel teaser literally reveals the March release date
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-new-chuchel-teaser-literally-reveals-the-march-release-date/
Chuchel, the game about an angry ball of dust with a nice hat and a powerful jones for cherries, will be out on March 7. The news of the release date comes by way of a new teaser that's a lot like the old one: angry, percussive, and deeply weird.

I never knew that GOG was owned by CDP. No wonder they can afford making expensive games without relying on publisher bullshit.

Few years ago I think EG had good piece on how CDPR come to exist....

Yep, my memory still serves me...sometimes

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-06-seeing-red-the-story-of-cd-projekt