A new challenger approaches!

Kongregate is creating their own PC games retail portal, that focuses on indie games. 

"Called Kartridge, it’s due to launch this summer, offering a range of pricing models including direct payment, free-to-play and Humble Bundle-style pay-what-you-want. Like Kongregate, the online retail hub will encourage social interactivity and feature an achievements program, from which discounts and deals can be earned."

From Polygon

This came out of left field.

That came, indeed, out of nowhere.

It wouldn't have surprised me if they started publishing games on Steam or other platforms (I've recently been playing the game "Guns, Gore & Cannoli" on Steam, published and co-developed by Crazy Monkey), but starting their own platform is a bold move.

I wish them good luck.

A PC games retail portal, that focuses on indie games... don't we already have itch.io for that?

https://itch.io/

Wednesday news:

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

Get Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Vermintide 2 for cheap with Fanatical
https://www.pcgamer.com/get-middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-and-vermintide-2-for-cheap-with-fanatical/
Monolith's Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is (somehow) four years old later this year—yet it remains one of the best open world action adventure games out there today.
If you somehow missed the boat/mountable Caragor the first time round, you might like to stop by Fanatical who has slashed the recommended retail value of its Game of the Year Edition by 85 percent.
That means visiting Gondor, Minas Ithil, Black Gate and beyond will costs just $2.99/£2.39 for the next 24 hours as part of the digital distributor's Best of Star Deals Week. Expect new games daily from now through Sunday—so be sure to check back each day.

Let's continue with the Humble Store, with two sales available:

• The first one is an Activision Sale, that will only last another 25 hours or so: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/activision-sale/
• The other one is a THQ Nordic Sale, that will last for another five days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/thq-nordic-sale

The game Gone Home is the star of GOG's daily deal, and it's 66% off: https://www.gog.com/game/gone_home

Lastly, we have Steam's Midweek Madness sales, featuring:

• The popular, and still in Early Access, title Dead Cells is 33% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/588650/Dead_Cells/
• The Surge is 60% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/378540/The_Surge/

SOFTWARE

Vulkan 1.1 is now available to all developers, sporting developer-requested features
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/vulkan-1-1-is-now-available-to-all-developers-sporting-developer-requested-features/
The Khronos Group, an open consortium of leading hardware and software companies creating advanced acceleration standards, announced today the release of the Vulkan 1.1 and SPIR-V 1.3 specifications. Version 1.1 expands Vulkan’s core functionality with developer-requested features, such as subgroup operations, while integrating a wide range of proven extensions from Vulkan 1.0. Khronos will also release full Vulkan 1.1 conformance tests into open source and AMD, Arm, Imagination, Intel Corporation, NVIDIA and Qualcomm have implemented conformant Vulkan 1.1 drivers.

MODS/EMULATORS

RPCS3 now runs Ratchet & Clank, Silent Hill: Downpour, Ni no Kuni, Godzilla and more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/rpcs3-now-runs-ratchet-clank-silent-hill-downpour-ni-no-kuni-godzilla-and-more/
The team behind the best Playstation 3 emulator, RPCS3, has published a new status report. According to the report, some Playstation 3 exclusive games are currently playable on it, thus giving PC gamers the opportunity to finally experience them.

Immersive Movement mod for Skyrim greatly improves the movement of the player, animals and creatures
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/immersive-movement-mod-for-skyrim-greatly-improves-the-movement-of-the-player-animals-and-creatures/
Last week, we informed you about the Immersive Movement mod for Fallout 4. Created by modder Zana Daniel, this mod changes the movements of the player, animals, and all creatures in such a way that would actually make sense from a biological and physical perspective. And the modder has also brought this mod to Skyrim Special Edition.

>>And like the Fallout 4 mod, this one is also available from Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

Assassin’s Creed Origins patch 1.4.0 is now available, full release notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/assassins-creed-origins-patch-140-is-now-available-full-release-notes-revealed/
Ubisoft has released a brand new update for Assassin’s Creed Origins. This patch will update your game’s version to 1.4.0 and adds a reward to the main game for completing the Discovery Tour. In addition, this patch sports a fix for New Game+ and two fixes for the Discovery Tour mode.

Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition gets a launch trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/final-fantasy-xv-windows-edition-gets-a-launch-trailer/
Square Enix has just released the launch trailer for Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition. Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition will feature higher-quality assets than its console versions and supports minor modding capabilities at launch.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege – First major content for Year 3 is now available
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/tom-clancys-rainbow-six-siege-first-major-content-for-year-3-is-now-available/
Ubisoft announced today that “Outbreak” Event and Operation Chimera’s two new operators, the first major content for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Year 3, is now available. This new content is also accompanied by select modifications to the game’s various editions, first announced at the Six Invitational.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is now planned for an April 2018 release
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ys-viii-lacrimosa-of-dana-is-now-planned-for-an-april-2018-release/
In an interview with Greg’s RPG HeaveN, NIS America president Takuro Yamashita revealed that the PC version of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana will be released in April 2018. The game was originally meant to hit Steam in September 2017, however on its initial launch day NIS America revealed that the game was delayed.

State of Decay 2 will release on May 22nd, official PC requirements unveiled
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/state-of-decay-2-release-date-may-22nd-official-pc-requirements/
Microsoft has announced (thanks IGN) that State of Decay 2 will release on May 22nd. State of Decay 2 is a new survival game that is developed by Undead Labs, and will be a Play Anywhere game (meaning that it will most likely come out exclusively on the Windows Store).

>>Another one that won't launch on Steam... for now. Anyway, you can share your thoughts (if you haven't done it yet), over at shikamaru317's thread.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 PC update 26 is now available, adds new game mode and new map
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/call-of-duty-black-ops-3-pc-update-26-is-now-available-adds-new-game-mode-and-new-map/
Treyarch has released a brand new update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. According to the release notes, this patch brings a new game mode (Infected) as well as a new map (Redwood Snow). In addition, this patch packs some security improvements and general performance updates.

Medieval fantasy retro FPS that is inspired by Heretic, AMID EVIL, hits Early Access on March 12th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/medieval-fantasy-retro-fps-that-is-inspired-by-heretic-amid-evil-hits-early-access-on-march-12th/
New Blood Interactive has released a new video, showing 5 minutes of gameplay footage from its upcoming medieval fantasy retro FPS that is inspired by Heretic, AMID EVIL. This video shows off the Hordes of Evil mode and the team has also revealed that the game will hit Steam Early Access on March 12th.

Devil May Cry HD Collection appears to have some tech issues
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/devil-may-cry-hd-collection-appears-to-have-some-tech-issues/
While Devil May Cry HD Collection releases on March 13th, Twitch Prime members were able to get their hands on the first Devil May Cry HD Remaster. And according to some early reports, there are some minor technical issues with this upcoming collection.

Wednesday news, part two:

The next Battlefield will have co-op play for randomly-generated missions, according to a report
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-years-battlefield-will-have-co-op-play-for-randomly-generated-missions-according-to-a-report/
Reports last week suggested that this year's Battlefield would take place during World War 2, and now more details have emerged about what the game will look like. The most exciting tidbit is the fact that it will feature co-op, with squads of friends fighting through randomly-generated missions in Conquest, the game's main control points mode. That's according to "sources familiar" with the game's development speaking to GamesBeat, which broke the initial World War 2 news.

Inside collector's edition costs $375 and contains something made by sex doll manufacturer RealDoll
https://www.pcgamer.com/inside-collectors-edition-costs-375-and-contains-something-made-by-sex-doll-manufacturer-realdoll/
iam8bit has revealed a collector's edition of Playdead's dark and disturbing adventure game Inside, though 'revealed' may not be the best word since there's very little indication of what you receive for the stated price of $375. We know it comes with a disc copy of Inside for the PS4, as well as Steam codes for both Inside and Limbo that you receive via email after purchasing. As for what else it might include that costs so much ("Other stuff" is how the site puts it), they won't say. However, they've partnered with Realdoll, so we can at least speculate.

For The King is a tabletop-inspired roguelike you can play with friends
https://www.pcgamer.com/for-the-king-is-a-tabletop-inspired-roguelike-you-can-play-with-friends/
After a successful Kickstarter in September 2015, For The King entered Steam Early Access for a projected two years. It seems developer IronOak Games was right on the money: For The King is launching from Early Access in early April. It's currently $15 and its price will increase post-Early Access.

Far Cry 5's map editor lets you pull assets from Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs
https://www.pcgamer.com/far-cry-5s-map-editor-lets-you-pulls-assets-from-assassins-creed-and-watch-dogs/
Far Cry 5's map editor will let players rip assets straight out of Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and plonk them down in one of the game's Montana outposts. While you won't be seeing Edward Kenway in a pickup truck, you will have more than 9,000 objects and items to choose from, including from past Far Cry games, with 1,500 more added in future updates, Ubisoft has said.

Fall in love with the new trailer for 'introspective puzzle adventure' Solo
https://www.pcgamer.com/fall-in-love-with-the-new-trailer-for-introspective-puzzle-adventure-solo/
Solo is a lot of things according to developer Team Gotham. As you may have gathered, it's a singleplayer game, but it's also "a game about love," an "introspective puzzle adventure," and quite possibly the first game to title itself in cursive. I'd like to add one more descriptor to the list: absolutely gorgeous.

Those nutty Hearthstone cards from BlizzCon are being added to Arena soon
https://www.pcgamer.com/those-nutty-hearthstone-cards-from-blizzcon-are-being-added-to-arena-soon/
On the heels of Hearthstone's Year of the Raven announcement, Blizzard is making huge changes to the game's Arena format, chief among them a new rarity system for drafting.

Turn Widowmaker into Kerrigan with a free Overwatch skin
https://www.pcgamer.com/turn-widowmaker-into-kerrigan-with-a-free-overwatch-skin/
Kerrigan, of course, would be Sarah Kerrigan of the Terran Confederacy, who later takes control of the Zerg Swarm as the Queen of Blades. It's all kind of complicated, but that's a good fit for Widowmaker, who's had a complicated life of her own: The wife of a former Overwatch operative who was turned into the ultimate assassin by Talon.

Necromunda: Underhive Wars teaser is here to remind us that it's still happening
https://www.pcgamer.com/necromunda-underhive-wars-teaser-is-here-to-reminds-us-that-its-still-happening/
Necromunda is a game about the endless war between rival gangs in the massive, forgotten underground realm that exists beneath the millennia-old Hive Cities on the grim (because of course it's grim) planet of Necromunda. The appearance and loadout of each gang member in Underhive Wars can be customized, and they'll follow career paths that will unlock new skills, traits, weapons, and cosmetics—assuming they aren't maimed or murdered first. The game will feature a Conquest Mode, "an endless campaign featuring 4X mechanics between the turn-based battles," and online play will will also be supported.

Wargroove shows off new commanders ahead of late-2018 release
https://www.pcgamer.com/wargroove-shows-off-new-commanders-ahead-of-late-2018-release/
Wargroove is a spiritual successor to Advance Wars currently in development at Stardew Valley publisher Chucklefish. It was revealed in early 2017 and originally expected to release later that year. Chucklefish now plans to release the turn-based strategy game in "the second half of 2018," according to a recent blog post.

Far Cry 5 season pass trailer teases Blood Dragon-style post-launch adventures
https://www.pcgamer.com/far-cry-5-season-pass-trailer-teases-blood-dragon-style-post-launch-adventures/
In case there was any doubt, the callback to Far Cry: Blood Dragon that opens the new post-launch trailer makes it clear that, lingering scars of futile geopolitical endeavors notwithstanding, none of this is meant to be taken too seriously. Instead, it appears to be a trio of "Mark IV Style" takes on action flick tropes: Rescuing long-forgotten POWs, dropping the hammer on hostile space bugs, and fighting for survival against hordes of undead. In fact, the Dead Living Zombies chapter is built around the idea of individual scenarios created by a B-movie director.

Warhorse Studios 'cannot guarantee any specific date' for Kingdom Come: Deliverance patch
https://www.pcgamer.com/warhorse-studios-cannot-guarantee-any-specific-date-for-kingdom-come-deliverance-patch/
If you've been playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance, you've no doubt run into a few bugs and glitches, and perhaps wished there were some changes to the save systems and lock-picking minigames. A patch intended to address these items, along with a few others (such as a craftable respec potion) is in the works, though after a few signs it might be nigh at hand—such as a tweet on Monday from the game's director that the patch was being finalized—another tweet on Tuesday suggests the wait might be a bit longer

Next Fortnite game mode is a five-way battle between teams of 20 players
https://www.pcgamer.com/upcoming-fortnite-mode-pits-five-teams-of-20-players-against-each-other/
Fortnite has been doing a stellar job mixing up its Battle Royale formula by regularly adding temporary game modes. Epic Games has lots more in the pipeline, and it looks like a mode that pits five teams of 20 players against each other in a fight to the death is coming soon.

Next South Park: The Fractured But Whole DLC is like a Tarantino film set in a Mexican restaurant
https://www.pcgamer.com/next-south-park-the-fractured-but-whole-dlc-is-like-a-tarantino-film-set-in-a-mexican-restaurant/
Ever seen Quentin Tarantino's 1996 vampire movie, From Dusk Till Dawn? It's a dark comedy about a group of murderous bloodsuckers in a strip club, and it's a bit of a cult classic. South Park: The Fractured But Whole's next DLC is similar, only instead of a strip club the vampires have flocked to Cartman's favorite Mexican restaurant, Casa Bonita.

Rainbow Six Siege just hit its all-time high player count following Operation Chimera update
https://www.pcgamer.com/rainbow-six-siege-just-hit-its-all-time-high-player-count-following-operation-chimera-update/
Rainbow Six Siege's massive Operation Chimera update is now upon us, ushering in Year 3 with two new operators and a co-op zombie mode called Oubreak, which Evan enjoyed his early look at. The effect on player numbers has been immediate: the game reached a peak concurrent player count of 176,856 on Steam today, smashing its previous best.

ROFL.

Oculus forgot to renew a certificate and until they fix that, all Rifts worldwide are paperweights:

https://www.pcgamer.com/every-oculus-rift-is-offline-thanks-to-an-expired-certificate/?utm_content=bufferf5f1d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer-pcgamertw

https://forums.oculusvr.com/community/discussion/62715/oculus-runtime-services-current-status

Seems like i have to start my PS4 for VR gaming today.

^Lol! You have to laugh for such a big, yet very silly, mitake.

But at the same time, I feel bad for the people affected by this stupid omission from Oculus.

GPU and Ram prices still suck soooo much. Ugh.
I want to build a new ITX rig with Vega 56+32GB DDR4 at a minimum.

Just don't want to pay the $1,000+ AUD premium to do it.

^Wait, you want to build an ITX rig with a Vega 56 card?

I'm kidding, of course.

Anyway, there's more leaked info about AMD's upcoming CPUs and also their CPU roadmap (click on the images for bigger ones):

AMD Ryzen 2000 series exposed, pricing, performance leaked
Source: https://videocardz.com/75194/amd-ryzen-2000-series-exposed-pricing-performance-leaked
Original Source (in Spanish) https://elchapuzasinformatico.com/2018/03/exclusiva-familia-amd-ryzen-2000-al-completo-benchmarks-precios-y-fecha-de-lanzamiento/
Apparently, AMD is not adding Ryzen 7 2800X to the lineup at this time and all the leaks we have been seeing are of the flagship Ryzen 2000 model, the Ryzen 7 2700X. This CPU will retail at 369 USD, a dollar less than Core i7 8700K.

According to the next slide, the 400 series motherboards will support Precision Boost Overdrive, a feature not available for existing Ryzen motherboards. It is meant to increase the clock speed even higher, than XFR2, which is supported by both iterations of Zen chipset.

AMD has put new Ryzen against Intel’s Coffeelake-S flagship, the i7-8700K. AMD claims 2700X will be 7.7% slower on average.

Compared to Summit Ridge R7 1800X the new CPU will offer 5% better framerate

>>That the faster, and more power hungry, 2700X is slower than the 1800X in some games is kind of odd. Also, I'm surprised by the lack of a 2800 line of procs, but maybe they're saving it for Threadripper and to simplify the naming scheme, something that goes in line with the following article.

AMD Ryzen 2018-2020 Roadmap leaked: Castle Peak, Matisse, Picasso, Vermeer and Renoir
Source: https://videocardz.com/75217/amd-ryzen-2018-2020-roadmap-leaked-castle-peak-matisse-picasso-vermeer-and-renoir
Original sources (also in Spanish): #1 https://informaticacero.com/estos-seran-los-nombres-los-proximos-procesadores-amd-ryzen-tambien-ya-tenemos-precios/; #2 https://informaticacero.com/exclusivo-roadmap-nombres-los-proximos-amd-ryzen-se-viene-mattisse-vermeer/

AMD has recently held a special event for retailers and distributors. A new roadmap has been shown there, revealing the codenames of upcoming Zen2 and Zen3 processors.

It appears that 2nd Generation Ryzen Threadripper (Zen+) will be succeeded next year by Castle Peak architecture, based on Zen2. In 2020 AMD is set to unveil refined Zen2 architecture, which is currently known at Zen3 (not to be mistaken Zen2+). A cryptic codenamed of NG HEDT (Next-Gen High-End DeskTop) is currently listed for Threadripper 3rd Gen.

When it comes to ‘mainstream’ Ryzen, AMD is likely to adopt a new naming schema, with each generation named after a known painter.

That said, Ryzen 2000, codenamed Pinnacle Ridge, will be succeeded by Matisse next year (based on Zen2) and replaced by Vermeer (based on Zen3) in 2020.
Raven Ridge APUs are to be succeeded by Picasso and Renoir, based on Zen2 and Zen3 respectively.

And as a bonus:

AMD Ryzen 3000: Globalfoundries expects 5.0 GHz for the 7nm process
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/amd-ryzen-3000-globalfoundries-expects-5-ghz-in-the-7nm-process.html
Globalfoundries Chief Technical Officer, Gary Patton, recently talked about the upcoming 7nm manufacturing generation. The advantages compared to 14nm have grown significantly. The die sizes could be more than halved, clock rates in a range of 5.0 GHz are realistic.