Monday news, part two:

Manage monsters and inevitably get eaten in Lobotomy Corporation
https://www.pcgamer.com/manage-monsters-and-inevitably-get-eaten-in-lobotomy-corporation/
Inspired by the likes of SCP Containment Breach and Cabin in the Woods, Lobotomy Corporation is a management sim about extracting energy from horrible monsters and keeping the employees doing the extracting from getting maimed, eaten or otherwise eviscerated. It entered Steam Early Access in late 2016, and earlier this week it officially launched on Steam for $25.

The first Sea of Thieves content update is coming in May with a new 'AI threat'
https://www.pcgamer.com/sea-of-thieves-update/
We knew that Rare planned to expand Sea of Thieves with content updates after launch, but the last big update focused entirely on fixing technical problems (see the next page for the archived story). Now that things have settled a little, Rare is ready to talk about what else is coming. The answer: a lot of stuff, including weekly events, a new ship type, and a new area.

Gwent release set for October, but a full redesign is coming first
https://www.pcgamer.com/gwent-release-set-for-october-but-a-full-redesign-is-coming-first/
It's been a bit of a rocky road for CD Projekt's Witcher-based card game Gwent. Fans are enthusiastic, but the Thronebreaker campaign that was supposed to arrive in 2017 was delayed into this year (and still isn't out), and in January the studio issued an apology for problems with the mid-winter update, which it admitted was rushed to hit a deadline. Today the studio announced a new phase of development called Homecoming, expected to last for six months of "fully-focused development," after which both Gwent and Thronebreaker will go into full release.

Take a tour of the Stygian Abyss in the first Underworld Ascendant trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/take-a-tour-of-the-stygian-abyss-in-the-first-underworld-ascendant-trailer/
The first full trailer for Underworld Ascendant, the modernized followup to the great Looking Glass RPG Ultima Underworld, showcases colorful dungeons, broken stone halls, magic, traps, and a bunch of underground beasties looking to do you harm. Developer Otherside Entertainment also released a new dev diary video in which writer and game director Joe Fielder, lead designer Tim Stellmach, and lead engineer Will Teixeira talk about their approach to "crafting an immersive sim."

Northgard teases new clan and a multiplayer ranking system
https://www.pcgamer.com/northgard-patch-squashes-bugs-teases-new-clan-and-a-multiplayer-ranking-system/
If you like RTSs then Northgard should be on your radar. As Fraser said in his review, its campaign isn't the best but its Skirmish mode shows just how elegant its systems are, creating unpredictable matches that pull you all over its Viking maps. In its latest patch, Shiro Games has fixed a long list of bugs that users have reported since the game came out last month, improved certain features, and teased what to expect in future updates.

Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle is a free game about cartoon murder
https://www.pcgamer.com/friday-the-13th-killer-puzzle-is-a-free-game-about-cartoon-murder/
If you fancy a bit of cartoon murder and don't want to pay for it, then you should give Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle a whirl. It's an officially-licensed game about directing masked murderer Jason Voorhees around a grid so that he can slaughter camp counselors. The kills are gruesome, and range from skewering them like a kebab to walloping them round the head with a giant fish (there are PG and R-rated modes so you can choose how gory you want it). It's out now on Steam.

EA's new chief designer promises to avoid repeat of Battlefront 2's loot box controversy
https://www.pcgamer.com/eas-new-chief-game-designer-promises-to-avoid-repeats-of-battlefront-2s-loot-box-controversy/
EA's new chief design officer has vowed to "learn from" the mistakes the company made with loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront 2, and has promised that it will "do better" in future games. Patrick Söderlund, who was head of worldwide studios at EA until an executive reshuffle this week, told The Verge that the controversy around the decision to box-ify everything in the game has "had an effect on EA as a company and an effect on us as management", and that it is determined to avoid similar mistakes in upcoming open-world shooter Anthem and the Battlefield series.

>>Sure... They'll be good for a couple years and then try this, or something similar, again. We know you, EA (and others).

Latest Code Vein trailer shows off demonic finishing moves
https://www.pcgamer.com/latest-code-vein-trailer-shows-off-demonic-finishing-moves/
Vampiric hack-and-slasher Code Vein showed off more of its combat in a new trailer this week, the highlight of which is definitely a deadly finishing move in which our hero summons the heads of two demonic wolves (that's what they look like, anyway) from his back to devour an opponent. Not a bad party trick.

Civilization 6 spring update will make England strong again
https://www.pcgamer.com/civilization-6-spring-update-will-make-england-strong-again/
England have taken a bit of a battering in Civlization 6 recently, with a series of nerfs making it harder to win with Queen Victoria. Developer Firaxis plans to put that right in its spring update, after which Victoria's Pax Britannica leader bonus will grant a free unit both when you settle in a foreign continent and when you build a Royal Navy dockyard in that new city. That additional unit should make it easier to expand your borders.

Tower of Time ventures out of Early Access
https://www.pcgamer.com/tower-of-time-ventures-out-of-early-access/
Old-school RPG Tower of Time's nine-month Early Access journey (slightly longer than developer Event Horizon intended) is now over, and if you like the sound of a blend of magic, advanced technology, and party-based real-time combat, then it might be worth a quick look.

Pathologic 2 shows off new combat mechanics and smarter AI
https://www.pcgamer.com/pathologic-2-shows-off-new-combat-mechanics-and-smarter-ai/
After playing an early demo of Ice-Pick Lodge's Pathologic remake in late 2016, I genuinely couldn't sleep at night. I loved the open-world survival horror original—which has since been remastered—and admired the creepy and equally dysfunctional direction in which the devs were steering this one. Now named Pathologic 2, the game's latest progress report teases its new combat mechanics, smarter AI NPCs and some of the nightmare-inducing locations that are set to feature in the final game.

Radical Heights teases female character model and outfits
https://www.pcgamer.com/radical-heights-teases-female-character-model-and-outfits/
Last week, Boss Key Productions revealed and released Radical Heights—an '80s-themed free-to-play battle royale 'em up, set inside a futuristic game show-meets-survival scavenger hunt. Studio frontman Cliff Bleszinski has now teased the game's incoming female character models.

>>I have the feeling that we'll get a lot of news related with this game... *sigh*

Two Point Hospital newsletter signees get a free golden toilet
https://www.pcgamer.com/two-point-hospital-newsletter-signees-get-a-free-golden-toilet/
I can't imagine how stressful running a hospital must be. I can't imagine how stressful curing outlandish illnesses such as Lightheadedness and Mummification must be. I can imagine how digital doctors and directors take a load off in the wake of such situations—courtesy of Two Point Hospital's latest reveal.

Yes: this is what an advanced game looks like.
It isn't quite real-time ray tracing; VXGI does do the job quite well.
For now.

Not just limited to smartphones, could be used to create any IC ... (PC hardware designers can already arrange a deal with Samsung to get their process development kits for 7nm)

Except TSMC's 7nm node is inferior to Intel's 10nm node ... 

I think the only Samsung is able to reach smaller dimensions with their 7nm compared to Intel ... (good luck to them if their investment in EUV paid off)

It has a pretty big downside to it though such as light leaking ... 

Still better than the noise of low quality ray tracing (in most cases).
I find this demo to be quite pleasing, and it should demonstrate what the effect is to anyone who doesn't already know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siui7gLxcIQ

Well, that's why I said "for now" .

After all, it's a LPP process right now so it will still need to improve a little to make something more demanding like a GPU. And even if that were not the case, it's well known that smartphone makes pay more to get their products done, so we'd have to wait until Samsung themselves as well as others companies like Qualcomm have their first orders done.

So yes, hardware designers can start designing around that process and discuss the deals with Samsung (and GloFo after a while), but that doesn't mean they'll get their products done soon.

Better in temporal stability ? Absolutely! In terms of feature set ? Probably not since it doesn't even come close to attempting to simulate real world light transport with ray tracing ... 

I guess the delay for bigger chips is due to the fact that optimization for physical design layout takes longer when when dies consist of over 10B+ transistors ... 

Right: that is why I just consider it a console like "optimisation".
Like checkerboard rendering to reach 4k.
It sure as hell ain't the real thing.
However if you squint hard enough, sit far enough away, and apply a, subtle, blur: no-one will ever be able to tell the difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x19sIltR0qU
Maybe someday.

It's far more invasive than just "console optimizations" ... 

Using VXGI over ray tracing affects rendering on a "fundamental" level. It won't matter how many samples you spend for VXGI compared to ray tracing when it won't "converge" to the correct result ... 

As far as the "real thing" is concerned, I prefer to define the deviation of reference vs approximate results as the mean square error ... (all of the recent DXR/RTX demos also using path tracing with denoising) 

Tuesday news:

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

There are a few deals around:

On the Humble Store, they're running a sci-fi week sale. Can you guess what games does it have? https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/scifi-week/

At Fanatical, there is a Paradox Interactive sale: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/paradox-interactive

Lastly on Steam we have the daily deal with Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem at 25% off, and the weeklong deals, some of them being:

• Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is 10% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/552500/Warhammer_Vermintide_2/
• The Early Access game Startup Company is 20% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/606800/Startup_Company/
• Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is also 20% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/250760/Shovel_Knight_Treasure_Trove/
• 911 Operator is 50% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/503560/911_Operator/
• RPG Maker VX Ace has a 70% discount: http://store.steampowered.com/app/220700/RPG_Maker_VX_Ace/
• Depth is 75% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/274940/Depth/
• Check the rest here

SOFTWARE

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MODS/EMULATORS

Halo Online ElDewrito 0.6, cancelled free-to-play Halo 3 online game for the PC, releases on April 20th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/halo-online-eldewrito-0-6-cancelled-free-to-play-halo-3-game-for-the-pc-releases-on-april-20th/
Back in March 2015, we informed you about an official free-to-play online version of Halo 3. This project, called Halo Online, targeted Russian gamers and was officially coming from Microsoft. However, in August 2016, Microsoft announced its cancellation.
As you may have guessed, this did not stop PC players from unofficially restoring its content and features. Thus, ElDewrito was born. ElDewrito is described as a community-made mod for Halo Online allowing multiplayer games to be played in player-hosted servers and aims to restore removed features, fix bugs and glitches, and add mod support.
This mod will be releasing April 20th and the team shared a brand new trailer in order to celebrate this announcement.

This Kingdom Come Deliverance mod enables third-person camera viewpoint
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/this-kingdom-come-deliverance-mod-enables-third-person-camera-viewpoint/
Modder ‘Fuse00’ has released a cool mod for Kingdom Come Deliverance that allows PC gamers to switch the camera to third person view anytime they want. And while this mod has some issues, it’s an interesting way to re-experience the world of this medieval open-world RPG.

>>To use this mod, follow the instructions written in the article.

This collection of Star Wars Battlefront mods will make it look like the movies
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-collection-of-star-wars-battlefront-mods-will-make-it-look-like-the-movies/
I forgot just how pretty DICE's 2015 shooter Star Wars Battlefront was until I saw this collection of mods, which strips back the HUD, removes lens effects and stops the game shouting that annoying "return to combat" message when you venture off the beaten path. It's very simple, but by getting rid of all the noise it really lets the game's environments shine.

Speak your dialogue lines out loud in Skyrim VR with this voice recognition mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/speak-your-dialogue-lines-in-skyrim-vr-with-this-voice-recognition-mod/
Skyrim's protagonist is famously silent, but a new mod allows you to give them a voice: yours. Dragonborn Speaks Naturally adds voice recognition into the VR version of the game, which means you can speak your dialogue lines out loud to select them during conversations. Neat.

>>Check it out at Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA has been released on the PC and appears to suffer from major porting issues
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ys-viii-lacrimosa-of-dana-has-been-released-on-the-pc-and-appears-to-suffer-from-major-porting-issues/
After numerous delayed, NIS America has finally released Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA on the PC. And from the looks of it, this delayed PC version suffers from major porting issues and has “Mostly Negative” reviews on Steam.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries gets a new gameplay trailer teasing its destruction system
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/mechwarrior-5-mercenaries-gets-a-new-gameplay-trailer-teasing-its-destruction-system/
Piranha Games and IGN have shared a new gameplay trailer for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, teasing its destruction system. From the looks of it, gamers will be able to destroy turrets, enemy vehicles (helicopters and tanks) and mechs.

First screenshots released for Shenmue 1 & 2 Remaster
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/first-screenshots-released-for-shenmue-1-2-remaster/
SEGA has released the first screenshots for the upcoming remaster versions of Shenmue 1 and 2. Shenmue I & II will re-release as a collection and will come complete with the original feature set that defined modern gaming, including enthralling jujitsu combat, investigative sleuthing, and RPG elements in addition to memorable mini-games.

New screenshots and trailer released for Tennis World Tour, focusing on Career Mode
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-screenshots-and-trailer-released-for-tennis-world-tour-focusing-on-career-mode/
Bigben and Breakpoint are revealing the content of Tennis World Tour’s Career mode in a new commentated video and screenshots. In Tennis World Tour’s Career mode, your main goal with your avatar is to become the best in the entire world. To do that, you’ll have to learn to manage both your schedule and your form.

NBA Playgrounds 2 officially announced, coming to the PC later this year
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nba-playgrounds-2-officially-announced-coming-to-the-pc-later-this-year/
Saber Interactive has revealed NBA Playgrounds 2, the next installment in the bestselling arcade-sports franchise. As the press release reads, NBA Playgrounds 2 will raise the intensity of the series’ over-the-top, two-on-two street action with a new line-up of online and local multiplayer game modes, as well as new courts from playgrounds across the world.

Tuesday news, part two:

Casey Hudson says Mass Effect: Andromeda failure has 'refocused' BioWare
https://www.pcgamer.com/casey-hudson-says-mass-effect-andromeda-failure-has-refocused-bioware/
(...) general manager Casey Hudson has launched a "studio update" blog discussing "our vision for BioWare, what that means for our upcoming titles, and share some stories about development as we head towards the launch of Anthem."

Update: Blizzard is taking feedback about whether to change Hearthstone's bonkers Shudderwock combo
https://www.pcgamer.com/hearthstones-new-expansion-already-has-a-game-breaking-combo/
Update: Over the weekend, Hearthstone's senior designer took to the Battlenet forums and Twitter to confirm that the development team is mulling over what to do about the Shudderwock combo.
Since the early days of the expansion the combo has actually been a lot less common, as players worked out that the deck was incredibly weak to aggressive strategies like Odd Rogue or decks with high burst like Cubelock, so it isn't clear that a nerf is certain. In fact, according to HSReplay.net's data, Shaman is now the least represented class on the ladder, and the best Shudderwock deck only has a winrate of 42%. So is it still a problem? Not according to Kripp.

Free exploration game Marie's Room is like a bite of Edith Finch
https://www.pcgamer.com/free-exploration-game-maries-room-is-like-a-bite-of-edith-finch/
Marie's Room released on Steam last Friday and has garnered nearly 600 collectively 'overwhelmingly positive' reviews since. It's a free, first-person narrative game where you play as a woman named Kelsey and—you may have guessed—explore Marie's room.

Air-powered FPS brawler Sky Noon hosting a beta before coming to Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/air-powered-fps-brawler-sky-noon-hosting-a-beta-before-coming-to-steam/
Ahead of its upcoming Steam Early Access release, offbeat FPS brawler Sky Noon will hold a closed beta this week from 12 pm Pacific Thursday, April through 12 pm Monday, April 23. You can throw your hat into the first come, first serve key giveaway in the game's official Discord channel. Keys will be sent out on the first day of the beta.

Bully Hunters anti-harassment campaign shuts down as criticism mounts
https://www.pcgamer.com/bully-hunters-anti-harassment-campaign-shuts-down-as-criticism-mounts/
Bully Hunters was unveiled last week as a program aimed at combating the harassment and abuse of women in online games, a worthwhile idea that raised eyebrows with its methods. It was billed as a "vigilante in-game hit squad" made up of elite women gamers who would "beat bullies at their own game." Basically, players encountering abuse in CS:GO were encouraged to contact the Bully Hunters, who would then send one of their players to "infiltrate" the game and deliver righteous justice through a righteous ass-kicking.
Noble goal, dubious process, and unsurprisingly it all went about as wrong as it possibly could have.

Ubisoft may be hinting that Watch Dogs 3 is on the way
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-may-be-hinting-that-watch-dogs-3-is-on-the-way/
The reasonable response to being told that Watch Dogs 3 is in development would be to say, "Of course it is." Watch Dogs is a major, well-known game series that's been reasonably successful for Ubisoft and, like Assassin's Creed and Far Cry, has virtually boundless potential for more. But as PlayStationLifeStyle noted last week, a couple of more specific signs of dogs being watched recently came to light.

Killer plants rule the world in bullet hell roguelike Juicy Realm
https://www.pcgamer.com/killer-plants-rule-the-world-in-bullet-hell-roguelike-juicy-realm/
"As one of the first explorers of the newly discovered plant empire, you must continuously drive deeper and deeper into the enemy's lair," its Steam page reads. "Defeat bizarre and colorful fruits while retrieving new gear, weapons, and resources to defend yourself and expand your base camp. If you're unable to defeat the overwhelming destructive force of the plant army alone, invite a few friends to lend a hand and help you discover the secrets behind this strange new world."

PUBG's Savage map has a blue zone that adjusts its timing 'based on the number of players left'
https://www.pcgamer.com/pubgs-savage-map-has-a-blue-zone-that-adjusts-its-timing-based-on-the-number-of-players-left/
PUBG's Savage map just began its second round of player testing on experimental servers, and if you aren't planning on participating yourself, patch notes detail some of the changes that have occurred since the 4x4km map was first tested two weeks ago.

Fortnite is adding an LMG with a bipod
https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnite-is-adding-a-fast-firing-high-capacity-lmg/
Fortnite's next battle royale weapon will be a fast-firing Light Machine Gun with a large magazine and a long reload time, Epic Games has announced. That sounds an awful lot like the minigun that's already in the game, which is great for tearing down buildings but not much else because of its massive bullet spread.

GTA Online gets new Italian Job-inspired police chase mode, complete with knock-off Minis
https://www.pcgamer.com/gta-online-gets-new-italian-job-inspired-police-chase-mode-complete-with-knock-off-minis/
GTA Online's new mode is basically The Italian Job's famous car chase scene on repeat, and it sounds brilliant. In The Vespucci Job, two players jump into Weeny Issi Classics and weave through the back streets of Los Santos, while their two opponents try to blow their bloody doors off from pursuing cop cars.