To be fair I think you're mostly right. We'll just be left with older nodes and leftovers of the higher-up products.

It's time for the Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

DSOGaming Giveaway – Win a free copy of Nioh 2: The Complete Edition
https://www.dsogaming.com/editorial/dsogaming-giveaway-win-a-free-copy-of-nioh-2-the-complete-edition/
As you may have noticed, we still don’t have a PC Performance Analysis for Nioh 2: The Complete Edition. The game lacks proper mouse and keyboard prompts, and it’s literally unplayable with that particular control scheme. Still, I believe this is a game that most of you are interested in, so we’ve decided to give it away.
As with our previous contests, you can participate in this giveaway by simply leaving a ‘Thank You’ comment below. We will delete both duplicate and off-topic comments. We will also delete comments from all the accounts that were created for this or previous giveaways (Disqus provides information on when you signed up).
Moreover, your account must have at least 70 comments. We’ve implemented this rule so that we can prevent all the accounts that some users have created solely for giveaways. Comments from accounts that have less than 70 total comments (or have comments only on giveaways) will be deleted. If you are new, you can start engaging with all other users in the Comment section and then participate in future giveaways.
The winner will be picked randomly via Random.org and comments will be counted from oldest to newest. This giveaway contest will end on Wednesday, March 3rd at 22:00GMT.

Doom Eternal has generated over $450 million in its first 9 months
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/doom-eternal-has-generated-over-450-million-in-its-first-9-months/
Doom Eternal came out last year and, from the looks of it, it was a really profitable game for Bethesda. According to id Software’s former product manager, the game generated over $450 million in revenue in its first 9 months.
What’s interesting here is that Doom Eternal does not feature any microtransactions. So yeah, this game performed incredibly well for both id Software and Bethesda.

GOG starts the week with a new sale and the release of two games on the store:

• The new Weekly Sale is full of turn based strategy games up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210301_weekly_sale
• Marble Age: Remastered launches with a 20% discount until the 8th of March: https://www.gog.com/game/marble_age_remastered
• And the game Möbius Front '83 lands on the store with a 25% discount until March 8: https://www.gog.com/game/mobius_front_83

Steam has two new daily deals:

• The first one is ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game, 40% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/552620/ATOM_RPG_Postapocalyptic_indie_game/
• And Pacify is also 40% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/967050/Pacify/

Fanatical has launched its Spring Sale, you can learn more here. And don't forget to test your luck in the new competition.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Steam Remote Play Together now works with people who don't have Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-remote-play-together-now-works-with-people-who-dont-have-steam/
In the latest Steam beta client you can Remote Play Together with anyone, no Steam account needed, just by sending them a link. The blog post outlining the latest beta client update shows you know to opt-in to the new program. For those with it installed, while playing a Remote Play Together game you can simply bring up the Steam overlay and grab a link from there.
Others can then use that link to join your game. If they don't have Steam on their computer, they'll be given a download for the Steam Link app. You can invite just one person this way, though additional Steam Friends can be invited using the same link or through the Steam friends list as normal.

Apex Legends hits record Steam player count with 198,235 concurrents
https://www.pcgamer.com/apex-legends-hits-record-steam-player-count-with-198235-concurrents/
Season 8 of Apex Legends has seen a boost in the two-year-old battle royale's player population. In February it enjoyed roughly 70,000 more concurrent players on Steam than the month before. As February draws to a close, SteamDB recorded it having a record-breaking peak player count of 198,235.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Whispering Hills, Silent Hill Mod for Fallout 4, Episode 1 released
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/whispering-hills-silent-hill-mod-for-fallout-4-episode-1-released/
Silent Hill fans, here is something for you today. Mangaclub has released the first episode of the Silent Hill Mod for Fallout 4, Whispering Hills.
Whispering Hills basically turns Fallout 4 into a Silent Hill-like Nigthtmare. From now on you will be surrounded by Thick Fog, strange sounds and occasionally being dragged into an otherworld where monsters (SirenHead, Mumblers, Lyingfigures, Ghouls, Silent hill Nurses, Twin head Screamers and Dogs) await you. And yes, Pyramidhead is also present in this mod.
>> Available from Nexus Mods.

GTA Vice City Modern V2.0 adds new textures & graphical enhancements
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/gta-vice-city-modern-v2-0-adds-new-textures-graphical-enhancements/
Talha_Mustafa is currently working on a major overhaul mod for Grand Theft Auto Vice City. This mod will add new HD textures to the game and will bring new graphics enhancements to it.
Going into more details, GTA Vice City Modern V2.0 includes skygfx, Limit Adjuster, 2dfx, High Draw Distance of cars and buildings and multi sets. It will also pack ENB reflections adjusted for skygfx, Occlusion, Water Reflection, Depth BIAS, and Smooth Shadows. PC gamers can also expect better Anti Aliasing, Depth Of Field, Ultra HD particles and effects. Additionally, the mod will have Ultra HD Water, as as well as improved Weather, Sky and Rain.
The modder has improved a lot of textures of old buildings, roads, pavements and grass. Furthermore, the mod now uses higher quality pedestrians that feel similar to GTA 5. It also packs some GTA 5 character animation enhancements. For instance, players can now walk while firing a weapon and jump (they can also swim).
>> You'll find it from its website.

This 8.6GB Mod for World of Warcraft overhauls over 14,634 textures
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/this-8-6gb-mod-for-world-of-warcraft-overhauls-over-14634-textures/
Modder ‘FaeSky’ has released an AI-enhanced HD Texture Pack for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Version 3.3.5. According to the modder, this pack improves the quality of over 14,634 textures by using AI techniques.
Going into more details, this Texture Pack upscales the resolution of textures by two times. The modder used Video2x in order to upscale them. Moreover, FaeSky used the realsr_ncnn_vulkan driver to maintain detail.
Do note that this pack only improves the textures of environments. As such, it includes textures for dungeons, environments, tileset and the world. It does not feature any textures for creatures, NPC, spells, particles or items. Additionally, and in order to prevent any possible game crashes, the new textures are limited to 1024x resolution.
Now as with all AI-enhanced HD Texture Packs, this one retains the same art style as the vanilla game. Similarly, its visual improvements are not THAT great. I mean, the new textures are definitely better, but they are not THAT much better.
>> You can find it at Nexus Mods.

Someone has reduced the loading times of GTA Online by 70%
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/someone-has-reduced-the-loading-times-of-gta-online-by-70/
GTA Online is notorious for its long loading times. And, surprisingly enough, a modder was able to improve loading times by 70% on an AMD FX-8350, showcasing some of the game’s optimization issues.
According to “T0ST “, there’s a single-thread CPU bottleneck while starting up GTA Online that will affect most mid/low tier CPUs. Moreover, it appears that GTA struggles to parse a 10MB JSON file. Not only that, but the JSON parser itself is poorly built/naive and after parsing there’s a slow item de-duplication routine.
(...)
In order to improve the game’s loading times, T0ST wrote a .dll, injected it in GTA, and hooked some functions. What’s also really cool here is that T0ST has shared the source of PoC (which you can download from here). Therefore, PC gamers can now enjoy shorter loading times while loading GTA Online. Do note, however, that your results may vary, and you may not see that big of a boost (especially if you’re using a high-end system).

Dawn of War: Soulstorm mod Unification updates with 17 new factions
https://www.pcgamer.com/dawn-of-war-soulstorm-mod-unification-updates-with-17-new-factions/
If you like Warhammer 40,000, have I got the mod for you: Unification Mod for Dawn of War: Soulstorm is a sprawling remaster, bugfix, faction-adder, and game mode adder that works for both the Steam and (to my delight) Actual Physical DVD versions of Dawn of War: Soulstorm. The unification mod adds new art and units for the nine base game factions, as well as 17 new factions.
The big selling point of Unification is the new factions, but realistically you'll get a lot of mileage out of improved AI, as well as big updates in the campaign and new win conditions usable in its missions. There are also new Survival, Last Stand, and Kill-Team mission types. Survival and Last Stand are particularly appealing to those who prefer their RTS to be PvE and cooperative.
>> Head to ModDB to get it.

15-year-old Cthulhu game Dark Corners of the Earth gets full mod support
https://www.pcgamer.com/15-year-old-cthulhu-game-dark-corners-of-the-earth-gets-full-mod-support/
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a horror game developed by Headfirst and published by Bethesda, which sank like a stone on its initial release. But like Lovecraft said, that is not dead which can eternal lie, and Dark Corners has built a reputation as a cult classic in the years since, thanks in part to a memorable hotel chase sequence.
It's a buggy old game with some frustrating difficulty spikes and an even more jarring swing into action game territory than Bloodlines—and like Bloodlines, it has an essential fan patch. DCoTEPatch is the work of sucklead, who has continued tinkering with the game and now created an injection hook that forces it to check a mods directory before running.
What that means is this 15-year-old game is now compatible with the Vortex mod manager. It's got a page on NexusMods too, though so far it's only hosting a couple of existing graphics updates: Creepy HDR ReShade and a 5.5GB texture pack called Sharp Corners of the Earth. Thanks to sucklead's hard work, maybe now this nearly forgotten game can get some of the mod love it deserves.

GAMING NEWS

Dinos Reborn is a new open-world first-person survival game
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dinos-reborn-is-a-new-open-world-first-person-survival-game/
Vision Edge Entertainment and HardCodeWay have announced a new open-world first-person survival game, Dinos Reborn. As the title suggests, this game will feature dinosaurs and players will have to run, sneak, craft and shoot in order to survive.

The Medium’s Technical Level Designer talks about the evolution of horror games
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-mediums-technical-level-designer-talks-about-the-evolution-of-horror-games/
In an interview with The Escapist, Technical Level Designer Vitalii Pryvalov said that the studio loves horror games, and more specifically psychological horror games.
>> Here's the link to the interview, in case you want to read it.

Halo The Master Chief Collection will soon support dedicated servers via Custom Browser
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/halo-the-master-chief-collection-will-soon-support-dedicated-servers-via-custom-browser/
343 Industries has announced that Custom Browser will be soon coming to Halo The Master Chief Collection. This new functionality will allow players to find and join the servers they like. Moreover, it will allow for all the Halo games of the collection to be played on dedicated servers.

Hood: Outlaws and Legends gets a new trailer, focusing on the Ranger
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/hood-outlaws-and-legends-gets-a-new-trailer-focusing-on-the-ranger/
Focus Home Interactive has released a new trailer for Hood: Outlaws and Legends that focuses on the Ranger class. Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a new PvPvE multiplayer game that is coming to PC in 2021.

E3 2021 has been reportedly cancelled, to be replaced by an online event
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/e3-2021-has-been-reportedly-cancelled-to-be-replaced-by-an-online-event/
It appears that the biggest gaming event, E3, won’t – once again – happen. The Board of Los Angeles Convention and Tourism Development Commission has published a new report, stating that this upcoming gaming event has been cancelled.

New screenshot and gameplay video for The Day Before
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-screenshot-and-gameplay-video-for-the-day-before/
Mytona has released a new screenshot and a gameplay video for The Day Before. In this video, we get a glimpse at some of the quiet moments players can find in the world. Moreover, this video shows how exploring the environment is key to surviving, and to knowing how to engage enemies.

Boundary gets a new official gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/boundary-gets-a-new-official-gameplay-trailer/
Skystone Games has released a new official gameplay trailer for its upcoming multiplayer tactical space-based shooter, Boundary. This short trailer showcases gameplay footage from the game’s latest build.

Monday news, part two

To fight bugs, Stonefly demands you become a giant robot bug
https://www.pcgamer.com/to-fight-bugs-stonefly-demands-you-become-a-giant-robot-bug/
I love mechs. But I also love a good bug. Thankfully, with Stonefly, I don't have to choose between the two, with a first look at Flight School Studio's chill action-adventure showing off some delightfully insectoid robots to kick about in.

Fortnite's unstoppable crossovers continue with a Batman comic series
https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnites-unstoppable-crossovers-continue-with-a-batman-comic-series/
Na na na na na na na na na Batman's getting a Fortnite comic book series. This is a not-unsurprising addition to the ever-expanding world of Fortnite crossovers, with DC having been willing to insert the caped crusader in any number of other worlds for many decades: I particularly remember the Batman vs Aliens ones from my youth, which weren't very good, but definitely better than the one where Batman helped the Power Rangers out. And Batman himself has been in Fortnite since late last year.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint will get updates throughout 2021
https://www.pcgamer.com/ghost-recon-breakpoint-will-get-updates-throughout-2021/
Ghost Recon Breakpoint was a pretty big disappointment when it arrived in 2019: a "tedious and confused open-world tactical shooter," we called it in our 40% review, that "adds nothing of value to the Ghost Recon template." Ubisoft committed to fixing it, but like many of the commitments I've made over the years (losing weight, quitting smoking, being nicer on social media), it seemed like the sort of promise that was meant to be taken with a grain of salt.
Ubisoft kept working on it, though, and kept trying to convince people to give it another chance, and today it announced on Twitter that it's going to continue throughout 2021.

The Sinking City drama resumes: Frogwares warns fans not to buy it on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-sinking-city-drama-resumes-frogwares-warns-fans-not-to-buy-it-on-steam/
The drama of The Sinking City has taken another strange turn, as developer Frogwares said on Twitter that the recently restored, then removed, then restored-again version of the game on Steam is not actually the one it made—and because of that, warned that gamers should not buy it.

343 Industries explains how Halo Infinite is a 'spiritual reboot' that will evoke the legacy of the original
https://www.pcgamer.com/343-industries-explains-how-halo-infinite-is-a-spiritual-reboot-that-will-evoke-the-legacy-of-the-original/
343 Industries has previously described Halo Infinite as a "spiritual reboot" of the long-running shooter series. I've heard of reboots, remasters, remakes, and even spiritual successors over the years, but I have to admit that spiritual reboot was a new one on me. Fortunately, the latest Inside Infinite update offers some insights into what it actually means.
>> And it has left a little surprise in that blog post.

Kung-fu game Sifu will be singleplayer only, all about 'mastery through practice'
https://www.pcgamer.com/kung-fu-game-sifu-will-be-singleplayer-only-all-about-mastery-through-practice/
The announcement of Sifu was the surprise highlight of the week for me. It's a kung-fu brawler coming later this year from Sloclap, the studio behind excellent online fighting game Absolver. In some ways, Sifu looks similar to that game, but the trailer leaves a lot of questions: Is it singleplayer only? How does the combat work? What's with the aging system? Sifu executive producer Pierre Tarno wouldn't answer all my questions, but did share several key details this morning, including the identity of a real kung-fu master who's helping with the game.

We want to scoop Digital Combat Simulator World's fluffy clouds up and eat them
https://www.pcgamer.com/we-want-to-scoop-digital-combat-simulator-worlds-fluffy-clouds-up-and-eat-them/
Developer Eagle Dynamics has shown off its upcoming work on Digital Combat Simulator World, a free-to-play military simulator, and it's all about volumetric, fluffy, puffed-out clouds. Just look at these things!

Call of Duty: Warzone's latest patch might kill the infinite stim glitch forever
https://www.pcgamer.com/call-of-duty-warzones-latest-patch-might-kill-the-infinite-stim-glitch-forever/
I'm probably being way too optimistic, but Call of Duty: Warzone's infinite stim glitch, the seemingly unkillable destroyer of fair matches, might actually be dead. Hear me out.

Valorant's next agent, Astra, is a cosmic controller with an intimidating ability set
https://www.pcgamer.com/valorant-astra-abilities-revealed/
Map control is power in Valorant, and the newest agent joining the roster has a ton of it. Astra, a cosmic caster hailing from Ghana, brings a boatload of utility and a powerful astral form that allows her to divvy up her abilities wherever she wishes.

Confused by Deathloop? Here's a timelooping assassin explainer video
https://www.pcgamer.com/confused-by-deathloop-heres-a-timelooping-assassin-explainer-video/
Just a few days after it dropped a new trailer for Dishonored plus Groundhog Day shooter Deathloop, which featured some absolutely slapping music, Arkane has released a lovely explainer of just what's going on in the game and what it looks like to do that.

Deep Rock Galactic outlines 2021 plans, including biggest update ever
https://www.pcgamer.com/deep-rock-galactic-outlines-2021-plans-including-biggest-update-ever/
Cooperative mining and shooting game Deep Rock Galactic is getting more new updates into 2021, including what looks like the largest update in the game's three year history. The sci-fi dwarves aren't stopping their bug-killing any time soon, it seems. The first update will be smaller, coming in April, while the second is planned for some time between July and September.

The magical mutant tactics of Urtuk: The Desolation combo attack into release
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-magical-mutant-tactics-of-urtuk-the-desolation-combo-attack-into-release/
Bands of magical mutants and worse crawl across the wasteland ruins of Urtuk: The Desolation, and you're in charge of one. It's a turn-based tactics RPG somewhere between Battle Brothers and Darkest Dungeon with great design fundamentals. As the escaped experimental mutant Urtuk, you lead a band of other mutants across a sprawling waste in search of a cure for your slowly degenerating condition. As time passes, your mutations get worse. If you die, well, you start over in true roguelite fashion.

Destiny 2's Trials of Osiris mode has been disabled because of a match fixing ring
https://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-2s-trials-of-osiris-mode-has-been-disabled-because-of-a-match-fixing-ring/
Destiny 2's competitive PVP mode, Trials Of Osiris, has been put on hold once more, after a community effort found a way to farm free flawless cards—reaching seven wins without taking a loss—using a mix of character-switching, dice-rolls, and a good old fashioned secret code.

A leaked Elden Ring trailer has surfaced
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-leaked-elden-ring-trailer-has-surfaced/
Elden Ring still exists—and there's a extremely blurry leaked gameplay trailer making the rounds online to prove it.
As reported by VGC, partial, off-screen footage of a new Elden Ring trailer has begun to be shared within private circles. The footage features segments of Souls-style melee combat, boss fights against a dragon and sword-wielding foes, plus a glimpse at some horse riding and mounted combat in a vast, open landscape.

Rumour mill RX 6700XT to be priced at $479-499. Same as a 3070..

Yeah waiting for 4000 series cards or 7000 from AMD. With ridiculous lack of availability and price gouging all round gonna stick to what I have and consoles :P

If that is indeed the price, then MAD has lost its mind.

Yea if that price is legit, I am not feeling it. Even if the 6700 XT can keep up with the 2080 Ti/3070 in Raster, the deficiencies that RDNA 2 has like poor RT performance and no DLSS will make it even more pronounced as you get lower in the CU counts. With Nvidia, the RT core does both Intersections and BVH traversal where as RDNA 2, I believe their Ray Accelerator only does Intersections while leaving the BVH traversal to the CUs.

While Consoles can fine tune Ray Tracing such as running the RT portion at 1080p checker boarding or lower. PC RT settings so far seems to run at Native for most games unless you do DLSS but that adjusts the entire Render resolution of the game.

But I suppose with the current GPU landscape, it overall doesn't matter as anything that's in stock will sell out. But for those that have a choice, I'd look else where if that's the price and performance. We will see in a few days though.

If that were it's street price, then it would actually be cheap right now...

$500 for a 'budget' lower mid range isn't cheap but I get what you're saying. Not paying the Rona/scalper tax for any of my stuff :P

Fight between ‘Fortnite’ creator and Apple reels in more tech players

https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/fight-between-fortnite-creator-and-apple-reels-in-more-tech-players-11614325702456.html

" Apple has subpoenaed Sony Corp., Microsoft Corp., Nintendo Co., Amazon.com Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. The latest skirmish came Wednesday as Valve Corp., one of the largest computer-game distributors in the world, cried foul to a federal judge in California over Apple’s expansive pretrial effort to subpoena its privately held financial records of its offerings. "

" Epic wants to take testimony from a senior executive at online-dating company Match Group Inc., the owner of Tinder and other apps, as well as a former Apple executive that the iPhone maker has suggested it cannot locate. The company’s lawyers are also set to question Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in a multi-hour deposition. "

They are dragging everyone into this LMAO

I fear Apple is trying to turn this into a more complex matter, maybe even trying to establish the limits of what the owner of a platform, be consoles, phones or digital stores, can do and what not.