DLDSR sounds really good. Coming from a 1440P monitor, this is darned cool. Downsampling from higher res does improve IQ (better aliasing and detail) and at 2.25x it won't be that much of a performance hit. Sad no RTX GPU for me though :/

Yeah, could be awesome, especially for "older" games.

So Nvidia has remembered that they have a downscaling tool, first introduced with the GTX 9xx series, and decides to bring it back, only making it use AI so that only the users of RTX cards can use it.

Ok. Cool, I guess.

HDTVTest panel technology shootoff/comparison between QD-OLED, WRGB OLED and Mini LED. FYI this is an early look at CES and not a comprehensive deep dive.

More News...

Global Chip Shortage Forces Canon to Sell Ink Without DRM

Least that's one benefit of the shortage I guess

Canon makes 'all-in-one' printers that refuse to scan when out of ink, lawsuit claims

https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/19/canon_lawsuit_ink/

I only ever really use Brother printers personally and they seem to work well.

PCI-SIG officially releases PCIe 6.0 specifications its members

https://videocardz.com/press-release/pci-sig-officially-releases-pcie-6-0-specifications-its-members

[Rumor] STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl being delayed to fall 2022

https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumor-stalker-2-heart-of-chernobyl-being-delayed-to-fall-2022.538025/

God please not be true

DXVK 1.9.3 is out supporting DLSS, D3D9 improvements and more on Linux

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/01/dxvk-193-is-out-supporting-dlss-d3d9-improvements-and-more/

RPCS3 PlayStation 3 emulation on the PC is seriously impressive | MVG

If you do have any interest, as it does require an official Playstation 3 firmware from Sony's website, I'd consider downloading a copy in case Sony removes it eventually.

Humble Bundle has announced changes are coming to Humble Choice. Blog post here, FAQ here.

Summary

• tiers will be consolidated to only one with a price of $11.99 USD per month for all the games;
• claims to focus more on quality of games and that number of games offered might differ between months;
• introduce Humble Games Collection, a collection of games that can be played so long as one has an active subscription. This will require to download the Humble app to play them. February's will be: Forager, Wizard of Legend, Dodgeball Academia, Unsighted, Void Bastards;
• Trove will become Vault in the app where you can download from that collection of games, once downloaded they will remain playable even after the end of membership;
• Bonus discount on their store up to a maximum of 20%, based on how long one has been a member. Skipping or cancelling reduces it back to 10%. Below is how the discount rate changes;

Since I'm on the classic subscription this isn't a big change for me. I already own 3 of the 5 games from their collection, I might use it to check out if the others are any good.

I'm not fond of this line from the FAQ:

Humble Choice provides a curated selection of hand-picked games that are yours to keep forever, redeemable via a key for a variety of platforms when available (Steam, Epic, Origin, GOG, etc.)

Never liked it when keys outside of Steam were given.

My current plan will be renewed near the end of February so I can at least check if the first month of this new arrangement is any good.

Looking back on what my stepdad originally said about ads being a "necessary evil" (They really aren't, and I argued that to death with him) and seeing him get pissed off about printer inks containing DRM (after I had to explain to him what DRM even was to begin with), kinda makes me lol at this, because it's about damn time printer ink stopped doing bs DRM.

He'll probably be happy when I tell him the news, but I don't think he even bothers with printers anymore.

The annoying part is that they stopped doing it only because of the shortage, once the shortage goes away, I am sure they will go right back to doing it. I also facepalm anytime someone says blah anti consumer practice is a necessary evil. It's like no, it's only "necessary" to increase their profits in majority of the cases.

I know they will, and with their current downtime, they'll likely even figure a new process for the DRM, that probably won't rely too heavily on what they are currently short of. 

Also, ikr?, I told him time and time again that we don't need ads shoved in our faces all the time and he's like "well some people might want to know about something!", and I said "yeah, they can go fucking look it up online, read a newspaper or something, to learn about what it is they want/are looking to buy".

As soon as I figured how ads work and why they exist, I've since regarded them as being largely obtrusive, useless and damaging in some cases (damaging as in taking up website space, data, ads that contain malicious crap etc). 

The news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has two new sales:

• The new flash deal is Infliction: Extended Cut, 65% off for the next 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/infliction_extended_cut
• The Midweek Sale features up to 90% discounts during the next 3 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220112_midweek_sale

Steam has two new daily deals:

• The first one is Sailwind, still in Early Access, with a 15% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1764530/Sailwind/
• The second one is Silence, that has a demo and it's 90% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/314790/Silence/

Fanatical has a new Star Deal: Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is 92% off for the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/tokyo-xanadu-e-x

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 511.17 WHQL

• Includes support for the 12GB GeForce RTX 3080.

Fixed Issues

• [Detroit Become Human]: Random stuttering/freezing occurs in the game. [3389250]
• Flicker/disappearing text when 12-bit color is used [3358884]
• [HDR][G-Sync]: Mouse pointer gets stuck after turning on HDR from the Windows Control
• Panel or after toggling G-Sync from the NVIDIA control panel. [200762998] To work around, click the mouse (right or left button). The mouse cursor will be sluggish for a few seconds before returning to normal operation.

>> Download from here.

AMD Radeon Adrenalin 22.1.1
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-22-1-1

Support For

• Monster Hunter Rise™
• God of War™
  • Up to 7% increase in performance in God of War™ @ 4K Ultra Settings, using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 22.1.1 on the 16 GB Radeon™ RX 6900 XT graphics card, versus the previous software driver version 21.12.1.RS-445
  • Up to 7% increase in performance in God of War™ @ 4K Ultra Settings, using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 22.1.1 on the 16 GB Radeon™ RX 6800 XT graphics card, versus the previous software driver version 21.12.1.RS-446
  • Up to 7% increase in performance in God of War™ @ 4K Ultra Settings, using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 22.1.1 on the 12 GB Radeon™ RX 6700 XT graphics card, versus the previous software driver version 21.12.1.RS-447

Fixed Issues

• Connecting multiple monitors with high display bandwidths and differences in vertical intervals to a system may lead to high idle memory clock values being experienced by some users.
• After upgrading to the latest Radeon™ Software, the Power Tuning component of a saved tuning profile may not load correctly when a user imports a previously saved tuning profile.
• When some users zoom-in during Halo Infinite™ gameplay, they may experience visual corruption on some AMD Graphics Products such as Radeon® RX 5600 XT Graphics.
• Flickering may be observed when playing Fortnite™ on some AMD Graphics Products such as Radeon® RX 6800 XT Graphics using DirectX® 12 with Radeon™ Boost enabled.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse is a free fan game, announcement trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/castlevania-seal-of-the-eclipse-is-a-free-fan-game-announcement-trailer/
It appears that a team of indie developers is currently working on a free unofficial Castlevania game, Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse. This Castlevania game is a tribute to the old 8-bit Castlevania titles, and is not related to Konami.
Designed after the spirit of the CotM titles, this project aims to present the Umbra team’s vision of 1999 in a more traditional-CV light.
>> How long until Konami sends them a letter?

Far Cry 2 gets a new unofficial patch, packing gameplay tweaks & fixes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/far-cry-2-gets-a-new-unofficial-patch-packing-gameplay-tweaks-fixes/
Modder ‘Boggalog’ has released an unofficial patch for Ubisoft’s classic FC game, Far Cry 2. This unofficial patch comes a number of gameplay tweaks, enhancements and fixes. As such, we recommend downloading it (in case you want to replay it).
Going into more details, this mod removes the weird line close to the player where high-quality shadows become low quality. It also slightly improves draw distance and LOD when using ‘Geometry – Ultra High’ and ‘Terrain – Ultra High’.
>> You'll find it at Nexus Mods.

This Half-Life mod replaces Gordon Freeman with Spyro the Dragon
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-half-life-mod-replaces-gordon-freeman-with-spyro-the-dragon/
Half-Life: Year of the Dragon is an ambitious mod for the original Half-Life with only one goal: Make the whole game work around Spyro the Dragon (thanks, GamesRadar+). I mean, why not. Created by modder Magic Nipples(!), this project presents Half-Life's environments from a third-person perspective, picks and chooses levels from the original Half-Life, and remixes them to work with the irritating dragon's moveset.
The mod is not yet released though there are some work-in-progress demos and the below trailer: "Essentially you’d have a hub world similar to that of a typical Spyro game," writes Magic Nipples. "Then you’d have a selection of 10 or so chapters from Half-Life and expansions. I still have to finalize the list, but expect something like that."

GAMING NEWS

Combat trailer released for ELEX II
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/combat-trailer-released-for-elex-ii/
THQ Nordic has released a new trailer for ELEX II that focuses on its combat mechanics. ELEX II is the sequel to ELEX, the open-world role-playing experience from the creators of the Gothic and Risen series, Piranha Bytes.

Forever Skies is new survival-action game from Far From Home
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/forever-skies-is-new-survival-action-game-from-far-from-home/
Far From Home has announced a new first-person survival action game, called Forever Skies. In addition, the team has released its first gameplay trailer that you can find below.