Going back to normal with the Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

GOG has four Deals of the Day and three new sales:

• The Deals of the Day, that will end Wednesday, in 46 hours, are:
  • The Mortal Kombat Trilogy has a 13% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/mortal_kombat_trilogy
  • Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo - Digital Deluxe Edition gets a 35% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/alfred_hitchcock_vertigo_digital_deluxe_edition
  • Syberia: The World Before is going to be 40% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/syberia_the_world_before
  • And F.E.A.R. Platinum gets a 88% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/fear_platinum
• The Akupara Publisher Sale brings up to 85% discounts during 6 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2022_akupara_publisher_sale
• The Weekly Sale features post-apocalyptic games with up to 90% discounts during 6 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20221003_weekly_sale
• And publisher Warner Bros puts its titles up to 85% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2022_warner_bros_publisher_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• Supraland Six Inches Under, that has a demo, will be 40% off until Sunday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1522870/Supraland_Six_Inches_Under/
• Superliminal will be 50% off until October 9th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1049410/Superliminal/

The Humble Store has a new sale: The Anime Sale, with up to 90% discounts during 4 days. All the keys but one are for Steam. The other may be for GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/anime-sale/

And Fanatical

• The new Star Deal is a DLC: Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök, 57% off during 48 hours. The key is for UPlay: https://www.fanatical.com/en/dlc/assassin-s-creed-valhalla-dawn-of-ragnarok
• The former is part of an Assassin's Creed franchise sale, featuring up to 81% discounts during 6 days. Again, the keys are for UPlay/Ubi Connect: https://www.fanatical.com/en/franchises/assassins-creed
• And PQube Limited puts its games up to 90% off during 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/pqube-limited

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered Mod introduces a “Batman: Arkham” over-the-shoulder camera
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-marvels-spider-man-remastered-mod-introduces-a-batman-arkham-over-the-shoulder-camera/
Modder ‘Maxie Zeus’ has released a new mod for Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered Mod that adds an over-the-shoulder camera, similar to the one used in the Batman: Arkham games.
This is a pretty cool mod that some of you may find interesting. After all, it will allow you to better appreciate spidey’s costumes.
>> There's a video of it in action (2 minutes).

New The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Mod overhauls over 125 NPCs
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-mod-overhauls-over-125-npcs/
Modder ‘Axarien’ has released a pretty cool mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that aims to overhaul over 125 NPCs. As the Axarien noted, this is a unique, vanilla-friendly, high poly appearance mod that improves 125 male and female NPCs.
The mod improves mostly the NPCs of the main game. However, it also covers a few from the Hearthfire, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn DLCs/expansions.
(...) Do note that this mod is for Skyrim Special Edition, and not for the Original/Legacy Edition.
>> No video of it, only screenshots.

Here’s Fallout 4 with over 300 mods and Reshade Ray Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/heres-fallout-4-with-over-300-mods-and-reshade-ray-tracing/
DigitalDreams has shared a video, showcasing Fallout 4 with over 300 mods and Reshade Ray Tracing. This video will give you an idea of what Bethesda’s RPG can look when heavily modded.
The Youtuber has shared the list of mods that they have used. As such, players can make the game look similar to what has been shown. Furthermore, DigitalDreams highlighted one specific mod, called NAC X. NAC X is the most comprehensive modular weather, lighting and visual overhaul for Fallout 4.

Skyrim Special Edition gets a new DLC-sized fan expansion, featuring new enemies, animals, ingredients & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/skyrim-special-edition-gets-a-new-dlc-sized-fan-expansion-featuring-new-enemies-animals-ingredients-more/
Yesterday, we shared a mod for Skyrim Special Edition that aimed to overhaul over 150 NPCs. And today, we have a brand new DLC-sized fan expansion for our Skyrim fans.
Created by modder ‘arminZX12’, this DLC-sized fan expansion will take you to visit the city of Elden Root and its huge forests.
>> There's a video of it (3 minutes).

Full Path Tracing Mod released for id Software’s classic Quake
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/full-path-tracing-mod-released-for-id-softwares-classic-quake/
Modder ‘sultim-t’, the man behind the Path Tracing mods for Doom and Serious Sam TFE has released Quake Ray Traced. As the title implies, Quake Ray Traced offers full path tracing effects to id Software’s classic first-person shooter.
Quake Ray Tracing uses ray tracing to calculate global illumination, reflections, refractions, soft shadows and other visual effects. And below you can find a video that showcases this mod in action.
>> The video starts with his Half Life project, to announce that it has been delayed.

Cyberpunk 2077 car insurance mod wants you to check yourself before you wreck everyone else
https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-2077-car-insurance-mod-wants-you-to-check-yourself-before-you-wreck-everyone-else/
Driving recklessly is an open world game tradition. Leaving a wake of smashed cars, dead pedestrians, and downed lampposts behind you is just a fact of life, whether you're racing off on a world-saving quest or just driving to the store to buy a new pair of kicks. The wreckage, meanwhile, is all neatly cleaned up and there's no sign of your wanton destruction the next time you go roaring past that same street corner.
It's not really fair to the citizens of the world whose cars you sideswipe, ding, scratch, smash, or destroy, however, and now a mod has come along to at least balance the scales a little bit.
Spotted by PCGamesN, the Drive Carefully mod for Cyberpunk 2077 creates a new unseen entity in Night City: the NCID, or Night City Insurance Department. From now on, if you bump, bang, smoosh, or scratch another car while you're driving, you'll have to pay a fine.

You can add Jedi Academy to the list of audacious VR ports
https://www.pcgamer.com/you-can-add-jedi-academy-to-the-list-of-audacious-vr-ports/
As shared by the Flat2VRv modding community, creator Simon "DrBeef" Brown is in the early stages of creating a VR port of the classic FPS/Lightsaber duel simulator, Jedi Academy. Or, as the learned know it, Star Wars: Dark Forces 4: Jedi Knight 3: Jedi Outcast 2: Jedi Academy.
Flat2VR shared a 50-second preview gameplay clip of Jedi Academy running on the Meta Quest 2, showing off a portion of the game's Hoth Echo Base level. I already dig the idea of seeing this iconic movie location (and level I played over and over in grade school) from this new perspective, and the shooter combat looks like it translates well.

This King of the Hill Doom mod brings about Hank on Earth
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-king-of-the-hill-doom-mod-brings-about-hank-on-earth/
"God-dang it, Bobby. The legions of Hell have come for our Clean Burning Fuel," So begins Modder FreewayHere's description for their King of the Hill Doom WAD. "We must rip and tear until it is done, or else Arlen will succumb to the will of the damned."
There are truly few things more virtuous and right than Doom WADs riffing on '90s TV. The ambitious total conversions, voxelized sprites, and ray tracing overhauls of today owe a debt of honor to dopey hacks from '04 that turn all the Pinkies into Barney.
FreewayHere is keeping the tradition alive with this King of the Hill Doom pack. I'm a big fan of its file name: Hank.wad. The absurd, often heartwarming trials of the Hill family make for a surprisingly nice accompaniment to the horror and ultra violence of Doom, almost like fries with Worcestershire sauce, and it's about time someone brought that combo to the game itself.

Well, here's GoldenEye with Mario characters
https://www.pcgamer.com/well-heres-goldeneye-with-mario-characters/
Released in 2021 but updated multiple times since, with the most recent update bringing it up to version 3.17 and adding 15 more multiplayer maps, the GoldenEye With Mario Characters mod is one of those real "everything that's great about modding" achievements. Not just because of the wonderfully demented idea, but because of the follow through. The modder known as StupidMarioBros1Fan and their collaborators weren't content just swapping GoldenEye's bad guys with Koopa Troopas and calling it a day. Oh, no.
For starters, the dialogue (subtitled) has been rewritten to reflect the new character models. Alec Trevelyan's line, "For England, James?" made sense when he was being played by Sean Bean. Now that he's been replaced by Luigi, the line goes, "For-a Brooklyn, Mario?"
Everyone in the singleplayer campaign has been replaced appropriately, so Natalya Simonova is Peach, Xenia Onatopp is Daisy, and Valentin Zukovsky, the Russian gangster played by Robbie Coltrane in the movie, is now Wario. Of course.
>> There's a video of it (3 minutes).

GAMING NEWS

Riddledale is a cute open-world adventure game, coming to PC in Fall 2023
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/riddledale-is-a-cute-open-world-adventure-game-coming-to-pc-in-fall-2023/
MAGOO has announced a cute open-world adventure game, called Riddledale, which will be coming to PC in Fall 2023. In order to celebrate this announcement, MAGOO has also released the game’s debut gameplay trailer that you can find below.

Brand new Diablo 4 screenshots leaked online
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/brand-new-diablo-4-screenshots-leaked-online/
The “Family & Friends” closed beta testing for Diablo 4 is currently under way and some brand new screenshots have been leaked from it. These screenshots show off the game’s character creation and some of the skill trees.

Halo may ditch the Slipspace Engine over Unreal Engine 5
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/halo-may-ditch-the-slipspace-engine-over-unreal-engine-5/
According to numerous reports that surfaced yesterday, Halo may ditch Slipspace Engine over Epic’s Unreal Engine. If this actually does happen, the next Halo may be the next triple-A game that will ditch its in-house engine over Unreal Engine. And yes, the previous triple-A game that did this was The Witcher 4.

Monday news, the long part two:

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous – Enhanced Edition adds controller support and a surprisingly good photo mode
https://www.pcgamer.com/pathfinder-wrath-of-the-righteous-enhanced-edition-adds-controller-support-and-a-surprisingly-good-photo-mode/
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, Owlcat Games' demon-slaying CRPG, has now been upgraded to the Enhanced Edition via a free update. It's wide-ranging, but as someone who paused their quest until they could play it on their Steam Deck while lazing around on the sofa or lying in bed, the addition of controller support is the main highlight.

Datamining suggests Mark Hamill will voice The Joker in MultiVersus
https://www.pcgamer.com/datamining-suggests-mark-hamill-will-voice-the-joker-in-multiversus/
Something that's been pretty damn rad about MultiVersus is that, for the most part, Warner Bros. has recruited almost every original voice actor for its eclectic roster. It's a surprising attention to detail, and datamining suggests it's about to get a whole lot better. According to the files, it looks like Mark Hamill may be reprising his role as The Joker.

Activision slams COD cheatmakers with racketeering charges
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-slams-cod-cheatmakers-with-racketeering-charges/
Activision has gone to war on the maker of popular Call of Duty cheat software, a German-based entity called EngineOwning (hereafter EO). The videogame publisher has filed a new document in an ongoing suit in California against dozens of named individuals, and among the charges is one that does raise an eyebrow: racketeering. Activision accuses the individuals involved in EO of not just violating the software's terms of use, and wire fraud, but of a RICO violation: essentially saying that this amounts to criminal conspiracy.

Ubisoft's new shooter looks like anime Destiny
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-announces-new-shooter-that-looks-like-anime-destiny/
Ubisoft has announced Project U, an upcoming PvE game that "explores a new concept of session-based co-op shooter, where many players unite to prevail against an overwhelming threat!" Beyond that and one piece of key art, Ubisoft is being light on details: heck, this thing doesn't even have a name yet but is soliciting participants for an undated closed network test.

All the cool Hunt: Showdown players are sending kamikaze beetles to kill their enemies
https://www.pcgamer.com/hunt-stalker-beetle-sticky-bomb/
Before Hunt: Showdown's 1.10 patch even hit test servers yesterday, players were already scheming about the terrible things they might be able to do with the game's new toy: a remote-controlled flying beetle that can be used to spot enemies. The Stalker Beetle is expected to be introduced in October, and it has the opportunity to shake up stalemate situations where one team sits well-protected in a compound and their opponents sit outside, daring them to shed their advantage.

This cool Metal Gear Solid throwback trades rocket launchers for sponge bullets
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-cool-metal-gear-solid-throwback-trades-rocket-launchers-for-sponge-bullets/
I knew Undetected, a new indie stealth game from Mexican developer Antonio Freyre, and I were on the same page when a pencil-pushing, no-nonsense general immediately started on with a mission briefing over scenes of the hero, Tenoch Kaan, sneaking through the jungle to his deployment point. I'm not 30 seconds in before proper nouns like "Raptrix units" and "Perpetual Energy Station" are thrown around.

Founding member of Disco Elysium studio claims core devs 'involuntarily' left the company
https://www.pcgamer.com/founding-member-of-disco-elysium-developer-claims-core-team-members-involuntarily-left-the-company/
Martin Luiga, a founding member of Studio ZA/UM and an editor on Disco Elysium, PC Gamer's 2019 Game of the Year and Top 100 chart-topper, has announced the "dissolution of the ZA/UM Cultural Association" via a post on Medium (first spotted by independent journalist Nibel on Twitter).
Update 10/03/22: ZA/UM has issued the following statement: "Like any video game, the development of Disco Elysium was and still is a collective effort, with every team member’s contribution essential and valued as part of a greater whole. At this time, we have no further comment to make other than the ZA/UM creative team’s focus remains on the development of our next project, and we are excited to share more news on this with you all soon."

Here's a game about soldering and tinkering with old school electronics
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-a-game-about-soldering-and-tinkering-with-old-school-electronics/
Not long ago I played Last Call BBS, a puzzle anthology that included a minigame about assembling model robot kits—using tools to snip them off the plastic sprues, then connecting, painting, and even stickering them. I get a sense of the same pleasant tactility watching the release trailer for Retro Gadgets, an upcoming game that will let you build your own videogame handheld, calculator, digital pet, or chiptune starter kit.

Activision Blizzard exec who called harassment lawsuit 'distorted and untrue' steps down from position
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-exec-who-called-harassment-lawsuit-distorted-and-untrue-steps-down-from-position/
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Activision Blizzard chief compliance officer Frances Townsend has stepped down from her position. While no longer an employee of the company, she will continue to serve its board as an advisor.
>> Good riddance.

It's bite-size Vampire Survivors in Slay the Spire's framework in Rogue: Genesia
https://www.pcgamer.com/its-bite-size-vampire-survivors-in-slay-the-spires-framework-in-rogue-genesia/
Those 30-minute rounds of Vampire Survivors got you down? I'm really loving Rogue: Genesia, a nicely-made little Early Access gem that's got a roguelike mode putting structure over its weapons-and-upgrades horde fighting. The result is spurts of shorter wave survival with short rests in between that's easier to pick up and put down.

First Darktide character spotlight shows off the cultist-carving zealot preacher
https://www.pcgamer.com/first-darktide-character-spotlight-shows-off-the-cultist-carving-zealot-preacher/
A new character spotlight has revealed information about the zealot: preacher class in upcoming cooperative shooter Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. Developer Fatshark has released a slew of quick cuts showing the class in action and highlighting some of those many and varied character lines and party banter.

A canceled Dune game comes to Steam under a new name, 20 years later
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-canceled-dune-game-comes-to-steam-under-a-new-name-20-years-later/
Westwood wasn't the only Studio publishing Dune videogames back in the day. French studio Cryo Interactive developed an adventure game simply called Dune and released it in 1992, then in 2001 released a tie-in to the Sci Fi Channel miniseries called Frank Herbert's Dune developed by Widescreen Games. The latter was a flop, and Cryo Interactive, already struggling due to the early 2000s recession, declared bankruptcy.
That left Soft Brigade in trouble. The Hungarian studio was working with Cryo Interactive on an arcade flight-sim for the Game Boy Advance called Dune: Ornithopter Assault, in which you played a House Atreides pilot on Arrakis, protecting spice harvesters from the Harkonnen. It was canceled—as was an online RTS called Dune Generations being developed internally by Cryo Networks—despite being almost finished. A playable ROM was eventually leaked online, but now Soft Brigade's game lives on, thanks to crowdfunding.
After raising $21,222 on Kickstarter, the game formerly known as Dune: Ornithopter Assault has finally been completed. Absent the Dune license and renamed Elland: The Crystal Wars, it's been brought to PC by Retro Room Games, who specialize in game preservation.

FIFA 23 slammed by PC players as EA's own anti-cheat makes it unplayable for many
https://www.pcgamer.com/fifa-23-slammed-by-pc-players-as-eas-own-anti-cheat-makes-it-unplayable-for-many/
The last entry in one of gaming's great historical partnerships has been released and, let me tell you, the manager won't be happy with how EA has set their stall out early doors. FIFA 23 is unplayable for a considerable amount of the playerbase thanks to a malfunction with EA's own anti-cheat software, which is failing to properly verify itself and thus refusing to launch the game.

A Mega Man documentary has been deemed too sexy by YouTube's baffling content rules
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-mega-man-documentary-has-been-deemed-too-sexy-by-youtubes-baffling-content-rules/
(...)
As reported by Ars Technica, a 78 minute video from popular retro-game speedrunning documentarian Summoning Salt has recently fallen victim to a series of strange—and seemingly contradictory—content restriction decisions from YouTube's moderation staff. About four days after Salt's Mega Man video went live, it was "age-restricted" by YouTube's moderation system for "excessive swearing," presumably owing to clips featured in the video of streamers cursing in frustration.

No Man's Sky 4.0 update adds new 'relaxed' mode and 'massively increased' inventory
https://www.pcgamer.com/no-mans-sky-40-update-adds-new-relaxed-mode-and-massively-increased-inventory/
Six years after its launch, No Man's Sky has nearly reached another milestone, version 4.0. This comes as Hello Games' galactic sandbox prepares to expand onto yet another platform, Nintendo Switch, on October 7.

AMD made a terrible flaw with this design...

- Turns out AMD's claim that any AM4 cooler will work with AM5 is actually false. Any AM4 cooler that uses the AMD provided backplate will work but any AM4 cooler that uses their own backplate will not work.

- In order to add in the cooler compatibility, AMD supposedly added 2mm thickness to IHS which is why it runs so hot vs using Direct Die which decreases the temps by 21C. (Needs to be tested tho)

Suffering Through Intel's Announcements: 13900K, A770 GPU Price, & More

GN emailed Intel to get further clarification as to what they meant by "Limited Edition" version of Arc. According to Intel, Limited Edition is just the name and nothing more... It is in fact not actually limited in quantity lmao... Raja and his god damn antics... The rest of the video is also pretty funny cause of awful the presentation was.

PS5 has been jailbroken

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/ps5-has-been-jailbroken.1642417/

Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPU Platform & Z790 Motherboards Get Up To DDR5-7600 XMP 3.0 Memory Certification

https://wccftech.com/intels-13th-gen-raptor-lake-platform-z790-motherboards-ddr5-7600-xmp-3-0-memory-certification/

Had it been a 4800 kit, I could somehow see it as a distant possibility, but with a 5600 one I'd say that no.

It's good to be optimistic, but let's not fool ourselves.

Pretty good considering it has been supply constrained and only recently begun taking reservations in places like Japan.

After seeing Alder Lake, Zen 4 and Raptor Lake...

Yep luckily our awesome site admins sorted it out.

I come here for PC news (as default) as you guys are usually on upto date with the latest stuff xD

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam has one new sale and a range of new weeklong deals:

• The CI Games Publisher Sale features up to 90% discounts until Sunday, 9th: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/cigames/sale/2022
• And here are some weeklong deals:
  • MADNESS: Project Nexus is 10% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/488860/MADNESS_Project_Nexus/
  • Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel gets a 20% deal: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1298140/Fobia__St_Dinfna_Hotel/
  • Trials of Fire is 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1038370/Trials_of_Fire/
  • Hidden Folks gets a 65% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/435400/Hidden_Folks/
  • The Age of Decadence is 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/230070/The_Age_of_Decadence/
  • And the last of the list is Down in Bermuda, that gets a 90% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1107300/Down_in_Bermuda/

The Humble Store has a new sale: the Hack & Slash Sale, with up to 85% discounts during the next 6 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG and UPlay: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/hack-slash-sale/.

Fanatical has two new sales:

• Team17 Digital puts its games up to 91% off during 10 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/team17-digital-ltd
• And, to celebrate Fallout's 25th anniversary, Bethesda puts its games up to 77% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/bethesda-softworks

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Steam Next Fest returns with hundreds of new demos and dev streams
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-next-fest-returns-with-hundreds-of-new-demos-and-dev-streams/
The latest Steam Next Fest event is now underway, bringing hundreds of game demos, developer chats, and livestreams to the platform along with something new: Next Fest badges.
For the Steam badge collectors out there, the Steam Next Fest: October Edition will offer a profile badge for blasting through your discovery queue—essentially Steam's personalized recommendation center. You can quickly roll through it multiple times to level it all the way up.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Obliteration is a brand new PS4 Emulator for PC (Windows/Linux)
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/obliteration-is-a-brand-new-ps4-emulator-for-pc-windows-linux/
And here comes a new challenger. Developer “ultimaweapon” has released a brand new Playstation 4 emulator for the PC (for both Windows and Linux), called Obliteration. Obliteration is currently in a very early state, and cannot run any commercial games. However, you can find a video demonstration (as well as a download link) for it below.
Ultimaweapon has stated that the emulator may be able to run the games that can run on other emulators, like KyTy, in a couple of months. However, don’t expect to be playing any triple-A PS4 game anytime soon.

GAMING NEWS

Horizon Forbidden West is coming to PC according to Sony’s leaked document
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/horizon-forbidden-west-is-coming-to-pc-according-to-sonys-leaked-document/
According to a leaked document from Sony, Horizon Forbidden West will be coming to PC. This shouldn’t really surprise any of you as Horizon Zero Dawn sold well on PC. Not only that, but Horizon Forbidden West was also present in the NVIDIA GeForce Now leak.
>> The document also talks about other games.

Lost Judgment and Judgment now support Intel’s XeSS AI-upscaling tech
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/lost-judgment-and-judgment-now-support-intels-xess-ai-upscaling-tech/
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has released a new patch for Lost Judgment and Judgment that adds support for Intel’s XeSS tech. In addition, the new patch adds support for a new FSR2.1 Mode, called FSR 2.1 Native Quality.

Hitman 3 will get a new single-player mode, Freelancer, on January 26th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/hitman-3-will-get-a-new-single-player-mode-freelancer-on-january-26th/
IO Interactive has announced that a new single-player mode for Hitman 3, called Freelancer, will release on January 26th, 2023. This new SP mode will be available for free to all owners of the game.

Tuesday news, part two:

Roll up for the 40th anniversary of the Golden Joystick Awards
https://www.pcgamer.com/roll-up-for-the-40th-anniversary-of-the-golden-joystick-awards/
The 40th Golden Joystick Awards presented by GamesRadar+ will take place on Tuesday, November 22. The event is run by PC Gamer's parent company, Future.
The Golden Joysticks are the longest-running videogame awards show, where the awards are determined by public vote, in history. Every year sees millions of votes cast across a wide range of categories, with an additional three 'Critics Choice Awards' determined by Future's senior editorial staff.
This year's 40th anniversary show will be a bonanza of gaming goodness, and fans will vote across 18 categories including 'Best Studio' and the much-coveted 'Ultimate Game of the Year'. The public voting opens here on Friday October 7.

Beyond Good and Evil 2 has broken Duke Nukem Forever's record for longest game development time
https://www.pcgamer.com/beyond-good-and-evil-2-has-broken-duke-nukem-forevers-record-for-longest-game-development-time/
The 15-year journey of Beyond Good and Evil 2 has wearily passed another milestone: it's been in development even longer than Duke Nukem Forever, the game which still holds (though presumably not for long) the Guinness World Record for "Longest development period for a videogame".
Well, actually, BG&E2 officially crossed that threshold about a hundred days ago, it's just taken us all this long to notice. As originally pointed out by GamesIndustry.biz editor Brendan Sinclair, the painful labour that brought us Duke Nukem Forever lasted 5,156 days. BG&E 2's first trailer came out on May 30, 2008: 5,239 days ago. Heck, the game had already been in development for a year or so when that trailer dropped, so it's actually been even longer.
>> This is one of those record no one should break, but here we are. And who knows how long it will take until the game launches, if at all.

Phasmophobia dev apologises and belatedly bans Discord admin after messy nude pics scandal
https://www.pcgamer.com/phasmophobia-studio-apologises-and-belatedly-bans-discord-admin-after-messy-nude-pics-scandal/
Phasmophobia is probably the best ghost game ever made, retains a considerable playerbase, and this year has been dealing with a community scandal that, over the last week, blew up. The furore centres around an administrator for the game's Discord, who goes by the handle of Charcoal Salamander, who is accused of both offering to share nude photographs with another community member, and making racist comments. What happened with these accusations, or didn't, is what's brought this to a head.

Fallout 76 is free this week to celebrate a big series birthday
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-is-free-this-week-to-celebrate-a-big-series-birthday/
Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role Playing Game was released on October 10, 1997—25 years ago, minus a week. That's the silver anniversary, which is a big one as these milestones go, and to mark the moment Bethesda is—among other things—making Fallout 76 free for the week.

Overwatch 2 launch time: when does it actually release?
https://www.pcgamer.com/overwatch-2-launch-time/
The day without Overwatch is almost over. The free-to-play Overwatch 2 launch on October 4 will replace the original game with an updated design and a new, contentious battle pass.
>> We'll see how well it does.

Kerbal Space Program studio is working on something new
https://www.pcgamer.com/kerbal-space-program-studio-is-working-on-something-new/
Intercept Games was founded in early 2020 to assume control of the development of Kerbal Space Program 2, which up to that point had been in development at original Kerbal studio Star Theory Games. At the time, it seemed almost like a straight name change, as "key members" of the Kerbal 2 team including former Star Theory studio head Jeremy Ables, creative director Nate Simpson, and lead producer Nate Robinson all moved to Intercept to continue working on the game.
The process hasn't gone perfectly smoothly since then, however. At the time, Kerbal Space Program 2 was slated to be out sometime before March 31, 2021, but after multiple delays it's now not expected until early 2023. It also recently came to light that while Intercept Games was formed specifically to work on Kerbal 2, it's also got another game on the go.

The pumpkin meta is now dominating Disney Dreamlight Valley
https://www.pcgamer.com/disney-dreamlight-valley-pumpkins-farming-exploit/
Disney Dreamlight Valley has a meta, and it's pumpkins. More ominously, cunning players have found a way to trap and exploit Dreamlight Valley's iconic citizens in order to score increased harvest margins on their cash crops.

Tattoo artist lays a legal RKO on Take-Two over Randy Orton's ink in WWE 2K games
https://www.pcgamer.com/tattoo-artist-lays-a-legal-rko-on-take-two-over-randy-ortons-ink-in-wwe-2k-games/
An unusual lawsuit between tattoo artist Catherine Alexander and Take-Two Interactive has concluded with a victory for Alexander, who argued successfully that WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17 and WWE 2K18 reproduced her work without her permission.

Fortnite is down for extended maintenance
https://www.pcgamer.com/is-fortnite-down-maintenance-october-3/
Fortnite's servers are down for a lengthy maintenance period on Monday, October 3, according to the official Fortnite Status Twitter account.
The server outage for the battle royale was intentional, prepping the game for its next update: Update 22.10. But it hasn't quite gone to plan. Maintenance downtime was set to begin at 4 am EST on October 4. Instead, it began nearly 12 hours early, around 5 pm EST.

Activision Blizzard withheld raises to retaliate against unionising staff, US Labor Relations Board finds
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-withheld-raises-to-retaliate-against-unionising-staff-us-labor-relations-board-finds/
The USA's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has found that Activision Blizzard withheld pay raises from Raven Software quality assurance staff because of their union organising activity, the Washington Post reports.
>> F*cking twats.

Sony remains frustratingly vague on future PC plans
https://www.pcgamer.com/sony-remains-frustratingly-vague-on-future-pc-plans/
The past two years have seen Sony begin to stake its claim on the PC platform, porting over some of its greatest hits like God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Spider-Man. The ports have (for the most part) been pretty darn good too, so it looks like the publisher is serious about PC as a vector for PlayStation's finest.
On the other hand, it continues to remain pretty damn vague about what its future plans actually are. Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, kept his cards close to his chest in a brief interview with Reuters when speaking about continuing its push to PC and mobile. "Further investments in areas that will strengthen the expansion on to PC, onto mobile and into live services, that's definitely a possibility for us," he said.
>> Given the leaked document from the DSOG news, it's more than a possibility.

The prototype for Black's sequel sounds unsurprisingly amazing
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-prototype-for-blacks-sequel-sounds-unsurprisingly-amazing/
Criterion's Black is a product of its time: which is to say that, if you were there, it's simply one of the best shooter experiences there was. I say 'experience' because that's what Black felt like: a game that almost blew back the wallpaper as your ludicrously boombastic weapons chewed through enemies and scenery alike on the CRT. The studio, then and now known best for the Burnout series, had managed to pivot into the FPS genre and make an insta-classic.
(...)
Several figures involved in Black recently spoke to ThatHitbox for a retrospective on the game, which is well worth a read (if, like me, you miss shotguns that sound like backfiring trucks). Criterion figures have in the past mentioned a mooted sequel to Black, but here we finally get a firmer idea of what it looked like, and where the team intended to take the series.

Company of Heroes 3 has been delayed to early next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/company-of-heroes-3-has-been-delayed-to-early-next-year/
World War 2 has been postponed. Company of Heroes 3, the next entry in Relic's totemic RTS series, has been hit by a delay with barely a month to go until its original release date. Instead of releasing on November 17, Company of Heroes 3 will come out on February 23, 2023, around four months from now.