So it's a proper 24 cores processor that has to run on less juice than the 8+16 desktop part? Yeah, no wonder it's slower.

The games for Humble Choice February 2023 have been revealed.

• Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
• Fallout 76 + Fallout 1
• Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
• Othercide
• Shady Part of Me
• ScourgeBringer
• Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel
• Five Dates

Thanks for sharing.

The Wednesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has four new Deals of the Day and a new Sale:

• These are the new Deals of the Day, available until Friday:
  • The first one is Roadwarden, 27% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/roadwarden
  • The next one is Absolver, 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/absolver
  • Batman™: Arkham Knight Premium Edition also gets an 80% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/batman_arkham_knight_premium_edition
  • The fourth DotD is Warhammer: Chaosbane, again with an 80% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/warhammer_chaosbane
• And the Midweek Sale features up to 80% discounts during 4 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20230208_midweek_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• Gloria Victis: Medieval MMORPG will be 50% off until February 14th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/327070/Gloria_Victis_Medieval_MMORPG/
• And Symphony of War gets a 33% discount until the 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1488200/Symphony_of_War_The_Nephilim_Saga/

The Humble Store has ended its Winter Sale, but it has new sales for us:

• The Goblinz Studio Publisher Sale brings up to 80% discounts during the next 3 days. All the keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/goblinz-studio-publisher-sale/
• Konami puts its games up to 90% off during 4 days. The keys are all for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/konami-sale/
• The Sonic Franchise Sale features up to 75% discounts during 5 days and, once again, all the keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/sonic-franchise-sale/
• The Wired Productions Publisher Sale comes with up to 90% discounts during 6 days. All the keys are for Steam, plus one also for GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/wired-productions-publisher-sale/
• The last deal is the Hypetrain Publisher Sale, with up to 85% discounts during 9 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG (1) and EGS (1): https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/hypetrain-publisher-sale/

And there's also Fanatical, with three new deals:

• The Star Deal is Star Wars Jedi Knight Collection, 80% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/star-wars-jedi-knight-collection
• The Star Wars Collection Bundle features 14 games with a 78% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/star-wars-collection
• The two former deals are part of a Disney Interactive Sale that features up to 80% discounts and that I don't know how long it will last: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/disney-interactive

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

New Intel Arc driver offers optimized performance in Hogwarts Legacy & Returnal
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-intel-arc-driver-offers-optimized-performance-in-hogwarts-legacy-returnal/
Intel is the first of the three big GPU companies that has released optimized drives for Hogwarts Legacy and Returnal. Intel has been doing its best to improve overall performance in its Arc GPUs, so this is great news for those owning these graphics cards.
Unfortunately, and other than support for these two games, this new Intel Arc driver doesn’t bring any additional improvements or fixes. Still, we highly recommend downloading it. After all, it packs all the improvements introduced in previous drivers.

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 528.49 WHQL
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-528-49-whql

Highlights

• This new Game Ready Driver provides the best day-0 gaming experience for the latest new games supporting NVIDIA DLSS technology including Hello Neighbor 2 and PERISH. Additionally, this Game Ready Driver supports Company of Heroes 3 and the latest update for World of Warcraft which introduces support for NVIDIA Reflex.
• Introduces support for GeForce RTX 40 Series notebooks

Fixed Issues

• Adobe Bridge stability issues with 528.02 [3957846]
• Disable Hitman 3 Resizable Bar profile on Intel platforms [3956209]
• Discord update causes GPU memory clocks to drop to P2 state [3960028]

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Final Fantasy 14 dispute ends in the death of its most popular mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-14-dispute-ends-in-the-death-of-its-most-popular-mod/
Ask a Final Fantasy 14 diehard what mods they use and many of them will say GShade, a fork of Reshade that lets you customize the game's visuals. GShade has long been the tool to make the MMO (and several other games) look pretty for screenshots, allowing you to add shaders for a more vibrant or avant-garde aesthetic.
GShade, at least for the moment, is gone. Its creator, Marot Satil, announced in the GPOSERS Discord that it "will not receive updates for the time being." But at the time of this writing, GShade's GitHub page, including Satil's account, have been removed.
Over the last few days, Satil has been battling another modder, NotNite, who made an alternative version of the software called GeezShade. GeezShade is essentially a fork of ReShade that uses a workaround to download and install most of the custom shaders from GShade.

GAMING NEWS

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor gets a 9-minute gameplay video
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/star-wars-jedi-survivor-gets-a-9-minute-gameplay-video/
IGN has shared a video, showcasing 9 minutes of gameplay footage from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. This gameplay sequence takes place after Cal crash lands on Koboh and must seek out help to repair his ship, The Mantis.

System Shock Remake gets a brand new demo for Steam Next Fest
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/system-shock-remake-gets-a-brand-new-demo-for-steam-next-fest/
Nightdive Studios and Prime Matter have released a brand new demo for System Shock today, which gives fans a whole new look at the exciting title coming in March.
>> There's also a new short trailer.

The Callisto Protocol’s February 7th Update is 11GB in size, adds Hardcore Mode, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-callisto-protocols-february-7th-update-is-11gb-in-size-adds-hardcore-mode-full-patch-notes/
Striking Distance Studios has just released an 11GB Update for The Callisto Protocol that adds a Hardcore Mode to the game. Furthermore, this patch optimizes enemy combat AI when there are multiple enemies surrounding the player, and brings some Ray Tracing improvements. Or at least that’s what the devs claimed.

Here is how you can significantly improve the quality of Ray Tracing Shadows, Ambient Occlusion & Reflections in Hogwarts Legacy
https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/here-is-how-you-can-significantly-improve-the-quality-of-ray-tracing-shadows-ambient-occlusion-reflections-in-hogwarts-legacy/
One of my biggest issues with Hogwarts Legacy was its Ray Tracing effects. Even when using the game’s Ultra RT settings, these RT effects can be underwhelming. Thankfully, PC gamers have figured out ways via which they can significantly improve the quality of these Ray Tracing effects.

PC demo & gameplay deep dive trailer released for Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Remake
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/pc-demo-gameplay-deep-dive-trailer-released-for-sherlock-holmes-the-awakened-remake/
Frogwares has released a PC demo for Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Remake. In addition, the team released a gameplay deep dive trailer which you can also find below.

The second part of the news:

Encanto is finally getting its moment in Disney Dreamlight Valley
https://www.pcgamer.com/encanto-is-finally-getting-its-moment-in-disney-dreamlight-valley/
Gameloft has been pushing out some consistently ace updates to Disney Dreamlight Valley, the best Animal Crossing-like you can get on PC. We already know features like multiplayer are in the works, and characters across the House of Mouse are being regularly added. A February 16 update will be the turn of Encanto's Mirabel and Frozen's Olaf to join the valley. As always, the developer has dropped some nice key art with details to pick out for the new patch.

Pharaoh: A New Era used a 'certified Egyptologist to ensure the game's historical accuracy'
https://www.pcgamer.com/pharaoh-a-new-era-used-a-certified-egyptologist-to-ensure-the-games-historical-accuracy/
Pharaoh: A New Era, a remake of the classic 1999 city builder from Sierra, is set to launch on Steam next week, and to ensure fans are ready for it publisher Dotemu has released a lengthy trailer showcasing its overhauled graphics and gameplay, and also dropped some hints on how to get off to a strong start.

One of the biggest games on Steam right now is a Next Fest demo
https://www.pcgamer.com/one-of-the-biggest-games-on-steam-right-now-is-a-next-fest-demo/
There are literally hundreds of game demos to choose from during the current Steam Next Fest, but gamers are gravitating to one in particular: Dark and Darker, "an unforgiving hardcore fantasy FPS dungeon PvPvE adventure," which has managed to become one of the top ten most-played games on Steam.

No, Avalanche Studios did not develop Hogwarts Legacy, you're thinking of the other Avalanche
https://www.pcgamer.com/no-avalanche-studios-did-not-develop-hogwarts-legacy-youre-thinking-of-the-other-avalanche/
I was a little confused when I first read that Avalanche was making the Harry Potter RPG Hogwarts Legacy—it seemed like a real step sideways for a studio best known for Mad Max and the Just Cause games. It turns out that I really was confused, because it's not that Avalanche at all, so now I'm here to help everyone else get it straight.
The Avalanche Studios I think of when I hear the name Avalanche is a Swedish developer that released its first game, Just Cause, in 2006. (...)
Hogwarts Legacy, on the other hand, is developed by a completely different Avalanche. That would be Avalanche Software of Salt Lake City, Utah, which is actually a much older operation: It was founded in 1995 (...)

Diablo 4's open beta might be real soon
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4s-open-beta-might-be-real-soon/
When Blizzard set Diablo 4's release date to June 6, it also announced that it would get an open beta. Right now, you can't sign up for it anywhere, but if you preorder the game, you're promised early access. According to the game's producer, it might be coming very soon.

Hearthstone Mercenaries is getting one last big update before Blizzard mothballs the mode forever
https://www.pcgamer.com/hearthstone-mercenaries-is-getting-one-last-big-update-before-blizzard-mothballs-the-mode-forever/
Blizzard's reveal of Hearthstone's Mercenaries mode in September 2021 was, as we put it not too delicately, "a masterclass in how not to announce a game." Despite that inauspicious beginning, it actually turned out to have real potential: Hearthstone streamer and podcaster Ben "RidiculousHat" Goodman said that after a few days with it, "I feel the pull of the couch and just one more run."
Unfortunately, it looks like his longer-term concerns about competition and economics were prophetic. Blizzard announced today that Mercenaries is getting one more big update in patch 25.4, after which there will be no further new content released.

Production has begun on EA's singleplayer Iron Man game
https://www.pcgamer.com/production-has-begun-on-eas-singleplayer-iron-man-game/
In September, Electronic Arts announced that a singleplayer Iron Man game was in pre-production. That game, which is being developed by a team at EA Motive in Montreal in collaboration with Marvel, is now officially being worked on, as a recent AMA on Reddit (via GamesRadar) revealed.

Bobby Kotick blasts UK over Microsoft deal, says regulators lack 'independent thought' and Britain risks becoming tech 'Death Valley'
https://www.pcgamer.com/bobby-kotick-blasts-uk-over-microsoft-deal-says-regulators-lack-independent-thought-and-britain-risks-becoming-tech-death-valley/
Activision overlord Bobby Kotick took to the airwaves for the first time in a while recently, telling us what a wonderful world it would be if various national regulators approved Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In a chat with CNBC, the CEO made a case for the acquisition that differed slightly from talking points we've heard from Microsoft lawyers, arguing that the merger is the only way for western games companies to break into "protected markets" in China and Japan, and warning that the UK would become "Death Valley" if it shot down the deal.
>> The best reason to give the greenlight to the deal would be to get rid of this assh*le.

Whisker Squadron: Survivor is a neon Star Fox roguelite that you can play on PC right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/whisker-squadron-survivor-is-a-neon-star-fox-roguelite-that-you-can-play-on-pc-right-now/
The creators of the excellent, minimalist Race the Sun have once again tasked us with pushing a high-speed ship to its limits, this time in the Star Fox-inspired Whisker Squadron: Survivor. Instead of a race against time, it's a shooter, with neon corridors filled with obstacles and laser-spitting enemies. It's a good time, and you can take it for a spin now by downloading the Steam Next Fest demo.

After a long train of farces, The Day Before devs put out statement decrying 'disinformation' about their game
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-a-long-train-of-farces-the-day-before-devs-put-out-statement-decrying-disinformation-about-their-game/
The developers behind The Day Before, once upon a time Steam's second most-wishlisted game, have struck out at what they call "disinformation and lack of fact-checking" in discussions about the game. In post made to Twitter last night, Fntastic said that "Disinformation needs to be dealt with as it can not only harm us but also other indies and small/medium studios," and highlighting the negative "mental impact on the members of such teams" that disinfo can have.

Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 34” Gaming Monitor is Now Available - costs $1500

https://news.samsung.com/us/samsung-odyssey-oled-g8-34-gaming-monitor-now-available/

This monitor genuinely makes zero sense. It has the exact same specs as last years Alienware but without the fancy 3 year burn in warranty. The G-sync module version of the Alienware had an MSRP of $1,299.99 while the non-Gsync module version can be had for $1,099 and both typically be had for 10% off if you wait for the sale. The only difference seems to be that G8 OLED has their TV OS that allows for apps such as Geforce Now and other streaming stuff along with HDMI 2.1 and 5w speakers. But personally, with the ps5 and xbox series x having native support for 1440p these days, it's pretty dang pointless to pay the premium.

Linus buys a bunch of used mining cards and puts them through the test to see how well they stack up. Out of the ones he bought, only one or two had some issues while the rest performed as expected.

Fractal has been hitting it out of the park when it comes to their designs. Between the Torrent and now the North, their cases really have great styling while being competitive. The North has real wood in the front with two included case fans for only $130. Comes in two different colors. The only real problem is the optional side fan mounts as if you try to use them, you will have issues with GPUs and CPU coolers outside of AIOs making them generally pointless.

Some notes and performance observations about Hogwarts Legacy as I have been playing the game on PC.

- The game has a shader compilation pass at the beginning of the game and during loading screens which means other than minor traversal stutters, it's fairly smooth.

- Steam Deck version however skips the shader compilation pass for some reason. Because of this, it compiles the shader on demand and you get that horrid shader compilation stutters. It's quite the shame because otherwise, it runs surprisingly well.

- There seems to be some issues with Ray Tracing in the game. While it is heavy, the denoiser doesn't do a good enough job imo so some parts of the game look a bit noisy with RT on. I'd just leave it off and enjoy the performance gain.

- 4090 runs somewhere between 70-100fps depending on the location at 4k Native Raster. TAA looks subpar as usual but it does have DLAA so Nvidia RTX users should enable that if you are playing Native.

- The cutscene animations are great but the conversation animations are... As per usual with these AAA games, stiff and robotic.

- Environmental detail inside the castle is excellent and impressive.

- The game is both System Ram and Vram heavy but keep in mind there is supposed to be a Day 1 patch which early access users don't apparently get until the official release and Nvidia and AMD are late to release their Game Ready drivers while Intel has already released theirs for Arc...

The lack of Hogwarts Legacy's optimized driver from Nvidia (AMD isn't in a good place right now) is shocking. I thought they'd have it when I saw the new driver update, but nope.

We live in weird times.

Don't buy games at launch. Disable Ray Tracing unless flagship Nvidia. ??? Profit.

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Nearly 500,000 people are playing Hogwarts Legacy on Steam before it's truly out
https://www.pcgamer.com/nearly-500000-people-are-playing-hogwarts-legacy-on-steam-before-its-truly-out/
The years of transphobic comments made by Harry Potter creator JK Rowling have made Hogwarts Legacy one of the most controversial videogames of all time. But that hasn't stopped it from being an immediate, major hit on Steam and Twitch, where it's being played and viewed by hundreds of thousands of gamers before it's even officially launched.
Hogwarts Legacy won't officially launch until February 10, but players who pay extra for the deluxe edition were able to get started up to 72 hours early, on February 7. And they are, in serious numbers: SteamDB (via the Steam API) indicates that more than 488,000 people are currently playing the game. It doesn't appear on the Steam top 100 because it's not officially released yet, but if it did it would hold the number three spot right now, ahead of PUBG and just behind Dota 2.
>> That's a lot of Deluxe Edition copies. Oh, and here's when it releases in the different timezones.

The Epic Store is giving away Recipe For Disaster: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/recipe-for-disaster.
Next week, the free game will be Warpips.

Steam has two new deals:

• Gungrave G.O.R.E gets a 25% discount until February 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1630110/Gungrave_GORE/
• Not For Broadcast will be 70% off until the 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1147550/Not_For_Broadcast/

Humble has a couple of new deals:

• At Humble Bundle we have the Love is in the Air Bundle, with 8 games to get during the next 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/love-is-in-air
• At the Humble Store there's an Asterix & Obelix Sale with up to 85% discounts during 6 days. The keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/asterix-obelix-sale/

Fanatical has a new Aspyr Sale, with up to 90% discounts during the next 10 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/aspyr.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Hogwarts Legacy VR Mod already in development, first gameplay footage
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/hogwarts-legacy-vr-mod-already-in-development-first-gameplay-footage/
Flat2VR is currently working on a VR Mod for the new Harry Potter game that will release this Friday, Hogwarts Legacy. As the title suggests, this mod will allow you to explore Hogwarts, and play the entire game, in VR. And, in order to showcase this mod in action, Flat2VR released the following gameplay video.
This VR Mod will support both first-person and third-person viewpoints. And, since it will be possible to have a first-person perspective, I expect modders to also release a first-person mode for the game’s non-VR version.

GAMING NEWS

The biggest Greek gaming event, GAMEATHLON, returns on February 25th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-biggest-greek-gaming-event-gameathlon-begins-on-february-25th/
The biggest Greek gaming event will return for the tenth year this February. And, since we are based in Greece, we felt the need to at least support the event.

Amnesia: The Bunker releases on May 16th, gets official PC requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/amnesia-the-bunker-releases-on-may-16th-gets-official-pc-requirements/
Frictional Games has announced that the next part in the Amnesia series, Amnesia: The Bunker, has been delayed until May 16th. The team was originally planning to release the game in March 2023. Additionally, Frictional Games has revealed the game’s official PC system requirements.

WWE 2K23 PC version will be on par with PS5/Xbox Series X versions after all
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/wwe-2k23-pc-version-will-be-on-par-with-ps5-xbox-series-x-versions-after-all/
Last month, 2K Games implied that the PC version of WWE 2K23 will be based on the old-gen console version. However, in an interview with WCCFTech, creative director Lynell Jinks stated that the PC version will be on par with the PS5/Xbox Series X versions.

Halo Infinite Season 3 Alpha Build has been leaked online
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/halo-infinite-season-3-alpha-build-has-been-leaked-online/
It appears that an alpha build of Halo Infinite’s Season 3 has been leaked online. This build can give us a glimpse at what Microsoft is currently preparing for its latest Halo game.

AMD Radeon RX7900XTX can be up to 40fps faster than the NVIDIA RTX4090 in Hogwarts Legacy
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/amd-radeon-rx7900xtx-can-be-up-to-40fps-faster-than-the-nvidia-rtx4090-in-hogwarts-legacy/
Hogwarts Legacy will officially release tomorrow and yesterday, NVIDIA released a new driver for its graphics. The NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 528.49 WHQL adds a game profile for this new game. However, it appears that NVIDIA has a lot of work to do as AMD’s latest GPU, the Radeon RX7900XTX, can be up to 40fps faster than it at 1080p/Ultra Settings/No RT.
>> The article is wrong, the latest Nvidia driver doesn't add a profile for the game. Also, no one will buy one of those cards to play at 1080p.