Slaughtahouse

12 hours ago, bonami2 said:

They need to make test on uncommon game. Optimised game test are a joke. Am sure either Ark Ascended or Beam NG will show one of the two brand completly fail latency wise.  AMD seem to have more issue with older game than nvidia for me.

Still am impressed the 7900xt seem to do well!

For sure there is something to be said about Reflex and how it differs from a driver level implementation. Both solutions have pro's and con's. Reflex's quality may very well depend on how well the developers implemented it. Ultimately, I'm less interested in the game to game testing and rather I am more interested in the broader education of this topic. I can use FSR3 for example in Avatar and boost avg. framerates from 70 to 120 but the gameplay at 120 feels worse than at 70. I am using AMD's equivalent, Anti-lag+. 

I don't play competitive games, yet I see how these solutions will ultimately be valuable for all demographics of gamers. I'll always enable them (Reflex, Anti-lag) if it's available and there is no clear net loss in perf. 

An increasingly important topic to discuss as frame interpolation becomes mainstream within the rendering pipeline.

4 hours ago, GanjaSMK said:

Surely there is far more behind this. Considering all of the technologies forthcoming and those being combined (TinyML + VLM + curated precise LLM's) and the picture of the future looks rosy to me.  

 

This infusion isn't a surface topical play much like most journalism is profound in these days. 

 

And while I know no one personally on the inside of this deal, certainly someone sees the potential. 

 

Outside of current entertainment - movies, music, games; will a new genre of entertainment be upon us in a few years?  (a la ... ready player one lol?) 

 

I think expect more Disney Meta verse stuff within Fortnite (E.g. Frozen x Fortnite, baby yoda skins etc.) and Disney diversifying their IPs across other developers. EA had a large stranglehold over Star Wars for the longest time. We got Star Wars Outlaws, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle coming out this year for starters (Ubisoft, Bethesda both working along side Lucas film /arts). Makes sense to keep pushing along with other large publishers and developers like Epic. 

We've come full circle... 

Quick heads up that Steam and GreenManGaming has Armored Core VI on sale which is the first time it's dropped in price since release. It didn't drop in price during the Black Friday or Winter sales in 2023 for context. Various other retailers are doing larger sales for both lunar new year (year of the dragon btw) or valentine's day. Including larger publisher sales like Rockstar and Bandai Namco (Steam) or ABK on Battle . net. 

Keep those Wishlist's up to date people

ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON | PC - Steam | Game Keys

WWW.GREENMANGAMING.COM

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Pick up your ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON PC copy from Green Man Gaming today and remember to sign in for our best price

2 hours ago, UltraMega said:

I don't think they need a new OS. Windows is actually lighter than ps5 and Xbox OS, at least the way they're designed to work. I think they should just release an Xbox PC, or an Xbox with windows on it. They could basically just make all their games PC games and release a target hardware pc and call it an Xbox. 

 

Lots of other rumors related to this lately. One rumor that Xbox could release a hand held console developed by the Surface team. Also rumors that a next gen Xbox will come out in 2026. 

 

I definitely don't see games being released in more places as a bad thing, but if Microsoft is losing money on Xbox... Gee maybe they shouldn't have bought Activision for 100 billion. 

I agree that it doesn't need to be a NEW OS, but it should be more intuitive than desktop Windows. Otherwise, what's their proposition? It's just status quo. As a gamer who prefers PC, my biggest qualm is sitting at my PC on my free time. It sometimes feels like work and I generally prefer controller on the couch, but with the ability to tweak and mod my games. If Windows has a mode to make that experience streamlined for those who want it, I think it only help make PC gaming even more accessible (broader appeal). 

Curious if Microsoft will remain a first party in the long term. They've never had the best traction in the hardware industry across all their divisions (PCs, mobile, consoles etc.). However, they never seem to give up either and I would be more surprised if they drop out than if they continue. 

I'd personally prefer if they developed an OS akin to the Steam OS on the Steam Deck (avoiding linux / proton translation) where its goal would be:

• Any Windows OS PC could run like a console.
  • E.g., all I need to do is hold down the Xbox button on the controller and it boots into a console like UI to make that experience more accessible like a console.

Steam tried it doing the whole package years ago (steam box) but it never took off. Steam OS on the deck however seems to be a really smart approach. If MS offered that within windows, and it's similar to Steam OS, but on any Windows device, it could be a smart play. As long as I can still access my Steam, GoG, EGS, Origin library there. Now if I have to buy my games exclusively through windows store, it'll never work (IMO).

I know consoles have dedicated hardware to help optimize games but with consoles now already so close to PC's I don't see this being farfetched. 

In the short term, all they really need to do is get game pass or any game they publish like the CoDs, Starfields etc., on as many consoles as possible. Sony and Nintendo dominate there so I can see the argument "if you can't beat em', join em' ". 

The only hardware I would like them to continue to make are controllers.

2024-02-07 - February Update

The list is pretty much up to date with any large or notable title that has a date in 2024. If you go into the DATA tab, you'll see I have about 30-40 more titles ear marked for 2024. Once the exact date is defined, you'll see it come up in the Pivot Tables (PC, Console tabs). 

I'm going to try and work on a Google Sheet schedule (third post) to highlight any major events or sales throughout the year. Still playing with it so consider it a draft / constant work in progress. If you know of a title that you don't see on the list that is expected to be released in 2024, post here and let me know

In terms of upcoming notable releases for February, here's what to watch out for:

• Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Feb 1, PC, PS
• Persona 3 Reload - Feb 2, PC, PS, XB
• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - Feb 2, PC, PS, XB
• Legendary Tales - Feb 8, PC, PS (VR required)
• Helldivers 2 - Feb 8, PC, PS
• Tomb Raider I - II - III Remastered - Feb 14, PC, PS, XB, NS
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Remake) - Feb 16, NS
• Skull and Bones - Feb 16, PC, PS, XB
• Last Epoch - Feb 21, PC
• Nightingale - Feb 22, PC
• Pacific Drive - Feb 22, PC, PS
• Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - Feb 29, PS

As a reminder, this list is not exhaustive for ALL titles in 2024. Links above or in the sheet will prioritize Steam where possible. 

8 hours ago, UltraMega said:

Didn't want to make a new thread just to mention this: anyone notice Nvidia's stock lately? ~$690 now. It was ~$600 a few days ago. Pretty nuts. 

Yea pretty insane. Seems to be based on the increased spend forecasted by Meta for Nvidia based AI solutions and Goldman Sachs reinforcing that Nvidia’s earnings should surpass their yearly earnings target from my quick google searches.

Curious to revisit this discussion in 3-5 years…

Pacific Drive (Demo)

1440p, Ultra

Super excited for this game. A free demo just dropped a moment ago. Seems to be a bit heavy on the GPU considering the visuals but pulling ~100fps at 1440 / ultra.  I believe the goal is just to survive and it's main loop is similar a roguelike. The devs are calling it a "road-like" :P. I assume you'll likely need to complete multiple runs to survive or unlock the final ending, and your car, a station wagon, is the main character that you upgrade. We'll see how that plays out but what I like is how every component requires input. Fom opening the door, turning the key, sliding the shifter out of park etc. Could be really fun or get tedious quickly. I made a quick video (12mns long) and linked it below. It may be still rendering at the time of posting.

Next Fest February 2024 - NOW LIVE!

STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM

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Steam Next Fest is a week-long celebration featuring hundreds of FREE playable demos as well as...

Heads up that the latest NEXT FEST is live. 

Edit: Homeworld 3 and Pacific Drive both have demos, including hundreds of others. Highlighting those two as I feel both games have a strong chance of being very good

Pre-purchase Homeworld 3 on Steam

STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM

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Tactical, beautiful, and wholly unique, the GOTY-winning sci-fi RTS returns with Homeworld 3. Assume control and battle through fleet combat in dazzling, fully 3D space while the award-winning story...

Save 10% on Pacific Drive on Steam

STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM

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Face the supernatural dangers of the Olympic Exclusion Zone with a car as your only lifeline in this driving survival adventure! Scavenge resources, load up your trusty station wagon, and drive like hell to...

Thanks for sharing. I'm currently using an ITX board in an ATX case, been waiting to make the jump to a smaller case, but not a cramped case, for a long while. This case won't be the one (just personal preference) but I appreciate the reviews and I agree that ITX doesn't need to be a <10L box. 

Shows fine for me on Dark theme and Light theme 

Im on 24.1.1 with a 7900 XTX and have not experienced any issues.

Further, since owning this card from day 1 (December 2022), the drivers have been very stable. There were only two notable bugs that impacted me indirectly.

1. the high idle power consumption, which has been resolved (well mitigated).

2. Unable to launch the GUI / control panel via a shortcut. At some point I needed to wipe the driver or dig into the root folder and delete .ini type file for it to work again.

I’m not sure if the issue is tied to the drivers but have you checked the “known issues” tab? Might just be a conflict that can temporarily be avoided until a fix is in place because I don’t experience this free sync bug with my 1440p / 120hz Asus monitor.

Thanks @iamjanco - ultimately, I had to redo the post on PC in dark mode to ensure the font colour was showing up correctly. For some reason, text (colour) kept defaulting to that grey. Likely due to a formatting issue when I copied / pasted some of the titles of games from another article. 

2024-01-31 - Sony State of Play

Announcements overview

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (2025) 
• Physint (TBD)
• Stellar Blade (April 26, 2024)
• Sonic X Shadow Generations (Fall 2024)
• Dave the Diver Ft. Godzilla (May 2024)
• Zenless Zone Zero (2024)
• Silent Hill: The Short Message (available today)
• Silent Hill 2 Remake (2024)
• Judas (TBD)
• Metro: Awakening VR (2024)
• Rise of the Ronin (March 22, 2024)
• Dragon’s Dogma II (March 22, 2024)
• Until Dawn Remastered (2024)

Source: https://www.polygon.com/2024/1/31/24057143/playstation-sony-state-of-play-ps5-showcase-announcements-trailers

I mean, it's a 5% difference in CUDA cores so the performance increase is inline with what was highlighted / marketed. I'd consider it a binned 4080 and nothing more. The only thing worth noting is the price cut and as most people gathered, it's not enough. Still, a step in the right direction. 

I’m not on desktop at the moment but thanks for addressing the issue so quickly

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

1440p, Ultra

System Shock (2023)

1440p, Ultra

Just booted it up. Loving the blend of retro PC first person action with updated visuals and audio. Should be a quick game, never played. Will shuffle between this an Avatar, which im about 90% complete

3 hours ago, Andrew said:

It's pretty good. It's a little unstable though.

 

They have completely changed how it works compared to CS1. There are a lot of improvements, but also a lot of downgrades. It depends what you want from a city builder.

 

CS1 is more of a city simulator game where you have to micromanage a bunch of things.

CS2 is more of a city designer game. There's not much micromanagy things to do and it's pretty difficult to fail at it. Once you get to the Big Town (level 8), it pretty much becomes a sandbox game.

 

One of my cities got to Metropolis (level 15), I set taxes for all zones to 1% except offices with offices set to 2% and I was still making way more money than I could spend.

Looks really fun and more my lane (city design). I’ve listened to a few podcasts that mention Cities Skylines 2 has the foundation to be the best city game and the true sequel to sim city 4.

I never really touched Cities Skylines (1) and while I still found some enjoyment in Sim City (2013) that game’s foundation was built on the completely worst principles. Always online / cloud nonsense with shallow mechanics. Still, it was fun and colourful but didn’t scratch the itch like old Sim City games.

Sim City 2000 / 3000 were some of my favourite management games back in the day on PC.

I can now replicate it, 100% of the time. 

How I did it:

1. First, I had to manually open a review. I chose this one: https://reviews.extremehw.net/all-reviews/corsair-mp700-pro-2tb-nvme-review/. Closed the tab and that instance of Chrome. Now, if I start a new instance of chrome, two things can happen:
   1. If I type any query into the search bar on the main page, and press "Enter", a new tab opens any review that is currently highlighted in the carousel and the original browser / instance will search for my query.
   2. If I type any query into the search bar on the main page, and click on the magnifying glass, my search will resume as it should, with no additional tabs opening. 

Oddly enough, I had to click on the review (step 1.0) to initiate all of this behaviour. Prior to that step, pressing enter would not result in the extra tab. 

I can track that as the carousel moves through the highlights, represented by the black dots, the currently highlighted review or link will be the one that opens in a new tab.

Test environment:

• Windows 10
• Chrome (default browser) with uBlock Origin
• 1440p display

Edit: I am trying to replicate it on mobile (iphone SE, Chrome browser) and I cannot as the action of "searching" requires you to click on the magnifying glass. There is no search bar on the main page, like on desktop, to pre-type your query into.

16 minutes ago, The Pook said:

 

good method if they weren't all dirty lying cheats 

I hear ya. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve been scammed all these years

I think we need a Nvidia ranting thread XD

5 hours ago, Andrew said:

Cities Skylines 2

-snip-

How's the game?