Category: Gaming
Posted: December 6, 2024 09:55AM
Author: Guest_Jim_*
Welcome to December as well as Friday, and like other Fridays it is time to go through the news that has collected in my inbox over the week. First up are a couple time-sensitive items to share, and the first of these comes from Digital Vortex Entertainment and developer Troglobytes Games as the first playtest of RailGods of Hysterra has begun. In this Lovecraftian, survival, action game you build up your base on an astral RailGuard while travelling through the world filled with all sorts of nightmares and horrors. Add rail cars and craft new weapons to help you, and your co-op teammates if you are playing with friends, defeat these enemies and then feed them to the RailGod to satisfy its hunger.
The playtest has already begun and is going until December 11, so if you want to try it out, you still have time. Just go to the Steam store page, linked to below, and request access.
Source: Press Release (Digital Vortex Entertainment – RailGods of Hysterra) and Steam Store Page
This next piece of news is not particularly positive, and has somewhat unusual timing as well, but GOG has announced Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II are going to be delisted from its storefront on December 13. Those who own it prior to that date will continue to have access to it, especially if you download the DRM-free installers for the games. What makes the timing of this unusual is both titles are part of the recently announced GOG Preservation Program. For titles that are part of this program GOG is taking responsibility for patching the game to maintain compatibility with modern operating systems and hardware. Now the program has been slightly updated to include this responsibility continues even if the game is no longer for sale at GOG.
For those interested in these classic Warcraft games, which helped define the fantasy RTS genre, you have until December 13 to purchase them from GOG. The storefront has also created the "MakeWarcraftLiveForever" promo code so you can get a little off when purchasing the Warcraft I & II Bundle, which is normally priced at $14.99. The amount of the discount varies with the currency used.
Source: GOG (Warcraft I & II Delisting)
Apogee Entertainment and developer Trigger Happy Interactive have announced Total Chaos, a horror game that has you wash up on the jagged coast of an abandoned mining outpost. Over the radio comes the command, "Get to the mines" but can it be trusted and what is beneath the surface? The game will have nine chapters, exploring the island of Fort Oasis and trying to uncover the truth all while you avoid the creatures that now occupy the area. You can also fashion weapons from the various items you find, hopefully allowing you to fend off the monsters when they attack.
Total Chaos aims to have a demo launch in early 2025 on Steam and release in Q2, with Steam VR support in development. The plan is also to have a tenth chapter available at launch as a DLC.
Source: Press Release (Apogee Entertainment – Total Chaos)
A second Apogee Entertainment announcement this week is for Wizordum by developer Emberheart Games as its v1.0 release date has been shared. Currently in early access, you are one of the only remaining Mages of Wizordum and must use your magic and what items you find to push back the recently released forces of Chaos, saving the world from their corrupting evil. Along with the v1.0 release will be the launch of Episode 3, containing the most dangerous levels yet, but also three new weapons including the Faewood Crossbow and Staff of Chaos. The crossbow can clear paths with its magical bolts but the staff is a rather different weapon, as it produces uncontrollable fire, ice, and storm attacks. Just aim it and watch what happens.
Wizordum is to have its v1.0 launch on March 5, 2025.
Source: Press Release (Apogee Entertainment – Wizordum)
Turning to The Arcade Crew now, we have the announcement of Abyssus from developer DoubleMoose. A mysterious electromagnetic source was detected on the seafloor and you, a Brinehunter, have been sent to investigate. What you find are the ruins of an ancient, sunken city filled with secrets and corrupted hordes you must turn the ancient weapons on in order to survive. For this and the next two weekends you can take part in an alpha-build playtest for the roguelike FPS.
Source: Press Release (The Arcade Crew – Abyssus) and Steam store Page
Another announcement from The Arcade Crew is the release date for MainFrames, the upcoming platformer from developer Assoupi. In it you leap across windows on a desktop monitor as Floppy, rearranging icons to find the path forward and overcome puzzles and challenges. The reason for Floppy's adventure is to learn its origins and true function, and along the way you will make friends with different, colorful characters also present on the game's network.
MainFrames will be releasing on March 6, 2025 for PC and Nintendo Switch.
Source: Press Release (The Arcade Crew – MainFrames)
Hyperjump Interactive and developer Fall Damage Studio announced development on Alara Prime has been reignited with the 4v4v4 tactical shooter. It is an online, tactical shooter that will feature three teams strategizing against each other with the goal of securing the uplink to win each round. One team will defend while the other two attempt to gain control, possibly working together until the time is right to turn against your temporary allies, or your team can always go at it alone. There are four classes to choose from, Assault, Infiltrator, Support, and Engineer, along with various weapons you can wield in your favorite loadout. Each primary weapon also has an alt-fire mode with the potential to change the game with such things as the Stasis Trap to slow enemies and the Mute Field so they cannot hear your approach.
Alara Prime is aiming for an early access launch in 2025.
Source: Press Release (Hyperjump Interactive – Alara Prime)
Joystick Ventures and developer Effort Star have released a new trailer for the upcoming action, roguelike Enter the Chronosphere and begun an open beta. In the game you must consider every action you make carefully, because each one takes time and time only flows when you move. Projectiles must be aimed at where you believe your target will be, and this applies to melee weapons as well, aiming where you believe the enemy will be when you want to connect. Fortunately there are also a variety of weapons to choose from, from classic revolvers to living stingers that spew acid. Biomes offer their own loadouts, loots, and buffs for each run too, all to keep the experience fresh.
If Enter the Chronosphere sounds or looks interesting to you, visit the Steam page linked below and sign up for the playtest to try it out.
Source: Press Release (Joystick Ventures – Enter the Chronosphere) and Steam Store Page
Plaion and Warhorse Studios have shared quite a bit this week for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, including a new trailer, PC specifications, and the release date actually moving up. This sequel to the 2018 Kingdom Come: Deliverance allows us to continue Henry's story within a realistic version of the late Middle Ages as he seeks justice for the murder of his parents, a quest that will test his morality and integrity with blood feuds and political conspiracies going on around him. The latest trailer covers the story, but is behind an age-gate so here is a link to YouTube: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Official Story Trailer. Additionally, the game has gone gold, so the developers are able to spend the time between now and February 4, its new release date, working on optimizations. Speaking of optimizations, here are the desired specifications:
|Minimum|Recommended|Recommended|Recommended|Recommended|Ultra|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Performance Target|1080p30|1080p60|1440p60|1080p30|1440p60|1440p60 or 2160p30|
|CPU - AMD|Ryzen 5 2600|Ryzen 5 7600X|Ryzen 5 7600X|Ryzen 7 5800X|Ryzen 7 7800X3D|Ryzen 7 7800X3D|
|CPU - Intel|Core i5-8400|Core i5-13600K|Core i5-13600K|Core i5-12600K|Core i7-13700K|Core i7-13700K|
|Memory|16 GB|24 GB|32 GB|32 GB|32 GB|32 GB|
|GPU - AMD|Radeon RX 580|Radeon RX 6600 XT|Radeon RX 6700 XT|Radeon RX 5700|Radeon RX 7800 XT|Radeon RX 7900 XT|
|GPU - NVIDIA|GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)|GeForce RTX 3060|GeForce RTX 3060 Ti|GeForce RTX 2060 Super|GeForce RTX 4070|GeForce RTX 4080|
|Storage|100 GB SSD|100 GB SSD|100 GB SSD|100 GB SSD|100 GB SSD|100 GB SSD|
|OS|Windows 10 64-bit or newer|Windows 10 64-bit or newer|Windows 10 64-bit or newer|Windows 10 64-bit or newer|Windows 10 64-bit or newer|Windows 10 64-bit or newer|
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is releasing on February 4, 2025 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.
Source: Press Release (Plaion – Kingdom Come: Deliverance II)
Closing out the video game news, we have the announcement from Shiro Games of SpaceCraft, its next title that will be a massively multiplayer management and crafting adventure. The remnants of human have fled to an uncharted galaxy after a century-long war woke the Tripods, an ancient race of machines that pushed mankind to the brink of destruction. Survival in this new setting will be dependent on making connections between the different political, military, financial, and other types of factions. You can trade resources on your own or join with other survivors to create clans called Corpos that pool resources and thus gain leverage. At the same time you will also be able to construct headquarters on a planet or in orbit, containing modules for housing, power, data centers, and more.
SpaceCraft is aiming for a 2025 release and will be on PC.
Source: Press Release (Shiro Games – SpaceCraft)
Arriving at the non-gaming news, first we have the launch of the Arc B-Series GPUs by Intel. These are the second generation of graphics cards from the company and feature the Xe2 architecture with its various performance and efficiency improvements that promise more performance per core with less software overhead. The cores of the new architecture also have improved ray tracing units, mesh shading performance, XMX AI engines, and support for graphics functions to increase performance with the latest game engines. We also have XeSS 2 as well, which is contains XeSS Super Resolution upscaling, XeSS Frame Generation, and Xe Low Latency. The last of these integrates into game engines to improve response time for gamers, and when everything is together for XeSS 2 Intel I claiming an up to 3.9x performance improvement.
The new GPUs are the Intel Arc B580 and Arc B570 with the former having 12 GB of VRAM and the latter 10 GB. Intel is claiming the B580 provides 24% better performance, on average, than the Arc A750 at 1440p though it can reach 78% for some games. When put up against the competition, Intel claims 32% better performance-per-dollar.
Speaking of prices, the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition graphics card is to be available from Acer, ASRock, Gunnir, Onix Technology, Maxsun, and Sparkle on December 13 starting at $249. The B570 will be available on January 16, 2025 starting at $219.
Source: Intel (Arc B-Series GPUs)
The second piece of Intel news from this week was the very unexpected announcement of CEO Pat Gelsinger's retirement, the day after it took effect. Gelsinger had been with the company for over 40 years and became its first chief technology officer. Filling the role of CEO in the interim are David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus. The former is executive vice president and chief financial officer while the latter holds the recently created position of CEO of Intel Products, which encompasses multiple groups within the company.
The day after the announcement, SemiAccurate shared its thoughts on why Gelsinger was fired by Intel's board of directors. It is an interesting piece to read, so I encourage you to look at that source link as well. The short version of SemiAccurate's take is Gelsinger was going a good job at change the cultural problem Intel had, but changing cultural problems can take years and involve reduced profits. This means those focused purely on finance may look at the company and believe new leadership is necessary now instead of considering what will happen over the next few years.
Whether SemiAccurate's analysis is, well, accurate or not is something we will learn as time passes and the effects of Gelsinger's departure and the selection of a new CEO are felt.
Source: Intel (CEO Pat Gelsinger's Retirement) and SemiAccurate (Why Did Intel Fire CEO Pat Gelsinger?)
Team Group launched its new and highly anticipated Xtreem CKD DDR5 8800 2 x 24 GB desktop memory kit this week. These feature advanced Client Clock Driver, CKD, technology to improve the stability of data transfer and can be overclocked to 9600 MT/s. The company worked with motherboard manufacturers to achieve stability at that impressive speed on 2 DIMM motherboards. Keeping the memory chips cool are 2 mm thick heat spreaders made of an aluminum alloy and a silicone with high thermal conductivity.
To show off what these memory sticks have the potential to achieve, the T-Force Lab pushed a kit to a speed of 10666 MT/s, using an ASRock Z890 OCF motherboard with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU.
Source: Team Group [1] (T-Force Xtreem CKD DDR5 8800 Announcement) and [2] (Product Page)
Lastly, UL has announced a new feature test for 3DMark allowing users to see what DirectStorage enables on their machines. This technology is from Microsoft and allows Windows to more efficiently move data from PCIe SSDs to your GPU, reducing the CPU overhead when loading a game. With this feature test you can see what a "near-best-case scenario" can achieve with DirectStorage, as no two games are the same and various other actions are being done when a game loads. The test will show the bandwidth achieved with and without using the DirectStorage API.
The 3DMark DirectStorage feature test is a free update to the Storage Benchmark DLC.
In addition to the feature test addition, UL has also shared 3DMark is now available in French, so more people throughout the world can use it. The benchmark already crossed into double-digits for supported languages in 2022.
Source: UL (3DMark gets DirectStorage Feature Test)