Various Video Game Stories and More from the Week of October 11, 2021

Category: Gaming
Posted: October 15, 2021 08:04AM
Author: Guest_Jim_*

Another week has come to its end and so it is time to go through the various press releases that have arrived in my inbox. Starting this one off with some news you very possibly already saw but arrived just after I posted last week's collection; Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition. This month marks twenty years since Grand Theft Auto III released, bringing the franchise to three dimensions and placing players in Liberty City, and so there is no better time to announce this new title that contains that as well as GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas. The trilogy will be arriving on the Rockstar Games Launcher for PC, Xbox One, Play Station 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch later this year. In the first half of next year it will come to both iOS and Android as well, so if you want it, there are plenty of places you will be able to play it.

In addition to that news, GTA Online is also celebrating the anniversary with triple rewards in Sum, and those who log in before October 20 will get a free GTA III themed Rockstar Games Typeface Tee in-game. We can also expect more commemorative clothing and liveries to arrive as the celebration continues.

Source: Rockstar Games [1] (Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition) and [2] (GTA Online)

The first news I have from this week is also from a 2K published game as Borderlands 3 has begun Maurice's Community Carnage Challenges event, and with it a free weekend. The game will be free to play on Steam and Google Stadia until October 18, while the Xbox version will only be free until October 17, as will be the PlayStation version, but it requires an active PlayStation Plus membership.

The first of Maurice's challenges is to collect 500,000 body parts from the Traunt family, which means killing Captain Traunt on Athenas, General Traunt on Nekrotafeyo, and Captain Haunt in Heck, if you have the Bloody Harvest event active. If the community is able to collect enough parts, a SHiFT code will be released to grant a Ratch Rider head to all who redeem it, and the second challenge will be revealed. You can check out the first source link below to follow the currently active challenge.

By the way, if you try the game during the free weekend and find you enjoy it enough to want a copy, a physical version of the Ultimate Edition for the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 has been recently announced. Obviously you will need the version of these consoles that has a disc drive, but they will be available starting November 12.

Source: 2K [1] (Borderlands 3 – Maurice's Community Carnage Challenges) and [2] (Borderlands 3 – Free Weekend)

We're still a couple weeks away, but Square Enix has released the launch trailer for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. It is set to "Kickstart My Heart" by Mötley Crüe and shows off some of the chaos that can be expected as this group of misfits work together to save the galaxy. The game releases on October 26 for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, GeForce NOW, and the Cloud Version for the Nintendo Switch, though only in select regions.

Source: Press Release (Square Enix – Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy)

Lastly for the gaming news, we have some from Techland for Dying Light 2 with a short documentary describing the inspiration of the soundtrack as well as how it will match the game's setting and experience. It is pretty interesting to watch and listen to, in part because of the different challenges that had to be overcome, such as having to record the orchestra in separate sections and sessions, instead of all together. You can watch it here: "Run, Jump, Fight" – Making of Main Theme From Dying Light 2 Stay Human.

Also shared this week was another episode of Dying 2 Know More with this one giving information about the City Alignment system; how choices will influence the game world and restore abandoned structures. These structures will be occupied by one of the factions in the game, and it will come to represent the philosophy of the faction you assign it to. With a structure restored, it can open up access to vendors with unique items as well as new quests and collectibles.

Dying Light 2 is launching February 4, 2022 on Pc, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and the Cloud Version for the Nintendo Switch.

Source: Press Releases (Techland – Dying Light 2)

For those still playing Dying Light, Techland has expanded its Hellraid DLC with a new map section and quest. The reward for the quest is magic by granting the player the Fire Wand for shooting fireballs and the Wand Mastery Skill. Earning it will be a challenge though as failure is not tolerate. The quest must be completed in a single run, so if you lose all of your lives, your progress will be reset. Luckily potions of Endurance, Power, and Speed have been added as well to help you on your journey.

Also, an update has been released for the Be The Zombie mode, and you can check out its patch notes with the second source link below.

Source: Press Release (Techland – Dying Light) and Steam (Dying Light: Be The Zombie patch notes)

Apparently it has been five years since AMD launched its Ryzen line of processors, and it has certainly been an interesting half-decade of technological advancement. To mark the occasion, the company put out a video featuring John Taylor and Robert Hallock, the Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Technical Marketing, respectively, to talk about not only these five years, but also the future for AMD processors, making it an interesting video to watch. Among the topics is what can be expected for the next generation platform, as the current AM4 platform is at or near end-of-life status. There have already been leaks and rumors about the potential AM5 platform, such as switching from PGA to LGA, but also what other technologies it will support. It was stated quite clearly it will support both DDR5 and PCIe 5, but also AMD is working to maintain compatibility with AM4-designed coolers.

Though there was talk of the next platform, it was also stated the 3D V-Cache technology previously shown off will be arriving on AM4 early next year. For those who do not remember, this allows additional L3 cache to be attached to the top of Zen 3 compute dies, and this additional cache alone can result in significant performance improvements. Zen 4 is also targeting a 2022 release, though it would be later in the year.

Intel will soon be releasing its Alder Lake design that uses multiple core designs, making it possible for tasks to be run on a high efficiency or high performance core, depending on what is most appropriate. AMD is also looking into mixed-core designs and while there were no real details given, it was said the plan is to apply the philosophy behind the Zen cores and looking at the range they offer, from low power to high performance. Importantly it was also mentioned AMD will not need to explore configurations that may be harder to address in software.

Two additional topics mentioned were the use of accelerators and what is being done for improving power efficiency. They can see how building certain accelerators into the chip could be useful, with examples being adding noise-cancellation into the silicon directly, as well as AI/ML accelerators that could be leveraged for improving performance. On the power efficiency front, the company is apparently working on a new solution that it sounds like is far more granular and intelligent than we have today. Instead of having power states based just on how great the load is, it would consider the task being done. Also designing power states to turn off more parts of a chip, such as CPU and GPU cores to reduce power consumption when those parts are not needed.

As I said, it is an interesting video so you may wish to watch it yourself to hear all of what was said.

Source: YouTube Video (AMD)

Lastly, here is some news some of you may have been looking forward to as Noctua has released chromax.black versions of its NH-U12A CPU cooler and NF-A12x25 fans. These fans are considered some of the best 120 mm fans you can find today with their ability to move a significant amount of air while still being very quiet. The NH-U12A comes equipped with two of them and has a special asymmetric design to provide superior RAM clearance and cooling efficiency. However, some do not care for the brown and tan coloring Noctua products typically come with, which is why the Chromax line exists.

The cooler and fan as well as NA-HC7 in chromax.black and NA-HC8 in chromax.black and chromax.white heatsink covers are available now. The covers are priced at $19.90, the fan at $32.90, and the cooler at $119.90.