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This is our last (for now) Starfield benchmark installation! This one compares Starfield's graphics settings with in-depth benchmarks, visual comparisons, and even some mod packs to modify the .ini files for Starfield's settings. In our benchmarking, we'll look at how you can optimize Starfield settings to achieve the best graphics quality to performance. We're providing you with all the relative scaling tools to determine which graphics options scale the most, how much they visually affect the game, and then we're testing some DLSS, DLSS Frame Generation, Optimization, and FOV mods for the game. We also tested Bethesda's brand new patch in a quick A/B comparison benchmark, finding ultimately that there was no difference with our test hardware (although NVIDIA's recent ReBAR profile update helped).

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) attacked House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on the floor of the House on Thursday, saying that his caucus is a “circus” and can’t gather enough votes to pass any significant legislation.

“This speaker doesn’t even have the votes for impeachment, doesn’t even have the votes to fund the government,” Frost said. “It’s unclear if he even has the votes to keep his own job.”

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) attacked House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on the floor of the House on Thursday, saying that his caucus is a “circus” and can’t gather enough votes to pass any significant legislation.

“This speaker doesn’t even have the votes for impeachment, doesn’t even have the votes to fund the government,” Frost said. “It’s unclear if he even has the votes to keep his own job.”

Hundreds of activists and Indigenous leaders rallied outside the White House on Tuesday to support Leonard Peltier on the imprisoned activist’s 79th birthday, holding signs and chanting slogans urging President Joe Biden to grant clemency to the Native American leader.

Peltier is serving life in prison for the killing of two FBI agents during a 1975 standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was convicted in 1977.

Key figures involved in Peltier’s prosecution have stepped forward over the years to urge his release, rally organizers said, including the judge who presided over Peltier’s 1986 appeal and the former U.S. attorney whose office handled the prosecution and appeal.

Tuesday’s rally kicked off with chanting and drumbeats. Organizers delivered impassioned speeches about Peltier’s life and his importance as a Indigenous leader, punctuated by shouts of “Free Peltier! Free Peltier!”

It is now being reported that the highly anticipated "ray-tracing" revamp made in RADV "Radeon Vulkan" drivers previously has been finally merged for "monolithic pipelines", taking RT performance on AMD Radeon GPUs to a whole new level.

AMD's developments on Linux have reached an all-time high, with improvements being made all across the board. Not only is the company focused on providing early next-gen support, but existing products have also witnessed significant advancements. A prime example of this is the recent patches implemented on open-source Mesa RADV Vulkan drivers, which brought in uplifted ray-tracing performance on the platform.

Phoronix discloses that the merge request has been pending for 5 months now, initially uploaded by the open-source developer Konstantin Seurer. While we haven't seen a graphical representation of the performance gains, Seurer has revealed some figures after the driver update, which shows almost a 20% uplift in titles such as Quake II and DOOM Eternal.

Quake II RTX:

Before: 81fps
After: 98fps

Control:

Before: 66fps
After: 69fps

DOOM Eternal:

Before: 127fps
After: 130fps

GitHub via Phoronix

It is now being reported that the highly anticipated "ray-tracing" revamp made in RADV "Radeon Vulkan" drivers previously has been finally merged for "monolithic pipelines", taking RT performance on AMD Radeon GPUs to a whole new level.

AMD's developments on Linux have reached an all-time high, with improvements being made all across the board. Not only is the company focused on providing early next-gen support, but existing products have also witnessed significant advancements. A prime example of this is the recent patches implemented on open-source Mesa RADV Vulkan drivers, which brought in uplifted ray-tracing performance on the platform.

Phoronix discloses that the merge request has been pending for 5 months now, initially uploaded by the open-source developer Konstantin Seurer. While we haven't seen a graphical representation of the performance gains, Seurer has revealed some figures after the driver update, which shows almost a 20% uplift in titles such as Quake II and DOOM Eternal.

Quake II RTX:

Before: 81fps
After: 98fps

Control:

Before: 66fps
After: 69fps

DOOM Eternal:

Before: 127fps
After: 130fps

GitHub via Phoronix

"Today, we are heartbroken as we part ways with friends and colleagues at Ascendant Studios – about 45% of our team. This was a painfully difficult, but necessary decision that was not made lightly; nevertheless, we have to make this adjustment now that Immortals of Aveum has shipped. We are supporting those affected in every way we can, including comprehensive severance packages and job placement assistance, as well as support services for those who remain. If your studio is looking for proven UE5 artists and engineers, please reach out and let us know so we can introduce you to some incredibly talented game devs. "I am so proud of what our independent development team has accomplished with Immortals of Aveum. Together we've created a new AAA studio, a new IP, on new technology, during an era of our industry when that is exceedingly rare. We've poured our passion into Immortals, while wearing our hearts on our sleeves. The studio will continue to work that way as we support the development of this game and our Immortals IP moving forward with future updates and offers. "To my team reading this message, especially those leaving us, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your invaluable contributions to Ascendant's culture and your tremendous impact on bringing Immortals of Aveum to life. We wish you nothing but success in the next chapter of your careers. Please stay in touch."

A game developer has to be pretty brave to attempt a Soulslike, I feel. Just the fact that they’re still called Soulslikes, nearly a decade and a half on (and surely longer than it took for "Doom clones" to turn into first-person shooters), is probably a sign. FromSoftware just keeps banging out top notch examples of a genre they created, and follow-ups, in Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring, that all have their own distinct variances from the core template, so plucky pretenders to the throne really need a unique selling point. The Surge has its near-future sci-fi stylings, Nioh leans into character action game combat, and Jedis Fallen Order and Survivor combine Uncharted-esque traversal with a little movie licence from the seventies. New contender Lies of P has, umm, puppets.

...

Lies of P is consistently weakest where it cleaves too strongly to the From Software formula and strongest where it innovates. Weapons for instance can be broken down into two components: a blade (or equivalent bashy/stabby bit) and a handle, which can then be recombined however you like. The blade dictates the type and amount of damage done, while the stat scaling and move set are attached to the handle.

Resident Evil 4's Separate Ways campaign and Mercenaries mode update are coming to this year's acclaimed Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC remake on 21st September - and the main game's long-awaited VR mode will hit PSVR2 this "winter".

Separate Ways, if you're unfamiliar, was introduced to Resident Evil 4 when the game made the jump from GameCube to PlayStation 2 in 2005. It focuses on enigmatic spy Ada Wong, who briefly pops up in the Leon S. Kennedy-starring main campaign - filling in the blanks of her whereabouts over the course of the story.

California, the biggest state in the US when it comes to both population and the sheer volume of tech companies squeezed into its borders, has just passed the country's most extreme right to repair bill in the US (via Ars Technica). It's the third state to pass such a bill, but goes further than either Minnesota or New York in that it forces companies to support their products for longer. But while it will cover gaming PCs and laptops, games console manufacturers get a free pass.

...

There are exceptions, however, and it seems like games consoles are somehow exempt from this right to repair requirement. Guess someone's been lobbying against the inclusion of consoles, eh? The bill itself talks specifically about an "electronic or appliance product" or just a "product", but stipulates that doesn't include a video game console.

"'Video game console' means a computing device, including its components and peripherals, that is primarily used by consumers for playing video games, such as a console machine, a handheld console device, or another device or system. 'Video game console' does not include a general or an all-purpose computer, which includes, but is not limited to, a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or cell phone."

So, that means your Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch consoles are all seemingly exempt from having to offer long term support, but at least in the computing space your PC and laptop will be covered.

A fresh report into Unity's hugely-controversial decision to start charging developers when their games are downloaded has thrown fresh light on the situation.

MobileGamer sources say Unity has already offered some studios a 100% fee waiver - if they switch over to Unity's own LevelPlay ad platform.

The report quotes industry consultants that say this move is an "attempt to destroy" Unity's main competitior in this field: AppLovin.

For decades AT&T has sought to shovel its broadband network upgrade costs on to the shoulders of other companies. It was the primary catalyst for the net neutrality wars, after AT&T made it clear it wanted to (ab)use its monopoly over broadband access to force companies like Google to pay an extra troll toll if they wanted their traffic to reach AT&T customers.

In recent years AT&T’s tactics have shifted.

The FCC’s Universal Service Fund (USF) program historically involves a small surcharge on voice and broadband lines that helps pay for broadband to rural schools and unserved regions. The program has been facing a shortfall thanks to the death of the landline, forcing many to suggest expanding the contribution base to include tech giants like Netflix, Google, and Facebook.

The FCC is having conversations about how to shore up the contribution base so funding for the program remains stable. AT&T, unsurprisingly, has been quick to enter those conversations with enthusiastic support for making tech giants pay for broadband upgrades.

...

All while getting untold billions of dollars in regulatory favors (like the death of net neutrality and broadband privacy protections), subsidies, and massive tax breaks — often in exchange for network upgrades that are somehow always half-completed.

The reason U.S. broadband remains spotty, sluggish, and expensive in 2023 is concentrated monopoly power and the corrupt politicians who protect it (see: the entirety of the GOP, and a sizeable chunk of the DNC). Yet somehow when it comes time for the FCC to shore up the USF and expand access to affordable broadband, cracking down on monopoly power never even enters the conversation.