An artificial intelligence company, whose founder Forbes included in a 30 Under 30 list recently, promises to use machine learning to convert clients’ 2D illustrations into 3D models. In reality the company, called Kaedim, uses human artists for “quality control.” According to two sources with knowledge of the process interviewed by 404 Media, at one point, Kaedim often used human artists to make the models. One of the sources said workers at one point produced the 3D design wholecloth themselves without the help of machine learning at all.

The news pulls back the curtain on a hyped startup and is an example of how AI companies can sometimes overstate the capabilities of their technology. Like other AI startups, Kaedim wants to use AI to do tedious labor that is currently being done by humans. In this case, 3D modeling, a time consuming job that video game companies are already outsourcing to studios in countries like China.

Polling data shows an almost an equal number of people believe two completely different things: About 1 in 5 people surveyed were so concerned about global warming that they think it will make it more difficult to live in their area. About the same number said they either don't know if climate change is happening or don’t believe in it at all.

The poll even found links between how Americans perceive the weather and their views on climate change. People who don’t believe in climate change often were less likely to report an increase in extreme weather.

The polarized divide over climate change is well documented, but the latest data sheds new light on Americans’ experiences with extreme weather, how experiencing extreme weather affects Americans’ view of climate change, and the nation’s largely pessimistic predictions about the changing climate.

Rather than posting 4 million different links, it might be easier to just aggregate a few of the links about the devices.

7800 XT

tl;dr - Roughly 6800 XT performance. Price is decent compared to other new cards.

Reviews

• Gamers Nexus - "definitely an embarassing showing compared to the 6800 XT though"
• Hardware Unboxed - "the 7800 XT is basically a 6800 XT in terms of performance" ... "at 500 us there's really nothing better in terms of value than the 7800 XT"
• Toms Hardware - "gaming performance isn't significantly better than the previous generation RX 6800 XT"
• PCGamer - "Even now the 16GB RTX 4060 Ti has had a price cut down to $449, I would still recommend opting for this Radeon card instead. "
• PCGamesN - "The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the midrange graphics card the GPU space has been sorely needing"
• IGN - "It comes in at a reasonable price in a time of ludicrously inflated GPU prices and delivers rasterization performance that punches above its weight class."
• Guru3d - ASUS TUF Version - " the RX 7800 XT closely mirrors its 6800XT/6900 XT predecessors within this competitive market segment"
• HotHardware - "With traditional rasterization, the Radeon RX 7x00 cards looks great, but with Ray Tracing in the mix, NVIDIA often pulls ahead. Consider DLSS and FSR, and things get even dicier, especially when frame generation comes into play. And then there’s the previous-gen Radeons, with only about $90 separating the RX 6800 from the 6700 XT."
• Tweaktown - "The Radeon RX 7800 XT priced at USD 499 represents some real solid competition in the mid-range/enthusiast GPU market"

7700 XT

tl;dr - Price is less attractive given performance relative to the 7800 XT.

• GamersNexus - "we're wondering if this is a classic upsell here from AMD because the performance gap between them is larger than the price Gap might otherwise suggest"

• Toms Hardware - "Most of the time it fails to impress relative to 7800 XT"

• PCGames N - "feels more like an upsell for its sibling thanks to its price"

• HotHardware -"the Radeon RX 7700 XT’s price is close enough to the Radeon RX 7800 XT’s that it makes a lot of sense to spring for the higher-end card"

*Guru3d - Sapphire Pulse - "Given the $449 tag, some might lean towards the 7800 XT, potentially aligning with AMD's strategic positioning."

Card Partners News

Gigabyte

Biostar

Asrock

Sapphire

Sea of Stars developers Sabotage Studio have confirmed that they’re already working on DLC for their warmly-received love letter to classic RPGs, along with their next standalone game. Helping them along the way is Sea of Stars’ fantastic reception, which has seen the game sell a year’s worth of copies in just one week.

That incredible success comes via Sabotage’s announcement on eX-Twitter that Sea of Stars has shifted more than 250,000 copies since its release on August 29th. That’s apparently more than the studio projected for the game’s first year. The game had already got off to a strong start by selling 100,000 copies on its first day.

Cross-play is apparently already on the development roadmap for Baldur's Gate 3. This means players on PlayStation 5 and PC - and at some point, Xbox - will all theoretically be able to play together online in the future.

Confirmation comes from Larian's director of publishing, Michael Douse, who told me the studio always intended to do cross-play but it was one thing too many to get working for launch. The PS5 version comes out today, remember; the PC version came out at the beginning of August; and the Xbox versions will arrive at some point this year.

If you're someone that likes to rack up your levels quickly, then you might want to find a companion in Starfield quickly.

Starfield, is, you might be surprised to hear, a video game. And with video games comes different gameplay features, like gunplay, levels, and status effects. Sometimes these status effects have things like buffs, which can add a little pep in your step. As it turns out, Starfield too has status effects with buffs! For example, did you know if you sleep with a companion, you get an XP boost? Sorry, what's that? You think I'm just doing a little goof? No, no, it's true, and best of all, the effect is quite literally called "emotional security."

You take the brutalist, mechanical efficiency of Factorio, combine it with the glorious destruction of Teardown, and add maybe a hint of comedy and catastrophic glee from Kerbal Space Program, and you get Abriss, an amazing new building game just launched on Steam. With high levels of detail, individually modelled bricks, blocks, and building sections, and a frankly fetishistic focus on the intricacies of blowing up stuff, according to Abriss’s developers, its 1.0 release represents your “GPU’s most feared day.” Destruction so meticulous it might melt my PC? Sign me up.

Steam Link

Friend, are you weary of talk of blockbuster space-faring RPGs and blockbuster D&D adaptations and blockbusters in general? Do you yearn for the older, simpler days before the great Unrealification and the invention of sex scenes, when people called a spike pit a spike pit, and you could count all the different colours in a screenshot on your fingers? Do you, in fact, reject this framing of retro-styled 2D pixelart games as "older" and "simpler", regarding it as condescending and false? Look, shut up already. I'm trying to tell you about Isles of Sea and Sky from developers Jason Newman, Dan Collver and Craig Collver.

YouTube Trailer
Steam Link

I never got round to playing Shiro's 4X-plus-RTS adaptation of Dune, but chuckling spice baron Nic Reuben deemed it "intricate", "polished" and "well-considered" in his early access review last year, and I trust his nose for these things. The game now has a 1.0 release date - 14th September 2023 - which will also bring a sixth major content update featuring the politically adept House Ecaz faction - who, if the press release speaks true, "wield power like a paint brush". You love to see it!

Steam Link

The developers of STALKER 2 have discussed the game’s first hands-on at gamescom 2023 and addressed a “downgrade” debate sparked by a new gameplay trailer.

GSC Game World told IGN it is still targeting a visual quality and level of polish suggested by STALKER 2’s eye-catching 2021 trailer (below). This comes despite the horrendous conditions suffered by the staff at the Ukrainian developer amid the war with Russia, which halted development, displaced staff, and caused a number of delays.

STALKER 2 was at the Microsoft gamescom 2023 booth in hands-on fashion, letting the public and press play the post-apocalyptic first-person shooter for the first time. STALKER 2’s gamescom 2023 gameplay trailer (below) includes footage taken from the build used at the show.

It’s fair to say the build on show was rough. As IGN’s STALKER 2 hands-on preview revealed: “Despite its Unreal Engine 5 base and prominent Microsoft support, the 15-minute gamescom demo suggests that STALKER 2 still sits in the ‘eurojank’ category; the colloquial term for eastern European games that are overly ambitious and technically wobbly.

Though it may have been overshadowed somewhat by major releases like Baldur's Gate 3 , and more recently Starfield, there's no doubt Remnant 2 remains one of the year's best games.

Developer Gunfire Games has been quietly updating the game since its release, changing co-op scaling, making it easier to unlock Archtypes, improving performance, and continuing to add quality of life tweaks to the loot shooter.

Today's Radeon Software Adrenalin 23.9.1 driver adds two major components to the suite which include the highly anticipated HYPR-RX feature and support for Anti-Lag+. Both technologies are supported by all RDNA 3 GPUs while also delivering day-1 support for the latest GPU releases, the Radeon RX 7800 XT and the Radeon RX 7700 XT.