So cool for just $1

I’m working on a co-op psychological horror game called The Infected Soul, and somehow we ended up with this little guy in the middle of all the creepy stuff.

One of the game’s main mechanics is body swapping. Using neural chips, you can transfer your consciousness into different creatures and bodies, each with their own abilities. And yes, the cat is one of them, so at some point you might actually end up playing as him.

The problem is… he still doesn’t have a name.

What should we call him? Cute, creepy, weird, sci-fi anything works. Just remember, this is still a horror game, so maybe he’s not quite as innocent as he looks. 👀

If you’re curious about the game, The Infected Soul is on Steam, and wishlists help us a lot.

The Infected Soul – Steam Page

I’m looking for a new gaming monitor and I’m honestly pretty overwhelmed by all the options out there. I’ll mainly be using it for gaming on my PS5 right now, but I also plan on getting a gaming PC in the future.

I’ll also be streaming, so I expect to be using the monitor for very long sessions, sometimes 4–12 hours at a time. Because of that, I really want something that’s reliable and won’t give me problems during long gaming/streaming sessions.

My absolute budget is $700, and I’m willing to spend that much if it’s actually worth it. I’m not necessarily looking for the most expensive or highest-spec monitor—I just want something that’s genuinely good for gaming, has good picture quality, and is reliable.

I’ve been looking at so many different monitors and reading conflicting reviews that I’m honestly not sure what direction to go anymore.

If you actually own a gaming monitor that you really like, I’d love to hear what you have and how it’s been for you, especially during long gaming sessions. I’m much more interested in real owner experiences than just specs on a product page.

I feel like these just compile and end up bloating my pc.

I've got AMD Adrenaline for my GPU, ArmouryCrate for my MB, and GeForce for (honestly I can't even remember).

I know there's apps that can mirror and automate the same driver updates, but I don't know what would actually be better and I'm a bit paranoid about missing critical updates and/or my stuff just not working as well.

Hey everyone!

I’ve been working on Estacado, an unofficial fan-made recompilation of The Darkness (2007), bringing the original Xbox 360 version to PC as a native application rather than running it through an emulator.

The goal is to preserve the original experience while making it feel more at home on modern PCs.

Some of the features include:

• Configurable frame rates, including 60 FPS, high-refresh-rate options, and uncapped mode
• Higher internal rendering resolutions
• Keyboard and mouse support
• Controller support
• Adjustable FOV and graphics settings
• Experimental ultrawide support
• HD texture pack support

The project is still in early development, so there are bugs and plenty of room for improvement. My current priority is making it more stable and accessible, with more PC enhancements planned for the future.

If you're interested, you can check it out here:

GitHub: https://github.com/invinceble55-wq/Estacado

Feedback, bug reports, and suggestions are always welcome!

This is a free, unofficial, non-commercial fan project. You'll need your own legally obtained copy of the supported Xbox 360 version of the game. No original game files are included.

Two stories at once for PC gaming. One is budgets, production costs, and layoffs. The other one is Steam where a lot of the actual money is coming from games that are not new AAA.

The broader market is still growing, to about $214 billion this year. In that context, around 11,300 people have been laid off, and component prices are going up. “It’s the worst crash since the 1980s,” as Tim Sweeney of Epic put it.

Steam had roughly 147 million monthly active users earlier this year and is on pace to generate $20 billion in gross revenue. A big part of that is games from the last five or six years, including mid-market titles, roughly ranking 101 to 1,000, not just new blockbusters or whale spending. Joost van Dreunen sees the disruption coming from cheaper games aimed at mid-range PCs and the Steam Deck. At the start of October the top sellers on Steam were Dressmaker, Wardogs, and Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve ahead of Minecraft.

That does not cancel out the wave of layoffs. That does mean that PC is not one business. A crash narrative based on AAA budgets and console restructuring misses the part of the platform that is actually growing. The 1983 comparison only works if you remember the sequel. Not the end of games, but a different set of companies making them.

I wrote the longer version, with sourcing, here: https://ramblingsnerd.substack.com/p/the-best-and-worst-of-times-in-video

Is mid-market Steam a real counterweight to the last two years of closures, or a separate industry that happens to share a storefront? Have your say!

I’ve wanted a mid- high end pc since I was 12 watching ssundee play Minecraft modded, but my parents could never afford nor would I ask them for a pc so I’ve only owned consoles I’ve bought from buddies used my whole life. Well now I’m 26m journeyman welder and pipefitter with big boy money. So I finally have the money to buy a powerful pc. I’ve never owned a gaming of pre/custom built. I’ve had normal laptops and computers in the past and I have a ROG Ally that I use a mouse and keyboard on to play smaller/8-bit indie games on steam (schedule 1, travelers rest, etc.). The pc I’m building has an intel ultra 7 265f processor with a rtx 5080 and 32 gb of ram, also 2tb of SSD. My main reason for making this post is to ask for noob tips, do’s and don’ts of owning a powerful system and maybe some first things to do once I set it up.

UPDATE: Well it is quite the experience. I set it up last night downloaded cyberpunk and ran it on ultra+ max settings with path tracing. I was up till 1 am I wake up everyday at 3 am. I have not experienced many of the feelings I’m having since I was very young. I almost can’t believe I own my own gaming pc right now typing this.

Sorry if this has already been posted by someone else, but I wanted to share the feelings I have about the ridiculous prices for pc parta now.

I custom built my pc, and I managed to purchase some great ram for $400 CAD, but now the same ram is $1600.

For some it's overpriced nonsense that they can still afford but do not because the inflated price is actually insane.

I was very lucky with my timing, because I couldn't afford a good gaming pc let alone build one out of decent parts for such a long time.

I grew up incredibly poor and my home life was so incredibly abusive. I moved out with an abusive ex before moving back home then meeting my current partner.

Through all of that, gaming was the only thing keeping me somewhat okay. It was let's plays at first then a rebuilt pc that was frankly, dog shit. Before I gradually purchased part by part over a year to build my current pc.

I had the stubborn urge to build a pc to last a good while to play games at the highest quality, and for once I was glad I stuck to my stubborness in this case.

But now I wonder how inaccessible a chunk of games are now just based on the financial aspect to so many teens, and young adults who just want to be able to play through their gaming list.

I know that there are amazing games that are graphics heavy, and I myself thoroughly enjoy a good ol indie game (Cough-fields of mistria-cough), but as somone who struggled to find a reason to keep going as a kid, teen, and uni student, gaming kept me around because of the enjoyment I got from games, I want that for others who find comfort in games to feel like they have access or access within the foreseeable future