Welcome to, The RoundUp! This is our monthly news post summarising the past month in PC gaming, PC tech and new Thermaltake products. On today’s RoundUp for October 2020: AMD reveals their new CPUs and GPUs, Cyberpunk 2077 is delayed AGAIN and is a Mass Effect remastered on the horizon? All that and more in this RoundUp for October 2020.
GAMES RELEASED
October had a nice amount of really decent games release on the PC. So, if you haven’t been keeping up, here are some of the biggest releases from last month.
First, the highly anticipated flight simulator Star Wars: Squadrons released on October 2. Next saw the release of FIFA 21 on October 9, and Ride 4 on October 8.
Next saw the release of two horror games for this past spooky season. Amnesia: Rebirth, the latest in the popular Amnesia series, released on October 20. And after a few delays, The Dark Pictures: Little Hope, finally dropped on October 20.
Finally, the latest in the Watch Dogs series, Watch Dogs: Legion, released on October 29.
GAMES NEWS
Announcements
There were sadly not all that many announcements in the gaming world for October.
A remaster of the popular Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is on the way, releasing for the PC on November 6, 2020.
Additionally, the upcoming game The Medium, has received a release date. The game is due to release on December 10, 2020.
Delays
Luckily, only a few delays were announced this past October…. but what tragic delays they were.
First, the upcoming World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion has been delayed. It was due to release on October 27, but needs additional polishing before release. The new expected release date for the expansion is November 23
Despite firm claims this wouldn’t happen again… it happened again! Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed for the fourth time! But it could be worse. Its estimated release date now is December 10, instead of November 18. This is reportedly due to the complexities of getting the game polished and ready for nine different platforms.
A by-product of this, is that the upcoming Path of Exile expansion has now also been delayed. The December 11 expansion pack has now been moved to a January 2021 release, so as not to clash with Cyberpunk. Probably a smart move from Grinding Gear Games considering how big Cyberpunk will inevitably be upon release.
Everything Else
After months of ludicrously large content updates, Warzone will not always require 2GB patches. Infinity Ward announced that they are allowing players to chose which parts of Modern Warfare they wish to actually install, considering a number of people only play the free Warzone mode. This will finally decrease upload sizes immensely.
The rumours of a Mass Effect remaster are looking more viable than ever. The Game Rating and Administration committee of Korea, reportedly rated a Mass Effect Legendary Edition way back in May. With N7 day coming up very soon, fingers crossed we find out for sure later this month.
Ghost Story Games (formally Irrational Games), is reportedly deep into production on a new immersive simulator. The game has reportedly been in development since 2017. There is no reveal date in sight, but perhaps in the next few years we will hear more from the remnants of the studio that created Bioshock.
Phil Spencer had a busy month making some announcements. First, after Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda, many worried that might mean future Bethesda game won’t be on other consoles. Spencer has basically stated that they could do that, and it would not affect their profits in a huge way, but they won’t as their intention was never to split the player base. Additionally, he also confirmed that all first-party Xbox Series X games will come to PC. Thanks Phil!
In TV news, 2 new game adaptions are on the horizon. Assassin’s Creed is getting the Netflix series treatment, as well as Resident Evil, the latter titled Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness.
Lastly, Minecraft Java Edition will require a Microsoft account from next year. Previously, you could use the Java edition with only a Mojang account, but now you will need a Microsoft account too. This mandatory transition will occur sometime in early 2021.
TECH NEWS
NVIDIA’s CEO declared that the demand for their RTX 3000 cards will outstrip all of their supply through to the end of 2021. The cards had a massive launch a little while ago, and many consumers are still waiting with baited breath for restocks. NVIDIA claim the issue isn’t with their suppliers, more so just the demand from consumers.
Moving onto Intel news now. Their upcoming Rocket Lake CPU’s are confirmed for launch before March 31, 2021. Their 11th gen processors are coming with a brand new architecture and Intel Xe graphics, looking like they are well on their way to packing a punch against AMD’s upcoming releases. Additionally, Intel has sold off their SSD and memory business for 9 billion dollars to South Korean tech company, SK Hynix.
As many of you probably know already, this past month was AMD month! So, here is a summary of what you may have missed from team red.
First, AMD acquired custom chip manufacture Xilinx for 35 billion dollars. This comes from a goal to expand AMD’s data centre and custom silicon portfolio.
Now onto the BIG AMD news.
AMD announced their new Ryzen 5000 CPU’s and do they look amazing! The Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X, Ryzen 7 5800X, and Ryzen 5 5600X are all built on the new Zen 3 Architecture and look very catered to gamers. As PC Gamer states, these new chips, “offers higher max boost clocks, an IPC uplift, new 8-core CCX layout, and improved cache topology”. These chips are due for release on November 5.
In further AMD news, they also announced their upcoming GPU series. Their RX 600 series are shaping up strongly against the recently released NVIDIA 30 series cards, and for very reasonable prices. The smaller two of the three cards, the RX 6800 XT and 6800, will release on November 18. Meanwhile the beefier of them, the 6900 XT, will drop on December 8.
As we reported a while ago, any new Oculus headsets now need Facebook accounts to use. Now some users have reported issues with logging in through their accounts, one user finding themselves almost immediately banned. Facebook VP of VR and AR stated that users should ensure their accounts are in good standing before buying a headset to avoid this issue. Additionally, if you were planning on just signing up for Facebook then deactivating it and still using your headset unimpeded, I’m sorry to say that will not work. If you delete your Facebook account, sadly your Oculus account goes too.
Good news for all you big graphics enthusiasts! The recent Windows 10 October update now allows you to change your monitors’ refresh rate in your system settings. This update will be rolled out selectively though, so you may have to wait a little for it to become available for you.
Finally, Facebook Gaming’s cloud service has released a limited beta version. Joining the leagues of Google Stadia and Amazon Luna, the beta is only available in the US at the moment.
CONTROVERSIAL NEWS
Epic Games vs Apple
Yes, this is still going somehow.
First, they announced the official date for the issue to go to trial. May 3, 2021 will see the conflict properly in court, with a preliminary hearing taking place in April.
Then, Microsoft decided to throw in their two cents, coming out in support of Epic Games. They have also come out overhauling some of the practices around their MS Store, promising a more open store front for developers.
Finally, if you don’t remember back in August Apple sought to remove the Unreal Engine alongside Fortnite. They have now been ordered to leave the Unreal Engine and all Epic subsidiaries alone. This does mean Fortnite is still unavailable on Apple services, however it seems other Epic related programs will be safe.
Everything Else
Last month was a sad month for Riot Games fans in Australia. The popular game company officially closed its Sydney offices and dissolved the Oceanic Pro League. This was due to the Oceanic league not meeting their goals, citing a poor market in the region. Ouch.
Twitch has had an interesting year. Most recently, a report that interviewed 16 employees showcased a history of sexism and racism that has allegedly run rampart at the company since it’s inception. A representative of Twitch responded to the allegations, however didn’t really admit if they were true or not.
After Blizzard announced plans to close one of their French studios a while ago, a group of unions representing the employees have called for a strike. The union members declare that doing this is putting hundreds of jobs at risk during a global pandemic, and declare that closing this office is absurd due to it fairing far better than other countries.
The US Department of Justice has picked a fight with the biggest kid on the playground, Google. They have filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the juggernaut, accusing them of abusing their monopoly power and being very anti-competitive and exclusionary. Google has bitten back, saying that this lawsuit is “deeply flawed” and that the lawsuit “would do nothing to help consumers”.
Across the border, Canada has also filed a lawsuit, but this time against EA. This is in regards to its dodgy practices around loot boxes in its games. The lawsuit alleges unfair practices, unjust enrichment and breeches of competition and consumer protection regulations.
THERMALTAKE NEWS
October has been a busy month for us here at Thermaltake, especially considering we can now legally leave the house again in Melbourne, hooray!
First, we released some awesome new products. Both the gorgeous mid tower Distro Case and full tower Core P8 released for all you water cooled enthusiast builders out there. We also released a stunning new line up of our U Series Chairs. Lastly, we released new Thermal Grease, to ensure you never over or under apply your Thermal Paste again!
Over on our YouTube channel we released 2 First Look videos, one for our Core P8 and for our new hybrid ToughFAN.
Posts you may have missed here on the blog include a list of Console Games I’d love to see on PC. We also did some spooky themed posts, including a list of 7 spooky games to play, and a long form post about a haunted arcade game.
And finally, a friendly reminder that our podcast, Thermal Talk, is still uploading fortnightly. If you want even MORE content from us remember to go give it a listen. Check out all our episodes on your podcast platform of choice: Spotify, SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
SOURCES: https://www.pcgamer.com/au/need-for-speed-is-counting-down-to-something-probably-hot-pursuit-remastered/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/the-medium-gets-a-release-date-and-a-spooky-tune/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/world-of-warcraft-shadowlands-delay/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/world-of-warcraft-shadowlands-launches-on-november-23/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/cyberpunk-2077-has-been-delayed/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/path-of-exile-313-delay/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/next-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-update-will-let-you-make-the-game-smaller/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/the-mass-effect-remaster-is-looking-real-after-receiving-a-rating-in-south-korea/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/ghost-story-games-formerly-irrational-games-is-in-the-later-stages-of-production-on-its-immersive-sim/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/phil-spencer-says-dollar75-billion-bethesda-purchase-works-even-if-it-doesnt-release-games-on-playstation/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/phil-spencer-confirms-all-first-party-xbox-series-x-games-are-coming-to-pc/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/netflix-is-making-a-live-action-assassins-creed-series/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/resident-evil-netflix-series-will-be-canon/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/minecraft-java-edition-will-require-a-microsoft-account-from-next-year/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/nvidia-ceo-says-rtx-3000-demand-will-outstrip-all-of-our-supply-through-the-end-of-the-year/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/intel-rocket-lake-release-date-confirmed-q1-20212/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/intel-ssd-business-sk-hynix-sale/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/intel-rocket-lake-specs-detailed-cypress-cove/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/amd-xilinx-deal-35-billion/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/amd-announces-ryzen-5000-cpus-available-november-5/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/amd-says-zen-3-has-a-19-percent-instructions-per-clock-uptick/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/amd-radeon-rx-6000-gpu-benchmarks/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/amd-announces-dollar999-rx-6900-xt-gpu-cheaper-smaller-and-sometimes-faster-than-an-rtx-3090/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/amd-announces-radeon-rx-6800-xt-graphics-card-available-for-dollar649/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/facebook-vp-of-vr-recommends-checking-your-account-is-in-good-standing-before-buying-a-quest-2/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/deleting-or-deactivating-your-facebook-does-the-same-to-your-oculus-account/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/windows-10-october-2020-update-/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/facebook-gaming-announces-cloud-gaming-service/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/epic-and-apple-agree-on-one-thing-they-dont-want-a-jury-trial/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/epic-and-apple-will-go-to-trial-in-may-2021/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/microsoft-sides-with-epic-in-its-fight-with-apple-promises-a-more-open-ms-store/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/apple-has-been-ordered-to-leave-unreal-engine-and-epic-subsidiaries-alone/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/riot-games-to-close-sydney-office-and-dissolve-oceanic-pro-league/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/twitch-employees-allege-a-long-history-of-sexism-and-racism-at-the-company/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/unions-representing-blizzard-workers-have-called-for-a-strike/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/us-department-of-justice-files-antitrust-lawsuit-against-google/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/loot-box-lawsuit-claims-electronic-arts-ran-an-unlicensed-illegal-gaming-system/
