Today's Night City Wire presentation produced three videos for Cyberpunk 2077. Postcards from Night City "is all about presenting never-before-seen locations and new personalities from the world of Cyberpunk 2077, along with extra slices of lore behind the most vivid and dangerous metropolis of the dark future." Gangs of Night City "profiles some of the most notorious groups operating within and beyond the city walls whom players will be making deals with, fighting against, or both in order to survive." And Cyber-up Your PC Contest Finale, showing entries in their modding contest and announcing the winners. Also, the Cyberpunk 2077 Website now offers the following official system requirements for the CD PROJEKT RED's upcoming RPG:

Minimum System Requirements
OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 10
Direct X Version DirectX 12
Processor Intel Core i5-3570K or AMD FX-8310
Memory 8 GB
Graphics Card NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 470
Storage 70 GB HDD (SSD recommended)

Recommended System Requirements
OS 64-bit Windows 10
Direct X Version DirectX 12
Processor Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
Memory 12 GB
Graphics Card NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB or AMD Radeon R9 Fury
Storage SSD (70 GB)

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Stick 'em up! Grinding Gears announces the release of the Windows edition of Heist, the latest expansion for Path of Exile, their free-to-play action/RPG. This is available on the Path of Exile Website alongside sales of Heist Supporter Packs. Console players don't have long to wait, as this is coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on September 23rd. Here's an Official Trailer & Developer Commentary to accompany the launch, and here are the details:

In Heist, players will hire a crew of specialized thieves to assist them with infiltrating secure facilities to retrieve valuable Artifacts. While bypassing security, they must be careful not to trigger the alarm or they'll be overrun with guards. Retrieving the artifact will automatically trigger the alarm and players will have to make a mad dash to the extraction point. If they can't escape, they'll lose everything they stole.

Continue here to read the full story.

Hello Games announces a new update called Origins is coming next week to No Man's Sky, calling this "another small step in a longer journey" for their space exploration game. They say detailed patch notes are coming, but in the meantime most of the update looks backward at past content, rather than forward towards the new release. Here's word from Sean Murray:

Next week Hello Games will be releasing an update to No Man’s Sky. We’re calling it ORIGINS.

Detailed patch notes will follow, along with next week’s release.

Four years ago we announced FOUNDATION, our first major update for No Man’s Sky, we promised “It won’t be our largest update, but it is the start of something”. Those words were true at the time, and they ring true for Origins. We called it Origins because it is the beginning of something new, as No Man’s Sky continues to grow and evolve.

Beyond came out last year, bringing VR and hugely expanded Online play, and since then we have focused on releasing more regular updates. SYNTHESIS, BYTEBEAT, LIVING SHIP, EXO MECH, CROSSPLAY, and DESOLATION have been some of our most popular, surprising and transformative updates – leading No Man’s Sky to have its biggest year to date.

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NACON announces Monster Truck Championship will roll out on October 15th for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with the Switch edition to follow in November. You can preorder this jacked-up driving game through the official website as a standard or a deluxe edition, and all preorders come with a Patriot Pack which includes the Sergeant Chaos livery and the Patriot truck model. The deluxe version is called the Rebel Hunter Edition, and this includes a special livery, an exclusive stadium, and three truck models. Here's a trailer for the preorder bonus, and here's one for the Rebel Hunter Edition. Here's more on the game:

In Monster Truck Championship, you take the wheel of one of 16 vehicles and enter five types of event. In these championships, you will compete in 25 stadiums and circuits in various cities across the United States. Taking a realistic approach to driving rather than an arcade-game style, Monster Truck Championship gives players the chance to take part in frenzied races and pull off believable aerial and ground moves by learning the unique physics of these vehicles.

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Will The Circle Be Unbroken? Apparently not, as Journey of the Broken Circle is now available for Windows and macOS on Steam as well as for Switch. Developer Lovable Hat Cult calls their adventure game a "fun and vibrant trip about life, love, fulfillment and existentialism, where new powers come from new relationships." This comes with an interesting loyalty bonus, as "for the next 3 days, owners of any games published by nakana.io can claim the Switch version of Journey of the Broken Circle for free!" Here's a trailer and here's a description:

Journey of the Broken Circle is a narrative-driven puzzle platformer about an incomplete circle yearning to become whole. As it rolls through a wondrous and hazardous land, it encounters a series of other shapes with unique personalities and skills that it uses to fill the hole left in its body. Each shape offers a unique mechanic, helping our pie-shaped person surmount obstacles and find inner peace.

As with all relationships, each character Broken Circle intermingles with offers it unique properties. Some will allow it to float into the heavens, others will cause it to cling onto surfaces, and some will cause it to tumble along with an extra spring in its step. Not all relationships were made to last however, so don’t get too attached!

Continue here to read the full story.

• Observer: System Redux is an Xbox Series X-S and PlayStation 5 Launch Title.
• Gears Tactics Coming to Xbox Consoles November 10 with Launch of Xbox Series X/S.
• Gears Tactics Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.
• Crysis Remastered Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Mars Power Industries Deluxe Is Now Available For Xbox One And Windows 10 (Xbox Play Anywhere).
• Shotgun Farmers Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.
• This Week on Xbox: September 18, 2020.
• Xbox Insider Release Notes - Alpha Skip-Ahead (2011.200917-0000).
• Xbox Insider Release Notes - Omega (2008.200917-0845).

• YouTube’s website now blocks iOS 14’s picture-in-picture mode unless you pay for Premium.
• ADATA XPG Launches a PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD for Notebooks: Gammix S50 Lite.
• How to Use a Second Monitor With Your Laptop. Thanks Neutronbeam.

• You won’t see any more automated midroll ads on Twitch.
• Comcast shut off Internet to hundreds, saying they were illegally connected.

• Crysis Remastered suffers from single-thread CPU issues, just like the original game.
• GIGABYTE confirms GeForce RTX 3080 with 20GB model, RTX 3070 with 16GB.
• GeForce RTX 3080 Ray Tracing & DLSS Performance, RTX ON vs OFF (video). Thanks Simon.
• Unity valued at $13.7 billion following $1.3 billion IPO.
• Mirror Turns Webcam Into Document Camera - Hackaday. Thanks j.c.f.
• The worst version of Windows ever released. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Bad Ass Build of the Day.

• Online fraud prevention biz fails to prevent CEO's alleged offline fraud.

Obituary: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died.

In a post on Instagram, Michel Ancel announces he's leaving the game industry after over 30 years (thanks VGC). Ancel, who created the Rayman series and Beyond Good and Evil, announces he's going to pursue his other passion, wildlife. He offers assurances to gamers that the upcoming Beyond Good and Evil 2 and PlayStation game Wild will remain the right track as "the teams are autonomous and the projects are going super well." Ubisoft follows up on this by promising to show off Beyond Good & Evil 2 gameplay next year, so take whatever reassurance from that you prefer. Here's Michel's post:

WoW ! This little guy has many things to teach to Sam Fisher !
Today is very special for me. After more than 30 years, I’ve decided to stop working on video games and fully focus on my second passion : Wild Life !

My new project takes place in the real world and consists in a wild life open sanctuary dedicated to education , nature lovers and ... wild animals.

🎮🎮🎮 video games part 🎮🎮🎮

Many of you might want to know what will happen to Wild and BGE2. No worries, since many months now the teams are autonomous and the projects are going super well. Beautiful things to be seen soon.

May the fox be with you

🦊

Here's a reminder that CD PROJEKT RED is will broadcast their third episode of Night City Wire today at noon EDT, offering more hype for Cyberpunk 2077, their upcoming sci-fi RPG. This tweet from last week lays out the agenda:

Join us on Friday, September 18 at 6PM CEST, at https://twitch.tv/cdprojektred for the 3rd episode of Night City Wire! We'll take you on a tour around Night City, check up on its gangs, and give you a sneak peek into the creation of #Cyberpunk2077 original score.

Crysis Remastered is now available for Windows on the Epic Games Store and for consoles on their respective storefronts. This offers the chance to return to the jungle in the updated version of Crytek's first-person shooter. Here's the Official Launch Trailer and here's word on how the game has been modernized to take advantage of modern hardware to make "can it play Crysis?" relevant again:

“Our aim was to upgrade the visual fidelity for a wide range of PCs and to use all the technical capabilities of current-gen consoles while offering the same great gameplay that Crysis is known for,” said Project Lead Steffen Halbig. “Naturally, we are thrilled to invite a new generation of players to suit up and experience Crysis, upgraded and remastered to take advantage of today’s hardware and advances in CRYENGINE.”

Crysis Remastered features the all-action, sandbox, single-player gameplay from the acclaimed shooter, upgraded with remastered graphics, including high-quality textures, improved art assets and more. For the first time this console generation, Crytek’s software-based ray tracing comes to PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X. On PC, CRYENGINE’s hardware-agnostic technology brings ray tracing to a wide range of contemporary GPUs. Additionally, Crysis Remastered supports hardware-based ray tracing using NVIDIA’s VKRay Vulkan extension on launch, and NVIDIA® DLSS technology will be added soon for the NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX GPU.

In Crysis Remastered, players face down an alien invasion armed with the powerful Nanosuit, which provides super strength, armor, speed and cloaking abilities. Choose your own path as you fight through the open world of Crysis, destroying obstacles, driving vehicles, and using a huge arsenal of modular weaponry to dominate enemies on ever-changing battlefields.

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Square Enix and DONTNOD announce that the first episode of Life is Strange 2 is now free on Steam for Windows, macOS, and Linux. This is a permanent move and the initial episode is also now free on consoles. Here's word on this effort to attract new players to their episodic adventure game:

It’s a thrilling, BAFTA-award-winning adventure about responsibility, freedom, brotherhood… and now you can download and play the first Episode of Life is Strange 2 free – forever!

When a tragic incident turns Sean and Daniel’s quiet suburban life upside down, the Diaz brothers find themselves on the road – alone, scared, and pursued by the police.

Just sixteen years old, Sean is thrust into the role of father figure. Struggling with his own feelings and fears, Sean must still try to teach Daniel right from wrong… when the whole world is set against them.

Continue here to read the full story.

Train Simulator 2021 is now available on Steam, offering an updated version of this Windows, well, train simulator. Never fear if you own any or all of the 602(!!) pieces Train Simulator paid DLC, as they seem are compatible with the new release. This post has the Launch Trailer and explains the changes to try and railroad you into buying the new edition:

Train Simulator 2021 has now arrived on PC with a new collection of routes, improved Steam Workshop feature and a Deluxe Edition that includes a brand-new experience with the West Coast Main Line South. Take control of authentic licensed locomotives from around the world and explore real-world routes with the ultimate railway hobby.

Marvel at the mix of modern and historic infrastructure, including the striking Forth Rail Bridge, as you drive a ScotRail BR Class 68 on the Fife Circle Line. Step aboard hard-working traction such as the DB BR 648 to discover the picturesque Norddeutsche-Bahn from Kiel to Lübeck. Take the throttle of the motive power like the F7 on Clinchfield Railroad and drive across the magnificent Appalachian Mountains. Three unique routes with lots to explore.

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WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS has jumped off the turnbuckle and the wrestling simulation is now available for PC and consoles. The Windows edition is available on Steam. Here's a trailer showing off gameplay of wrestlers with giant heads to hold their big brains. Here are some details from the announcement to wrestle with:

A roster of more than 70 WWE Superstars, Hall of Famers and Legends will be available in WWE 2K Battlegrounds at launch, with more than 60 additional Superstars currently scheduled for future release via free** downloadable updates, including “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair and many more. The deep and varied roster enables players to bring a myriad of dream battles to life, including Andre the Giant™ vs. Undertaker®, Roman Reigns® vs. The Rock, Charlotte Flair® vs. Beth Phoenix®, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin® vs. John Cena, Edge® vs. AJ Styles and many more. They can also create their own custom WWE Superstars in the Superstar Creator with different body types and sizes, facial features, clothing, hair and fighting styles. All Superstars utilize one of five class styles – Powerhouse, Technician, High-Flyer, Brawler and All-Rounder – with each class having its own combat moves, strengths and weaknesses. Arcade-style offensive and defensive power-ups, such as Flaming Fist, Ice Breath and Earthquake, offer an additional dimension of strategy that can quickly change the direction of a match.

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Steam now offers Gordian Rooms: A Curious Heritage Prologue, a free sample of this upcoming Windows puzzle game that tasks the player with escaping from ye olde escape roome. The Steam Listing for the full version also lists a playable demo, leaving us curious as to how the prologue differs from this. Word is this allows you to play through the game's first level:

Gordian Rooms: A Curious Heritage is a Victorian escape game, where you solve various puzzles in your late uncle’s mansion in the hope of obtaining his legacy.
In the prologue you can play through the first level of the game.

• Explore a Victorian basement
• Solve the puzzles your uncle left behind
• Use your skills of deduction, observation, recollection and combination to succeed
• Keep your eyes open for secrets

Michel Ancel may be pleased with the announcement of Animal Rescue, a game that will allow you to play as a field rescue veterinarian when it's released in Q4 of next year on Steam and consoles. This is coming from publisher Ultimate Games (Ultimate Fishing Simulator and Deadliest Catch: The Game) and developer Animalia Studio. Here's a Reveal Trailer and here's word on this chance to play Daktari:

In Animal Rescue, the player will play the role of a field veterinarian and rescuer who reacts to emergencies in different parts of the world and sets off to rescue defenceless animals. Ultimate Games S.A. announced that in terms of gameplay, the title will combine elements of adventure, simulation and survival games.

“As a veterinarian and rescuer, specialising in providing aid and combating the effects of natural disasters, we will not only search for and rescue surviving animals, but also treat them afterwards. We will be able to build and expand field animal clinics. The issue of transport will also play a very important role. To get to our destinations quickly, we will be using, among others, an off-roader, which will require proper maintenance. Making sure that our specialised veterinary equipment and first aid kit are in good shape will also be of key importance” – said Rafał Jelonek, COO at Ultimate Games S.A.

Continue here to read the full story.

• GOG.com - Check Focus Home Interactive Sale with games up to 80% off.
• ArcheAge: Sweet Sales Ahoy. Celebrates the sixth anniversary of the fantasy MMORPG.

• Ex-Hitman Reacts To GTA V Assassinations. Thanks Ant.

• Gamasutra - Directing The Outer Worlds DLC The Peril on Gorgon.
• id Software talk Doom Eternal's Ancient Gods DLC with DF's John Linneman • Eurogamer.net.
• Interview: Rebuilding and expanding Kingdoms of Amalur with Re-Reckoning – PlayStation.Blog.

• Here’s how and where to watch the Game Devs of Colour Expo 2020.

• Just admit that your console exclusives are coming to PC already.
• PS5 Pre-Orders Were A Complete Clusterfuck.
• Crysis Remastered suffers from massive performance and visual issues on Xbox One X. Can it play Crysis?
• Commandos 2 & Praetorians: HD Remaster Double Pack Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• WWE 2K Battlegrounds Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• The Secret Order: Return To The Buried Kingdom Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Biped Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Tamiku Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Harvest Moon: Light Of Hope SE Complete Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Friday The 13th- Killer Puzzle Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• The Blobs Fight! Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• GORSD Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• An Evil Existence Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• The Pew Pew Bundle Vol. 1 Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Dragon Lapis Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.
• From king of the road to King of the Seas, out this holiday on PS4.
• Next Week on Xbox: September 22 to 25.

• 9 best new iOS 14 hidden features we found for your iPhone.
• Apple iOS 14 bug resets default apps to Safari and Mail on reboot.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• TikTok and WeChat: US to ban app downloads in 48 hours.
• OnlyFans stars say TikTok is making them rich.
• Comcast may force Roku to drop some NBCUniversal channels.
• Amazon gives Samuel L. Jackson his own Alexa wake phrase.
• She-Hulk Nabs Tatiana Maslany for Marvel-Disney+ Show.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Gigabyte lists unreleased GeForce RTX 3060 8GB, RTX 3070 16GB & RTX 3080 20GB Ampere GPUs.
• NVIDIA apologizes for RTX 3080 ordering fiasco.
• Can You Build a Gaming PC for $500?
• Nvidia’s RTX Voice app was great, and its Broadcast successor is now available. RTX required.
• GNOME gets new versioning scheme, and Linux users are going to be confused. Thanks Ant.
• Eizo Launches Its First Curved IPS Monitor- The 37.5-Inch FlexScan EV3895 with KVM.

• Oracle, ByteDance Said to Accept Treasury’s New TikTok Terms.
• Canada Tesla driver charged over 'napping while speeding.'

• Hades Review – To Hell And Back, Again And Again - GameSpot.
• Hades Review - IGN.
• Hades review - PC Gamer.
• WRC 9 Review - IGN.

• 1MORE True Wireless ANC In-Ear Headphones Review - Nikk Tech.
• ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming Graphics Card review - Guru3D.
• Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4-3200 C16 4x8GB RAM Review: The Fairest Of Them All - Tom's Hardware.
• Dream Machines DM6 Holey S Gaming Mouse Review - Mad Shrimps.
• Patriot Viper RGB DDR4-3600 2x16GB Review - APH Networks.
• Razer Blade 15 Advanced Laptop review (2020 model – i7-10875H, RTX 2080 Super) - Ultrabook Review. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity graphics Card Review - AusGamers.com.

• Crysis Remastered is using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech…
• Turner Sports Launches New Sports Game Using Blockchain System…
• Crystal Caves HD - A remaster of Apogee Software's Crystal Caves is coming soon…

We had an intruder this week, as a housefly managed to live up to its name and enter the house. This was quite the sly little pest who eluded all my murderous efforts to end its reign of terror. This was not a Breaking Bad style obsession, but more than a few attempts at a proper swatting proved futile. Then yesterday a prime opportunity presented itself, as the fly landed on the counter next to the leftovers of our first takeout from a nearby Greek restaurant since the pandemic began. I attacked with a rolled up newspaper, but this insect once again played roadrunner (Musca domestica) to my coyote (slo-mo sapien). Or at least so I thought, until I saw that the current of air created by my attack had forced the fly into the small cup of salad dressing from our takeout. We were really enjoying this bit of the leftovers, as I found dipping cherry tomatoes into it very delicious. So even in death our intruder had the last laugh, going out in style as the proverbial fly in the ointment. R.I.P. Mr. Fly, you were a worthy opponent.

Flying Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Breakfast Links

• Calgary-made whisky named best in the world by annual Whisky Bible. Thanks Max.
• Here are the winners of the 2020 Ig Nobel Prizes to make you laugh, then think.

Stories

• Hoverboard-riding dentist sentenced to 12 years for Medicaid fraud.
• The Vikings Were More Complicated Than You Might Think. Thanks Roddy.

Science

• Study suggests substantial proportion of pet cats and dogs are infected with SARS-CoV-2 by their owners. Thanks Max.
• Why Scientists Should Use Magic to Study Animal Intelligence.

Images

• Scenes From the 2020 Tour de France.

Media

• LEGO Gladiator (feat. Hans Zimmer).
• Grievous Maximus.
• Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston get flirty, Shia LaBeouf goes wild in Fast Times table read.

The Funnies

• Savage Chickens.