Steam Charts reveals that Steam has hit another highwater mark in concurrent users (thanks Reddit). The previous reported peak was last month was when Valve's online store/service first surpassed the 30 million mark. The new record is 31,328,262, well over a million more simultaneous users.

A teaser trailer from Ubisoft reveals the announcement trailer for the Lost Between Worlds add on for Far Cry 6. This is quite the nothingbuger for now, as the clip is only 19 seconds because it repeats its brief message twice. This will payoff on Tuesday at 1:00 pm EST, so mark your calendars. Or jump into the chat and discuss this for a few days. Here's word:

Something big is coming to Yara! Tune-in on November 29 at 10AM PT / 7PM CET for the debut of the Far Cry 6: Lost Between Worlds Announcement Trailer. Click the "notify me" button to set a reminder.

Continue here to read the full story.

A post from EA details a new patch that's now available for The Sims 4 on PC and consoles. This describes changes to address "instances of wholly unacceptable content that has been uploaded to The Sims 4 Gallery." This does not go into specifics, but according to Eurogamer, this addresses an "increase in Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitic content." Here's the official description of the update:

We are aware of and have seen some select instances of wholly unacceptable content that has been uploaded to The Sims™ 4 Gallery. Our team has reviewed, and made critical updates to, the profanity filter to help prevent this from happening again in the future. We are grateful for the community’s vigilance in helping us identify these inappropriate uploads so we can maintain a safe, creative environment for our players. We will continue to do our part by quickly taking down objectionable content that surfaces, identifying and removing repeat offenders and regularly reviewing the profanity filter in case any updates need to be made.

We encourage players to continue to use the “Flag This” button on The Gallery to report any offensive uploads or comments.

GitHub now offers Quake: Ray Traced, a modified version of the Quake source code, adding a path tracing renderer to the classic first-person shooter. Eurogamer offers a trailer showing off how this looks with comparisons to the original game. Word is: "Beyond image reconstruction, gamers actually get two different RT implementations with this mod - a 'classic' option that looks more like the original game with some very nice ray-traced upgrades, alongside a full path-tracer, radically transforming the aesthetic of the game." Here's more:

The classic renderer uses ray tracing for all the primary rendering of geometry, but the lighting is still processed through texture-based light maps like the original game, meaning you get similar lighting and ambience, with some intriguing RT effects: water surfaces are completely different, with RT reflections that show the full surroundings. You also get RT-specific view distortion effects when under water too. A really nice upgrade comes from the teleporters, which now show you the area you'll arrive in when you travel through, Portal-style.

The path-traced option offers a more radical transformation by leveraging path tracing for all of the game's lighting, full replacing light maps and the other tricks Quake used to simulate the look of light back in 1996. Indoor scenes are lit by torches and other small light sources, casting dynamic shadows from appropriate objects. As a part of this system, all muzzle flashes from gunfire cast light and shadows as well, leading to some pretty awesome moments in the dark, reminiscent of Doom 3. One of my favourite RT elements is the lightning gun, which casts light all along the surface of the lighting trail as it leaves the weapon's muzzle.

Continue here to read the full story.

• Black Friday Sale - Microsoft Flight Simulator.

• Montreal-based video game release prompts calls for proper worker credit.
• Microsoft’s Activision Deal Hangs on Long-Shot FTC Accord Team Biden Hates.

• A Plague Tale Requiem: Symphony.
• Marvel's Midnight Suns - Combat Overview Trailer.
• SCS Software - A trip down the memory lane. Here's a blog post.

↑ Official trailers. ↓ Content creator videos.

• Firearms Expert Reacts To Battlefield 1’s Guns PART 2.
• Game On: 'Placid Plastic Duck Simulator' - CNN Video.
• Choosing who gets to live in the bluezone - Viva La Dirt League. Thanks Ant.

• Matt Chat 497: Ernest W. Adams. Thanks Ant.
• Interview: Gungrave G.O.R.E. was Once a 'Freak' of a Game.

• The Excitement Around E-Sports Is Growing. But Where Are the Profits?

• Bye-bye airplane mode: EU allows smartphones during flights. Thanks Slashdot via Ant.
• The iPhone 15 Pro could get solid-state volume and power buttons.
• The Internet Archive just put 565 Palm Pilot apps in your web browser.

• Twitter has lost half of its top 100 advertisers since Elon Musk became CEO. Thanks RedEye9.
• Twitter: Romance, business and campaigns born on the platform.
• Crypto Contagion Is Spreading, Fast.
• This $1 iTunes alternative does what $2.4 trillion company for some reason cannot do.

Thanks Ant.

• Microsoft makes it easier for gamers to upgrade to Windows 11 22H2.
• Asus named most valuable Taiwanese brand in 2022 by Interbrand.

• StanfordU-evaluating 5yrs of pro-Western covert influence operations. Thanks Ant.
• Apple Tracks You More Than You Think (may require registration or subscription).

• The legal war over Disco Elysium reaches Disco Elysium levels of complexity.
• FCC bans telecom and video surveillance gear from Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese companies.
• FAANG-.DE watchdog claims victory as ex-Oculus unhooks from FB login. Thanks Ant.

• Laptop: The fastest Core i7-12700H laptop you can buy: Lenovo Legion 5 15IAH7H review - NotebookCheck.net Reviews.
• Misc: Onyx Boox Leaf 2 review- ebook freedom - The Verge. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Motherboard: MSI MEG X670E ACE Review - TechPowerUp.
• SSD: Corsair MP600 GS 2 TB M.2 NVMe SSD Review - TechPowerUp.

So yesterday I found myself wondering why there are three NFL games on Thanksgiving Day, but none on Black Friday. The league avoids Fridays while the High School season is underway, but that's been over for a while, so this seemed like a missed opportunity. Turns out that it was missed news on my part that had me pondering this. It was already more than a month ago that it was announced that Prime Video to stream 'Black Friday' NFL game in 2023. Of course with the quality of games on Amazon, this doesn't completely rule out a High School game, but maybe this will be worked out better by then.

Obituary: Irene Cara, ‘Fame’ Star and ‘Flashdance’ Singer, Dead at 63.

Scheduled Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Brunch Link

• In my town there is a pole at Walmart that has been hit at least 45 times now that I know of. Thanks Boing Boing.

Stories

• 'Miracle': Missing cruise ship passenger found OK in water.
• NYC robotic parking systems cost luxury residents $300,000 per space. They call these "garages."
• Rats blamed for eating 500 kilograms of cannabis stored by Indian police. Cool story, bro.

Science

• Nasa’s Orion spacecraft enters lunar orbit as test flight nears halfway mark.
• We Finally Know How Black Holes Produce The Most Brilliant Light in The Universe.

Image

• Stunning images of lunar surface captured by NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft.

Media
Thanks RedEye9 and Kxmode.

• Egg Drop From Space.
• That Moment When He Hears His Mom's Voice! 🦻🏼🥰.
• It hurts even more.
• Rick and Morty - S6E8 Cold Open: 90s-Style Supervillains. Thanks RedEye9.

Creature Features
Thanks Kxmode.

• Look at the dog that waited for his friend at the end 🥹.
• Rambunctious Little Mule Keeps His 32-Year Old Horse Friend Young.
• Bird rescue!
• Diesel the Husky and Gosha the Parrot are Best Friends. Gonna guess that's a parakeet.