Microsoft confirms Windows 11 will be a free update for licensed Windows 10 users
Microsoft has today confirmed that the new Windows 11 operating system will be available as a free upgrade for existing, licensed Windows 10 users. That means if you have an activated version of Microsoft's current OS de jour, and a PC that can handle it, you're already in line to get your hands on the new version. Windows 11's release date will be in time for the holidays. Here's the official line from Microsoft's website:"Windows 11 will be available through a free upgrade for eligible Windows 10 PCs and on new PCs beginning this holiday. To check if your current Windows 10 PC is eligible for the free upgrade to Windows 11, visit Windows.com to download the PC Health Check app. We’re also working with our retail partners to make sure Windows 10 PCs you buy today are ready for the upgrade to Windows 11. The free upgrade will begin to roll out to eligible Windows 10 PCs this holiday and continuing into 2022."We don't know how long this grace period will last, so there's no guarantee that you'll be able to get a free upgrade indefinitely. But at least Microsoft has stated that it will be continuing through 2022.To get around such concerns you could always upgrade on day one, but our advice would generally be to give any new OS a little time out in the wild before committing your full-time gaming PC to the vagaries of new software.Windows 10 has not been without its share of system- and even game-breaking bugs on even small update releases, so something as large as a whole new version of the OS has a few more points of potential failure. That said, we're pretty confident that Windows 11 started out life as simply a larger update to Windows 10, and that close relation will hopefully help Microsoft avoid the worst excesses of buggy release software.The downside of this is that, shiny new UI aside, Windows 11 looks an awful lot like the Sun Valley Windows 10 update we thought it would be. And that kinda takes some of the shine from the release of something purporting to be a whole new version of the Windows operating system.Still, with Microsoft essentially giving it away to existing users, that will salve some of the pain.
www.pcgamer.comCD Projekt has confirmed that a new Witcher game is in development, "kicking off a new saga for the franchise."The new game will be built using Unreal Engine 5 rather than CD Projekt's REDengine, which the studio said will begin "a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games.""It covers not only licensing, but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine, where relevant," CD Projekt said. "We'll closely collaborate with Epic Games’ developers with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences."CD Projekt said that the change to the new engine was made to help streamline the development process.  "From the outset, we did not consider a typical licensing arrangement; both we and Epic see this as a long-term, fulfilling tech partnership," CD Projekt Red CTO Paweł Zawodny said. "It is vital for CD Projekt Red to have the technical direction of our next game decided from the earliest possible phase as in the past, we spent a lot of resources and energy to evolve and adapt REDengine with every subsequent game release. "This cooperation is so exciting, because it will elevate development predictability and efficiency, while simultaneously granting us access to cutting-edge game development tools. I can’t wait for the great games we’re going to create using Unreal Engine 5!"  The studio also confirmed that despite the shift to a new engine, the new Witcher game is not planned as an Epic Games Store exclusive.
www.pcgamer.comMicrosoft to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion 👀
League of Legends looking at long lockouts for AFK laggards
Developers over at Riot Games are broadening their strategies when it comes to countering behavior they don't like, and are going to trial new penalties for players who leave or engage in AFK behavior during matches. According to Riot, about 9% of players worldwide engage in consistent AFK behavior.Riot defines AFK as two behaviors that waste time for others: people who idle during matches and people who just up sticks and leave the match entirely. Right now, the worst those players can get is a queue delay: "Queue Delays are a speed bump on an offending player’s way to their next few games: Upon clicking the play button, the queue blocks them behind a short timer. The purpose of this is to change behavior," says Riot.Now, however, players can get escalating penalties of between 1 day and 14 days of a queue lockout. That means no playing at all: They're removed from the player population entirely. "We're removing the player from the population for a while so they can't continue to AFK in games," says Riot.For now, the new punishments are being trialed in specific regions, as Riot is concerned about certain region-specific connectivity problems. (The SEA region, at least in other MOBAs, is infamous for connectivity issues that players can't control.) Players who would be immediately subject to the new punishments have been reset to a lower tier, so they have a change to change their ways before the new punishments are levied.You can read the whole developer log, with stats, on the League of Legends site.Nice spot, Eurogamer.
www.pcgamer.comBattlefield 2042 delayed by a month
Battlefield 2042, which was slated to release on October 22, has been delayed. Electronic Arts announced today that because of "unforeseen challenges" created by the Covid-19 pandemic, it has elected to push the game to November 19."Building the next generation of Battlefield during a global pandemic has created unforeseen challenges for our development teams," DICE studio general manager Oskar Gabrielson said in a statement. "Given the scale and scope of the game, we had hoped our teams would be back in our studios together as we move towards launch. With the ongoing conditions not allowing that to happen safely, and with all the hard work the teams are doing from home, we feel it is important to take the extra time to deliver on the vision of Battlefield 2042 for our players."
www.pcgamer.comOverwatch Reveals New Deathmatch Map Malevento
Amazon’s New World MMO is getting an open beta on September 9th
New Supercell Beta Launch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY_VluvV54M