The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is turning 10 years old later this year, and to nobody's surprise, the RPG is coming back yet again in another package. During the QuakeCon 2021 stream today, Bethesda announced Skyrim Anniversary Edition for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles, as well as an upcoming enhancement update for the new consoles.

This release is a bundle containing Skyrim Special Edition plus over 500 pieces of content from the Creation Club, which is Bethesda's microtransactions store containing curated modifications from developers and creators. The included Creation Club content will bring new quests, dungeons, bosses, weapons, spells, and much more additions to the RPG. Similar to expansions and DLC from Bethesda itself, Creation Club content is regarded as official add-ons, so these won't disable achievements unlike regular mods.

As a bonus, Bethesda will also be delivering Fishing, Survival Mode, and the Saints and Seducers mod from the Creation Club to all current Skyrim Special Edition owners and Game Pass subscribers free of charge.

Like the original release a decade ago, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition launches on November 11 across PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Pricing was not announced today. This is described as "most definitive version of Skyrim to date" and Special Edition owners (and Xbox Game Pass subscribers) will be given the option to purchase an upgrade to the new package when it is available.

Bethesda is also planning to release a next-gen console enhancement update to Skyrim Special Edition on the same date, November 11, for free. The studio didn't detail the exact nature of the upgrade, so it's unclear what sort of improvements will this offer when playing the RPG on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

Skyrim Anniversary Edition announced, launches on November 11

At its Architecture Day 2021 event today, Intel outlined details regarding its upcoming CPU and GPU platforms. The company released more information regarding its Arc-branded discrete graphics cards and the accompanying features.

Alongside Arc GPUs, it also discussed its upcoming Alder Lake processors that are launching later in the year.

Alder Lake is based on Intel's upcoming hybrid Big-Bigger approach called Performance Hybrid architecture and among other things, the company today explained how task assignments will work with the new design. In fact, during its presentation, Intel confirmed that Windows 11 is optimized to work really well with its Alder Lake CPUs, stating:

To enable this level of fine-grained coordination for real performance, Intel jointly worked with Microsoft to incorporate this revolutionary capability into upcoming Windows 11 release.

Mehmet Iyigun, Partner Development Manager at Microsoft, added to this, saying:

Throughout the Windows 11 development cycle, my team has been working with our colleagues at Intel to enlighten and optimize our upcoming OS to take full advantage of the Performance Hybrid architecture and Thread Director in particular.

With Thread Director feedback, the Windows 11 thread scheduler is much smarter about dynamically picking the most appropriate core based on the workload to achieve the best power and performance.

We have apparently already found evidence of this when a Lakefield Core i7-L16G7 was earlier tested in the Windows 11 environment.

For those wondering what the Thread Director is, essentially it is a new technology in Alder Lake that provides feedback to the OS that in turn helps the Windows 11 scheduler to efficiently assign the workloads such that more complex ones composed of vector instructions, among others, go to the Performance Core (P-core), while lighter scalar instructions and background tasks are sent to the Efficient Core (E-core). However, the feedback is dynamic and it can adapt depending on the workload present on each core.

To know more about how Thread Director works, you can view the demo by Intel linked in the source below.

Source: Intel Newsroom (YouTube)

Microsoft and Intel confirm Windows 11 is optimized for Alder Lake's big.LITTLE design

Despite previously being expected to launch later this year by Kotaku, it appears that the GTA Remastered Trilogy in the works at Rockstar Dundee is set to release in 2022. 

In their report last week, which revealed that Rockstar has been working on a GTA Remastered Trilogy, Kotaku reported that the “remastered titles are planned to launch around late October or early November,” however it appears that plans have since changed.

According to prolific leaker Tom Henderson, it appears that the GTA Remastered Trilogy is expected to actually launch “sometime in 2022,” which seems more appropriate considering the game has yet to be announced or even acknowledge by Rockstar themselves. 

“I wasn’t going to mention the GTA Remastered Trilogy, because everything I’ve heard has been covered,” Henderson wrote onto Twitter, to give more validity to Kotaku’s report, before going on to say that “the only difference is that I don’t believe the launch time frame is correct.”

VGC has also corroborated this information from its own sources, so it appears that any GTA remasters will still be a little ways off yet. 

When this collection does launch, it’s expected to include remasters of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, which will have all been rebuilt and remastered in the Unreal engine, featuring new graphics and UI. 

While we may not know the release date for some time yet, it is believed that whenever this GTA Remastered Collection does launch, it will be available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC, Stadia, and even mobile phones. 

GTA Remastered Trilogy reportedly set to release in 2022

Intel announced its new brand dubbed "Arc" for the upcoming Xe HPG-based discrete graphics cards a few days ago with the first family of Arc GPUs - codenamed Alchemist - launching in Q1 next year.

To promote the new brand, the company launched a giveaway contest where lucky winners would win the Arc Graphics Prize Package worth US$1,000 Approximate Retail Value (ARV), which would also have an Arc GPU as part of the prize.

Intel graphics head Raja Koduri also hinted on Twitter earlier today that more information on the company's upcoming products, including maybe graphics too, will be shared at its Architecture Day 2021 event.

As such, more information has indeed been released regarding the Arc discrete GPUs. First, a roadmap for the Arc GPUs has been laid out which reiterates some of the information Intel had revealed earlier.

For the first time today, Intel has also unveiled that Xe HPG brings "1.5x frequency uplift and 1.5x performance/watt improvement compared with Xe LP microarchitecture".

Intel's Arc GPUs will be powered by what the company is apparently calling its "Xe-cores". Each such Xe-core will comprise 16 Vector and Matrix Engines, also called Execution Units (EUs). And four of these Xe-cores are grouped together to form a "Render slice".

To sum it up:

• 1 Xe-core => 16 EUs
• 1 Render slice => 4 Xe-cores => 64 EUs

The Render slice would essentially help Intel scale the Arc GPU design from top-end parts all the way down to entry-level products. For example, Intel's flagship 512 EU SKU1 GPU will feature eight such Render slices or 32 Xe-cores (image below) for a total of 512 EUs (image below on the right).

The number of ray tracing units is equivalent to the number of Xe-cores which means the flagship 512 EU SKU1 part could feature a total of 32 ray tracing units. Intel, unlike AMD and Nvidia, doesn't have a fancy name for its ray tracing units, yet.

The first-gen Alchemist GPUs for laptops and desktops will be built on TSMC's N6 (6nm node) process.

Intel's new discrete GPUs will feature the new Xe Matrix Extensions (XMX) and DP4a instructions for AI/ML/DL acceleration. The latter was already present inside Xe LP. These will help power Intel's AI-driven XeSS image upscaling technique with which the company is promising an enormous boost in performance compared to native rendering.

Intel says the XeSS SDK will be available to developers this month. You may find more information on the official blog here.

Update: Added lithography information for Alchemist GPUs.

Intel details Arc architecture, XeSS and more at Architecture Day 2021

At Architecture Day 2021, Intel detailed the next-generation client architecture, code-named “Alder Lake”.

Alder Lake will be Intel’s first performance hybrid architecture that includes a Performance-core and an Efficient-core to provide significant performance across all workload types. Intel also detailed the new Efficient-core and its Performance-core x86 CPU units that will power the Alder Lake.

• The Efficient-core microarchitecture is designed for throughput efficiency and efficient offloading of background tasks for multitasking. It runs at low voltage and creates headroom to increase frequency and ramp up performance for more demanding workloads. The new Efficient-core will deliver same performance when compared to Skylake core but with 40% less power.
• The Performance-core microarchitecture is designed for speed, the highest performing CPU core Intel has built. It pushes the limits of low latency and single-threaded application performance and provides a significant boost at high-power efficiency that can better support large applications. Intel claims that this new Performance-core will deliver 19% better performance over 11th gen cores.

To make both the cores work seamlessly with the OS, Intel developed Intel Thread Director that will enable the OS to place the right thread on the right core at the right time. Also, Alder Lake will power devices ranging from ultra-portable laptops to enthusiast and commercial desktops.

Source: Intel

Intel details its next-generation client architecture, code-named “Alder Lake”

Leaked specs show performance and efficiency cores in 12th- and 13th-gen CPUs.

Intel leaks show next-gen desktop CPUs with hybrid “big.little” design

Delays have Nvidia facing down the end-of-2022 deadline to complete the deal.

Approval for Nvidia’s ARM acquisition might come down to the wire

Dying Light 2 will make an appearance at Gamescom 2021 - here’s what to expect

HDDs are enjoying a mini-renaissance

CD Projekt RED teased the arrival of Patch 1.3 to Cyberpunk 2077 yesterday, and today, it dropped the patch notes as well as details on the long-promised free DLC arriving to the game, at least the first wave. Keep in mind these DLCs are not the major expansions planned for the RPG. Similar to The Witcher 3's rollout of free DLCs, the additions are minor and largely focus on cosmetic options.

First up, Johnny Silverhand is getting an optional new look, as seen above. Players who prefer it to the original style can toggle to it in the Additional Content tab in settings. Also new are two jackets (syn-leather deltajack and luminescent punk) that can be found in V's apartment after The Ride quest. Lastly, the Bandit is arriving as a fresh look for the Archer Quartz line of cars, which can be acquired by completing the Ghost Town quest.

The update carrying these mini-DLCs will also bring Patch 1.3 to the RPG. Larger highlights of it include the tweaks announced yesterday such as minimap zoom level fixes and the perk reset button. But there are more features and balance changes too, like a larger number of auto saves and quick saves, ability to craft components in bulk, and less grainy Screen Space Reflections, among others.

Aside from a horde of bug fixes, performance issues have also been tackled in the update. As with previous patches, CD Projekt says players on old-gen consoles and lower end PCs will see the most benefit from the improvements. The extensive list of changes can be found here.

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.3 does not have a launch time attached to it yet, but the studio said it should roll out really, really soon across all platforms.

Cyberpunk 2077's first free DLC has an alt-look for Silverhand, plus new cosmetic items

And despite all the new stuff, AMD may still allow its existing AM4 users to reuse the same cooler that they currently own. This information comes via a leak today by Twitter user Ulysses who has discovered purported details related to the stock cooling solutions that AMD is working on for Socket AM5.

The images below show the alleged technical details alongside cooler information on the upcoming Socket AM5.

Interestingly, it seems AMD will be sticking to its existing thermal solutions that it packages with the current Ryzen processors on AM4. The SKUs with higher TDPs like 120W and 170W apparently won't feature any boxed cooler.

The exciting aspect of this leak today is the potential implication that aftermarket cooling options too may be adaptable to the upcoming Socket AM5 if companies can design new retention frames and backplates when necessary.

If the leak turns out to be accurate, AM4 users with expensive coolers may be able to retain and reuse their existing solutions with AM5 as well with little or no modification.

Source and images: Ulysses (Twitter)

You may be able to use the same coolers on AMD's next-gen Socket AM5 too

Find the full change log below.

Surface Book 2 August 2021 updates:

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft releases new system update for Surface Book 2 to improve battery reliability and security

In contrast, the PlayStation 5 offers a 4K UI as well as the capability to render many games at 4K resolution, without affecting performance. Luckily, it seems like a higher-resolution UI will be available to Xbox Series X owners soon.

A few hours ago, the Director of Product Management at Xbox, Jason Ronald, said that later today, Xbox Series X Insiders who were part of the Alpha - Skip Ahead ring would receive an update that bumped up the resolution of the dashboard. It's unclear if it'll be 1440p or 4K because the patch notes just state "the UI will be displayed in a higher native resolution for increased sharpness and text readability."

We'll keep you posted as soon as we're able to test out the new UI for Alpha - Skip Ahead users on Xbox Series X. Additionally, it should be noted that it doesn't seem like Xbox Series S users will receive a resolution boost to the UI. This is just for Xbox Series X owners. If the test is successful and there aren't any unforeseen issues, a higher-resolution UI should make its way to all Xbox Series X owners in the coming months.

Microsoft tests higher-resolution UI on Xbox Series X

With multiple updates and hotfixes now under its belt, is Cyberpunk 2077 is now on its way to receiving Patch 1.3, its next major update. While a release date has not been shared yet, today, the studio provided an update on some of the changes heading for the game soon.

In 1.3, the minimap is getting a much-needed revamp, with the studio adding a zooming out element for when V gets into a car. This should alleviate the blasting past intended turns problem many are having since launch.

Another major change is the addition of perk reallocation. Following the update, players will be able to reset the perks they have selected at any point using in-game cash and put the freed-up perk points towards another build. It seems the cost associated with the reset will depend on V's current level, like in other RPGs.

Also, arriving as a much smaller change, the Matching Procedure option given to players when they visit the Clouds establishment for a quest has been tweaked. Hopefully, players will no longer be so confused when selecting the doll (Angel or Skye) they want. Essentially, images of the two options will hover more prominently as the dialog progresses after the change.

Keep in mind these highlights won't be the only changes present in the 1.3 update, with CD Projekt RED adding that "they’re not the biggest ones and there’ll be more to come."

Today's update details came in the form of an in-universe news report. Find the complete blog post here. For those looking for the usual patch notes, they will be landing closer to the update's launch, which should be quite soon. CD Projekt RED will also be hosting a developer livestream at 18:00 CEST on its Twitch channel tomorrow, August 17, to discuss the update in detail.

Cyberpunk 2077 is getting minimap fixes, perk reset options, and more

In fact. the Arc branding will go beyond just DG2 as all future generations of Intel's discrete graphics will also be using Arc. Essentially Intel's Arc will be similar to Nvidia's GeForce and AMD's Radeon (originally ATI's).

Aside from the branding, the company has also revealed more details on its plans for the release of Arc products. Intel says that the first Arc products will come to both desktops and notebooks in the first quarter of next year (Q1 2022). It is rumored that

the firm will be launching the first-generation Arc product lineups at the CES 2022 event. As stated above, this first generation of products will be based on Xe HPG (codenamed DG2). Intel has also revised the codename DG2 to "Alchemist".

Alongside Alchemist, the company has unveiled the codenames for the future generation of its Arc graphics products. They are:

• Battlemage (second-gen)
• Celestial (third-gen)
• Druid (fourth-gen)

More details on these upcoming architectures will probably be revealed later.

Speaking of details, Intel talked a little bit about first-gen Arc or Alchemist. The company reiterated that Alchemist will feature hardware-accelerated raytracing. There is also confirmation that Intel will also have its own AI-driven super-sampling technology like Nvidia's DLSS. The tech is rumored to be called XeSS, at least internally. Alchemist will also have full support for the DirectX 12 Ultimate API.

The company will likely talk a bit more about Alchemist at CES next year as it seems the primary focus for today's announcement was the revelation of its new Arc branding. You may find more details in the official press release here.

Intel Arc is the official brand for the Xe HPG (DG2) discrete gaming graphics

Humankind on Game Pass

To the shock of I suspect very few, we begin at the beginning, with SEGA’s upcoming 4X strategy title, Humankind. Launching August 17 across Steam, EGS, and Stadia, the title will also be available day one via Xbox Game Pass, as recently confirmed by Microsoft.

Speaking of availability, Xbox Cloud Gaming can now be tested by Insiders in the Xbox App on Windows, while the Series X|S optimized variant of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has arrived, boosting graphical fidelity and gaining ray tracing support.

In case your backlog is simply too small, you may want to take a look at the Xbox Add-on Sale, which features titles from series like Assassin’s Creed or Doom. Additionally, there’s Yooka-Laylee and Garou: Mark of the Wolves to claim for free if you’re an Xbox Live Gold subscriber.

Last but not least, there’s an Xbox show planned around gamescom. The showcase, which is set to give an in-depth look at upcoming games, is scheduled for August 24 at 10AM PT / 1PM ET (that's 6PM BST or 7PM CEST).

Patch Tuesday

Like clockwork, the second Tuesday of August has rolled around, signaling that it was time for the Redmond software giant to push out is usual set of Patch Tuesday updates.

For folks on Windows 10 versions 2004, 20H2, and 21H1, the relevant update is listed under KB5005033, and is set to bump up the build numbers to 19041.1165, 19042.1165, and 19043.1165 – in order of oldest to newest supported version.

The list of fixes mentions a particular change to the Point and Print functionality, which now requires administrative privileges to install drivers. This is to combat the security flaw with the ID CVE-2021-34481.

Those still on 1909 Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise SKUs will get KB5005031 – which bumps the build number up to 18363.1734 -, while those within the LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel) flavors of Windows 10 will be given the following updates:

• 1809: KB5005030, build 17763.2114
• 1607: KB5005043, build 14393.4583
• 1507: KB5005040, build 10240.19022

Those still on Windows 7 (such as businesses paying for Extended Security Updates) or Windows 8.1 got their very own sets of patches. For the former OS, details about the monthly rollup can be found under KB5005088 (or KB5005089 for the security-only variant), while a rundown of everything fixed for Windows 8.1 users can be found under KB5005076 (KB5005106 for the security-only flavor).

Naturally, like the Windows 10 counterparts, the Windows 8.1 and 7 patches also include the Point and Print default behavior change described above.

New Windows 11 builds

With Windows 11 vaguely on the horizon, Microsoft is continuing to push out test builds to its Dev and Beta Insider channels.

This week, testers were greeted by build 22000.132, which added the ability to chat from Teams (a feature showed off at the OS’s debut livestream earlier this year), a new Snipping Tool, as well as updated Calculator, plus Mail and Calendar apps. As always, these are subject to a staggered rollout, but in the meantime, here’s a quick look at all of them.

Naturally, Insider builds come with their fair share of bugs, so here is the – rather lengthy – list of known issues, covering everything from localization to the new Store, the Search functionality, as well as test channel-specific bugs.

Dev channel

• Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management is now generally available.
• Power BI now has a new component geared towards Angular web apps.
• Power BI has added in-product store browsing capabilities.
• The OneDrive sync client will no longer work on macOS 10.12 or 10.13 after September 10.
• Teams web users will soon be able to add background effects and share system audio.
• Microsoft has acquired Peer5 to bolster its large-scale video-streaming capabilities in Teams.
• Edge Dev build 94.0.975.1 is now out, adding Sleeping Tabs improvements.
• Visual Studio 2022 Preview 3 is now available to try.
• The August firmware update for the AMD-based Surface Laptop 3 is now out.
• EY and Microsoft have partnered to create a $15B growth opportunity.
• Microsoft has expanded its partnership with Samsung, optimizing its apps for the latter’s foldables.

Logging off

We end this week’s column with a rather important subject, which is another variant of the PrintNightmare exploit.

Following on from last month’s discovery of the Print Spooler flaw lovingly dubbed PrintNightmare (or SeriousSAM, depending on who you ask), Microsoft has confirmed that yet another variant has been discovered, one which has been assigned CVE-2021-36958 as its ID. This exploit takes advantage of the fact that the Print Spooler service is capable of improperly performing privileged file operations.

Unsurprisingly, a patch has already been pushed out (coinciding with Patch Tuesday this week), with the Redmond giant understandably recommending immediate installation. Furthermore, the company has also outlined its vision for the way in which organizations can protect themselves againts cyberattacks.

To end on a bit of good news, Azure CTO Mark Russinovich has confirmed that a security vulnerability found in the Remote Desktop Connection Manager (or RDCMan) has been fixed. The improper parsing of XML inputting with references to external entities flaw has now been addressed via version 2.82 of RDCMan.

Missed any of the previous columns? Check them all out at this link.

Microsoft Weekly: Humankind on Game Pass, Patch Tuesday, and new Windows 11 builds

Microsoft release August 2021 Surface Go firmware update (changelog)

Samsung Has Its Own AI-Designed Chip. Soon, Others Will Too

(May require free registration to view)

Intel locks down all remaining TSMC 3nm production capacity, boxing out AMD and Apple

Semiconductor shortage reaches a new and unwelcome landmark

The RX 6600 XT is based on the full Navi 23 chip and consists of 23 Compute Units running at a game clock of 2,359MHz. It packs 8GB GDDR6 memory that's clocked at 2,000MHz. This YouTuber apparently had an MSI Gaming X variant whose core game clock is even higher at 2,428MHz.

Since ETH mining is memory intensive, the video creator clocked his purported MSI core down to around 1.2GHz and overclocked the VRAM up to 2.2GHz, which is the limit imposed by AMD. As a result, the GPU power (indicated by HWiNFO64 as GPU ASIC Power) dropped significantly down to just 55W while doing 32.16MH/s EThash on DaggerHashimoto (image above).

Below is a chart prepared by Redditor Trollatopoulous which compares the performance per watt (PPW) of the 6600 XT against other GPUs using this alleged hash output. Assuming the performance shown by Dizzy Mining is accurate, this makes the new Radeon RX 6600 XT the most efficient Ethereum mining GPU.

For gamers, this could signal bad news as miners will be very enticed by this level of PPW. And perhaps to make matters worse, the price of ETH has also been rising for a couple of days and is currently sitting at $3,243.21 according to CoinDesk.

Source: Dizzy Mining (YouTube)

New Radeon RX 6600 XT is reportedly super-efficient at crypto mining

You can head down to check out the full changelog for the update:

There is also a known issue wherein users may face audio issues. Fortunately, Microsoft has provided a workaround for the issue while it works on a fix. You can check out the details below:

The new firmware update is available for devices running Windows 10 May 2019 Update (19H1) or greater and is rolling out to Surface Laptop 3 AMD users right now. As usual, the rollout will happen in phases so you may not see the update right away.

Microsoft rolls out August firmware update for Surface Laptop 3 (AMD)

Now Microsoft is protesting after Amazon won a $10 billion NSA cloud contract

Diablo II: Resurrected is getting an open beta on August 20th

After having been shown plenty of snippets of the map throughout past live streams, Playground Games has finally revealed the entire world map, which is “50 percent bigger, so one and a half times the size of Forza Horizon 4’s,” according to creative director Mike Brown.

With so much space on offer, Playground Games have been able to more deeply explore Mexico’s varied climate, stuffing an incredible 11 biomes into the sprawling map of Forza Horizon 5. These biomes are Canyon, Tropical Coast, Farmland, Arid Hills, Jungle, Living Desert, Rocky Coast, Sand Desert, Swamp, Urban City of Guanajuato, and Volcano.

On top of the vast number of biomes on display throughout Mexico, Forza Horizon 5’s map also has plenty of good roads to look forward to, with the longest motorway in any Forza Horizon game so far, an off-road Baja circuit, as well as a plethora of switchback roads spanning up the games huge volcano. 

If all that wasn’t enough for you, Forza Horizon 5 also has the Events Lab, and a huge stadium to utilize those tools in, allowing you to create your own fun and wacky events if the slick city streets and rolling hills don’t quite fit your fancy. 

Forza Horizon 5 is set to launch on November 9th 2021 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC, with the game launching Day One on Xbox Game Pass.

Forza Horizon 5’s full world map has been revealed