PCG Article Discussion for February 2026

[neogunhero]

Concrete case:

Watch This Engineer Create a Desktop PC Case Made Out of Concrete

Carter Hurd created the case, joking that a heavier PC would inevitably make it more powerful.

au.pcmag.com

54 pounds! I'm certain that would go straight through my cheap particleboard desk I bought for $20.

concrete ultra light mouse might be a struggle.

Maybe it could be just an outer layer of smoothed concrete. That would actually feel kind of nice in the hand, to me at least.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Build A Rocket Boy dumpster fire flares up in exciting new ways as its co-CEO reportedly claims the 'guys who've been sabotaging MindsEye' have been identified—and will be demonized via an in-game spy mission

You can say and do all kinds of things when you're running a company.

www.pcgamer.com

Question: If you worked at Build a Rocket Boy, would you actually put it on your resume?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Remedy's new CEO is a former sports betting guy and EA executive who aims to 'scale Remedy in a way that builds lasting value'

Is it just me or does that not sound great?

www.pcgamer.com

Knee jerk reaction: RIP Remedy.

However Finnish work culture is quite different to US and even other places in Europe, the CEO may not have as much control (heh) as he would in other places and I think he'll find it harder to start laying people off left and right, although the current government is trying their best.

He's talking about shareholder value and scaling already though.

 

[neogunhero]

Remedy's new CEO is a former sports betting guy and EA executive who aims to 'scale Remedy in a way that builds lasting value'

Is it just me or does that not sound great?

www.pcgamer.com

Knee jerk reaction: RIP Remedy.

However Finnish work culture is quite different to US and even other places in Europe, the CEO may not have as much control (heh) as he would in other places and I think he'll find it harder to start laying people off left and right, although the current government is trying their best.

He's talking about shareholder value and scaling already though.

That was the same immediate reaction as I had. I just hope for the best. They made some of the most unique games for a studio of that size.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

That was the same immediate reaction as I had. I just hope for the best. They made some of the most unique games for a studio of that size.

Max Payne was a classic and I liked Alan Wake, but since Control and Alan Wake 2 theyve been one of my favourite studios. I didnt care about FBC Firebreak because online MP isn't my thing but I didnt blame them them for taking a swing at it.

Unfortunately they are publicly owned, although its about 30% the founders, so this kind of thing has been coming for a while I guess.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Remedy's new CEO is a former sports betting guy and EA executive who aims to 'scale Remedy in a way that builds lasting value'

Is it just me or does that not sound great?

www.pcgamer.com

Not responding to anyone. Just mulling this over...

My biggest concern I'll put last, but first the part everyone is discussing..

It would be surprising, concerning even, if the new CEO of a company that just reported annual losses didn't want to at least reorganize a little. It really depends upon the board and what their expectations are, which they would have already formalized before hiring.

HOWEVER

"Scaling...profit" This likely means nothing so far as signaling impending action goes. He was introduced as someone who would "lead Remedy into a phase of profitable growth...we are well-positioned to significantly accelerate growth", and he responds that he will "scale Remedy in a way that builds lasting value". This is an optimistic, forward-looking statement of their intention to grow and be profitable. It's neither good nor bad. It's what every corporation wants to do and what the people they were talking to, the shareholders, want to hear. If your new CEO introduction doesn't mention growth, profit and value, your stock is going to tank because investors are like feral cats that scatter at anything.

The major thing that concerns me is speculation that all of this is signaling a move from Remedy being a "creative-led" studio to a "production-driven" studio like most major studios, which might solve the money problem at the expense of making distinctive Remedy games. However, this, too, might be overblown, as they seem to mention improving Northlight tools extensively, which could improve their production efficiency while still being creative-led. The easier thing to do would be to move to Unreal, but they aren't taking the easy route. In the end, I find that hopeful.

Edit: Perhaps one last hopeful sign. The recent CEO firing wasn't investor led, which is a thing that can happen in Finland easier than in most places due to laws protecting shareholders. This means that the shareholders are being patient, which is a good sign.

 

[Zloth]

It really depends upon the board and what their expectations are, which they would have already formalized before hiring.

THE BOARD IS REAL!?

View: https://youtu.be/IRFkVWCoQzk?si=Mp1VBt1Z8EpUaNfs

(Spoilers... I guess... if you can understand/internalize them?)

 

[neogunhero]

You will soon be able to add your PC specs to Steam reviews

This means you should be able to hunt down reviews from users with similar builds.

www.pcgamer.com

This will be a very welcome change. Sometimes I have major doubts when someone negatively reviews a game and says something along the lines of “I have a RTX 4080 Ti and I can’t hit 30fps at 1080p in this game”. Or they must have something incorrectly configured.

 

[Colif]

shame it can't tell what you have and just show reviews that match your build. Or had that as a search choice.

I mean, it can tell what you have with the survey software, so that is one way to tell. That way people can't be inaccurate on purpose to lie about what they have.

for example:

CPU: Intel 486
GPU: Nvidia 5090 TI

What do you mean that won't work? Its right here in my sig

Or shame there isn't a sig space on user profile for only listing your parts list (remembers wanting this somewhere else years ago) so it could use that. But that relies on people being truthful about what they have

merge both and have it so the page on profile for the PC details that includes a button for people to press to have sig auto populated. That loads a small app that looks at specs and fills out form using the data found.
And use that data on profile to fill out sig spot on posts... hmm, that system seems familiar... oh yeah, thats how here works.

Make it optional so users who don't want to share any of that don't have to

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Not responding to anyone. Just mulling this over...

My biggest concern I'll put last, but first the part everyone is discussing..

It would be surprising, concerning even, if the new CEO of a company that just reported annual losses didn't want to at least reorganize a little. It really depends upon the board and what their expectations are, which they would have already formalized before hiring.

HOWEVER

"Scaling...profit" This likely means nothing so far as signaling impending action goes. He was introduced as someone who would "lead Remedy into a phase of profitable growth...we are well-positioned to significantly accelerate growth", and he responds that he will "scale Remedy in a way that builds lasting value". This is an optimistic, forward-looking statement of their intention to grow and be profitable. It's neither good nor bad. It's what every corporation wants to do and what the people they were talking to, the shareholders, want to hear. If your new CEO introduction doesn't mention growth, profit and value, your stock is going to tank because investors are like feral cats that scatter at anything.

The major thing that concerns me is speculation that all of this is signaling a move from Remedy being a "creative-led" studio to a "production-driven" studio like most major studios, which might solve the money problem at the expense of making distinctive Remedy games. However, this, too, might be overblown, as they seem to mention improving Northlight tools extensively, which could improve their production efficiency while still being creative-led. The easier thing to do would be to move to Unreal, but they aren't taking the easy route. In the end, I find that hopeful.

Edit: Perhaps one last hopeful sign. The recent CEO firing wasn't investor led, which is a thing that can happen in Finland easier than in most places due to laws protecting shareholders. This means that the shareholders are being patient, which is a good sign.

I get that its all normal corpo speak, but especially coming from a guy whos run sports betting and is into 'streamlining' it doesnt feel good. The signs were there when they tried to get in on GAAS, I just was holding on to the hope Remedy were one of the rare places that were better than that in the end.

I'll still be looking at whatever theyre putting out there, but I'm not holding out a huge amount of hope for the medium to long term.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I get that its all normal corpo speak, but especially coming from a guy whos run sports betting

I get it

 

[Zed Clampet]

Microsoft AI CEO curiously omits 'Microsoft AI CEO' from list of white collar jobs that will be replaceable by AI in next 18 months

I'm sure there's a good reason for the omission.

www.pcgamer.com

Welcome to the end of the world. This is not a joke.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Here's a vastly more professional article on statements by the Microsoft CEO: https://www.techspot.com/news/111306-ai-could-wipe-out-most-white-collar-jobs.html

 

[Zed Clampet]

'We lost things such as physics in games:' The dev behind my most anticipated RPG thinks players are craving more interactive games, not just 'moving around in a static 3D environment'

Well, I am, anyway.

www.pcgamer.com

I never really cared about physics. I played Amnesia and then watched a few lets plays and people were just picking up everything and tossing it or examining it by rotating it around. Then they'd find something they liked and try to carry it with them until the end of the game. I didn't do any of that.

 

[Pifanjr]

'We lost things such as physics in games:' The dev behind my most anticipated RPG thinks players are craving more interactive games, not just 'moving around in a static 3D environment'

Well, I am, anyway.

www.pcgamer.com

I never really cared about physics. I played Amnesia and then watched a few lets plays and people were just picking up everything and tossing it or examining it by rotating it around. Then they'd find something they liked and try to carry it with them until the end of the game. I didn't do any of that.

I do like it when I set off an explosive and every single item in the room goes flying, with hopefully at least a chunk of the walls as well. I like it if you can really tell a fight has happened somewhere afterwards by the destruction left in the environment.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I do like it when I set off an explosive and every single item in the room goes flying, with hopefully at least a chunk of the walls as well. I like it if you can really tell a fight has happened somewhere afterwards by the destruction left in the environment.

Cover being destructible is a fun twist.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Silent Hill 2 Remake dev Bloober Team's Valentine's Day reveal turned out to be Layers of Fear 3

Sorry if you were expecting Cronos 2.

www.pcgamer.com

Bloober Team has come a long way since the original Layers of Fear in 2016. I can't imagine them producing another, simple PT knockoff. Will likely have more in common with Silent Hill than PT. Announcement trailer is a live-action mood piece, so you can't really get anything from that.

 

[neogunhero]

Silent Hill 2 Remake dev Bloober Team's Valentine's Day reveal turned out to be Layers of Fear 3

Sorry if you were expecting Cronos 2.

www.pcgamer.com

Bloober Team has come a long way since the original Layers of Fear in 2016. I can't imagine them producing another, simple PT knockoff. Will likely have more in common with Silent Hill than PT. Announcement trailer is a live-action mood piece, so you can't really get anything from that.

That's exactly what I was thinking too. So many comments were saying "please don't make another walking simulator", but Layers of Fear 3 will be so much more advanced than that. After making Silent Hill remake, there is no way they will go back to a walking simulator type game.

 

[Zed Clampet]

That's exactly what I was thinking too. So many comments were saying "please don't make another walking simulator", but Layers of Fear 3 will be so much more advanced than that. After making Silent Hill remake, there is no way they will go back to a walking simulator type game.

After their last two games, they are clearly a AAA company or have the potential to be. I don't think wandering around a haunted house for 4 hours is going to cut it with their player base anymore.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Many consumer electronics manufacturers 'will go bankrupt' by the end of 2026 thanks to the RAMpocalypse, Phison CEO reportedly says

This could go on for another 10 years.

www.pcgamer.com

You know, manufacturing for RAM and processors is so outrageously expensive and time consuming to build, you would think we might have created some sort of public emergency plan

 

[Zed Clampet]

And just to be clear, this crazy high demand for RAM and processors is not due to training AI anymore. It's actually because of how much AI is being used. The processing demands are outrageous and growing at a tremendous rate. The current push in AI is not more training, but to attempt to refine the process so that it becomes more accurate and efficient. If you've asked Google's AI a question lately, you'll notice it is behaving differently. Only a few weeks ago, if you asked it what 5 plus 5 was, the entire, massive model would fire off and try to come up with the answer. Now, to oversimplify it, that question just gets routed to a calculator. Basically they are segmenting the huge model into smaller, more efficient components.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I just saw the price of spinning hard drives is up a lot as well, did not expect that.

 

[neogunhero]

Many consumer electronics manufacturers 'will go bankrupt' by the end of 2026 thanks to the RAMpocalypse, Phison CEO reportedly says

This could go on for another 10 years.

www.pcgamer.com

You know, manufacturing for RAM and processors is so outrageously expensive and time consuming to build, you would think we might have created some sort of public emergency plan

At this point it seems like we are just accepting the fact that eventually these components will be so expensive to create that we just won't bother trying to make new tech anymore. The manufacturing of them and buying the end products will be so outrageously expensive that no one will ever make or buy any piece of tech ever again. That really seems to be the viewpoint each time I read articles like that. This stuff is only going to keep getting expensive to the point that it is completely out of reach for majority of people on this planet. If that is the case and no one can afford to buy tech, the tech industry will surely collapse, leading to a massive downfall of humanity.

At least, that's what goes on in my head when I read stuff like this. There doesn't seem to be any silver lining, no happy endings. When it first started kicking off around October/November last year, the majority consensus so that this was only going to last a bit. Now we see article after article stating this will last even longer.

The thing that makes me the most mad is that no one really asked for this AI stuff. It's being forced upon us peons. AI is not profitable yet so they are shoving it in our faces, down our throats and up our unmentionables to try and force us to use it, hoping that eventually they'll make their money back on it. I am not completely against it, but I am against so much of what AI is being used for, and the effects it is having on us as humans and our planet. It would be different if there were like, a handful of these datacenters training the AI. Instead they are aiming for over 3000 globally by the end of the decade.

 

[Johnway]

i wouldn't be surprised its some great big push to force more and more people into a subscription based model for a pc. All you get is a smartbox that has an internet connection and you remote onto a VM of sorts. its certainly what jeff bezo's wants.

i wouldn't be surprised once the crash occurs will we even see prices go down. They'll just call it the new normal. On the flip side, if hardware is too hard to come by, we might see hardware specs of games go down as no one has the hardware to run it at higher demands.

but its looking grim atm. Everything electronic is impacted. At this rate will we have anything that would be able to run the super advanced Ais when it ends?