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Engineer Created a Disk Defragmentation Simulator for Windows 98 — with the Same Interface and HDD Sounds Although the era of Windows 98 is long gone, a new project by engineer Dennis Morello allows you to relive memories of one of the most recognizable elements of the 26-year-old operating system. The project is an application for disk defragmentation, a process in Windows 98 that was accompanied by a visual representation (changing dark blue cells to light blue) and the sounds of a hard disk drive (HDD) at work. Morello's Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator, created specifically for browsers, accurately mimics the disk defragmentation process on the 26-year-old operating system down to the mentioned details. According to Morello, one of the most challenging aspects was creating an authentic defragmentation algorithm: his solution allocates a random number of cells for processing and adjusts the speed depending on the selected disk. As for the audio, Morello recorded and edited the sounds of a real hard disk drive and synchronized the effects with the visualizer and the speed of the respective disk. Material on YouTube Morello positions the Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator as an experiment in exploring new web development methods. The engineer utilized a range of tools, including React, Next.js, Zustand, TailwindCSS, Radix UI Primitives, and Vercel. Anyone nostalgic for the Windows 98 era can try the Windows 98 Disk Defrag for free on the website defrag98.com. Morello added that he is ready to further develop the simulator, improving and expanding it with new features. You can find all our projects on our Official website. With love, NSWTL.INFO

The Flip Side of Success: Baldur’s Gate 3 Won So Many Awards That It Started to Hinder Development The fantasy role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 from Larian Studios continues to collect awards even 11 months after its release. The studio is pleased with the attention to the project, but such success has turned into an unusual problem. In a conversation with Edge magazine, Larian Studios head and Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke revealed that the game's success at numerous award ceremonies began to disrupt the studio's workflow. The awards won by Baldur's Gate 3 need to be collected by someone, and to minimize the negative impact on production, Larian had to rotate teams to attend the ceremonies on behalf of the studio. Vincke lamented that attending award ceremonies has become a real problem for the studio: “It would be great if all [award organizers] held them at the same time because it’s surprisingly exhausting”. Despite the fatigue, Larian Studios still has ceremonies they plan to attend. Vincke emphasized that “they are important, and we greatly appreciate” the success Baldur’s Gate 3 has achieved. According to Vincke, the unrelenting attention to Baldur’s Gate 3 prevents the studio and players from saying goodbye to the project. Larian is already tired of talking about the game in public and is preparing its final major update (to be released in September). Recently, Larian has been working on “two extremely ambitious RPGs” (Baldur’s Gate 4 is definitely not among them), for which they recently opened a new European division in Warsaw. You can find all our projects on our Official website. With love, NSWTL.INFO

Creators of the retro-futuristic thriller The Invincible based on the novel "The Invincible" reveal game sales for the first time Polish studio Starward Industries, founded by former developers of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Dying Light, addressed players with information about the success of their retro-futuristic thriller The Invincible. Let us recall, The Invincible had a less than stellar start and disappointed its publisher 11 bit studios, but by early 2024, it managed to recoup Starward Industries' production costs. As it became known, in the eight months since the release of The Invincible, total game sales reached 123 thousand copies. The developers thanked the players for their faith in the team and interest in the project. "Without your endless and immense support, we would not be able to work on future improvements for The Invincible and a new exciting project", noted Starward Industries. After laying off 15 of its 34 employees, including the head of the studio and director of The Invincible Marek Markuszewski, Starward planned to release 12 updates for the game — the third one was released at the end of June. As for the new project, 80% of the studio is working on it. It is a game set in a different universe than The Invincible, but the management does not rule out the possibility of releasing a sequel. The Invincible was released on November 6, 2023, on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and S. The game is based on the novel "The Invincible" by writer Stanislaw Lem. The project earned 89% on Steam ("very positive" reviews) and 74% on OpenCritic. You can find all our projects on our Official website. With love, NSWTL.INFO

2K Artist "Leaked" a Screenshot from BioShock 4 to Journalists The next numbered installment of the BioShock shooter series from 2K was confirmed back in December 2019, but since then, it has never been shown publicly. Thanks to the publication MP1st, we now have an idea of what the game might look like. According to MP1st, the portal's editorial team received a screenshot from an unnamed 2K visual effects artist of an early version of the tentative BioShock 4 (the third was BioShock Infinite). The shot is taken from a 2021 build and showcases a Ricochet Shotgun along with several interface elements, including plasmid/tonic icons — the "magic" in the protagonist's other hand is not present. The protagonist's view reveals a strange structure resembling a tower topped with a glowing orb, which MP1st journalists compare to a miniature Sun. The bottom of the screen mentions that this is a screenshot from the Parkside demo — journalist Jason Schreier reported at the end of 2019 that BioShock 4 was being developed under this code name. Additionally, the name Parkside, along with many other code names, recently surfaced in a massive leak from EpicDB — an unofficial database of the Epic Games Store digital marketplace. The next BioShock is being developed by Cloud Chamber, which is currently actively ("like crazy") hiring new employees. Rumor has it that the game will be released in 2028 and will tell the story of events in the Antarctic city of Borei in the 1960s. You can find all our projects on our Official website. With love, NSWTL.INFO

It became known how much Valve pays its employees The company Valve prefers not to officially disclose the number of its employees. However, during a court case with the studio Wolfire Games, this information and data on employee salaries became public. It turned out that as of 2021, Valve employed only 336 people. Valve has a significant influence on the gaming industry as it operates the largest computer game store, Steam. Despite this, the company can hardly be called a large organization like EA or Riot Games, which employ thousands of people. The published data, covering the period from 2003 to 2021, confirms this. Valve employees in the published documents are divided into four categories: "Administrators," "Games," "Hardware," and "Steam." In 2021, the administrative staff consisted of 35 people, 41 people worked on hardware products, 181 people developed Valve games, and 79 people were part of the Steam division. In 2021, $157,999,567 was spent on administrative staff salaries, hardware developers received $17,706,376, game developers received $192,355,985, and Steam division employees received $76,446,633. This means that on average, each person in these divisions received $4.5 million, $412 thousand, $731 thousand, and $967 thousand per year, respectively. Valve is a private company, so it is not required to disclose employee numbers or publish financial reports. According to Wolfire's estimate, Valve employs about 360 people, and the profit per person was about $15 million per year. Even if this figure is not entirely accurate, Valve previously stated that "our profitability per employee is higher than that of Google, Amazon, or Microsoft". Although the court documents do not contain information about the company's revenues, given the immense popularity of Steam, Valve is unlikely to spend a significant portion of its funds on personnel. You can find all our projects on our Official website. With love, NSWTL.INFO