Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

[JEMC]

Thursday news:

SALES & DEALS

PC is the most profitable platform for Ubisoft, The Division 2 is industry’s biggest hit in 2019
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/pc-is-the-most-profitable-platform-for-ubisoft-the-division-2-is-industrys-biggest-hit-in-2019/
Ubisoft has shared its sales figures for the first quarter of fiscal 2019-20, i.e. the three months ended June 30, 2019, revealing that the PC is currently its most profitable platform. According to the French company, in Q1 2019-20 the PC was responsible for 34% of its earning, surpassing all other platforms.
PS4 was second with 31%, whereas Xbox One and Mobile were third and fourth, respectively. It’s worth pointing out that last year, PS4 was way higher than PC (38% for PS4 versus 24% for the PC).
Ubisoft has also revealed that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey saw very sharp increase in daily engagement, PRI and sellthrough compared with Assassin’s Creed Origins in the first quarter, and that The Division 2 was the industry’s biggest hit since the beginning of the year.

GOG has a special Warhammer Sale, with up to 75% discounts until Monday: https://www.gog.com/promo/warhammer_weekend

At Steam there are two new daily deals:

• The Early Access title Edge Of Eternity is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/269190/Edge_Of_Eternity/
• And SHENZHEN I/O is 67% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/504210/SHENZHEN_IO/

Lastly there's Fanatical, with three new deals:

• The new Star Deal is South Park: The Fractured But Whole - Gold Edition for UPlay, that's 91% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/south-park-the-fractured-but-whole-gold-edition
• SUPERHOT VR is 40% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/superhot-vr
• And there's a new bundle, the Mystery Goldrush Bundle, with up to 10 unknown games: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/mystery-goldrush-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

3DMark adds DX12 Variable-Rate Shading benchmark test on August 26th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/3dmark-adds-variable-rate-shading-benchmark-test-on-august-26th/
UL Benchmarks has announced that it will be adding a new Variable-Rate Shading benchmark test to 3DMark on August 26th. 3DMark feature tests are special tests designed to highlight specific techniques, functions or capabilities, and its VRS feature test is designed to help you compare differences in performance and image quality when using variable-rate shading.
In case you weren’t aware of, Variable-Rate Shading (VRS) is a new feature in DirectX 12 that allows developers to improve performance by selectively reducing the level of detail in parts of the frame where there will be little noticeable effect on image quality. Shading rate refers to the number of pixel shader operations called for each pixel. Higher shading rates improve accuracy but are more demanding for the GPU whereas lower shading rates improve performance at the cost of visual fidelity.

Xbox Game Pass adds four more games for PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/xbox-game-pass-adds-four-more-titles-for-pc/
Xbox has announced four new games available for PC through Xbox Game Pass for PC. They'll become available over the next weeks, and one is a game that launches today.
(...)
The PC version of Xbox Game Pass runs $5/£4 per month, but if you're not already a subscriber you can opt in now for a single dollar or pound (or your regional equivalent).

MODS/EMULATORS

The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project V10 available for download, features over 1000 reworked textures
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-witcher-3-hd-reworked-project-v10-available-for-download-features-over-1000-reworked-textures/
As promised, modder ‘Halk Hogan PL’ has released a new version of his HD Reworked Project for The Witcher 3. This new HDRP version focuses mainly on environments but it will also touch some NPCs (mainly redania/temeria/novigrad guards). Furthermore, all terrain/rocks textures will be reworked (except Toussaint, these will be done in BaW Update after this release).
The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project aims to overhaul the game’s graphics with very high quality detailed textures (with great sharpness and performance and without any unnecessary VRAM losses), very high quality accurate normal maps, high quality meshes with a lot of details and better objects LODs.
>> Available from Nexus Mods.

This Divinity: Original Sin 2 mod lets you reunite two star-crossed dog mates
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-divinity-original-sin-2-mod-lets-you-reunite-two-star-crossed-dog-mates/
Divinity: Original Sin 2 contains a few sad quests, but there is one that stands out: Buddy and Emmie, two dogs separated when Emmie is forced into working for the Magisters, can't be reunited no matter how you will it to be so. Although you can meet both dog mates and tell them they miss one another, you eventually leave Fort Joy knowing that they'll be apart forever now that Emmie is a source hound.
Modders Windemere and Nimue saw this for the travesty it was and created a mod called Happily Emmie After that extends Buddy and Emmie's quest. It adds new dialogue and quest states and, as the name implies, allows you to eventually get these two smoochy pooches (do pooches smooch?) back together again.
>> You can get it from either the Steam Workshop or via Nexus Mods.

Become a supermutant in this Fallout 3 mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/become-a-supermutant-in-this-fallout-3-mod/
According to Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart, we nearly got to play as a supermutant in Fallout: New Vegas. Alas, it wasn't meant to be and we've still never gotten to play as a supermutant in any modern Fallout game. Thank goodness for modders, because this new Fallout 3 mod, Metamorphosis lets you become a supermutant during your adventures in Washington DC.
The work of modder Genin32, Metamorphosis allows you to go on a lore-friendly quest that turns your lone wanderer into a big green baddie when visiting Vault 87. In the vanilla game, you discover that the Vault Tech approved social experiment for Vault 87 involved using the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) to "evolve" humans. I don't think that supermutants were what the overseer had in mind, but I guess they were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

GAMING NEWS

EVE Aether Wars: Phase Two playtest will see 10,000 players fight in a single battle
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/eve-aether-wars-phase-two-playtest-will-see-10000-players-fight-in-a-single-battle/
Hadean and CCP Games, creators of the biggest single-shard spaceship MMO game of all time EVE Online, have revealed the date for their hugely ambitious EVE Aether Wars: Phase Two playtest.

New free content coming to Total War: Warhammer 2
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-free-content-coming-to-total-war-warhammer-2/
It’s been almost two years since the second Total War: Warhammer released and Creative Assembly is still releasing free content for it. The last three DLCs are a Legendary Lord, an Old World update and “Some Old Friends”, which probably means more characters from the tabletop games.

Code Vein Invading Executioner boss trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/code-vein-invading-executioner-boss-trailer/
Bandai Namco has recently released a new trailer featuring a boss called “Invading Executioner “. Code Vein is a Dark Souls inspired game with many similarities and many differences, and one major difference is the existence of NPC companions. Just as we saw in Ashen, you can have a companion of your choosing to follow in your grand adventure.

Gears 5 Technical Test is now available for download, has easy anti-cheat on the PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/gears-5-technical-test-is-now-available-for-download-has-easy-anti-cheat-on-the-pc/
As promised, Microsoft and The Coalition have released the technical test build for Gears 5. The PC Technical Test is 14.5GB in size, features easy anti-cheat on the PC, and is currently available to Xbox Game Pass members or those who have pre-ordered the game.
>> You can download it from here.

Mercenaries, free game mode for Ghost Recon Wildlands, releases later today, full patch notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/mercenaries-free-game-mode-for-ghost-recon-wildlands-releases-later-today-full-patch-notes-revealed/
Ubisoft has announced that a new game mode will be released for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands today. This game mode is called Mercenaries, is described as an eight-player free-for-all PvPvE gameplay experience, and will be available for free to everyone.

Cyberpunk 2077’s UI coordinator talks about gangs, romance, difficulty & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/cyberpunk-2077s-ui-coordinator-talks-about-gangs-romance-difficulty-more/
Alvin Liu, UI coordinator of Cyberpunk 2077, has spoken to wccftech about their upcoming role playing game. First of all some bad news; no Lady Gaga folks. I hope Liu is toying with us, even if it sounds definite. I would love to see Lady Gaga and Keanu Reeves together in the game.
>> Full interview at WCCFTech.

Path of Titans is a new MMO dinosaur survival game, will offer modding tools, will support up to 200 players
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/path-of-titans-is-a-new-mmo-dinosaur-survival-game-will-offer-modding-tools-will-support-up-to-200-players/
Now here is a game that a lot of dinosaur fans will find interesting. Alderon Games has launched a crowd-funding campaign for Path of Titan; a new MMO survival game that lets you play as a dinosaur. Yes, contrary to ARK: Survival Evolved, Path of Titans will actually let you become a Daspletosaurus (basically the devolved version of a T-Rex) or a Latenivenatrix (basically think of it as a feathered version of the Raptors you loved in Jurassic Park).