You do realize that there are CCGs based on deck building where you cannot buy packs for real world money? CCG =/= loot boxes. If it's PVE only, boosters are irrelevant anyway. For example Slay the Spire which has no PVP, no boosters and costs $16.

CCG/TCG is by definition starter + boosters.

What you're talking about are Deckbuilders and LCGs.

I don't play many card games per se, but I won't say no to games like Legendary/Legendray Encounters, Thunderstone, Dominion, Star Realms...

Time for the news:

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

Lords of the Fallen, Vermintide, Galak-Z going cheap in Fanatical's Nemesis Bundle 5
http://www.pcgamer.com/lords-of-the-fallen-vermintide-galak-z-going-cheap-in-fanaticals-nemesis-bundle-5/
Prior to its rebranding last year, digital deals distributor Fanatical was once known as Bundle Stars. Bundles were its game—it's in the name, yeah?—and while the new label's themed sales are always worth a look, I myself prefer its tiered collections of old.
Fanatical's Nemesis Bundle 5 is exactly that, and is live now through February 8. Within, you'll find the likes of co-op action brawler Warhammer: End Times—Vermintide, fabled ARPG Lords of the Fallen, and the sci-fi roguelike Chris Schilling billed as "enormously rewarding" Galak-Z.

Time to pay attention to GOG again, because there are two new sales:

• There's a Pillars of Eternity sale, with up to 40% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20180125_poe
• For JRPG fans, there is a sale with lots of games up to 80% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20180124_jrpg_sale

SOFTWARE

Kingdom Come: Deliverance will not be using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech, will not have a Season Pass
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/kingdom-come-deliverance-will-not-be-using-the-denuvo-anti-tamper-tech-will-not-have-a-season-pass/
Warhorse Studios has confirmed that Kingdom Come: Deliverance will not be using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech, and that it has not planned any Season Pass for it. This is an interesting turn of events as most games rely on Season Passes and on micro-transactions.

>>Great news.

MODS/EMULATORS

No Man’s Sky: RaYRoD’s Overhaul now features 4000 unique biomes, new Cave weather, better performance and more
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/no-mans-sky-rayrods-overhaul-now-features-4000-unique-biomes-new-cave-weather-better-performance-and-more/
Modder ‘RaYRoD_TV’ has released a brand new version of his overhaul mod for No Man’s Sky. No Man’s Sky: RaYRoD’s Overhaul beta 1.9.2 adds 50+ new biome types, increasing the total amount of unique biomes to almost 4000. Furthermore, this new beta version adds a new Cave weather, a rare super ecology biome and a rare giant bird ecology type.

>>If you're interested, you can download it from moddb.

GAMING NEWS

Yume Nikki’s sequel, Dream Diary, releases on February 23, gets first screenshots
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/yume-nikkis-sequel-dream-diary-releases-on-february-23-gets-first-screenshots/
Yume Nikki is a free indie cult horror game created by RPGMaker and the first screenshots for its sequel, Yume Nikki Dream Diary, have just surfaced. Yume Nikki is a game in which you traverse the extremely dark world inside a dream and Dream Diary aims to expand its universe.

>>As the article says, the first game is free, and available through Steam.

GDC 2018 survey shows the PC as the dominant platform, 1 out of 10 devs working on games with loot boxes
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/gdc-2018-survey-shows-the-pc-as-the-dominant-platform-1-out-of-10-devs-working-on-games-with-loot-boxes/
The 2018 Game Developers Conference has released the results of the sixth annual State of the Industry Survey, revealing trends in the games industry ahead of GDC 2018 this March. According to the survey, which features responses from nearly 4,000 game developers, the interest in PC development has gone up since last year.lopment and VR, while still strong, has begun to slip this year.

>>JSG87 made a thread about it yesterday, but he focused on the Switch side of the survey.

Report: Anthem has been delayed, now scheduled for an early 2019 release
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/report-anthem-has-been-delayed-now-scheduled-for-an-early-2019-release/
It appears that Bioware’s new open-world action RPG, Anthem, will not be released this year. According to Kotaku, the game has been delayed and is now planned for an early 2019 release. Moreover, and as Kotaku’s sources claimed, the Fall 2018 release window that EA revealed at E3 2017 was never realistic.

>>This time is celador the one that made a thread about it.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands receives loot boxes, will be cosmetic-only
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/tom-clancys-ghost-recon-wildlands-receives-loot-boxes-will-be-cosmetic-only/
Ubisoft will release later today a new update for Ghost Recon Wildlands, called Extended Ops, that will add a new game mode, maps, skins, and… loot boxes. These loot boxes are called Battle Crates and according to the French company, they will be cosmetic-only.

DICE will revamp the progression system and will add a new game mode to Star Wars: Battlefront 2
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/dice-will-revamp-the-progression-system-and-will-add-a-new-game-mode-to-star-wars-battlefront-2/
DICE has announced that major updates are coming to Star Wars Battlefront 2, and shared some new interesting stats for its title. As the press release reads, in The Last Jedi Season, players completed over 10 million quests for either the First Order or the Resistance and engaged in desperate showdowns on Crait over 156 million times.

Second episode of VAMPYR’s webseries features more gameplay footage, showcases environments
http://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/second-episode-of-vampyrs-webseries-features-more-gameplay-footage-showcases-environments/
DONTNOD has released the second episode of its VAMPYR webseries further revealing the creative process behind their upcoming action-RPG. This new episode unveils more exclusive gameplay footage, while the creative team delves into the visuals and music that bring 1918 London to life.

The news, part two:

Civilization 6: Rise and Fall will add Robert the Bruce's Scotland
http://www.pcgamer.com/civilization-6-rise-and-fall-will-add-robert-the-bruces-scotland/
Off the back of its Poundmaker-led Cree and Tamar-fronted Georgia, Civilization 6 now welcomes Scotland the Brave. Led to battle by Robert the Bruce, the tartan army will debut in the game's incoming Rise and Fall expansion.

World of Goo creators announce new puzzle game 7 Billion Humans
http://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-goo-creators-announce-new-puzzle-game-7-billion-humans/
7 Billion Humans is a people-powered programming puzzle game set in a world ruled by machines. It was announced by developer Tomorrow Corporation today as a direct follow-up to 2015's Human Resource Machine.

Mark Darrah confirms that BioWare is working on a new Dragon Age game
http://www.pcgamer.com/mark-darrah-confirms-that-bioware-is-working-on-a-new-dragon-age-game/
It's not really news that BioWare is working on a new Dragon Age game. For one thing, of course it is, and for another, Failbetter Games founder Alexis Kennedy told us so last August. But just in case you hadn't heard, Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah hit up Twitter today to re-confirm that, yes, something is happening.

Bonkers-looking arcade shooter Pawarumi coming this month
http://www.pcgamer.com/bonkers-looking-arcade-shooter-pawarumi-coming-this-month/
Pawarumi is a "retro futuristic sci-fi pre-Columbian" arcade shooter that launched on Steam Early Access last October. At the time, small French indie developer Manufacture 43 said it expected to remain in Early Access for two to three months. It sounds like they were right: Pawarumi will officially release on January 30, the studio announced today.

A Washington state senator has loot boxes in his sights
http://www.pcgamer.com/a-washington-state-senator-has-loot-boxes-in-his-sights/
If you thought loot box controversy was a phenomenon exclusive to late 2017, then don't hold your breath. Not only are loot boxes likely to become more ubiquitous, but so will the debates surrounding them. With analysts in Australia and ministers in Belgium recently concerned with whether they constitute gambling or not, now it's the turn of Washington state.

Conan Exiles director explains dong slider implementation
http://www.pcgamer.com/conan-exiles-artist-had-reference-dicks-on-her-screen-for-a-week-while-designing-dong-slider/
Conan Exiles is fast approaching its first Early Access anniversary, having entered Steam's pre-release initiative on January 31, 2017. Which means Mr Weebl's NSFW music video celebrating the game's dong physics is also almost one year old. Good luck getting it out of your head if you followed that link.
Chris' explicit gif-filled report on Exiles' endowment slider was PCGamer.com's most read news story last year. As such, while catching up with director Joel Bylos about the state of the open world survival game one year on, I felt it only right to, ahem, swing back round to its genital simulation.

Attack on Titan 2 shows off life beyond slaying naked giants
http://www.pcgamer.com/attack-on-titan-2-shows-off-life-beyond-slaying-naked-giants/
Slaughtering weird-looking naked giant people is a tiring pursuit, which is why it's nice to unwind with some detailed character customisation, combat training and regiment administration from time to time. As luck would have it, that's exactly what Attack on Titan 2's latest trailer is all about—showcasing how you'll busy yourself between battles in Omega Force's incoming hack-and-slash 'em up.

New System Shock video explores reboot's art direction
http://www.pcgamer.com/new-system-shock-video-explores-reboots-art-direction/
Born into the year Tom Hanks famously loitered at a bus stop, Roberto Baggio cost Italy the World Cup, and Liam Gallagher declared his life eternal—the original System Shock celebrates its 24th birthday later this year. All going to plan, Nightdive Studios' modern reimagining will also land in 2018.
When it does, expect a game that both pays deference to its quarter-of-a-century-old source material, and comes with its own ideas. Its latest Kickstarter backer update comes courtesy of the game's art team, and offers some interesting behind-the-scenes insights into new-age System Shock's art direction.

Decided to download and install Subnautica since the final release came out recently. Found out it runs like absolute gutter trash on my rig and I'm not entirely sure as to why it is, considering I've been watching Streamers like Jacksepticeye and Markiplier playing the game over the past few years and theirs ran fine.

I've submitted feedback to the devs and their twitter account as well, but I highly doubt I'll be seeing any optimisation done soon, as they've apparently posted about that issue 6 months back and nothing has been done since.

I can run Witcher 3, Ark, Deus Ex MKD, Conan Exiles and many more AAA and early access titles fine, yet this game and Seven: Days long gone run like absolute trash.

I was actually a bit giddy and happy to finally play the game, as I was looking forward to single player underwater exploration, but I guess I'm fucked on that end for what could be months, maybe years.


GJ devs, smashing job on your indie game!.

This is why I hardly look forward to anything anymore, because it's either fucked or it's super simplified.

At least I can actually play Forged Battalion, another early access game, that actually runs amazingly well on my system, with two competent dev teams behind it. 

Hm...I haven't noticed performance issues - then again, my kids are into Subnautica, so I actually have no idea how it runs given that I've barely touched it.

What is Subnautica? Something like No Man's Sky underwater and in good?

Well, it's a shame the Subnautica runs bad on your machine, Chazore. It's a game I've been following, but I'm still not fully convinced by it.

What I would really like is a game like the Endless Ocean games from Wii. I really enjoyed them. Sadly, the only game close to that is theBlu, but it's a VR game.

By the way, for anyone in the UK, Hexus has a new contest for you:

Win a Mesh Elite 8600K gaming rig: http://hexus.net/tech/features/systems/114344-win-mesh-elite-8600k-gaming-rig/
Consists an Intel i5-8600K, Asus GeForce 1070 Ti, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB hard drive and 120GB SATA solid state drive.

Sadly, this time it's UK only.

A couple days ago, Killy_Vorkosigan talked about a big battle happening at EVE. Well, PCGamer has made an article about it and it looks like things didn't go as planned.

http://www.pcgamer.com/why-eve-onlines-million-dollar-battle-was-a-huge-bust/