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

[JEMC]

Monday news:

 

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

GOG's weekly sale is now live, featuring games from Strategy First and also 1C Publishing. Games like King's Bounty, Mena of War or Jagged Alliance can be yours for up to 85% less: https://www.gog.com/promo/20171106_weekly_sale_1c_strategy_first

 

SOFTWARE

Steam data suggests gamers are ditching Windows 10, but there’s another explanation
http://www.pcgamer.com/steam-data-suggests-gamers-are-ditching-windows-10-but-theres-another-explanation/
There is an interesting trend happening on Steam. A look at its hardware and software survey indicates a massive drop in Windows 10 usage—it is down more than 18 percent in the month of October, while Windows 7 jumped 22.45 percent. The two OSes effectively swapped places, with nearly two thirds of Steam gamers now using Windows 7, and just over a quarter of gamers rocking Windows 10. Are gamers ditching Windows 10 in droves? Should Microsoft be concerned?
The answer to that is, 'probably not.' At first glance, it appears there is a mass exodus from Windows 10, which could occur if something catastrophic happened, like the discovery of a major vulnerability like Windows has never seen before. But that hasn't happened. The much more likely explanation is that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' popularity in China is the reason why the two OSes traded spots.

>>Here's a possible answer to your doubts, Conina.

 

AMD's latest GPU driver aims to improve performance in Call of Duty: WWII
http://www.pcgamer.com/amds-latest-gpu-driver-aims-to-improve-performance-in-call-of-duty-wwii/
With so many games on the horizon, you can expect a frantic pace of new GPU driver releases from AMD and Nvidia. Today it was AMD that released a new Crimson ReLive 17.11.1 driver package for Radeon graphics card owners, with an emphasis on Call of Duty: WWII performance.

>>You can get them from here

 

MODS/EMULATORS

Brutal Doom Version 21 Public Beta is now available to everyone
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/brutal-doom-version-21-public-beta-now-available-everyone/
Modder ‘Sergeant_Mark_IV’ has launched the public beta phase for Brutal Doom version 21. Even though this beta is more stable than v20b and has a giant list of new things implemented, it still is unfinished. This basically means that the modder still hasn’t implemented all the features that will be available to it.

>>You can download the Beta from moddb.

 

Brutal Wolfenstein 3D Version 5.0 Demo is now available, featuring reworked weapons and sprites
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/brutal-wolfenstein-3d-version-5-0-demo-now-available-featuring-reworked-weapons-sprites/
Modder ‘ZioMcCall’ has released a demo for the upcoming 5.0 version of Brutal Wolfenstein 3D. As its title suggests, this mod for Wolfenstein 3D brings the chaos, enhancements and improvements found in Brutal Doom. And it looks retro-amazing.

>>You can also get this mod from moddb.

 

This mod adds 30 brand new levels with co-op support to Monolith’s classic shooter, Blood
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/mod-adds-30-brand-new-levels-co-op-support-monoliths-classic-shooter-blood/
Modder ‘Bloatoid’ has released a new version of his Death Wish mod for Blood. Death Wish adds a new campaign with over 30 new levels, cut scenes, and more. In addition, these new maps have been modified for co-op play.

>>Guess what, you can also download this mod from moddb.

 

The Witcher 3 – Beautiful Grass Mod Version 3 is available, further improving the game’s grass
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/witcher-3-beautiful-grass-mod-version-3-available-improving-games-grass/
Back in October, we informed you about a grass mod for The Witcher 3 called Beautiful Grass. Created by modder ‘Boostin4kix’, this mod aims to make the game’s grass look closer to the pre-downgraded E3 version. And today, the modder released a new version of it.

>>For a bit of a change, this time you can download the mod from nexusmods.

 

Fan-made Gothic 2 mod claims to add 250 hours to the RPG
http://www.pcgamer.com/fan-made-gothic-2-mod-claims-to-add-250-hours-to-the-rpg/
What if you took Piranha Bytes' much-loved RPG Gothic 2 and made it four or five times bigger? That's the question that a fan-made mod called Gothic 2 Returning claims to answer, adding more than 300 new quests, 100 named NPCs and enough swords to bring down an army of cave trolls.
The main catch is that the voice acting is in Russian (with English subtitles), and at the moment there's no English installation guide. If you speak Russian or German you can follow the instructions here or here. You'll need a copy of Gothic 2 to install it. You can obviously auto-translate them if you don't mind filling in some of the gaps, but the creators are creating an English guide soon, alongside a let's play of the mod.

 

GAMING NEWS

Starcraft 2 goes free to play on November 14th
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/starcraft-2-goes-free-play-november-14th/
Blizzard has announced that Starcraft 2 will go free to play on November 14th. Beginning November 14th, players around the world will get free access to the full award-winning Wings of Liberty campaign and the multiplayer competition of StarCraft II’s ranked ladder, including all the latest units and balance updates through the latest release in the series, Legacy of the Void. Players will also enjoy expanded access to StarCraft II’s highly popular co-op mode, with all Co-op Commanders playable for free.

 

Runic Games, creator of Torchlight, has shut down
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/runic-games-creators-torchlight-shut/
Runic Games, the team behind Torchlight and HOB, has announced that it is closing down. We don’t know the reasons behind this closure, though we can assume that the latest game from Runic Games, HOB, did not sell well.

>>Wow, I wasn't expecting that! Very sad news.

 

Halo Wars 2 now supports crossplay between Xbox One and PC
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/halo-wars-2-now-supports-crossplay-xbox-one-pc/
As promised, 343 Industries has released a patch that adds crossplay support between the Windows 10 and the Xbox One versions of Halo Wars 2. According to the release notes, crossplay will be supported for Campaign, Blitz Firefight, Terminus Firefight, Custom Games, and all unranked playlists.

 

3D Realms Wants You To Play Test Their New Title
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/3d-realms-wants-play-test-new-title/
From classic games of Duke Nuken 3D, Wolfenstein 3D and Shadow Warrior, 3D Realms has quite a few respected titles amongst the gaming community. Now the developer is taking it one step further and allowing for gamers to play test their new announced title.

 

Despite controversy, Assassin’s Creed Origins’ DRM has secured its first week sales
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/despite-controversy-assassins-creed-origins-drm-secured-first-week-sales/
At the time of writing, and after over one week, the game has not been cracked yet. Considering all the latest Denuvo games that were cracked in just a day, this is definitely a win for Ubisoft. We don’t know whether other developers will implement a similar protection system in order to protect their games. However, and since Ubisoft will not remove its protection system from its games, we’d like to see more games using this combination. The reason? Quite simple actually. We want to see whether any future games will stress the CPU similarly to what Watch_Dogs 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Origins are currently doing.