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

[JEMC]

We've made it to Friday! Let's celebrate it with the last round of news of the week:

SALES & DEALS

On the Humble Store there's a new sale, the Far Cry Weekend, with up to 66% off on the games of this franchise: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/far-cry-weekend/

And at Fanatical, there are two new deals:

• The Star Deal is Total War: WARHAMMER, 79% off for the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/total-war-warhammer
• There's an SNK sale with up to 75% discounts for the next 3 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/snk-corporation

 

SOFTWARE

New Windows 10 Spectre fixes will reduce performance impact to low single-digit percentages
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-windows-10-spectre-fixes-will-reduce-performance-impact-to-low-single-digit-percentages/
Good news: the October 2018 Update for Windows 10 features the highly anticipated fixes for Spectre and Meltdown. Bad news: these fixes can have a significant performance it, with some websites reporting a 20-30% hit. Thankfully, though, Microsoft is looking into optimizing these new features in the next Windows 10 update.
According to Mehmet Iyigun, Microsoft has enabled retpoline by default in its upcoming Windows 10 19H1 update that will go live in early 2019. As Iyigun noted, retpoline reduces performance impact due to indirect calls in kernel-mode, and the overall performance impact of the Spectre v2 mitigations will be reduced to noise-level for most scenarios.At
>> At least, the latest Win10 preview let's you remove some of the unwanted preinstalled apps.

Discord Store DRM requires an internet connection, but offline mode is coming soon
https://www.pcgamer.com/discords-drm-requires-an-internet-connection-but-offline-mode-is-coming-soon/
The Discord Store went online this week, offering a curated collection of games including several limited-time exclusives that won't be available on other digital storefronts until later this year. Real-time strategy Bad North is one of those exclusives, but after purchasing it I learned that it includes DRM that currently prevents players from launching the game if they're not connected to the internet and logged into Discord.
Interestingly, not all games bought through Discord will necessarily have DRM: according to this developer portal and confirmed via email by a Discord representative, Discord's DRM is completely optional for developers (unlike Steam's DRM). A member of Raw Fury confirmed in their Discord channel that Bad North uses Discord's DRM, and I received confirmation that another singleplayer Discord exclusive, Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption, does as well.
(...)
There's good news, though: a representative for Discord told me via email that an offline mode for Discord games "is coming soon so players will be able to access their games even offline."

Valve is updating SteamVR to run VR games more smoothly on lower end GPUs
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-is-updating-steamvr-to-run-vr-games-smoother-on-lower-end-gpus/
Valve is hoping to enable "more players on more PCs to play high-fidelity VR games" by adding a featured called Motion Smoothing to SteamVR. It's similar to a technique that is commonly found on TVs, except Valve claims it's tackled the issue of latency.
(...)
SteamVR's implementation is a little different. When SteamVR detects that a game or application is going to drop frames. Motion Smoothing jumps in and does its thing. More specifically, it examines the last two frames that were delivered successfully, estimates motion and animation, and then extrapolates a new frame.
By synthesizing new frames in this manner, Valve claims it is able to maintain a game or application's full framerate and advance motion forward, all the while avoiding judder.
>> And Valve has also announced that they've surpassed the 30 million users in China.

MODS/EMULATORS

Kingdom Come Deliverance – Multiplayer mod is currently under development
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/kingdom-come-deliverance-multiplayer-mod-is-currently-under-development/
It appears that the first multiplayer mod for Kingdom Come Deliverance is currently under development. While we don’t know whether its team will be able to finish and release it, it did share a video showing a prototype version of player synchronization.
Do note that Kingdom Come Deliverance does not offer any modding tools at the moment. Back in May 2018, Warhorse Studios revealed that it will add mod support in 2019, though it remains to be seen whether this will be too little too late.

See GTA 5's campaign up close with this neat first-person cutscenes mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/see-gta-5s-campaign-up-close-with-this-neat-first-person-cutscenes-mod/
The PC version of Grand Theft Auto 5 came with an optional first-person perspective at launch—but using it felt odd during cutscenes. In its vanilla state, they revert to third-person view, you see, which has always impacted my concentration. Why can't I view this short through the eyes of Michael, Franklin and/or Trevor, I've often asked. MrCrazyheat's latest project answers that call.
Aptly named 'First Person Cutscenes', MrCrazyheat's work draws inspiration from fellow GTA 5 modder person Jedijosh920's like-minded mission video.

Stardew Valley hard mode mod cranks enemy damage up 200 percent
https://www.pcgamer.com/stardew-valley-hard-mode-mod-cranks-enemy-damage-up-200-percent/
Listen, I know the 'Souls-like' label needs to die—but RamenYum's Hard Mode Stardew Valley mod is so challenging I reckon it merits the comparison.
After earning loads of dough, mastering combat and generally breezing through their first few playthroughs of the cutesy farming sim, RamenYum wanted more. Their Hard Mode mod increases monster damage by 200 percent. It ups monster health by 50 percent. It cuts crop profits by 50 percent. And it increases crafting recipe materials by 100 percent.
"The mod's objective is to make the game more difficult without losing the general great feeling of Stardew Valley's gameplay," explains the project's creator. "It is designed to make combat more challenging without being annoying, and to make all money-making strategies more difficult without feeling too tedious or punishing. It still plays just like vanilla, but harder!

GAMING NEWS

Splash Damage ends the development of its asymmetrical team-based game, Dirty Bomb
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/splash-damage-ends-the-development-of-its-asymmetrical-team-based-game-dirty-bomb/
Splash Damage has announced that it’s ending the development of its asymmetrical team-based multiplayer game, Dirty Bomb. The team aims to release a bug fix build in the upcoming weeks and after that the game will not receive any additional updates or patches.

Rise: Race The Future is a new arcade racer, coming to Steam on October 26th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/rise-race-the-future-is-a-new-arcade-racer-coming-to-steam-on-october-26th/
VD-dev Games has announced that its upcoming arcade racing game, Rise: Race The Future, will be coming to Steam on October 26th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the team has also released a new trailer that you can find below.

Half Dead 2 gets a real-time ray tracing tech demo that you can download right, works on older GPUs
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/half-dead-2-gets-a-real-time-ray-tracing-tech-demo-that-you-can-download-right-works-on-older-gpus/
Room710Games has released a real-time ray tracing tech demo for its upcoming game, Half Dead 2. The team is currently using ray tracing for the game’s reflections, meaning that you can see clean and correct reflections of environment and moving objects, and even your own face reflections in the floor.

New Star Citizen video showcases advanced physics effects
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-star-citizen-video-showcases-advanced-physics-effects/
Cloud Imperium has released a new video in which Sean Tracy and Andreas Rohr take us through how and why physics is starting to be used to bring environments and characters to life in Star Citizen. This video showcases advanced physics effects that are now possible in Star Citizen and Squadron 42, so we strongly suggest watching it if you are fans of this upcoming space game.

Demo released for arcade racing game, Horizon Chase Turbo
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/demo-released-for-arcade-racing-game-horizon-chase-turbo/
Aquiris Game Studio has released a demo for its arcade racing game, Horizon Chase Turbo. This demo packs 30 minutes of content offering 8 circuits, 3 cars, multiplayer mode with split-screen for up to 4 players and 2 Game Modes (World Tour and Tournament).
>>The demo is available through its Steam page.

New Ace Combat 7 videos showcase 20 minutes of new gameplay footage
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-ace-combat-7-videos-showcase-20-minutes-of-new-gameplay-footage/
Bandai Namco has released two new videos for Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, showcasing 20 minutes of new gameplay footage. The first video is taken from Mission 6, while the second one is taken from Mission 7.
>>Most of these kind of videos are unnerving because whoever plays usually sucks. But Holy Sh!t!, whoever was playing in those videos is my new hero.

New Just Cause 4 trailer focuses on the new and improved Supply Drop function
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-just-cause-4-trailer-focuses-on-the-new-and-improved-supply-drop-function/
Square Enix has released a brand new trailer for Just Cause 4 that focuses on its new and improved Supply Drop function. As its name suggests, Supply Drop allows players to select their vehicle, weapon or random items that they want and fly them in via the menu.

Last edited by JEMC - on 19 October 2018