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

[JEMC]

Monday news:

SALES & DEALS

GOG's new weekly sale, named First of the Year or Welcome to the Future, brings games at an up to 80% discount: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190107_weekly_sale

Steam's "daily" deal, that will last another 6 days, is a Revolver Digital sale with up to 75% discounts: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/devolver/

And at Fanatical, there are three new deals:

• The new Star Deal is YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Classic Pack, 80% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/you-dont-know-jack-classic-pack
• The JACKBOX GAMES INC. publisher has put its games on sale, up to 50% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/jackbox-games-inc.
• And there's a new Leisure Suit Larry Bundle, with 7 games up to 97% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/leisure-suit-larry-bundle

 

SOFTWARE/DRIVERS

Steam users with PC VR headsets more than doubled in number last year
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-users-with-pc-vr-headsets-more-than-doubled-in-number-last-year/
VR adoption is on the rise, though to what extent depends on how you choose to view Valve's collection of data for its latest Steam hardware survey. At a glance, the numbers for December show that PC VR ownership among Steam users more than doubled in 2018.
Before proponents of VR pop the champagne bottles and light the fireworks in celebration of VR having arrived in force, a closer look at the numbers is warranted. The Steam hardware survey breaks things down into percentages, and at the beginning of 2018, VR ownership sat at just over 0.4 percent. Now it's at 0.8 percent as 2018 has come to a close.

Hyper Light Drifter, Orwell among free games for Twitch Prime members this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/hyper-light-drifter-orwell-and-others-are-free-for-twitch-prime-members-this-month/
Gorgeous action RPG Hyper Light Drifter and both seasons of government spying sim Orwell are two of the four games available as part of a Twitch Prime subscription this month.
The other two are Bomber Crew, which is a bit like a WW2 version of FTL, and République, an episodic cyberpunk thriller that Jordan enjoyed back in 2015. They're all available if you have a Twitch Prime account, which is included as part of Amazon Prime membership (if you have Amazon Prime, click here to link your Twitch account).

 

MODS/EMULATORS

Here is Red Dead Redemption running almost perfectly on the PC via the Playstation 3 RPCS3 emulator
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-is-red-dead-redemption-running-almost-perfectly-on-the-pc-via-the-playstation-3-rpcs3-emulator/
YouTube’s ‘ZEROx’ has shared a video, showing 15 minutes of gameplay footage from the Playstation 3 version of Red Dead Redemption running on the RPCS3 emulator. The good news here is that it appears that the game is almost fully playable on RPCS3. The bad news is that it currently requires the best CPU in order to be played.
In order to capture and play the game, ZEROx used the latest high-end Intel core CPU, the i9 i990K. Moreover, the game still had some drops to 20fps in various scenes and there were still some graphical glitches. However, it appears that those with the extra CPU horsepower can actually play and finish the game right now.

Skate 3 now playable on PC with RPCS3 emulator
https://www.pcgamer.com/skate-3-now-playable-on-pc-with-rpcs3-emulator/
The likes of Session and Skater XL have breathed some life back into the PC skating scene, but we're still lacking that killer game that we've desperately needed for a long time. While we wait, we might as well play Skate 3 using the PS3 emulator, RPCS3. Thanks to recent improvements it's now playable from start to finish, and you can even play it in 4K if you have the right rig.
The footage above is shot on some beefy PCs, one with a Ryzen R7 1700 and the other with an i7 8700k. It's a 4K setup, so it'll run at lower resolutions if you don't have as much power, but you'll still need a decent build.

Max Payne gets an amazing HD Texture Pack using ESRGAN that is available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/max-payne-gets-an-amazing-hd-texture-pack-using-esrgan-and-is-available-for-download/
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; ESRGAN is a new godsend AI technique that can significantly improve the textures of older titles. So far we’ve seen modders using ESRGAN to enhance and improve the textures of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Doom and Morrowind, and today I’m happy to report that a new HD Texture Pack has been released for the first Max Payne game.
Created by modder ‘Gaiver74’, this HD Texture Pack for Max Payne enhances a few thousand (~95%) of game textures. Now while Gaiver74 used ESRGAN, he also combined the newly improved textures with some hand-made textures. The new textures have increased resolution from 2X to 8X and this pack also includes textures for decals, blood, clothing and for some parts of the UI.
>> Download it from ModDB.

Final Fantasy 7 and Hexen will receive AI-enhanced HD Texture Packs, first screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/final-fantasy-7-and-hexen-will-receive-ai-enhanced-hd-texture-packs-first-screenshots/
(...)I’m happy to report that modders are currently working on AI-enhanced HD texture packs for two classic games; Final Fantasy 7 and Hexen.
Let’s start with the Final Fantasy 7 HD Texture Pack. This pack will be created by CaptRobau, will be using Gigapixel and after some initial tests CaptRobau was able to upscale FF7’s low-res pre-rendered field backgrounds by 400%.
On the other hand, the Hexen HD Texture Pack is created by grandgreed and will be Neural Upscaling techniques, similar to those that were used for the HD Texture Pack for Doom. According to the modder, the main purpose of this pack will be the “preservation of details and lack of third-party modifications, only close view of what was conceived by designers since the beginning. ”
>> Both texture packs are still work-in-progress, with no ETA.

Doom Remake 4 is a Classic Doom fan remake featuring 3D models, PBR rendering, dynamic shadows & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/doom-remake-4-is-a-classic-doom-fan-remake-featuring-3d-models-pbr-rendering-dynamic-shadows-more/
Doom fans, here is something for you. A team of modders has released a fan remake of the classic Doom game called Doom Remake 4. Now I know that Doom purists will hate this mod, however I strongly suggest keeping an open mind.
This fan remake of Classic Doom adds fresh features, like High Definition Textures with PBR materials, displacement parallax maps, dynamic lights, shaders and postprocessing effects. The new physically-based rendering (PBR) aims to bring a new stage of realism by allowing the light rays to interact with the given surface matter to the textures (for example the environment made of metal realistically shines as it would do in real life).
>> Check it out at ModDB.

Half-Life's Max Payne mod gets its final major update
https://www.pcgamer.com/half-lifes-max-payne-mod-gets-its-final-major-update/
Half-Payne is, as the name suggests, a mash-up of two classic PC shooters: Half-Life and Max Payne. Basically, it gives Gordon Freeman the same skills that Max has, including bullet time, a dive move, and painkiller healing. Creator suXin has now released what they call its "last major update", which adds a random mod feature, Twitch integration, and a new nightmare dream sequence.
If you turn random mods on, you'll periodically activate one of the many tweaks that suXin has added during development. For example, you might be granted infinite ammo—and then, when that wears off, you might get a wobbly camera that makes aiming hard, followed by a modification that pushes you back every time you take damage. It means that no two play sessions will be the same.
>> Available from ModDB.

Stardew Valley's battle royale mod is last farmer standing
https://www.pcgamer.com/last-farmer-standing-wins-in-stardew-valleys-battle-royale-mod/
It was inevitable, wasn't it? Stardew Valley, which added multiplayer last year, now has a battle royale mod called Battle Royalley. If enough people start using it, you should be able to join 100-player fights to the death, complete with loot chests housing swords, bombs, slingshots and healing items. Last farmer standing wins.
Players will be spread around the map at the start of each round and the play zone will gradually shrink until, eventually, the battle is confined to a small corner of the map. You can chop trees and craft fences to use as cover, hide behind bushes for surprise attacks, and jump on a horse to gallop away from a sticky spot.
If you host a server, you can choose where the storm closes in on, as well as pick chest placement and player spawn locations. Instructions for how to do that, along with an installation file for the mod, can be found on its Nexus page.

Play golf in Doom with the Hellshots mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/play-golf-in-doom-with-the-hellshots-mod/
"Pretty self-explanatory, really. Put the ball in the hole." It sounds simple—but in golf, it never is, especially when you've got to putt your way around demons trying to tear your arms off. That's what happens in one of the holes in Hellshots Golf, a mod for Doom that replaces your shotgun with a driver and asks you to make your way around a full 18-hole course in as few shots as possible.
Aside from the one hole with demons, it should be as relaxing as a round on a real course, albeit in more imaginative locales. The holes include the inside of a refrigerator, a Van Gogh painting, a lava pit with a giant skull at the bottom, and everything in-between. Each of them have shortcuts for riskier shots: a skyscraper course has steel girders that you can trickle your ball across to get between buildings, if your aim is good.
>> Check the article for the itch.io link to the mod, as well as what else do you need to run it.

GAMING NEWS

Here are 15 minutes of new gameplay footage from Anthem
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-15-minutes-of-new-gameplay-footage-from-anthem/
IGN has shared a video, showcasing 15 minutes of new gameplay footage from Anthem. This video shows the entire Lost Arcanist mission from start to finish with a three man team of the Interceptor, Storm, and Colossus javelins.
>> And Nvidia has confirmed that Anthem will support DLSS.

Alien Blackout has been officially revealed and… it’s a mobile game, first screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/alien-blackout-has-been-officially-revealed-and-its-a-mobile-game-first-screenshots/
Aliens fans, we’ve got some good and some bad news. The good news is that Alien Blackout has been officially revealed. The bad news is that it’s not a current-gen title but just a mobile game (as Blizzard said… hey, don’t you have mobiles?).