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

[JEMC]

Monday news:

SALES & DEALS

Survival/city-builder Dawn of Man was the top selling PC game on Steam last week
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/survival-city-builder-dawn-of-man-was-the-top-selling-pc-game-on-steam-last-week/
Valve has announced the top 10 best selling PC games on Steam for last week. According to the charts, the survival/city builder Dawn of War was able to top everything, following by PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm and Grand Theft Auto V.

1. Dawn of Man
2. PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
3. Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
4. Grand Theft Auto V
5. Expansion - Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns
6. The Invisible Guardian - 6?10?
7. DEAD OR ALIVE 6 Digital Deluxe Edition with Bonus
8. Devil May Cry 5
9. The Invisible Guardian

APEX Legends surpasses 50 million players in its first month
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/apex-legends-surpasses-50-million-players-in-its-first-month/
Respawn has announced that its free to play title, APEX Legends, has surpassed 50 million players in its first month. APEX Legends came out of nowhere and has managed to captivate the interest of pretty much all players on all platforms.
>> Kerotan has made a thread about this.

Brilliant indie game Oikospiel is free to keep for the whole of March
https://www.pcgamer.com/brilliant-indie-game-oikospiel-is-free-to-keep-for-the-whole-of-march/
Oikospiel, which is on our list of the best indie games you can play on PC, is celebrating its second birthday by going free to keep for the whole of March.
It's about a group of dogs making a video game dog opera, and it doubles as a satirical critique of the game industry’s labor practices. It's as utterly surreal as it sounds. "Play as a German Shepherd named Pluto and explore the enchanted climates of planet Earth and the asteroid 433 Eros. Visit an Arctic Ocean wind farm, Kochiri Forest, a computer OS, a cluttered desk, a union-busting prairie in Kansas, a private jet, a flooded city at the North Pole, and many more fevered landscapes," reads the description on its itch.io page. That clears that up, then.

Free download RUNONCE gives you a digital pet to play with for one short lifespan
https://www.pcgamer.com/free-download-runonce-gives-you-a-digital-pet-to-play-with-for-one-short-lifespan/
For once, perhaps I should have heeded Windows SmartScreen's warning. Having carved out a niche making thoughtful digital-pet-ish games including Cyberpet Graveyard and A_DESKTOP_LOVE_STORY, with her latest free game RUNONCE (remember_me) , Nathalie Lawhead is exploring what it means to be a finite being, with no clue when your life might unceremoniously end. Having ignored Windows' file paranoia—and consequently a big in-game warning by Lawhead—I would go on to make friends with, and converse with a cute desktop pet.

Grab Northgard, Mutant Year Zero and Absolver for just $12 in latest Humble Bundle
https://www.pcgamer.com/grab-northgard-mutant-year-zero-and-absolver-for-just-dollar12-in-latest-humble-bundle/
The latest Humble Monthly Bundle is one of the best I've seen in a while. For just $12, you can pick up Viking RTS Northgard, multiplayer fighting game Absolver and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, the tactical XCOM-like with anthropomorphic pigs and ducks.

Cyberpunk management sim Spinnortality made $90,000 in its first month
https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-management-sim-spinnortality-made-dollar90000-in-its-first-month/
In Spinnortality you're the CEO of a corporation in the year 2060. Shadowy board members have given you the task of researching brain-transfer immortality so they won't die, and to achieve that involves raising a lot of capital. If you fail, the implant they've put inside you goes off and, bingo bango, it's all over. It's like Syndicate with finance instead of combat. Rather than miniguns, there's focus groups to figure out which megastate any given slogan is likely to appeal to.
James Patton, the Austrian indie developer behind Spinnortality, has made his sale numbers public via his blog. Though it didn't set the internet on fire, Spinnortality did sell "about 7000 copies on Steam, and 33 on itch" in its first week. As we know from Cultist Simulator and countless others, it's typical for indie games to sell significantly more on Steam than any other platform, though Valve takes a 30% cut of what, in Spinnortality's case, was "about $70,000".
Now, a month after release, that number's up to $90,000, Spinnortality having sold "nearly 9000 copies on Steam and itch combined". It's enough money for Patton to make another game, and he seems pleased with the result even if he puts a lot of it down to luck. "It’s no Minecraft, certainly", he writes, "But these sales numbers are as good as they could possibly be, I think: this is a first-time game from a relatively unknown person with very little PR footprint or established reputation."

JPR Report: GPU shipments decreased by 2.65% from last quarter and by 3.3% from last year
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/jpr-report-gpu-shipments-decreased-2-65-from-last-quarter-and-3-3-from-last-year/
Jon Peddie Research, the market research firm for the computer graphics industry, has released its quarterly Market Watch report on worldwide GPU shipments used in PCs for Q4 2018. According to the report, overall GPU shipments have decreased by 2.65% from last quarter and year-to-year total GPU shipments decreased by 3.3%.
Going into more details, AMD shipments decreased by 6.8%, Nvidia shipments decreased by 7.6% and Intel’s shipments decreased by 0.7% from last quarter.

 

The new GOG weekly sale brings up to 75% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190304_weekly_sale

Steam's daily deal is Tyranny, 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/362960/Tyranny/

And at Fanatical, there are three new deals:

• The Star Deal is Road Redemption, 60% off for the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/road-redemption
• The Learn Japanese to Survive! Trilogy is 66% off for the next almost 3 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/learn-japanese-to-survive-trilogy
• And publisher 505 Games has it's games on sale, up to 90% off for the next 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/505-games

 

SOFTWARE/DRIVERS

Steam is haunted, keeps playing random creepy sounds from Amnesia
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-is-haunted-keeps-playing-random-creepy-sounds-from-amnesia/
There you are idly using your computer when, suddenly, you begin to hear a series of terrifyingly ominous noises coming out of your speakers. Among them is the horrifically wet sound of someone being stabbed, the manic laugh of a woman (or is she sobbing?), and an atmospheric rumbling that evokes the creepy feeling of being deep, deep underground. These sounds repeat again and again until you finally identify the source: Somehow, Steam's music player (you didn't even know it had one, did you?) is randomly playing sound effects from horror classic Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It sounds like the beginning of some creepypasta internet myth, but this is exactly what's been haunting redditor 'YouNiqueUser' and others over on the Steam subreddit.

This cool animation shows the top Steam games by player count since 2015
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-cool-animation-shows-the-top-steam-games-by-player-count-since-2015/
The above animation is perhaps the best illustration I've seen of how exactly Steam users' tastes have changed since 2015—or, more accurately, how they've stayed roughly the same. It shows the top 15 Steam games by player count for every day since January 1, 2015, and runs through four years in 50 seconds. If you have a spare five minutes, I'd recommend watching TheRankings' original video here. The gif above, from gfycat user TheKarmaFiend, is a sped-up version.

 

MODS/EMULATORS

This mod aims to bring high quality 2K textures to Quake 2, first comparison screenshots released
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/this-mod-aims-to-bring-high-quality-2k-textures-to-quake-2-first-comparison-screenshots-released/
The Quake 2 RP Team is currently working on a promising high quality texture pack for id Software’s classic shooter, Quake 2. This pack aims to introduce new textures as much as possible close to original but with new shaders and 2K resolution (textures are made from scratch using Zbrush and Substance Painter).
The textures will also have PBR (Physically Based Rendering) materials and the shaders that have been used support Albedo, Roughness, Specular, Parallax, Normal mapping, though there is currently no support for a “metallness” shader.

Unreal Evolution mod announced, will enhance AI, improve graphics and more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/unreal-evolution-mod-announced-will-enhance-ai-improve-graphics-and-more/
Modder ‘|Totalitarian|’, creator of the GMDX mod for Deus Ex, has announced a new overhaul mod for the first Unreal game. This brand new mod is called Unreal Evolution and aims to offer a tighter overall design through polished and enhanced weaponry/gunplay, smarter artificial intelligence and refined enemy placement.
Unreal Evolution will also feature an enhanced artistic direction (new textures, effects, level details), tightened balance and resource distribution, new player mechanics, an engaging challenge (that will be based on the difficulty mode you pick), enhanced replayability, minor audio upgrades, a handful of bugfixes, better bossfights, level design with more to offer without being obviously different, and more.
>> If you're interested, they've created a Discord page to talk about it: Discord.gg.

Parasite Eve, Final Fantasy 8, Resident Evil 3 & more classic 32-bit intros remastered in 4K via ESRGAN AI techniques
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/parasite-eve-final-fantasy-8-resident-evil-3-and-more-classic-intros-upscaled-to-4k-via-esrgan-ai-techniques/
By now I’m pretty sure that most of you know how much I love ESRGAN and Topaz Topaz Gigapixel. We’ve been sharing a lot of AI-enhanced Texture Packs for numerous old/classic games these past couple of months, however today we’ve decided to share some really cool intro videos from some of our favourite 32-bit games.
YouTube’s members 60fps Hacks, Slowbeatle and Upscale have used ESRGAN in order to upscale and improve the intro videos for Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, Parasite Eve, Final Fantasy 8, Onimusha 3 and Soul Reaver. As such, and for the first time, you can now watch these intro in high quality (believe me, the original videos look awful for today’s standards).
>> The videos are in the article, for those of you that want to check them.

Resident Evil 2 mod turns Mr. X into Thomas the Tank Engine
https://www.pcgamer.com/re2-mod-turns-mr-x-into-thomas-the-tank-engine/
If transforming Skyrim's dragons into trains from Thomas the Tank Engine wasn't enough for you, now you can also alter Mr. X's visage into that of a smiling demented Thomas. Following on from popular mods that made DMX play when Mr. X approached and the unforgettable one that showed us what he's wearing beneath that signature trenchcoat, the latest mod from the meme factory not only turns Mr. X into Thomas, it adds his theme music too.
It's the work of modders ZombieAli (who made the model for Thomas), and DJ Pop (who added the music, and previously made the X Gon' Give It To Ya mod). You can download the model here and the music and sound effects here. And of course, if you want to combine Thomas with DMX, that's an option too.

Fallout: Miami update includes factions, sweet shotgun animations, and more
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-miami-update-includes-factions-sweet-shotgun-animations-and-more/
The latest progress update from the Fallout: Miami mod is here and it's a nice reminder that work continues on this ambitious Fallout 4 project. Nothing major is revealed in the video but there are mentions of the factions (including the Nuclear Patriots and the Dreamers, junkies in animal masks who seem inspired by Hotline Miami), and the reputation system, which will be less involved than the one New Vegas had, but will still do things like effect which ending you get.

Dragon Age: Total War mod adds Blights, Grey Wardens and naughty mages
https://www.pcgamer.com/dragon-age-total-war-mod-adds-blights-grey-wardens-and-naughty-mages/
Despite the impending launch of Total War: Three Kingdoms, there are still plenty of reasons to return to the older games, especially Medieval 2 and its multitude of total conversion mods. Total War: Dragon Age is the latest attempt to turn BioWare's fantasy realm into grand strategy romp, and so far it looks very promising.
A recent update from the mod team shows off the campaign map, specifically Fereldan, which you'll know doubt recognise if you've already spent hundreds of hours walking around the RPG version. You'll be able to visit places like the Temple of Andraste and Flemeth's hut, where unique events, items or even a high dragon can spawn.
>> Available from ModDB.

 

GAMING NEWS

New gameplay trailer for Outward focuses on its combat mechanics
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-trailer-for-outward-focuses-on-its-combat-mechanics/
Deep Silver and Nine Dots Studio have released a new gameplay trailer for their upcoming title, Outward, focusing on the game’s combat mechanics. Outward is an open-world fantasy adventure game featuring deep simulation and immersion.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy releases on April 9th, official PC system requirements revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/phoenix-wright-ace-attorney-trilogy-releases-on-april-9th-official-pc-system-requirements-revealed/
Capcom has revealed, via the game’s Steam store page, that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy will release on April 9th. In addition, the Japanese company has unveiled the game’s official PC system requirements.
>> The min req. doesn't even ask for a discrete GPU.

First details and announcement trailer for Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/first-details-and-announcement-trailer-for-trine-4-the-nightmare-prince/
Modus Games and Frozenbyte have revealed the first details and released an announcement trailer for Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince. According to the press release, the Trine series will return to the magic of 2.5D and will not be a complete 3D game like Trine 3 was.