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

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Monday news, part two:

Stronghold: Warlords wants to improve the series' issues with walls and unit formations
https://www.pcgamer.com/stronghold-warlords-wants-to-improve-the-series-issues-with-walls-and-unit-formations/
A new developer diary from FireFly Studios explains some of the updates it's making with Stronghold: Warlords, a new entry in the classic RTS series. Here, marketing director Nick Tannahill explains how unit pathing and formations are getting tweaked to feel more realistic, and how the all-important wall system is getting back to basics.

Find sunken treasures in Anno 1800's first DLC
https://www.pcgamer.com/find-sunken-treasures-in-anno-1800s-first-dlc/
The first add-on DLC for Anno 1800 arrives later this month, and adds a bit of whimsical League of Extraordinary Gentlemen flair to the 19th century city builder.
Sunken Treasures sends players off in search of shipwrecks lost to the ocean's depths after a major naval battle. Ubisoft reckons this new quest will add another six hours to the game's storyline, and it unlocks once you've amassed 700 artisans. Once it does, you'll gain access to Cape Trelawney, the site of the naval battle and the home base for undersea expeditions.

Unearthed The Sims design docs show the internal debate over same-sex relationships
https://www.pcgamer.com/unearthed-the-sims-design-docs-show-the-debate-over-same-sex-relationships/
The option to have same-sex relationships in The Sims was a controversial decision that almost didn't make it into the final game.
Though The Sims was meant to be a deep simulation of everyday domestic life, some developers at Maxis feared that controversy might give EA a reason to cancel The Sims outright. As explained in this excellent interview with programmer Patrick J. Barrett III, same-sex romance was initially included because of a managerial oversight. Now, thanks to some recently released design documents from programmer Don Hopkins, we have a new perspective on what was happening behind the scenes.

Watch Dogs Legion Collector's Edition contains a skull mask with an LED crown
https://www.pcgamer.com/watch-dogs-legion-collectors-edition-contains-a-skull-mask-with-an-led-crown/
Watch Dogs Legion is launching on March 6, 2020 and you can now start pre-ordering it if that's up your alley—though we always caution that despite positive previews, you never know how a game is going to turn out.

Get free Sea of Thieves ship cosmetics by watching next week's Twitch Rivals event
https://www.pcgamer.com/get-free-sea-of-thieves-ship-cosmetics-by-watching-next-weeks-twitch-rivals-event/
The Twitch Rivals Sea of Thieves Showdown running July 23-24 will pit teams of big-time streamers against one another in a series of PvP events for a slice of a $100,000 prize pool. Naturally, the whole thing will be streamed, and if you watch it you'll come away with some treasures of your own.

Wanderlust Travel Stories, a narrative game from former Witcher devs, releases in August
https://www.pcgamer.com/wanderlust-travel-stories-a-narrative-game-from-former-witcher-devs-releases-in-august/
Two former developers from CD Projekt RED's The Witcher (the first one), head story designer Artur Ganszyniec and project lead Jacek Brzeziński, have started a new studio called Different Tales and are releasing a narrative game this August. Wanderlust Travel Stories is all about travelling the world from the perspectives of several characters with their own anecdotes.

Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce is retiring
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-co-founder-frank-pearce-is-retiring/
Blizzard Entertainment co-founder Frank Pearce announced today that after nearly three decades at the company, it is time to "pass the torch to the next generation of leaders."

Mod support is coming to games on the Microsoft Store
https://www.pcgamer.com/mod-support-is-coming-to-games-on-the-microsoft-store/
Last month when Wes tried the new Xbox app for PC, he found a much better interface but an unfortunate inability to mod games downloaded from the Microsoft Store. Even though Microsoft said on an E3 Inside Xbox stream that modding would be supported, there didn't seem to be any ability to modify (or nearly even to access) game files in the Xbox games directory yet.
Now, user Pycorax on Reddit has found a new folder since the latest Windows update called "ModdableWindowsApps" inside the "Program Files" folder. Microsoft's Dev Center confirms the same with a listing for the new directory. Developers will also be able to specify a custom folder specific to their app, another Dev Center page says.

Mordhau's future includes new maps, a chat filter, ranked play, and maybe mod tools
https://www.pcgamer.com/mordhaus-future-includes-new-maps-a-chat-filter-ranked-play-and-maybe-mod-tools/
Mordhau developers Triternion have posted an update discussing what they've been working on lately, and what they have planned for the future. Topping the list of post-release priorities are a couple of "fully-fledged" new maps, one a sprawling town and the other a Mediterranean-inspired castle keep, that will be playable in all game modes.

Minecraft version 1.14.4 is out now
https://www.pcgamer.com/minecraft-version-1144-is-out-now/
There's a new version of the Java version of Minecraft. The 1.14.4 patch contains a lot of bugfixes for the Villagers and Pillagers update, which Mojang described as Minecraft's biggest update ever. As always there's some entertaining stuff hidden in those bugfix notes, my favorite being "Villagers will now remember their gossip after becoming a Zombie Villager". And "Gossip about players who converted a zombie villager will now last longer" isn't bad either.

Rainbow Six Siege testing big nerfs to shield operators (update)
https://www.pcgamer.com/rainbow-six-siege-testing-big-nerfs-to-shield-operators/
Rainbow Six Siege's newest Technical Test Server is trying out some huge nerfs and buffs to operators that have caught a lot of attention in recent months. Most notably, hipfire for shield operators is now less accurate and shield melee isn't an instant kill.
Update: Ubisoft has posted its Phantom Sight Designer Notes that expands on the balancing changes listed here and has updated graphs showing the win and pick rates of every operator in the game.

New Mortal Kombat 11 brutality alteration found
https://www.pcgamer.com/new-mortal-kombat-11-brutality-alteration-found/
Just when you think there are enough gory ways to murder people in Mortal Kombat 11, players find new variations on them. The brutality finishers, most of which are unlocked in the Krypt mode, have alteration versions that tweak the ultraviolence with a few extra button presses. YouTuber Dynasty has found one for Cassie Cage, which changes her Get Yo Ass Beat brutality so that instead of just punching her opponent's face into goop she adds a final gunshot to remove their head altogether. Videogames!

Borderlands 3 almost had a foot on the cover
https://www.pcgamer.com/borderlands-3-almost-had-a-foot-on-the-cover/
Borderlands 3 developers Gearbox have a display at San Diego Comic-Con called the Museum of Mayhem where they're showcasing their game's rejected cover art. Some of it's gorgeous, and over on the Resetera forum poster vestan has photographed the highlights. It's hard to go past the one with the foot, which solves the problem Gearbox set for themselves by having the fingerguns psycho shooting himself with one hand on the front of the first game and two hands on the second. What could have been!

Gears 5 hero characters can be earned or bought with real money
https://www.pcgamer.com/gears-5-hero-characters-can-be-earned-or-bought-with-real-money/
The Coalition is trying a new form of versus multiplayer in Gears 5's Arcade mode. It's basically normal deathmatch with a hero shooter twist. Each hero character has unique loadouts that specialize in different play styles. But Gears 5 players won't have every new hero automatically unlocked—they have to be earned in-game or bought with premium "Iron" currency.
>> And Gears 5 also has an impressive suite of accessibility features.

Rainbow Six Quarantine expected to launch before April 2020
https://www.pcgamer.com/rainbow-six-quarantine-expected-to-launch-before-april-2020/
We haven't heard anything about the co-op Siege spin-off Rainbow Six Quarantine since its announcement at E3 2019, but thanks to the power of investor calls, we have a better idea of its release date. According to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, Rainbow Six Quarantine will release before the end of the fiscal year. That translates to any time before April 2020.

Overwatch's newest hero might have a name and a face
https://www.pcgamer.com/overwatchs-newest-hero-has-a-name-and-a-face/
Overwatch is going through some big changes with Blizzard's recent announcement of Role Queue in Competitive, but that's not stopping it from teasing (and possibly leaking) Overwatch's next hero: Sigma.
>> Meanwhile, fans are trying to decode the latest 'Sigma' teasers.

Anthem's first pre-Cataclysm challenges are live
https://www.pcgamer.com/anthems-first-pre-cataclysm-challenges-are-live/
After delaying Anthem's first big in-game event back in May, Bioware is finally kicking off Cataclysm festivities with a series of pre-event challenges. The Freeplay challenges are called "The Oncoming Storm" and revolve around crystals.