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

[JEMC]

The Monday news:

SALES & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

1. Temtem
2. Grand Theft Auto V
3. Red Dead Redemption 2
4. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
5. Red Dead Redemption 2
6. MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
7. Human: Fall Flat
8. PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
9. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
10. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sold beyond projections while EA made almost 3 billion from MTX
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-sold-beyond-projections-while-ea-made-almost-3-billion-from-mtx/
Back in 2010 Electronic Arts’ chief Frank Gibeau said that single-player games are finished. Evidently they are not, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order a single-player title, has sold beyond expectations.
EA was modeling sales of six to eight million copies and now they are expecting sales to reach ten million during the current fiscal year ending on March 31st. Not bad for a single-player game, especially one with flaws.
In other news EA made a total of 993 million dollars from live services during the quarter ended December 31st and 2.835 billion from microtransactions for the twelve months as a whole. Most of the revenue comes from the Ultimate Team models for EA’s sports games such as FIFA, Madden and NHL.

The Sims 4 hits 20 million players, with online play hinted for a next-gen game
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-sims-4-hits-20-million-players-with-online-play-hinted-for-a-next-gen-game/
The Sims may be hitting 20 years old within the next week, but Maxis's series is showing no signs of slowing down, according to EA's most recent earnings report.
In the document, it was announced that The Sims 4, the latest entry released in 2014, has hit a rather healthy 20 million lifetime players across all platforms. While this doesn't necessarily add up to total sales, as the game is included in EA's Origin Access subscription service on PC and EA Access on consoles, it still shows the staying power of the game.

Classic strategy RPG The Lords of Midnight is free on GOG
https://www.pcgamer.com/classic-strategy-rpg-the-lords-of-midnight-is-free-on-gog/
While GOG dropped the Good Old Games moniker a long time ago, it's still very much in the business of game preservation, hence why you can find the likes of Mike Singleton's 1984 classic, The Lords of Midnight. It's a piece of videogame history which, along with its sequel, you can now grab for free.
GOG added The Lords of Midnight to its catalogue back in 2013, so maybe you've already picked it up, but if not you can snatch both of them up right now without spending a penny.
>> And while you're there to check them out, and maybe adding them to your collection, you can also take a look at the two sales currently in place:

• The new weekly sale is full of post-apocalyptic games, up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20200203_weekly_sale
• And you still have another two days to take advantage of the Panzer Corps sale and its up to 90% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20200131_panzer_corps_sale

Steam has two new daily deals:

• Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/274170/Hotline_Miami_2_Wrong_Number/
• And Blood Bowl 2 is also 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/236690/Blood_Bowl_2/

On the Humble Store there are two new flash deals:

• Panzer Corps is 90% off for two more days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/panzer-corps
• And Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Standard Edition is the flash deal with a 30% discount for the next 3 days. The key is for battle.net: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-standard-edition

At Fanatical there are four new deals:

• The new Star Deal is EVERSPACE, 87% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/everspace
• The game Hell Let Loose is 33% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/hell-let-loose
• Aspyr Games has its games up to 90% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/aspyr
• And Team 17 Digital also has its games on sale, up to 91% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/team17-digital-ltd

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Steam just broke its record player count by nearly 300k
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-just-broke-its-record-player-count-by-nearly-300k/
Steam's concurrent user count passed 18.8 million earlier today, peaking at 18,801,944 according to tracker SteamDB. The previous record was 18.5 million just about two years ago on January 6, 2018. As noted by SteamDB, this concurrent user record did not coincide with a record number of players in game, with only 5.8 million today against 7 million two years ago, about 1.2 million fewer. The previous record was boosted by the huge number of players in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. It's not known what caused the current peak, though the time of the peak coincides with peak playtimes for all of Steam's top games.

MODS/EMULATORS

God of War 3, Sly 4, MotorStorm Apocalypse and more run better on the latest version of RPCS3
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/god-of-war-3-sly-4-motorstorm-apocalypse-and-more-run-better-on-the-latest-version-of-rpcs3/
The team behind the best Playstation 3 emulator, RPCS3, has released a brand new video for it. This latest video highlight some of the improvements that RPCS3’s January 2020 build features. Furthermore, the team claimed that Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is very close to being fully playable.
Thanks to kd-11, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty and Tools of Destruction saw a significant performance improvement during January, and now properly work with resolution scaling.
Moreover, Eladash fixed an old regression causing some pixels to be rendered out in the incorrect color when using the SPU LLVM or Interpreter Decoders. This issue was present in God of War III, Sly 4, MotorStorm Apocalypse, House of the Dead: Overkill, and more.

The Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition V4.77 released, features bug fixes and new ingredient lock
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-witcher-3-enhanced-edition-v4-77-released-brings-bug-fixes-and-new-ingredient-lock/
The Dedicated W3EE Mod Team has released a brand new version of The Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition. Version 4.77 adds a new “normal” ingredient lock for ingredients without secondaries. Moreover, it fixes various bugs and issues.
The Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition is a complete and comprehensive rework of the game. This mod aims to offer a much higher quality experience than the original game ever could. Its first version came out in February 2019 and since then, the modder has been constantly improving it.
>> Available from Nexus Mods.

Half-Life Source: Project Extend Mod aims to add maps cut from the alpha build, new screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/half-life-source-project-extend-mod-aims-to-add-maps-cut-from-the-alpha-build-new-screenshots/
illegal_Chumtoad is currently working on a new mod for Valve’s classic first-person shooter. Half-Life Source: Project Extend aims to expand Half-Life’s gameplay and add maps that were cut from its alpha build. And yesterday, the modder released some new screenshots from it.

This 4.5GB HD Texture Pack for Arx Fatalis overhauls all textures via AI Neural Networks
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/this-4-5gb-hd-texture-pack-for-arx-fatalis-overhauls-all-textures-via-ai-neural-networks/
Ridiculous Death has released a 4.5GB HD Texture Pack for Arkane Studios’ Arx Fatalis. This pack aims to overhaul all of the game’s textures via AI neural networks methods. This basically means that all of the improved textures have a similar art style to the vanilla ones.
The modder has upscaled all of the textures to 16x resolution and then downscaled to 50%.
Do note that in order to use this HD Texture Pack, you’ll need Arx Libertatis. According to Ridiculous Death, this pack works perfectly with the GOG version of the game. Arx Fatalis is also available on Steam, though we don’t know whether this version is compatible with it.
>> You can get the mod from Nexus Mods.

You can now play as Beerus and Whis in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Super Sonic mod coming soon
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/you-can-now-play-as-beerus-and-whis-in-dragon-ball-z-kakarot-super-sonic-mod-coming-soon/
Modder Beatz has released a debug menu for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, via which PC gamers can play as Beerus and Whis from Dragon Ball Super. From the looks of it, these two characters will be coming as a DLC for the game, however, PC gamers can already play with them.
According to the modder, these characters are not complete yet. Still, it appears that they have proper animations, as well as some moves.
In addition, Beatz discovered a 3D model for Super Saiyan Vegeta Blue. Contrary to Beerus and Whis, though, Super Saiyan Vegeta Blue does not appear to be playable yet.
>> You can get the debug menu mod from Nexus Mods.

A modder is absolutely transforming Dark Souls 2 with lighting improvements
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-modder-is-absolutely-transforming-dark-souls-2-with-lighting-improvements/
Flames of Old is an upcoming graphics mod for Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin that reworks and overhauls the game’s look, profoundly changing the game in the process. Modder Stayd is changing lighting, shaders, and map design, and the result is a striking upgrade to the game’s visuals. Stayd is inspired by the pre-release renders for the game, and wants to bring the graphics “on-par with what was shown pre-release.” They’ve showed off some pretty impressive screenshots on Twitter. Much of the lighting work changes how the game looks fundamentally, lessening the very flat tones of many environments. There are also small tweaks, like removing trees from the upper left, revealing the Shrine of Winter to add more sense of scale to the area.

GAMING NEWS

Rumor: Inside the world of Elden Ring; dynamic weather, upgraded engine and more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/rumor-inside-the-world-of-elden-ring/
A Resetara user have made a long post regarding the upcoming FromSoftware title Elden Ring. Apparently the user have made similar posts in the past, including information about Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice which turned out to be true. In his post he talks mainly about the open-world of Elden Ring and how different is from any other open-world title.

Brand new screenshots released for Fast & Furious Crossroads
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/brand-new-screenshots-released-for-fast-furious-crossroads/
Bandai Namco has been constantly sharing new screenshots for Slightly Mad Studios’ Fast & Furious Crossroads. Therefore, today we are bringing you four brand new screenshots for it. Similarly to our previous articles, these screenshots showcase some of the cars that players will find in the game.

Formula Retro Racing is a retro racing game that looks similar to SEGA’s Virtua Racing
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/formula-retro-racing-is-a-retro-racing-game-that-looks-similar-to-segas-virtua-racing/
SEGA arcade racing fans, rejoice. Repixel8 is currently working on a lowpoly retro arcade racing game, Formula Retro Racing. This indie racer looks very similar to SEGA’s Virtua Racing, and you can find its first gameplay footage below.

New update for Bright Memory adds support for DLSS and Ray Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-update-for-bright-memory-adds-support-for-dlss-and-ray-tracing/
Back in December 2019, we shared a video for Bright Memory: Infinite, showcasing its new Ray Tracing effects. And a few days ago, FYQD Personal Studio released a patch for the Early Access version of Bright Memory that adds support for these effects.

Bioware veterans join a newly formed studio focused on story-driven RPGs
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/bioware-veterans-join-a-newly-formed-studio-focused-on-story-driven-rpgs/
Archetype Entertainment is a newly formed studio by publisher Wizards of the Coast, who are well known for games such as Magic and Dungeons & Dragons. The new studio will focus on story-driven role-playing games.

CD Projekt RED on Cyberpunk 2077 VR: “Some things would work but it’s not really viable yet.”
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/cd-projekt-red-on-cyberpunk-2077-vr-some-things-would-work-but-its-not-really-viable-yet/
In an interview with OnMSFT, CD Projekt RED’s John Mamais talked a bit about Cyberpunk 2077 VR. According to Mamais, CD Projekt RED experimented with a VR version of its upcoming RPG. And although the team has VR dev kits, it decided to pass on it.

Deck13 will publish the SNES-style JRPG, Chained Echoes, on the PC in 2021
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/deck13-will-publish-the-snes-style-jrpg-chained-echoes-on-the-pc-in-2021/
Deck13 has announced a publishing deal for Chained Echoes. Chained Echoes is a 16-bit SNES style RPG from Matthias Linda that looks absolutely lovely. Deck13 aims to release the game on the PC at the end of 2021.

Twin Soul is a photorealistic puzzle horror game, and you can download a demo to play right now
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/twin-soul-is-a-photorealistic-puzzle-horror-game-and-you-can-download-a-demo-to-play/
White Noise Team is currently working on a photorealistic puzzle horror game for the PC, called Twin Soul. The game takes place in an distant and desolate town somewhere in Eastern Europe, and there is a demo that you can download right now.

The composers of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey & Horizon Zero Dawn will score the music of the next Batman game
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-composers-of-assassins-creed-odyssey-horizon-zero-dawn-will-score-the-music-of-the-next-batman-game/
Batman fans, we’ve got some good and some bad news for you today. The good news is that we now know the team that will be composing the music for this new Batman game. The bad news is that Warner Bros still hasn’t officially announced the game.

Best selling PC game Myst couldn’t run on CD-ROM
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/best-selling-pc-game-myst-couldnt-run-on-cd-rom/
Myst is one of the best-selling PC games of all time developed by Cyan Wordls. Myst is a graphic adventure puzzle game designed by Robyn and Rand Miller. The game was first released for the Macintosh platform back in 1993. Myst was the best-selling PC game for a while, until The Sims surpassed its sales in 2002.