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

[JEMC]

The Thursday news, part two:

The Division 2 will launch on Stadia with PC crossplay support
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-division-2-will-launch-on-stadia-with-pc-crossplay-support/
The Division 2 is heading to Google Stadia's games catalog on March 17th and will support crossplay and shared progression. Ubisoft's action shooter will be joining the 40 other games coming to Google's new streaming platform along with Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur's Gate 3, and Doom Eternal.
>> I'm only posting this for the crossplay bit.

Sea of Thieves is getting banana-themed gear and a new Tall Tale next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/sea-of-thieves-is-getting-banana-themed-gear-and-a-new-tall-tale-next-week/
Sea of Thieves' next update, Heart of Fire, is almost upon us, but before we dive in on March 11, Rare's giving us a sneak peek at some of the new nautical antics, weapons, and embarrassing pet costumes.

Valve says Half-Life: Alyx is 'not the end' of its return to the series
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-says-half-life-alyx-is-not-the-end-of-its-return-to-the-series/
16 years after Half-Life 2, we still don't have Half-Life 3, but very soon we will have Half-Life: Alyx, a prequel to HL2 that will be out in a couple of weeks. As nice as it will be to finally have some new Half-Life to play with, the one knock against Alyx is that it's VR exclusive, so if you're a long-suffering Half-Life fan lacking the appropriate hardware, your suffering will continue.

This game might help create a vaccine for coronavirus
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-game-might-help-create-a-vaccine-for-coronavirus/
There is no vaccine for the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic that has spread to over 50 countries in just a few months, but a group of researchers are hoping a videogame might help. Called Foldit, this game was developed by researchers from the University of Washington and requires players to solve complicated puzzles by folding protein chains to create new structures that have different functions.

Earn free Hearthstone card packs in the Spirit of Competition anniversary event
https://www.pcgamer.com/earn-free-hearthstone-card-packs-in-the-spirit-of-competition-anniversary-event/
The sixth anniversary of Hearthstone is upon us, and as promised last week, Blizzard is celebrating the birthday with the Spirit of Competition event, offering free card packs and a Year of the Dragon card back, a new quest chain, and the return of not one but two Tavern Brawls: Burndown and Hall of Champions.

E3 organizer is 'monitoring and evaluating' as Los Angeles declares health emergency
https://www.pcgamer.com/e3-organizer-is-monitoring-and-evaluating-as-los-angeles-declares-health-emergency/
The recent postponement of GDC and other community and developer events due to concerns about the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak led some to wonder whether E3, which is scheduled for June, could also be halted. The Entertainment Software Association, which organizes E3, said earlier this week that it was "moving full speed ahead" with planning for the show despite the concerns.
But today the city of Los Angeles declared a state of emergency, prompting the ESA to release an updated statement saying that it is continuing to monitor the situation.

Valorant will have a battle pass and sell cosmetics, but it won't have loot boxes
https://www.pcgamer.com/valorant-will-have-a-battle-pass-and-sell-cosmetics-but-it-wont-have-loot-boxes/
Valorant might look quite a bit like Overwatch, but it's going a different route with it's business model. It's free-to-play, of course, and while it is fuelled by microtransactions, it's at least doing away with loot boxes.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous' Lich can replace companions with undead bosses
https://www.pcgamer.com/pathfinder-wrath-of-the-righteous-lich-can-replace-companions-with-undead-bosses/
To beat up Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous' demonic hordes, players will be able to embark on a mythic path, turning their hero or villain into one of six extremely extra specialisations: Angel, Demon, Lich, Trickster, Aeon and Azata. Developer Owlcat says they're Wrath of the Righteous' main feature, and in a recent AMA they offered up some more details about how they work.

Roller Champions is getting a closed alpha next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/roller-champions-closed-alpha/
We've not heard much about Roller Champions, Ubisoft's Rocket League-style roller derby romp, since it was announced at E3 last year. Like me, you might have forgotten all about it. It's still moving forward, however, and you might be able to put on some skates and flail around very soon, as Ubisoft's hosting a closed alpha next week.

Doom Eternal shows off its heavy metal choir
https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-eternal-shows-off-its-heavy-metal-choir/
Last year, Doom Eternal composer Mick Gordon put out an open call for vocalists to join a heavy metal choir for an unspecified project. That unspecified project was, not surprisingly, Doom Eternal, and more than 20 vocalists teamed up to create a creepy chant that crops up throughout the soundtrack.

Total War: Three Kingdoms – A World Betrayed adds a new start date and more factions
https://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-a-world-betrayed-adds-a-new-start-date-and-more-factions/
Total War: Three Kingdoms is getting a new chapter pack this month, letting you start the game from a new historical bookmark. Mandate of Heaven kicked things off a few years earlier, but A World Betrayed starts mid-campaign, after the Han Empire has already fallen apart and some major players are dead.