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

[JEMC]

The Friday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration Edition is free on Epic Games Store
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-battlefront-ii-celebration-edition-is-free-on-epic-games-store/
Epic Games has announced that Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration Edition is free on Epic Games Store for a limited time. From today and until January 21st, PC gamers can visit its EGS page and acquire their free copy.
>> And next week the free game will be Galactic Civilizations III.

Bomber Crew is free until Saturday in the Humble Store Winter Sale
https://www.pcgamer.com/bomber-crew-is-free-until-saturday-in-the-humble-store-winter-sale/
The coming of winter brings many things: Cold, snow, treacherous driving, darkness before suppertime, and—getting to the point—videogame sales. With the traditional holiday says now wrapped up, the Humble Store has kicked off the next round of seasonal discount events with the start of its annual Winter Sale.
Along with the usual solid selection of deals, the Humble Store is also giving a game away for the first two days of the sale: Bomber Crew, which you can pick up until 10 am PT/1 pm ET on January 16. It's something like FTL, but set in the Second World War: You have to manage the crew of a bomber conducting raids over Europe, keeping your plane and your people alive and intact in the face of deadly odds.

PC sales are the healthiest they've been in a decade
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-pc-sales-all-time-high/
A new report by IDC sees the global PC market as the healthiest its been since 2010. Overall the PC market has grown by 13.1 percent in the last year, with the final quarter seeing the best growth, jumping up 26.1 percent compared to last year. That means over 91 million desktops, notebooks, and workstations were sold in the fourth quarter alone, which isn't bad going by any metric. In total, over 300 million PCs were sold in the last year.
IDC breaks down these numbers by the big OEMs, with Lenovo maintaining its slim lead over HP, with Dell, Apple, and Acer bringing up the rear. Apple saw the biggest growth year on year at 29 percent, although it only accounts for 8 percent of the market, which is half the size of Dell, which rolls up in third place.

Fanatical has several new deals:

• The new Star Deal is The Banner Saga 2, 90% off for the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-banner-saga-2
• Baldur's Gate: The Complete Saga is on sale, 70% off for the next 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/baldurs-gate-the-complete-saga
• Bandai Namco has its games up to 85% off for the next 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/bandai-namco-entertainment
• SNK offers its games up to 80% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/snk-corporation
• Publisher Gearbox lands on the store, and it does so putting its games up to 91% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/gearbox-publishing
• And the Metal Slug Pack makes a comeback offering the bundle of 4 games 50% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/metal-slug-pack

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Battle.net just got a total makeover
https://www.pcgamer.com/battlenet-just-got-a-total-makeover/
Battle.net, the app for all of Blizzard and Activision's different games, hasn't changed in almost eight years. That's a long time, but today Blizzard gave B.net some zhuzh with a big Spring Cleaning makeover in the form of Battle.net 2.0. And it's rolling out right now for North American users.
Battle.net 2.0 doesn't feel drastically different than its predecessor, but the layout is definitely an improvement. Instead of listing games on the left side, they're now arranged at the top, making a lot more space for trailers and official Blizzard news about your selected game. Probably my favorite thing about it, though, is that the friends list is now a permanent fixture on the right-hand side, and does a better job of showing what your pals are actually up to. In the old version, you had to click on an icon to bring up a separate friends list window, which is pretty clumsy to work with.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New gameplay footage revealed for the new Terminator fan game, Tech-Com: 2029
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-footage-revealed-for-the-new-terminator-fan-game-tech-com-2029/
In November 2019, we informed you about a new Terminator fan game, Tech-Com: 2029. And today, we are happy to report that its development team has shared a new gameplay video for it. This gameplay video gives us a glimpse at its driving mechanics/sections.

18 years after release, this Simpsons Hit & Run mod stitches the game's entire world together
https://www.pcgamer.com/18-years-after-release-this-simpsons-hit-and-run-mod-stitches-the-games-entire-world-together/
The Simpsons: Hit & Run is one of those games that's led a charmed afterlife: on release in 2003 it had a favourable reception and sold well, but in subsequent years has come to be seen as something of a classic. Some consider it the best Simpsons game we've ever had (not that the competition's amazing). It took the popularity of GTA3 and spun out from that a simplified parody that looked, sounded, and felt amazing to drive around in.
The one thing it didn't have was a seamless overworld. Hit & Run is divided into three maps, with loading screens as you transition between them: this was still standard for its time.
Seventeen years after the game's release, modder Colou has released the first mod to fully connect the game's map. You can see it in action above, with the first sighting of the new transitions around 24 seconds in: the mod contains new connecting elements between the map segments, all animations, gags, and interactive triggers still work, other stuff like interiors have been slightly shuffled to help it all hang together.

GAMING NEWS

Resident Evil Village – First gameplay footage and new trailer coming on January 21st
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/resident-evil-village-first-gameplay-footage-and-new-trailer-coming-on-january-21st/
Capcom has announced that it will hold a new Resident Evil showcase on January 21st. During this event, the Japanese team will reveal the first proper gameplay footage for Resident Evil Village, as well as a new trailer.

Outriders PC System Requirements & Graphics Settings Revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/outriders-pc-requirements-graphics-settings/
Square Enix has revealed the official PC system requirements for Outriders, as well as its graphics settings. In addition, the publisher has released a PC trailer that focuses on the various technologies that will be featured in the PC version.
>> The requirements only cover 720p and 1080p. For 4K both the CPU and GPU are "TBD".

Multiplayer tactical space-based shooter, Boundary, releases in Summer 2021
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/multiplayer-tactical-space-based-shooter-boundary-releases-in-summer-2021/
Publisher Skystone Games has announced that Surgical Scalpels’ upcoming multiplayer tactical space-based shooter, Boundary, will release in Summer 2021. The game was targeting a 2020 release date. However, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been delayed to Summer 2021.

Persona 5 Strikers gets a new action-packed gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/persona-5-strikers-gets-a-new-action-packed-gameplay-trailer/
Atlus has released a new action-packed gameplay trailer for Persona 5 Strikers. This new Persona game is coming to the PC on February 23rd, and this trailer will give you an idea of what you can expect from it.