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

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Friday news, part two:

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fixes a bug that gave players the wrong footstep sounds
https://www.pcgamer.com/counter-strike-global-offensive-fixes-a-bug-that-gave-players-the-wrong-footstep-sounds/
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has received an update fixing various minor bugs, as well as a fairly major one that's been around for quite a while: except no-one really noticed. A key element of the game is the sound of footsteps, which are different depending on the surface being walked on. Hold your heavy weapons close, because it turns out certain surfaces have been resonating in the wrong way.

Turns out you can beat Hades by smashing apart a pomegranate
https://www.pcgamer.com/turns-out-you-can-beat-hades-by-smashing-apart-a-pomegranate/
In Hades, a pomegranate will upgrade one of the Boons bestowed upon you by the Olympian gods. While such supernatural gifts don't apply to our lowly mortal poms, one determined streamer discovered that the lowly fruit can be used to escape the underworld—assuming you're willing to put up with the mess.

Legends of Runeterra's next expansion is Empires of the Ascended
https://www.pcgamer.com/legends-of-runeterras-next-expansion-is-empires-of-the-ascended/
Riot's digital CCG Legends of Runeterra is about to get 110 new cards, nine new champions, and a new region, which is what its factions are called. All that's coming in Empires of the Ascended, an expansion you can see the slick trailer for above.

WoW: Burning Crusade Classic and the next Shadowlands update have leaked ahead of BlizzCon
https://www.pcgamer.com/wow-burning-crusade-classic-and-the-next-shadowlands-update-have-leaked-ahead-of-blizzcon/
BlizzCon 2021 is happening tomorrow, but two big World of Warcraft announcements have apparently been leaked accidentally by Blizzard itself. Early this morning, users discovered press releases for World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic and World of Warcraft's 9.1 update, Chains of Domination, on the Blizzard press portal. Those links have already been taken down, but the screen shots and press releases are now circulating on Reddit and Wowhead.
>> As it uses to happen, the conference is today.

Dead by Daylight's graphical overhaul is halfway done, here's what's coming next
https://www.pcgamer.com/dead-by-daylights-graphical-overhaul-is-halfway-done-lots-more-to-come/
Dead By Daylight is officially getting old. It first shambled out to PCs on June 14, 2016, and in the years since, Behaviour Interactive has embellished its bloodsoaked 4-versus-1 slasher simulator with new killers, new maps, new perks, and a shockingly comprehensive interlocking metagame. Five years later, Dead By Daylight is one of the best multiplayer experiences in the world, despite the flat textures, spartan environments, and technical fumbles that have sometimes made it hard to love.

GDC is going digital in 2021 with online events running throughout the year
https://www.pcgamer.com/gdc-is-going-digital-in-2021-with-online-events-running-throughout-the-year/
Last year's Game Developers Conference, like most in-person game industry events in 2020, was postponed, and then converted to an online-only event, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the pandemic still raging, GDC has announced that it will take "a new approach" for 2021 with a series of online events that will run throughout the year.

Outriders is getting a generous demo next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/outriders-is-getting-a-generous-demo-next-week/
A demo for Outriders, People Can Fly's sci-fi cooperative third-person shooter, will hit Steam on February 25. It'll be a substantial chunk of the game, too: there's no time limit, it'll feature all four classes and six character slots, and you'll be able to keep your progress when the game launches proper.

This ridiculous Valheim seed places every boss a short jog from the starting point
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-ridiculous-valheim-seed-places-every-boss-a-short-jog-from-the-starting-point/
I love the Valheim map I've been playing in, but the procedural generation hasn't been especially generous. (...)
Not that this is a bad thing! It's led to tons of exploration, several base constructions, and plenty of exciting sailing expeditions, and that's what Valheim is all about. But someone's found a seed where every boss and biome is just a stone's-throw from the starting point of the map.

Electronic Arts completes the acquisition of Codemasters for $1.2 billion
https://www.pcgamer.com/electronic-arts-completes-the-acquisition-of-codemasters-for-dollar12-billion/
Electronic Arts has completed the acquisition of Codemasters, one of the UK's longest-running and most-storied studios. A press release confirmed that the sale price was "604 pence (approximately US$8.37) in cash for each ordinary share of Codemasters with an implied enterprise value of US$1.2 billion."

Crusader Kings 2's wealth of DLC is now available as a monthly subscription
https://www.pcgamer.com/crusader-kings-2s-wealth-of-dlc-is-now-available-as-a-monthly-subscription/
It's a common truism that Paradox games don't really get good until they're a few expansions deep. But if you're not certain which of Crusader Kings 2's many DLCs are worth keeping, Paradox will now let you try the lot for a modest monthly subscription.

Apple subpoenas Valve as part of its legal battle with Epic: Valve fights back
https://www.pcgamer.com/apple-subpoenas-valve-as-part-of-its-legal-battle-with-epic-valve-fights-back/
A new court filing has revealed that, as part of the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, Apple subpoenaed Valve Software in November 2020, demanding it provide huge amounts of commercial data about Steam sales and operations going over multiple years.

Shovel Knight is in For Honor, without a shovel
https://www.pcgamer.com/shovel-knight-is-in-for-honor-without-a-shovel/
The man who would call a spade a spade, Oscar Wilde once observed, should be condemned to use one. Yet I find myself drawn to the concrete, the literal, the spade-iness of spades. I have this idea that if a character is called Shovel Knight, then their defining characteristic will be a shovel.

Final Fantasy 14 director says Endwalker's climax is what you don't get from other MMOs
https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-14-director-says-endwalkers-climax-is-what-you-dont-get-from-other-mmos/
MMO stories don't get to end. The demands of a live-service game require there to always be more content, the worlds of Destiny 2 and World Of Warcraft bound to never know peace until their servers finally go dark. Which is why it came as such surprise when Square Enix revealed that Final Fantasy 14 would be closing the book on a ten-year plot with its next expansion, Endwalker.
Speaking to PC Gamer, game director Naoki Yoshida explains that it's precisely because of FF14's strong emphasis on story that it needs to wrap things up. While Square Enix could easily trail things off indefinitely, the game's story would ultimately suffer not being brought to a close.

And these are the weekend deals from GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• The first one is the Weekly Sale with its platformers up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/platformers_galore
• The Midweek Sale with its games set in space up to 90% off will last another 22 hours: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210217_midweek_sale
• The Weekend Sale features a plethora of Batman games up to 75% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/batman_weekend
• And the Imperator: Rome Sale with its up to 75% discounts will last another 5 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/imperator_rome_sale

+Steam

• The first of the two new daily deals is Windbound, 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1162130/Windbound/
• The other one is Out of the Park Baseball 21, 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1087280/Out_of_the_Park_Baseball_21/
• The first of the weekend deals is Blasphemous, that has a demo, 60% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/774361/Blasphemous/
• Street Fighter V is also 60% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/310950/Street_Fighter_V/
• There's a Batman Sale with discounts that go from 50 to 80% until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/2021batmansale
• Electronic Arts puts its games up to 85% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/EA/sale/publishersale
• The Guilty Gear franchise is on sale, up to 90% off until Monday 22: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/arcsystemworks/sale/guiltygearfranchisesale
• And of course, there's also the weeklong deals.

Nothing else to add, except wishing you all a happy and gaming weekend.