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

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The Wednesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has a new contest in partnership with Nvidia to win subscriptions to Geforce Now and some The Witcher games. Learn more here: https://www.gog.com/news/bwin_a_3month_priority_membership_subscription_to_nvidia_geforce_now_and_a_bundle_of_selected_witcher_gamesb

Steam has a new daily deal and 5 Midweek Madness deals... that all end before tomorrow's reset. So yeah, in practice it's like Steam has 5 daily deals:

• The new daily deal is Barn Finders, that has a demo, 40% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/991170/Barn_Finders/
• The first Midweek Madness is SnowRunner, 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1465360/SnowRunner/
• Green Hell gets a 30% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/815370/Green_Hell/
• State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition is 35% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/495420/State_of_Decay_2_Juggernaut_Edition/
• The "Off With Your Head" Bundle, that contains the games Skul: The Hero Slayer and Dead Cells, has a 41% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/21554/Off_With_Your_Head_Bundle/
• And Deep Rock Galactic is 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/548430/Deep_Rock_Galactic/

Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Flash Sale is MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, 23% off during the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/mech-warrior-5-mercenaries
• And the new Mega Bundle 5 comes with 20 games with a 98% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/mega-bundle-5

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce 471.11 WHQL driver released, optimized for Doom Eternal’s Ray Tracing & DLSS
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nvidia-geforce-471-11-whql-driver-optimized-doom-eternal-ray-tracing-dlss/
NVIDIA has released a brand new driver for its graphics cards. According to the release notes, the NVIDIA GeForce 471.11 WHQL driver offers optimal performance in Doom Eternal with its upcoming Ray Tracing and DLSS patch.
Additionally, this release also provides optimal support for LEGO Builder’s Journey which includes several ray-traced effects and performance-accelerating DLSS, the latest update for Rust which adds NVIDIA DLSS technology, F1 2021, and the new NVIDIA Reflex integration in Escape from Tarkov.
It’s also worth noting that release 470 will be the last driver branch to support desktop Kepler GPUs.
Furthermore, the NVIDIA GeForce 471.11 WHQL driver comes with a number of bug fixes. For instance, it fixes some random flickering issues in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. It also fixes the incorrect color issues in games when using sharpen Freestyle filter with HDR on NVIDIA Ampere GPUs.
>> Available from here.

Epic has made Easy Anti-Cheat free for game developers
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/epic-has-made-easy-anti-cheat-free-for-game-developers/
Back in 2019, Epic Games announced its Online Services project, a plan to make the cross-platform multiplayer systems it developed for Fortnite free for all developers, even if they released their games on Steam. Today, it launched two major additions to that suite: voice chat and anti-cheat.
The anti-cheat system comes by way of Easy Anti-Cheat, which Epic acquired in 2018. Easy Anti-Cheat is already used by a number of major games, including Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Rust, the just-released Chivalry 2, and, of course, Fortnite. Now it's free.
The voice chat system, which Epic is just calling Voice, works cross-platform and is the same system used in Fortnite. "The connections made with EOS Voice establish only between authenticated users and go through Voice servers without exposing personal information about the users," writes Epic. "EOS handles all the scaling, quality of service, maintenance, multi-region, and other machinery of the voice servers."

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim gets a next-gen pseudo 3D world map mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-next-gen-pseudo-3d-world-map-mod/
Modder ‘kjhgf’ has released a next-gen pseudo 3D world map for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition. According to the modder, and in order to provide a better world map, this map features 2.566.914.048 pixels, 26 meshes and map sound.
Additionally, this next-gen world map features high-resolution map textures, normal maps, cloudmap and cloud system, as well as map overlays.
Now while this mod is for Skyrim Special Edition, it should also be compatible with the Legacy Edition. All you have to do is delete (or replace) the meshes and it will work with the original version of Skyrim.
You can download the mod from here. Additionally, the modder recommends using HD LODS Textures SE to improve the general immersion.

GAMING NEWS

EA Motive may be working on Dead Space Remake
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ea-motive-may-be-working-on-dead-space-remake/
Some new rumors surfaced earlier this week, suggesting that EA Motive is working on a new Dead Space game. And, according to Gematsu, this Dead Space game will be a reimagining of the series.

Here are 8 minutes of gameplay footage from Legend of Mana Remaster
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-8-minutes-of-gameplay-footage-from-legend-of-mana-remaster/
Famitsu has shared a video, showing 8 minutes of gameplay footage from the upcoming remaster of Legend of Mana. This gameplay video will give you an idea of what you can expect from this JRPG.

Marvel’s Avengers Patch 1.8.0 released, full patch notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/marvels-avengers-patch-1-8-0-released-full-patch-notes-revealed/
Square Enix, Crystal Dynamics and EIDOS Montreal have released a new update for Marvel’s Avengers. According to the release notes, Patch 1.8.0 includes a major new threat players must confront: Scientist Supreme Monica Rappaccini’s Cosmic Cube.

Tencent has taken a majority stake in Spec Ops: The Line developer YAGER
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/tencent-has-taken-a-majority-stake-in-spec-ops-the-line-developer-yager/
YAGER and Tencent have announced that they’re deepening their strategic cooperation through a new agreement involving additional investment.

Overwatch June 22nd Patch released, enables cross-play between consoles and PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/overwatch-june-22nd-patch-released-enables-cross-play-between-consoles-and-pc/
Blizzard has released a brand new update for Overwatch that finally enables cross-play between consoles and PC. Do note that in order for this to work, all console players will have to make a Battle.net account and link it to their console account.

New PC gameplay footage for Square Enix’s Forspoken surfaces
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-pc-gameplay-footage-for-square-enixs-forspoken-surfaces/
AMD has shared a new video in which Luminous Productions’ Takeshi Aramaki talks a bit about Forspoken, formerly known as Project Athia. In this video, AMD has included some PC gameplay footage from this highly anticipated game.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World Remake has been released
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/alex-kidd-in-miracle-world-remake-has-been-released/
Merge Games, in conjunction with developer Jankenteam, announced the release of the Alex Kidd in Miracle World official remake, Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX. In order to celebrate this announcement, the teams have also released a new trailer that you can find below.

New BeamNG.drive patch will add Physically-based Rendering, Ambient Diffuse Lighting & Direct Specular Lighting
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-beamng-drive-patch-will-add-physically-based-rendering-ambient-diffuse-lighting-direct-specular-lighting/
BeamNG announced a new major patch that will be coming soon to BeamNG.drive. This patch aims to overhaul the game’s graphics by adding numerous modern-day effects and techniques. In order to showcase these new graphical features, the team released a new trailer that you can find below.