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

[JEMC]

Monday news, part two:

Close call: The first Witcher game almost didn't star Geralt
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/close-call-the-first-witcher-game-almost-didnt-star-geralt/
The Witcher as we know it might not exist today if not for a decision made a few years into the development of the original game. During a developer presentation at WitcherCon, CD Projekt Red quest designers Phillipp Weber and Błażej Augustynek revealed that Geralt wasn't intended to be the star of the series at the start.

The Witcher 3 is getting free new DLC based on the Netflix show
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-witcher-3-is-getting-free-new-dlc-based-on-the-netflix-show/
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been out on PC for almost six years now: Its grand finale, the Blood and Wine DLC, has been around for more than five years. Despite its advanced age, new content is on the way: A "next-gen update" is coming later this year for the Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC, and there's going to be some new DLC content based on the Netflix series, too.

Favela was Rainbow Six Siege's most hated map, now it's coming to Ranked
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/favela-was-rainbow-six-sieges-most-hated-map-now-its-coming-to-ranked/
Rainbow Six Siege's most historically disliked map will be among the first to make the jump from casual play to the Ranked map pool in an upcoming patch. Favela, a highly destructible map added back in 2016, received a complete rework in Siege's recent North Star update. The map update was intended to be a "casual rework" only for Quick Play, but Ubisoft is now confident the map is balanced enough for Siege's most competitive mode.

Exclusive: Chernobylite's survival systems were inspired by research trips to Chernobyl
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/exclusive-chernobylites-survival-systems-were-inspired-by-research-trips-to-chernobyl/
Chernobylite is a survival-horror RPG in the tradition of Stalker, set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The latest developer diary, exclusively provided to PC Gamer by The Farm 51 and All In! Games, focuses on the survival half of the equation.

Don't hold your breath for Final Fantasy 16 at Tokyo Game Show
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dont-hold-your-breath-for-final-fantasy-16-at-tokyo-game-show/
During a recent and extremely long livestream in support of Final Fantasy 14, producer Naoki Yoshida gave away a little bit of info about the other game he's producing at the moment: Final Fantasy 16. Mostly, what he said was not to expect to see it at Tokyo Game Show this September/October.

Red Dead Redemption 2 has some unexpected edutainment value, according to academics
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/red-dead-redemption-2-has-some-unexpected-edutainment-value-according-to-academics/
Red Dead Redemption 2 was one of the most highly-detailed games that year when it first came out in 2018, with extensively interacting systems—including realistic animal behaviour. While some critics asked if that experience was worth the human cost of "death march" crunch needed to develop it, it had an additional surprising outcome. According to a paper published for the 'People and Nature' journal, players who had played either Red Dead Redemption 2 or Red Dead Online were better at identifying real life animals than those who hadn't.
>> Edutainment? Really?

Summer Games Done Quick breaks its online record by raising nearly 3 million dollars
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/summer-games-done-quick-breaks-its-online-record-by-raising-nearly-3-million-dollars/
This year's Summer Games Done Quick raised a total of $2,897,704 for Doctors Without Borders, after seven days of events—beating their record for money raised during previous online-only streams.
>> Well done! Congratulations.

Bloober Team shoots down new Silent Hill rumors, but there's still hope
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/bloober-team-shoots-down-new-silent-hill-rumors-but-theres-still-hope/
(...)according to Bloober Team CMO Tomasz Gawlikowski, responding to queries from IGN. Gawlikowski addressed each project, ruling out project H20 as anything particularly exciting, since it was the codename for the already-released Layers of Fear 2.

There are 'one or two' staff at Respawn working on Titanfall's security problems
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/there-are-one-or-two-staff-at-respawn-working-on-titanfalls-security-problems/
(...)
"You're not abandoned," Garza began. "It's a game of whack-a-mole with this." He went on to explain that, while he didn't want to repeat that the team was working on the issue because "you can only hear that so many times before it becomes useless," they definitely are working on it. "Because now it's a different type of game with these people who DDOS and stuff like that, and blacklist and things like that, so we can't telegraph our moves, we can't say what we're doing. All I can say is we're working on it."

Psychonauts 2 will have an invincibility toggle
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/psychonauts-2-will-have-an-invincibility-toggle/
Psychonauts 2 may feature a spinning tunnel of teeth but that doesn't mean you have to die in it, Double Fine has confirmed. The long-in-development sequel will have an invincibility toggle, meaning that you can beat the game without dying once, even if you're a beginner.

Warzone glitch lets player parachute into the gulag while invincible
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/warzone-glitch-lets-player-parachute-into-the-gulag-while-invincible/
Add this one to the list alongside the infinite stim glitch, the invisible player glitch, that one watch that made you visible through walls, and especially the bug that let a player bring their full loadout into the gulag. The latest Call of Duty: Warzone glitch lets you parachute into the gulag, and makes you invincible at the same time.

Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker system requirements and benchmarking tool released
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/final-fantasy-14-endwalker-system-requirements/
The fourth expansion for Final Fantasy 14 is months away, but if you want to know how well your rig will be able to handle Endwalker, Square Enix have published system requirements and a benchmarking tool you can download.
>> Yuri already posted the benchmark tool, but here you'll also find the req, specs.

Death Stranding: Director's Cut isn't a director's cut, says Hideo Kojima
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/death-stranding-directors-cut-isnt-a-directors-cut-says-hideo-kojima/
Between Ghost of Tsushima and Death Stranding, Sony's big thing of late is updating and rereleasing its first-party games with "Director's Cut" editions. But that particular phrasing doesn't appear to have sat well with Death Stranding director (and noted cinephile) Hideo Kojima.

Final Fantasy 14 had such a spike in players that Square Enix temporarily ran out of digital copies
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/final-fantasy-14-had-such-a-spike-in-players-that-square-enix-temporarily-ran-out-of-digital-copies/
(...)
As spotted by u/Polydopamine over the weekend, Square Enix's online store had zero stock of Final Fantasy 14 (though you could join a waiting list), and wasn't allowing players to create new characters on any servers either.
This was as one would expect a temporary blip, and I've checked and the game is now available as a digital edition again, but what it does show is a massive spike in popularity at just around the same time as World of Warcraft is going through some difficulties with its playerbase.