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

[JEMC]

Here come the Monday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Ultima Underworld and Syndicate return to GOG, and now they're free
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ultima-underworld-and-syndicate-return-to-gog-and-now-theyre-free/
In June, Ultima Underworld and Syndicate were removed from GOG at the "publisher's request," that publisher being Electronic Arts. The reasons for the removal weren't made clear, leading to speculation that EA was looking to make them Origin exclusives or, dare to dream, do something new with the series. Regardless of the specifics, it was a loss: Both games are very old (Underworld came out in 1992, Syndicate followed in '93) but they are absolute landmarks in their genres and still very fun, as long as you can adjust to the very dated interfaces.
The good news is that they're back, and the even better news is that they're all free for the next few weeks: Until September 3, Syndicate Plus, Syndicate Wars, and Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 (they come in a package) are free to take and keep forever.
(...)
The announcement doesn't say anything about refunds, but retro-gamers who rushed to grab any or all of them before their removal in June will not be left hanging. Syndicate owners say in the comments that their order history listings now include links to ask for refunds, so they can be re-claimed for free, and Ultima Underworld does as well. Purchase date doesn't seem to be a factor: I bought it in 2013 and the link is still there. (And no, I am not going to click it.)
>> Excellent news.

Splitgate, Back 4 Blood rank in top 10 on Steam over the weekend
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/splitgate-back-4-blood-rank-in-top-10-on-steam-over-the-weekend/
Shooters dominated the newcomers' places on the Steam charts this weekend, with free to play Splitgate and the paid beta of Back 4 Blood both taking spots in the top 10 games.
It's a pretty predictable outcome for Turtle Rock's highly anticipated Back 4 Blood, which many see as the successor to the Left 4 Dead games. It might surprise you if you haven't seen Splitgate's recent rise in popularity—or even heard of the previously niche shooter at all.
The free-to-play Splitgate is a competitive shooter with the big hook of portal movement, allowing you to appear behind enemies and traverse environments quickly. Splitgate also set an all-time record for peak players today with nearly 68,000 concurrent players, a far and away record for the two year old game that has seen a meteoric rise in popularity over the last month. Prior to this July, Splitgate's record for concurrent players was 11,000—still a healthy number, but nothing like the number playing it now.
>> Back 4 Blood hit almost 100K concurrent players.

GOG brings a new weekly sale and two new releases:

• The new Weekly Sale is full of visual novels up to 75% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210809_weekly_sale
• The Frogwares Sale with its up to 80% off will still last another 7 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/frogwares_summer
• The game 8-Bit Adventures 1: The Forgotten Journey Remastered Edition launches with a 60% discount until August 16: https://www.gog.com/game/8bit_adventures_1_the_forgotten_journey_remastered_edition
• And No One Lives in Heaven arrives with a 50% discount until August 23: https://www.gog.com/game/no_one_lives_in_heaven

Steam has a new daily deal: NKODICE is 40% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1510950/NKODICE/.

The Humble Store has three new sales:

• The 2K Sale brings up to 80% discounts during t he next 3 days. The keys are for Steam, EGS and/or GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/2k-sale/
• The Tabletop Sale brings up to 80% discounts during the next 4 days. All of them are for Steam, except for two that are also available for GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/tabletop-sale/
• And Private Division puts its games up to 60% off during the next 11 days. The keys are for Steam and/or EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/private-division-sale/

And Fanatical has two new deals, besides their Summer Sale, of course:

• The new Star Deal is The Yakuza Remastered Collection featuring thr remasters of 3, 4 and 5, 47% off during t he next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-yakuza-remastered-collection
• And the new BYO Bumper Bundle comes with 20 games to build your 1, 5 or 10 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bumper-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Playstation 3 emulator, RPCS3, now supports AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/playstation-3-emulator-rpcs3-now-supports-amds-fidelityfx-super-resolution/
The RPCS3 team has announced that its Playstation 3 emulator now supports AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution. According to the team, the AMD FSR implementation works pretty well for almost every game, and is currently available only for Vulkan.
Do note that shimmering and swimming issues present in low-resolution upscales will remain in the upscaled image. Additionally, AMD FSR does not work with 3D output.

New The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion HD Texture Packs overhaul the Imperial City & Anvil
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-hd-texture-packs-overhaul-the-imperial-city-anvil/
Modder ‘VKVII’ has released three HD Texture Packs for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion that overhaul the textures of Imperial City, Anvil, as well as the textures for sidewalk and stonewalls.
These are essential mods for all those that want to replay this classic Elder Scrolls game. Naturally, you can use these HD textures with Marty McFly’s Reshade Ray Tracing mod in order to further enhance the game’s visuals.
In order to showcase the improved textures, the modder has also provided some comparison screenshots. As we can see, the new textures look significantly better and crisper than the vanilla ones.
>> Check the article for the links to the three mods, all available at ModDB.

Mods restore Crazy Taxi's analog controls, product placement, and more
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/mods-restore-crazy-taxis-analog-controls-product-placement-and-more/
When the 1999 arcade game Crazy Taxi was rereleased on Steam it was missing some features of the original game that had been present in the previous PC port, as well as the Dreamcast version. Namely, a bunch of rad songs by Bad Religion (and also some tunes by The Offspring I guess), product placement from various real-world brands, and analog controls that actually worked.
While a workaround to bring back the original soundtrack circulated a while back, fixes for the other missing elements of Crazy Taxi were either unreliable or incomplete. That's changed thanks to a collaboration between Alexvgz and Silent, who you may know from patches like the one that brought Deus Ex: Human Revolution's piss filter back.
Crazy Taxi Dreamcast Restoration 2.0 restores the Pizza Hut, KFC, Levi, and Tower Records logos on in-game destinations, and also restores FILA, which had not only been renamed Shoe Rack but removed as a passenger destination for some reason. The Crazy Taxi SilentPatch makes analog controls work properly—the issue turned out to be one of misconfigured deadzones—and restores cheats to change the camera mode and enable a speedometer, as well as fixing some bugs. You can even play it with a steering wheel now.
>> You can download it from Github.

GAMING NEWS

Concept arts from the cancelled Arkham-like Power Rangers game, Project Nomad
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/concept-arts-cancelled-arkham-power-rangers-game-project-nomad/
In a series of tweets, Saban’s former exec, Jason Bischoff, shared some concept arts from a cancelled triple-A Power Rangers game. Codenamed Project Nomad, this Power Rangers game would have been an ambitious, open-world co-op that captured the energy, teamwork, and history of the franchise through a fresh lens.

Star Citizen Alpha 3.14.0 has been released, adds new locations, improves graphics
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-citizen-alpha-3-14-0-has-been-released-adds-new-locations-improves-graphics/
Cloud Imperium has released Star Citizen Alpha 3.14.0 to all backers. According to the team, this new alpha version adds some new locations. Additionally, it introduces some new gameplay modes, and improves the game’s graphics.

Microsoft Store may have leaked Diablo 2 Resurrected’s beta date
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/microsoft-store-may-have-leaked-diablo-2-resurrecteds-beta-date/
It appears that Microsoft Store may have leaked the release date for Diablo 2 Resurrected’s upcoming beta phase. According to the store, Diablo 2 Resurrected Beta will begin on August 17th.

Here is your first look at Gearbox’s canceled Duke Nukem Begins
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/first-look-gearbox-canceled-duke-nukem-begins/
Gregor Punchatz has shared a video from a vertical slice CG demo of a canceled Duke Nukem game, Duke Nukem Begins. According to Punchatz, Gearbox began working on this Duke Nukem game in 2008. However, and without the public knowing anything about it, the company decided to cancel it.
>> It's in third person and looks quite meh.

New WRC 10 gameplay trailer focuses on the Subaru Impreza
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-wrc-10-gameplay-trailer-focuses-on-the-subaru-impreza/
NACON and the KT Racing studio have released a new gameplay trailer for WRC 10. According to the teams, in this new trailer, we can watch the iconic Subaru Impreza WRC in the 1997 Rallye Sanremo.

New gameplay trailer released for BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-trailer-released-for-blue-reflection-second-light/
KOEI Tecmo has released a gameplay trailer for BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light. This trailer will give you an idea of how this new JRPG will look and play, as well as a glimpse at its combat mechanics.