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

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Monday news, part two:

Call of Duty: Warzone's new Pacific map is delayed
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/call-of-duty-warzones-new-pacific-map-is-delayed/
Call of Duty: Warzone's new Pacific map has been delayed by a week. It was expected to go live on December 2, but Activision said today that it won't actually show up until December 9.

Girls Who Code drops Activision Blizzard partnership over 'failure' of company leadership
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/girls-who-code-drops-activision-blizzard-partnership-over-failure-of-company-leadership/
Girls Who Code, a non-profit organization that works to increase the number of women working in computer science fields, has ended its partnership with Activision Blizzard because of the ongoing allegations of "assault, harassment, and a toxic work environment" at the company.

Microsoft's head of gaming has hope for future of emulation
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/microsofts-head-of-gaming-has-hope-for-future-of-emulation/
It's been a big news week for Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of gaming. Spencer has taken a hard stance on Activision's roiling controversy and also chimed in on the debate about NFTs in gaming. In a conversation with Axios, he expressed a desire to see industry-wide support for console emulation like Xbox's backwards compatibility program.
>> It remains to be seen if he also supports that console emulation on PC.

Battlefield 2042's next update will fix revives and nerf the monstrous hovercraft
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/battlefield-2042s-next-update-will-fix-revives-and-nerf-the-monstrous-hovercraft/
Electronic Arts says the pre-release Battlefield 2042 patch it released yesterday has "helped improve the smoothness of the experience," and promised that more changes are coming, including fixes for soldier revives and a nerf of the overpowered hovercraft.

Monster Rancher is back, and it's on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/monster-rancher-is-back-and-its-on-steam/
PlayStation-era cult classic Monster Rancher is on its way back, announced Koei Tecmo earlier this year, and it's now set for a release on Steam on December 8, 2021. The creature-collecting game has been ported to both PC and Nintendo Switch. The updated edition is a collection of the first two games in the series, and is called Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX.

In Hive Defender you're the devouring swarm for once
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/in-hive-defender-youre-the-devouring-swarm-for-once/
Upcoming indie strategy game Hive Defender has a promising premise: You and your friends control an alien hive from waves of humans in real-time defense, rather than try to burn it down. Each of the four swarms in the destructible, procedurally generated labyrinth is separately customizable, with each getting their own lineup of abilities. Aiming for release in 2022, Hive Defender is the project of a solo indie developer.

Factory Town automates its way out of Early Access
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/factory-town-automates-its-way-out-of-early-access/
After a pretty triumphant few years in Early Access, Factory Town has hit 1.0, bringing its unique brand of factory building to a satisfying conclusion. It's a cute little game that starts with villagers hauling resources by hand and ends with mass automation via conveyors, rails, pipes, and elaborate logistics filters.

Check out this fever dream of a hand-drawn game
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/check-out-this-fever-dream-of-a-hand-drawn-game/
Compiling some 8,000 pieces of hand-drawn artwork, artist Alle Jong's upcoming Sketchy Fables is a bold-looking experimental game that clearly wants to not only defy visual conventions, but the structure of a game. Described by Jong as a "comic-book that has broken up over a landscape," Sketchy Fables seems to draw from visual novels, art games, comic books, and cartoons to portray a world for you to explore and find the story of.

Here's a look at Riot's in-progress fighting game, Project L
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/heres-a-look-at-riots-in-progress-fighting-game-project-l/
Long one of the worst-kept secrets in the games industry, Riot's fighting game codenamed Project L has another in-progress look out. Set in the League of Legends world, Runeterra, the video reintroduces Project L to those who saw its past previews. This latest video has the same characters as last time: Jinx, Darius, and Ahri, but adds the time-rewinding Ekko.

Resident Evil 4 VR getting Mercenaries mode free next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/resident-evil-4-vr-getting-mercenaries-mode-free-next-year/
The alert folks at Biohazard Declassified spotted a trailer for Resident Evil 4 VR that was seemingly uploaded to the Oculus YouTube channel ahead of time and quickly set to private, but not before they ripped a copy and uploaded it themselves. As you can see above, it announces that the fan-favorite Mercenaries mode will be coming in 2022 as a "free update on Meta Quest 2". (Yep, the Oculus Quest is being renamed the Meta Quest as part of the Facebook company rebranding to Meta.)

Star Citizen has now raised over $400M
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/star-citizen-has-now-raised-over-dollar400m/
Less than 18 months after clearing the $300 million mark, Star Citizen has now raised over $400 million in crowdfunding. At the time of writing, 3,364,629 players have contributed a total of $402,657,305 according to its funding goals page.
>> Insane.

According to a report, Bobby Kotick says he'll consider leaving Activision
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/according-to-a-report-bobby-kotick-says-hell-consider-leaving-activision/
Five days after the Wall Street Journal reported that Bobby Kotick once told an assistant he was going to have her killed, the publication has now reported Activision's CEO told senior managers he'd consider leaving the company if he couldn't fix its culture of misconduct "with speed".
>> These were my first and second reactions after reading this.

Phasmophobia teases voodoo and summoning circles in its Christmas update
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/phasmophobia-teases-voodoo-and-summoning-circles-in-its-christmas-update/
Kinetic Games has teased a couple of the new items coming in Phasmophobia's Christmas update. Peeping the game's Trello board, there's an entry for the "Christmas [REDACTED] Update" that was originally created earlier this month (thanks, PCGamesN). It's since been updated to show two new cursed possessions coming with the update: a summoning circle and a new variant on the voodoo doll.