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

[JEMC]

The Monday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

11 years after release, FF14 hits its highest-ever Steam player count
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/11-years-after-release-ff14-hits-its-highest-ever-steam-player-count/
Final Fantasy 14 smashed its concurrent player record on Steam this weekend following the release of Endwalker, according to SteamDB. The game was originally released in late 2010 in a much-maligned state, what many now call the 'failed' version, before in 2013 a complete overhaul saw it become Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: Since when, the only direction of travel has been upwards.
December 5 saw the game reach a peak of 95,150 players on the platform, up from the previous record of 67,148 players in July 2021. It's worth noting that Steam won't fully account for even the game's PC player base—many own the game through the Square Enix store, and then you have players spread across the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions.

World Land Trust charity bundle gets you over $450 of games for a minimum donation of $5
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/world-land-trust-charity-bundle-gets-you-over-dollar450-worth-of-games-for-a-minimum-donation-of-dollar5/
Indie publisher Future Friends Games and Plant Based Gaming have put together a charity bundle that includes over 60 games to raise money for the World Land Trust. Among the games included are best hidden object game Hidden Folks, transforming flying-animal sim Fugl, cappucinopunk visual novel Coffee Talk, mutant soap opera Mutazione, tree-prodding adventure Botanicula, chill and chilly puzzler A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, Voight-Kampff simulator Silicon Dreams, bee management game Hive Time, and narrative deck-builder Signs of the Sojourner.
The bundle is available from itch.io for a minimum of $4.99, and 100% of the money goes to the action fund of the World Land Trust, "an international conservation charity that protects the world's most biologically significant and threatened habitats." You can find out more about the WLT's mission and projects on its website.

GOG has two deals:

• The new Flash Deal is Armored Brigade, 45% off during the next 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/game/armored_brigade
• And the new Weekly Sale features games from Daedalic Entertainment up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/daedalic_sale

Steam has two daily deals:

• The first one is Eastshade, 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/715560/Eastshade/
• The second one is Supraland, that has a demo, with a 61% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/813630/Supraland/

At Humble we find three new sales:

• The Humble Bundle features the new Digitized: Tabletop Inspired Games Bundle, with up to 8 games to get during the next 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/digitized-tabletop-bundle
• The Humble Store has two new sales:
  • The Tabletop Sale comes with up to 80% discounts during the next 4 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG and EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/tabletop-sale/
  • The 1C Entertainment publisher sale brings up to 90% discounts for another 4 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/1c-entertainment-publisher-sale/

Fanatical has several new deals:

• The new Star Deal, that started yesterday, is the Tomb Raider Pack, featuring the last 3 Tomb Raider games: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/tomb-raider-pack
• The former is part of a Square Enix Sale, with up to 90% discounts during the next 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/square-enix
• Aspyr Games also puts its games on sale, up to 80% off during the next 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/aspyr
• And the new Dollar Chronicle Bundle features 12 games with a 98% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/dollar-chronicle-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.12.1 Release Notes
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-21-12-1
Support For

• Halo Infinite
  • Up to 17% increase in performance in Halo Infinite @ 4K Ultra Settings, using Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.12.1 on the 16 GB Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card, versus the previous software driver version 21.11.3.RS-434
  • Up to 19% increase in performance in Halo Infinite @ 4K Ultra Settings, using Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.12.1 on the 16 GB Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card, versus the previous software driver version 21.11.3.RS-435
  • Up to 16% increase in performance in Halo Infinite @ 4K Ultra Settings, using Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.12.1 on the 12 GB Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card, versus the previous software driver version 21.11.3.RS-436
• Fortnite
• Icarus
• Blender 3.0 on Radeon RX 6000 series Graphics

Fixed Issues

• While running SteamVR Home on some AMD Graphics products such as Radeon VII Graphics, some users may experience a crash.
• During Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy gameplay, some users may experience driver timeouts on some AMD Graphics products such as Radeon RX 5500 XT Graphics.
• While playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds with multiple displays connected in extended mode, Radeon Software may become unresponsive when the user is in the lobby and attempts to open Radeon Software on the secondary display via the context menu.
• Visual corruption may be observed on a vehicle's logo or license plate number while playing Forza Horizon 5 on some AMD Graphics products such as Radeon RX 500 series Graphics.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Dark Souls 3 gets a 19GB Mod that overhauls all armors and weapons
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/dark-souls-3-gets-a-19gb-mod-that-overhauls-all-armors-and-weapons/
Modder ‘Pink Bish’ has released a new HD Texture Pack for Dark Souls 3 that overhauls all of the game’s armors and weapons. This mod, which is 19GB in size, uses AI techniques in order to improve the textures of all weapons and armors.
Since this pack uses AI techniques, the new textures retain the art style of the original ones. As such, we highly recommend downloading it. Yes, it’s quite big but this is a must-have for those Dark Souls 3 purists that want better textures.
>> You'll find it at Nexus Mods.

Grand Theft Auto 5 gets an amazing Batman Mod with custom animations
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/grand-theft-auto-5-gets-an-amazing-batman-mod-with-custom-animations/
Talented modder ‘JulioNIB’ has released the final pre-release version of his Batman mod for Grand Theft Auto 5. This mod lets you become the Dark Knight, and comes with numerous abilities as well as some custom moves.
For this mod, JulioNIB created some custom animations. Theoretically, this will open the door for some even more impressive mods.
Thanks to this mod, Batman can use his grapple gun hook and glide with his cape. He can also use batarangs and call special weapons and vehicles. Not only that, but he has access to batclaw kick and dive bomb attacks, as well as the disarm target, smoke, freeze, incendiary and electric shock gadget attacks.
>> It's available from his Patreon Page, but not for free (that will happen with the final release)

After 19 years in development, absurdly ambitious Morrowind mod reveals new roadmap
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/after-19-years-in-development-absurdly-ambitious-morrowind-mod-reveals-new-roadmap/
There's still quite a long wait ahead of us for The Elder Scrolls 6, so instead of looking impatiently into the future why not turn the clock way back to 2002? Tamriel Rebuilt is an incredibly ambitious mod for The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind that adds a huge landmass to the map, several hundred new quests, scores of original NPCs, creatures based on The Elder Scrolls lore, and hours of exploration and gameplay.
If this isn't the first you've heard about Tamriel Rebuilt, I'm not surprised. The mod project has been in development for almost 20 years now. (We spoke to the modders several years ago, in fact.) According to the modders, they want to realize the original intent of Morrowind: that the game would encompass the entire nation and not just the island of Vvardenfell. That's what the modders have been doing for almost two decades, adding in the entire mainland, piece by piece, and they reckon they're now at about the 50% mark. And they've just shared a look at what their plans are for 2022 and beyond.

GAMING NEWS

GRID Legends releases on February 25th, first gameplay footage revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/grid-legends-releases-on-february-25th-first-gameplay-footage-revealed/
Electronic Arts and Codemasters have announced that GRID Legends will release on February 25th. In addition, the teams have revealed the first gameplay footage for this new racing game that you can find below.

Forza Horizon 5 December 3rd Update #2 released, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/forza-horizon-5-december-3rd-update-2-released-full-patch-notes/
Playground Games has just released the second major update for Forza Horizon 5. According to the release notes, the December 3rd patch improves stability, and comes with numerous tweaks and fixes for multiplayer. It also packs some PC-only fixes, as well as general gameplay fixes.

PSN hints at Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales coming to PC, but this seems to be a mistake
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/psn-hints-at-marvels-spider-man-miles-morales-coming-to-pc-but-this-seems-to-be-a-mistake/
PC gamers got excited earlier today when PSN indicated that Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales would be coming to PC. However, Insomniac Games’ Community Director James Stevenson went ahead and stated that there is an issue with the PSN template, and that Insomniac does not have any plans to bring this game to PC.

The next Battlefield game, Battlefield 2023, is planned as a hero shooter
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-next-battlefield-game-battlefield-2022-is-planned-as-a-hero-shooter/
The removal of classes and the inclusion of Specialists was one of the most controversial decisions in Battlefield 2042. And, from the looks of it, EA and DICE will expand on this. According to industry insider Tom Henderson, the next Battlefield game is planned as a hero shooter.
>> The use of 2023 only refers to the year it will release.

Ten minutes of PC gameplay footage from Dragon Ball: The Breakers
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/ten-minutes-of-pc-gameplay-footage-from-dragon-ball-the-breakers/
HHM Gaming has shared a video, showing ten minutes of PC gameplay footage from Dragon Ball: The Breakers’ Playtest Beta. This video will give you an idea of how the game plays, so be sure to watch it.