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

[JEMC]

The Thursday news, all in one post:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel is kicking ass on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/yu-gi-oh-master-duel-is-kicking-ass-on-steam/
Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel has launched on Steam and, as what developer Konami calls the definitive digital edition of the trading card game, seems to have landed big-time. The free-to-play card-shuffler has been riding high in various Steam charts, most notably hitting a peak of 262,333 concurrent players (over the last 24 hours, the peak was 233,099), and boasts mostly positive reviews.

The Epic Store is going to give DAEMON X MACHINA during this week: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/daemon-x-machina
And next week, they'll give away Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair.

GOG has announced that new titles from Bethesda, Devolver and Paradox have joined their Lunar New Year Sale. Check them out from here: https://www.gog.com/en/news/welcome_the_newcomers_to_gogs_new_year_sale

While we wait for the big sale to start later today, Steam has a new daily deal: The Invisible Hand, that has a demo and it's 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/628200/The_Invisible_Hand/.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This mod lets you play Dark Souls as Hidetaka Miyazaki
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-mod-lets-you-play-dark-souls-as-hidetaka-miyazaki/
The enormous success of the Souls series has led elements of the community to somewhat deify one of the key creative forces behind it, Hidetaka Miyazaki. While these games are worked on by hundreds of coders and artists, Miyazaki's stamp on the final product is always unmistakable, from his deeply melancholy and oft-grim tales of heroism to the sense of slapstick humour that pervades these bleak and deadly landscapes.
Miyazaki himself remains something of an enigmatic figure: He gives great interviews without ever really saying much, and part of the games' magic is that their surprises are kept hidden from players until release. I guess all this preamble leads up to a very silly thing, which is that now you can bum around in Dark Souls as the director of Dark Souls.
The Miyazaki as Dragon mod replaces human and hollow player characters in dragonform with a pretty spectacular likeness of the man himself ('dragonform' is a transformation that comes with one of the game's covenants). The mod comes in both Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered flavours, and the 3D model is the same one previously used to put Miyazaki in Sekiro, which you can see below.

Resident Evil 4 HD Project releases next week after 8 years of work
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/resident-evil-4-hd-project-releases-next-week-after-8-years-of-work/
The Resident Evil 4 HD project began in 2014 and, eight years or so down the line, is finally complete and will release February 2nd. You may well be wondering why this project exists at all, given that developer Capcom has re-released Resident Evil 4 itself in several HD versions, and the answer is: They weren't so good.

GAMING NEWS

FF14's new Oceania server is free real estate for the best and worst usernames imaginable
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ff14s-new-oceania-server-is-free-real-estate-for-the-best-and-worst-usernames-imaginable/
Final Fantasy 14 launched its new Oceania data center yesterday, finally providing our friends down under with good ping and good vibes. But there was something else I hadn't considered with a new server launch—it's prime real estate for all the common and meme names that are usually nabbed by veteran players.

Half-Life 2's UI is being quietly redesigned
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/half-life-2s-ui-is-being-quietly-redesigned/
As preparations for the imminent Steam Deck launch continue apace, Valve has quietly released a beta update for Half-Life 2 that rejuvenates its interface to make it more accessible on the upcoming handheld—and on modern desktop displays.

Taiko no Tatsujin is finally out on PC, but it's currently unplayable
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/taiko-no-tatsujin-is-finally-out-on-pc-but-its-currently-unplayable/
Taiko no Tatsujin got its first official PC release today on PC Game Pass and the Microsoft Store—not that anyone would know thanks to Bandai Namco's shocking lack of marketing. It's a fantastic rhythm game series and one of my personal favourites. Don't be rushing to your desks to give it a whirl just yet though, as the game is currently unplayable for those on PC.

Hello Games returns to Joe Danger for the ultimate feelgood moment
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/hello-games-returns-to-joe-danger-for-the-ultimate-feelgood-moment/
These days, Hello Games is known mostly for No Man's Sky. An over-reaching procgen galaxy jaunt that was almost toppled by its own ambition, before one of the great comeback stories saw it over many years evolve into the experience it is now. Before No Man's Sky, however, Hello Games started off with a smaller project: Joe Danger.
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Out of nowhere, a remastered Joe Danger appeared yesterday sporting improved visuals, a higher frame rate, multitouch improvements, ProMotion and Gamepad support, and even localisation updates. It caught most folk by surprise, and the reason why it happened is that Hello itself got caught off-guard by a message from a big fan.