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

[JEMC]

Tuesday news, part two:

It just got much easier to find the best mods in Teardown
https://www.pcgamer.com/it-just-got-much-easier-to-find-the-best-mods-in-teardown/
Voxel-based destruction sim Teardown got its 1.2 update today, and it promises to make the process of discovering mods even easier. The new featured mods list is curated by Teardown's devs at Tuxedo Labs, and highlights all sorts of "new maps, tools, vehicles, mini-games and more" to spare you the trouble of rummaging through the thousands of mods that already exist for the game.

Diablo 3 took so long to get rid of its auction house because 'it was on the box'
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-3-took-so-long-to-get-rid-of-its-auction-house-because-it-was-on-the-box/
Three former Blizzard and Blizzard North grandees gave a panel talk this past weekend at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, discussing the Diablo series and their respective roles in its history. Matt Householder was a producer, Matt Uelmen did music and sound design, while Jay Wilson had various roles before becoming lead designer on Diablo 3.
(...)
The most interesting element of the auction house was that, when it was decided to get rid of it, Blizzard began to panic internally about something that seems relatively minor. It was on the box as a selling point.
(...)
Then, the delay between decision and action: "The reason we did not get rid of it right away when we saw it was a problem was legally we didn't think we could because it was advertised on the boxes…" said Wilson.

'Activision's effect on Blizzard was like a frog in a boiling pot of water' says former Blizzard director
https://www.pcgamer.com/activisions-effect-on-blizzard-was-like-a-frog-in-a-boiling-pot-of-water-says-former-blizzard-director/
(...)
"Activision's effect on Blizzard was like a frog in a boiling pot of water," said Wilson. "Early on it felt like nothing. Later, as business models progressed for products, it became more and more… the products that were newer, that were making money, had enormous amounts of pressure on them to produce…
"Like Heroes of the Storm: they were just crushed in meetings with Activision where they were always talking about the bottom line, how to pull more out of that… Diablo 3 wasn't affected too much because we were very solidly a premium boxed model."

Terraria becomes the first indie hit to break 1M positive user reviews on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/terraria-becomes-the-first-indie-hit-to-break-1m-positive-user-reviews-on-steam/
We liked Terraria so much we reviewed it twice: Once in 2011, when it was new, and then again in 2018, when we found that it was "still one of the best adventures out there." In case that's not sufficient testament to both its quality and its durability, Terraria has now pulled in over one million positive user reviews on Steam, becoming the first indie game to do so.

Fallout 4 is getting a free 4K update next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-4-is-getting-a-free-4k-update-next-year/
Amidst the big celebration of the 25th anniversary of the original Fallout, Bethesda has announced that Fallout 4 is getting a free "next-gen update" in 2023—and yes, it's coming to PC.

The best Fallout game was almost just an expansion pack
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-fallout-game-was-almost-just-an-expansion-pack/
Not that we can't still argue over it from time to time, but Fallout: New Vegas is widely regarded as the best Fallout game in the 25-year history of the series, not to mention one of the best RPGs of all time. That's especially unusual since New Vegas wasn't made by Interplay, the original creator of the series, or Bethesda, who took over the license, but by Obsidian Entertainment, who made a single Fallout game and then never touched the series again.
But Obsidian's RPG masterpiece almost wasn't a standalone Fallout game. According to Todd Howard, Fallout: New Vegas was originally planned as just "a big expansion pack" for Fallout 3.

'Sexual assault' custom game mode reveals a glaring Overwatch moderation problem
https://www.pcgamer.com/sexual-assault-custom-game-mode-reveals-a-glaring-overwatch-moderation-problem/
Overwatch 2 has seen an influx of user-created custom game modes since its free-to-play launch earlier this month. Like a lot of FPS games with custom server browsers, Overwatch 2's custom games can be named anything allowed by Blizzard's word filters and character limit. However, that hasn't prevented a mode called "Sexual Assault Simulator" from showing up, which sparked Twitter user Lynn MBE to post a PSA for anyone who might encounter it.
>> If Blizzard has a filter for which words can be used, how the f*ck did "sexual" pass that filter?

V Rising, the other vampire survival hit of 2022, is going free to play for Halloween
https://www.pcgamer.com/v-rising-the-other-vampire-survival-hit-of-2022-is-going-free-to-play-for-halloween/
The Bloodfeast is coming to the hit indie vampire survival game V Rising, and while that sounds ominous and potentially horrific, what it means in practical terms is that you can play the game for free this weekend.
>> And it's also 20% off until November 7.

Explore endless roads in this beautiful driving game that runs in your browser
https://www.pcgamer.com/explore-endless-roads-in-this-beautiful-driving-game-that-runs-in-your-browser/
(...)
Slow Roads is an endless procedurally generated driving game that's free to play in your browser. Its developer goes by Anslo, who recently posted a video of their game running to Twitter, announcing that the project was ready to share. The video shows off the game running with different environments, and times of day, and it's immediately very clear that this is quite an impressive effort that really pushes browser based gaming.
>> It's boring, but it actually works quite well.

Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin is back online, but original Dark Souls is offline forever
https://www.pcgamer.com/dark-souls-2-scholar-of-the-first-sin-is-back-online-but-original-dark-souls-is-offline-forever/
Two months after Dark Souls 3's servers sprung back to life, and nine months after the servers for the entire Souls series went offline, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin (SOTFS) is back online. And that's pretty much where the good news ends.
The original version of DS2, which runs on DX9 and lacks the additions and reconfigured encounters of SOTSF, will have to wait a little longer to get its servers back up and running. From said only that base DS2's online features would be back online "at a later date," which is a scarily elastic timespan.
Still, it's a better prognosis than the one given to Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (the original, pre-remaster version of DS1): that game won't be coming back online at all.

Elden Ring patches its patch after Endure spell proves too enduring
https://www.pcgamer.com/elden-ring-patches-its-patch-after-endure-spell-proves-too-enduring/
Elden Ring recently received a 1.07 update, which was one of the most major attempts FromSoftware has made to deal with the porous line between PvE and PvP in these games. It came with an absolute boatload of changes aimed at multiplayer balance, and decoupled PvE and PvP weapon balancing (albeit, this mainly involved buffing weapons in PvE). It all got a bit live service for a moment.
Possibly too live service, because now the developer's rushed out a patch to the patch, re-tweaking some values and acknowledging that some weapons weren't functioning quite as an Elden Lord might like. Prime among them is the Ash of War art Endure, which had its effect lengthened and let you poise through attacks with decreased damage and respond with an almighty thwack. The direction of this art has now been reduced after Tarnished got a bit too poise-happy, with the buff having "a greater impact on the game balance than expected."

Creative Assembly vows investigation after 'deeply concerning and serious' allegations of workplace abuse
https://www.pcgamer.com/creative-assembly-vows-investigation-after-deeply-concerning-and-serious-allegations-of-workplace-abuse/
Creative Assembly, maker of the Total War series and upcoming shooter Hyenas, has responded to allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct against one of its former employees. The company says it will investigate the matter and is calling for former employees to reach out if they have testimonies that could aid the investigation.

In a new Marvel card game, you kill Uncle Ben to get Spider-Man
https://www.pcgamer.com/in-a-new-marvel-card-game-you-kill-uncle-ben-to-get-spider-man/
Marvel Snap is a new free-to-play card game set in everyone's favourite superhero universe, and it's got some considerable pedigree behind it. The game has been developed by former Hearthstone director Ben Brode’s studio Second Dinner Studios, and is out now on mobile and PC. It goes for a shorter, more action-packed match experience than the likes of Hearthstone: games are over quickly, you play a lot of them, and it showers you with freebies.