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

[JEMC]

The Wednesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Steam Halloween Sale is live
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-halloween-sale-2022/
Halloween is still a week away, but the sweet treats are here already—on Steam, at least, where the Steam Scream Fest is now underway.
Predictably, Steam's big Halloween extravaganza is focused on the spooky and the scary: Horror, survival horror, dark fantasy, Lovecraftian tales, and other forms of supernatural shenanigans. A number of games holding seasonal events will also be spotlighted during the sale.
>> If you're not from the US and see a good deal, grab it now. You'll understand in a bit. In any case, there's another new deal at Steam:

• Avernum: Escape From the Pit gets an 80% discount until November 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/208400/Avernum_Escape_From_the_Pit/

GOG, that now accepts PayPal Vault, has three new Deals of the Day that will last until Friday:

• Going Medieval, still in development, gets a 20% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/going_medieval
• The second one is a DLC: Stellaris: Aquatics Species Pack, 25% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/stellaris_aquatics_species_pack
• And Space Haven, also in development, gets a 50% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/space_haven

And Fanatical has a new Star Deal: DEATHLOOP - Deluxe Edition gets a 66% discount during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/deathloop-deluxe-edition.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Steam's recommended prices go way up in many countries: +18% in Europe, +485% in Argentina
https://www.pcgamer.com/steams-recommended-prices-go-way-up-in-many-countries-18-in-europe-485-in-argentina/
Valve has made changes to its regional pricing recommendation system that should make life easier for developers, but it could also lead to higher prices for games in some countries.
Steam currently supports 39 different currencies, and that's a lot of monies for developers to deal with, especially small indies. As Valve said in today's announcement, it's easy enough to decide you're going to charge $20 for your latest release, but what's it going to cost in Qatari riyals or Norwegian krone? Rather than forcing everyone to horse around with manual exchange rate conversions, Steam makes recommendations across all currencies, based on your US dollar pricing.
(...)
That all seems quite reasonable. But the new price recommendations, shared on Twitter by SteamDB, reflect some astonishing increases. On a $59.99 game, for instance, the recommended price in Turkish lira jumped from ₺92 to ₺510, a 454% increase. The Argentine peso went up even more, from AR$649 to AR$3800, an increase of 485%. Other increases are less egregious but still noteworthy: Steam's recommended prices in Russian rubles are up 75%, the Indian rupee 80%, the Kazakhstani tenge increased by 97%, and the Polish zloty went up by 28%. Even my beloved Canadian dollar went up, although by a more inflation-correlated 13%.
>> Well, that sucks. But, on a more positive side, it will stop my backlog from growing too much, which is positive for me.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Here is Half-Life re-imagined as a classic Doom game
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/here-is-half-life-re-imagined-as-a-classic-doom-game/
Now here is something really cool. Modder ‘LoliKololi’ has released a mod that attempts to re-imagine the original Half-Life as a classic Doom game.
In short, this is a GZDoom total conversion mod for Doom, and it looks retro-cool. Surprisingly enough, it also retains the art style of Half-Life, and feels exactly like what you’d expect from an HL demake in the Doom Engine.

The Witcher Mod upscales all videos & in-game cutscenes to 4K using AI
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-witcher-mod-upscales-all-videos-and-in-game-cutscenes-to-4k-using-ai/
Back in March 2021, we shared a mod that, by using AI techniques, upscaled the intro and outro of The Witcher. However, and since this mod is no longer available, it’s time to share another one.
Created by modder ‘Neato’, this mod will upscale all videos and in-game cutscenes to 4K.
Going into more details, Neato used the Proteus V3 and Artemis High Quality AI models in order to upscale these videos. The modder has also removed artifacts, visual bugs and upscale errors via manual touch-ups, and removed black bars from the top & bottom. Furthermore, Neato took a lot of care to preserve the details and sharpness of the original movies.

After 18 years, the precursor to Garry's Mod appears on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-18-years-the-precursor-to-garrys-mod-appears-on-steam/
We all know Garry's Mod, the landmark physics sandbox mod for Valve's Source Engine that can be used for everything from creating custom game modes to messing around with Half-Life 2 characters. Since it first appeared in 2004, and was published by Valve as a standalone game in 2006, Garry's Mod has sold over 18 million copies, all under a steady $10 price tag.
But before Garry's Mod there was JBMod (Steam page), the first ever mod for the Source Engine. The mod was created to enable the physics gun (or physgun), a tool cut from Half-Life 2 that operated similarly to the gravity gun, allowing players to pick up and manipulate items using a blue beam of light.
As sometimes happens with mod projects, work on JBMod by its creator, JB55 (JackBox55), didn't last long before being passed off to another modder, but Garry Newman used JBMod as a source of inspiration, experimenting with his own mod to spawn manhacks and create rocket launchers that fired melons. Soon Garry's Mod (then known as GMod) had more features like the physgun and the ability to rope or weld objects together, and eventually its famous sandbox map, gm_construct, to serve as a physics playground.
Despite initial criticism that Garry's Mod was too similar to JBMod, players began flocking to Newman's sandbox. The modders working on JBMod couldn't keep up with Garry's Mod's growing list of features, and eventually development stopped altogether.
Better late than never, I guess: As spotted by PCGamesN, JBMod has finally appeared on Steam, 18 years later. "The initial Steam release brings the original mod from 2004 to a more modern engine. Stay tuned for further updates! As always, JBMod 0.6 is coming soon," reads the mod's Steam page, which doesn't appear to have any official involvement from JBMod's original creator.

GAMING NEWS

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – NVIDIA DLSS 2 vs Intel XeSS vs AMD FSR 1.0 Benchmarks & Comparison Screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-nvidia-dlss-2-vs-intel-xess-vs-amd-fsr-1-0-benchmarks-comparison-screenshots/
As we’ve already reported, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will support NVIDIA DLSS 2, Intel XeSS and AMD FSR 1.0. Thus, we’ve decided to benchmark them and share some comparison screenshots.
>> It's weird that they go and support the newest XeSS but decided to stay on FSR 1.0.

Paranormal Tales is a new Unreal Engine 5-powered bodycam-style horror game
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/paranormal-tales-is-a-new-unreal-engine-5-powered-bodycam-style-horror-game/
Joure and Horror Cam Committee have announced a new bodycam-style horror game, called Paranormal Tales. Paranormal Tales will be using Unreal Engine 5, and below you can find its debut in-engine trailer.

Here are some new screenshots for The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/here-are-some-new-screenshots-for-the-lord-of-the-rings-return-to-moria/
North Beach Games has released a new set of 4K screenshots for The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria. These new screenshots showcase some of the game’s environments.

FPS dinosaur game, Project Ferocious, is one of the best looking Unity Engine games
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/fps-dinosaur-game-project-ferocious-is-one-of-the-best-looking-unity-engine-games/
Project Ferocious is an FPS dinosaur game that has been in development for a while. Powered by the Unity Engine, this appears to be one of the most graphically impressive games we’ve seen. And, surprisingly enough, Project Ferocious is being created by a single person.

New Need for Speed: Unbound clips showcase car customization
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-need-for-speed-unbound-clips-showcase-car-customization/
Electronic Arts and Criterion have shared some short clips for Need for Speed: Unbound, showcasing the game’s car customization. According to the developers, players will be able to tune every inch of your car with fresh designs and new variations to turbofans.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty will release on PC on March 3rd
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/wo-long-fallen-dynasty-will-release-on-pc-on-march-3rd/
KOEI Tecmo and Team NINJA announced that their action-packed dark fantasy, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, will release on PC on March 3rd, 2023.

The Witcher Remake officially announced, will be powered by Unreal Engine 5
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-witcher-remake-officially-announced-will-be-using-unreal-engine-5/
CD Projekt RED has just announced the official remake of the first The Witcher game in Unreal Engine 5. Yeap, this isn’t a joke. CDPR and Fool’s Theory are working on The Witcher Remake.
>> Well, I wasn't expecting that.