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

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The news, part two:

Yakuza's iconic cabaret club is making a comeback
https://www.pcgamer.com/yakuzas-iconic-cabaret-club-is-making-a-comeback/
Yakuza's cabaret club did something very few games manage to do: unite everyone in realising that dress-up games are actually a ton of fun. Of course, that's not all Club Sunshine has to offer. It's a slick management sim plonked in the middle of a beat-em-up adventure, a perfect juxtaposition that captures the vibes of this series. It's so good that Lauren Morton, Jody MacGregor and Tom Senior have all had their moments gushing about the mode. And it's coming back, baby.

Once upon a time, GTA was a game about playing an angry dinosaur
https://www.pcgamer.com/once-upon-a-time-gta-was-a-game-about-playing-an-angry-dinosaur/
Imagine a better world with me. The sun is shining, the wine is sparkling, and rather than starring men doing crimes, the Grand Theft Auto series is about a massive dinosaur. Who is probably also doing crimes, technically.
It's a world we could have had, if the original prototype for the first GTA had gone differently. According to Colin Macdonald, a former dev at DMA (now Rockstar North) who spoke to the BBC to mark the 25th anniversary of GTA 1's release, the original GTA game was just a tech demo where you played a "dinosaur roaming around and destroying the buildings". Kind of like a top-down The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.
>> ... or maybe it wasn't? Check out the last news article.

The Thargoids have just launched a 'massive invasion' in Elite Dangerous
https://www.pcgamer.com/elite-dangerous-update-14-thargoid-invasion-aftermath-war/
The inevitable has finally happened. After the two-year-long Azimuth Saga storyline in Elite Dangerous ended this past August with the misfire of an alien-killing superweapon (don't you hate it when that happens?), the Thargoids have finally had it with the human race. They're striking back. To put it plainly, Elite Dangerous Update 14 has arrived, and it's full-on war.

Australia eyeballs an adults-only loot box law
https://www.pcgamer.com/australia-eyeballs-an-adults-only-loot-box-law/
Australia may be the next country to take legislative action against loot boxes in videogames, as MP Andrew Wilkie has introduced a bill calling for a mandatory adult classification for any game that contains a "gambling-type feature."

Overwatch Season 2 is coming for all you Sojourn mains
https://www.pcgamer.com/overwatch-season-2-is-coming-for-all-you-sojourn-mains/
Blizzard is nerfing my favorite new hero, and I'm only a little salty. Overwatch 2 Season 2 begins on December 6, and with it comes the new Tank hero Ramattra, a new payload map, and a bunch of balancing changes. Today's dev update doesn't go into detail about most of the planned balance changes, but here's what we know for sure: Sojourn is getting a big nerf, and Doomfist is getting a big buff.

Relax and unwind with this stress-free city builder sandbox
https://www.pcgamer.com/relax-and-unwind-with-this-stress-free-city-builder-sandbox/
City builders typically present you with goals and challenges like balancing your budget, controlling your pollution levels, managing your resources, and keeping your citizens happy (or in the case of survival city builders, keeping them from dying horribly).
But sometimes you just want to build for the sake of building without worrying about traffic or logistics or how much things will cost or what bonus a house will get from a nearby park. Sometimes you just want a sandbox city builder with no restrictions, objectives, or headaches.
For times like those, there's a city builder headed your way that wants you to have a completely carefree building experience. It's called Gourdlets, the work of solo developer Aunty Games. It looks both relaxing and adorable, and there's absolutely no objectives, no budgets, and no goals beyond just building an attractive little village filled with houses, trees, roads, parks, beaches, gardens, and other decorations.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's first max level players rode its OP crafting system over the finish line
https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcraft-dragonflights-first-max-level-players-rode-its-op-crafting-system-over-the-finish-line/
One of the fastest ways to hit max level in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is to stand in one spot and click through menus. Crafting, it turns out, is one of the fastest ways to hit the game's new level 70 cap.

New weird Far Cry expansion alert: This one is about interdimensional aliens
https://www.pcgamer.com/new-weird-far-cry-expansion-alert-this-one-is-about-interdimensional-aliens/
The thing I've always found interesting about the Far Cry series is how the base games are always straightforward, "real world" shooters, but the post-release content invariably goes bonkers. Far Cry 3 set the standard with Blood Dragon, which was standalone but nonetheless established a weird-ass baseline that continued through Far Cry 4 (Valley of the Yetis), Far Cry 5 (Lost on Mars), and now a new Far Cry 6 expansion called Lost Between Worlds that will send revolutionary hero Dani Rojas on a journey to a strange interdimensional realm in the company of a stranded alien.

A new 'rogue-looter shooter' about the machine betrayal of humanity is going into open beta soon
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-new-rogue-looter-shooter-about-the-machine-betrayal-of-humanity-is-going-into-open-beta-soon/
If there's one thing we've learned through the consumption of popular media, it's that sooner or later, the machines are going to rise up and kick our asses. For those who haven't yet picked up on that message, here's another opportunity: Synced, an upcoming third-person roguelite looter-shooter that's going into open beta testing in December.

The weirdest mobile game series is coming to PC under key Zelda designer
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-weirdest-mobile-game-series-is-coming-to-pc-under-key-zelda-designer/
Listen, if you love dress-up games and absolutely wild dramatic plots that have no place in a dress-up game, you might want to keep your eye on Infinity Nikki. As revealed by Gematsu, for the first time the pink-haired fashionista is making the leap from mobile over to PC as part of an "open-world dress-up adventure game" from Chinese developer Paper Studio.

Report highlights underpay and 'some level of crunching' at FromSoftware
https://www.pcgamer.com/report-highlights-underpay-and-some-level-of-crunching-at-fromsoftware/
It looks like even making some of the most important games of the last 15 years doesn't save you from capitalism. A new report from GamesIndustry.biz paints a picture of underpay and occasional overwork at FromSoftware, the studio behind (if you've managed to remain unaware) Elden Ring and Dark Souls.

Even after 30 hours of suffering through Overwatch League, many are yet to receive their viewership rewards
https://www.pcgamer.com/even-after-30-hours-of-suffering-through-overwatch-league-many-are-yet-to-receive-their-viewership-rewards/
Overwatch League's 2022 season wrapped up at the beginning of November, with the playoffs becoming the second most-watched event of its history according to Esports Charts, only outmatched by the League's inaugural season in 2018.
Two major factors played into that: the release of Overwatch 2—which makes this the first OWL to take place in the sequel—and the fact that Blizzard really wanted you to watch it. The developer was offering bundles of OWL tokens and skins for those who tuned in. Or at least, it was supposed to. Despite viewers watching over 30 hours of games in October and November, some have received nothing while others have only been given partial rewards, and there seems to be no solid solution in sight.

GTA creator says no, sorry, it didn't start as a dinosaur game
https://www.pcgamer.com/gta-creator-says-no-sorry-it-didnt-start-as-a-dinosaur-game/
If you can cast your mind as far back as yesterday, you'll remember a story about the original Grand Theft Auto game being based on a tech demo about a "dinosaur roaming around and destroying the buildings". The news came via Colin Macdonald, a former developer at DMA (now Rockstar North) in the 90s who told the tale to the BBC. But that story is now disputed by the creator of GTA 1's original prototype, Mike Dailly.