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

[JEMC]

The past Monday news, part two:

The Warhammer 40K CRPG is already getting its first alpha
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-warhammer-40k-crpg-is-already-getting-its-first-alpha/
CRPG devs Owlcat Games have announced the first closed playtest of the upcoming Warhammer 40K RPG, Rogue Trader. Purchasers of the Developer's Digital Pack or Collector's Edition versions of the game will have access to an alpha test starting December 7.

Destiny 2 players can't matchmake with anyone, days before the season ends
https://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-2-players-cant-matchmake-with-anyone-days-before-the-season-ends/
Four days before the end of Destiny 2: Season of Plunder is set to end, players have found themselves completely unable to matchmake, along with some additional pesky server issues rising to the surface.

'We don't want to be predatory'—Darktide devs explain why they switched to an in-game currency to sell cosmetics
https://www.pcgamer.com/we-dont-want-to-be-predatorydarktide-devs-explain-why-they-switched-to-an-in-game-currency-to-sell-cosmetics/
If I want to buy a new sub-class for my favorite dwarf warrior in Warhammer: Vermintide 2, I can do that right through the Steam store: it costs $3.99. Vermintide 2 also has an in-game cosmetic shop using a currency called shillings, earnable by playing the game, but some of its skins are sold for real cash, too: I can spend $2.99 to give my bright wizard a new look. That option doesn't exist in developer Fatshark's new 40K game, Darktide.
Instead, Darktide follows the common F2P game monetization route of making you buy a premium currency in bundles—$4.99 for 1000 Aquilas, in this case—which you can then spend on skins. There's currently no way to buy exactly how many Aquilas you need for a one-off purchase, which some angry players have called "predatory bullshit." According to Fatshark lead developers, that was the opposite of their intention.

Darktide's crafting system isn't quite ready because Fatshark 'ripped it out and started over' mid-development
https://www.pcgamer.com/darktides-crafting-system-isnt-quite-ready-because-fatshark-ripped-it-out-and-started-over-mid-development/
Warhammer 40K: Darktide's had a bit of an unusual launch: throughout a two-week pre-order beta, developer Fatshark rolled out a selection of new missions and features alongside frequent bug fixes. One obvious missing ingredient was the crafting system—and on launch day, it was still mostly missing. Only one of four aspects of the crafting system is currently available, with the rest labeled "Open soon!" This hasn't sat well with some players, who've pointed out that the premium cosmetic store was ready for launch, but crafting wasn't. So I talked to Fatshark's lead developers about why they made that call.

Genshin Impact goes to war against leakers, sues Discord to find leaker's real identity
https://www.pcgamer.com/genshin-impact-goes-to-war-against-leakers-sues-discord-to-find-leakers-real-identity/
It looks like Genshin Impact publisher Cognosphere is going after one of the game's biggest leakers: As reported by TorrentFreak, lawyers representing the company have filed a DMCA subpoena demanding that Discord provide it with the real identity of the person known online as Ubatcha.

Victoria 3 designer on why communism is OP: 'We just implemented the mechanics the way we understood them'
https://www.pcgamer.com/victoria-3-communism-op/
In the month since the release of Paradox Interactive's latest grand strategy game, Victoria 3, some players have struggled with one persistent issue: The communists are right. As entrenched conservative interests in their 19th-century nations prevent modernizing reforms—you know, like abolishing slavery—players start to rail against landowners, exploitative capitalists, and the Petit Bourgeoisie in rants that could have come from Marxists a century ago or today.

Alpha test for Creative Assembly's new PvPvE shooter is live now
https://www.pcgamer.com/alpha-test-for-creative-assemblys-new-pvpve-shooter-is-live-now/
Hyenas is a zero-G PvPvE shooter first teased way back in 2018, and officially unveiled this year. We had some reservations when we took a closer look at it in September, finding some interesting concepts but also a lot of, well, cringe: News writer Mollie Taylor said she couldn't tell "if this is a game that's trying too hard or not trying hard enough," and worried that Hyenas would be able to find a niche for itself in a genre that's already crowded.

Just two years after release, DJ rhythm game Fuser is being delisted
https://www.pcgamer.com/just-two-years-after-release-dj-rhythm-game-fuser-is-being-delisted/
The DJ rhythm game Fuser made a pretty good impression on us when it released in late 2020: It melted James' EDM-hating heart, and convinced Tyler that Smash Mouth's "All-Star" belongs, well, in pretty much every other song you can name. "Fuser feels like a natural evolution for Harmonix and, scoring system aside, lets players take control of the music more than ever before," we wrote in our 77% review. Very solid appraisals all around!
Unfortunately, just two years after it launched, Fuser is going away for good. "On December 19, we will be disabling Fuser's live services and all sales of the game, as well as its DLC," Harmonix announced today. "Players who already own Fuser will still be able to play the Campaign and Quick Play with any DLC they have already acquired. Thank you again for your support and for all the amazing mixes over the years."

Team Fortress 2's most important update in years gives its community the keys to the kingdom
https://www.pcgamer.com/team-fortress-2s-most-important-update-in-years-gives-its-community-the-keys-to-the-kingdom/
For a game that's 15 years old, Team Fortress 2 retains a remarkably vibrant community: it's perpetually among the most-played games on Steam. There are over 97,000 people playing it as I write.
This is also a community that, this year, decided enough was enough and began pressuring Valve to pay them some more attention. (...)
And once again Valve has done a Valve. A new update for Team Fortress 2 adds a feature that is going to be absolutely core to this game's future and functionality but, I'll warn you up front, it doesn't sound very sexy. Team Fortress 2 now has VScript support, a system that is already embedded in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Left 4 Dead 2, and which allows mappers to embed script code into maps.

Activision Blizzard sees second successful union drive
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-sees-second-successful-union-drive/
Quality Assurance workers at Blizzard Albany, formerly Vicarious Visions, voted to unionize their department on Friday, with 14 votes for and none against of the eligible 18 members of the unit (credit to Polygon.) Game Workers Alliance Albany is the second QA unit at an Activision Blizzard-owned developer to unionize, following in the footsteps of Raven QA's successful push this past Summer.

Crusader Kings 3 makes it easier to abandon your unwanted bastard children
https://www.pcgamer.com/crusader-kings-3-makes-it-easier-to-abandon-your-unwanted-bastard-children/
Crusader Kings 3's latest update is a doozy, a fat list of upgrades, fixes, and AI tweaks that diversify the medieval goings-on significantly. The 1.8 "Robe" update is free to everyone who owns the game, and spices up the system around reforming religions with some new visuals, then adds a bunch of new symbols for custom faiths.

Geralt and other Witcher characters will arrive in Lost Ark next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/geralt-and-other-witcher-characters-will-arrive-in-lost-ark-next-year/
Massively multiplayer fashion-brawler Lost Ark began a Witcher crossover on its Korean servers in November, but only now has Amazon Games confirmed when Geralt and pals will be arriving on western servers: January, 2023.