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

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Tuesday news, part two:

Belarus legalises piracy for content from 'unfriendly' countries
https://www.pcgamer.com/belarus-legalises-piracy-for-content-from-unfriendly-countries/
On January 3, Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a new law (via Deutsche Welle) which effectively permits piracy in the country. With the lofty aim of—among other things—developing "the intellectual and spiritual-moral potential of society," the law allows for the use "without the consent of the rights holder" of software, movies, and music "from foreign states committing unfriendly actions" against Belarus, so long as they're deemed "essential for the domestic market".

EA, you've created a time paradox! Dead Space's pre-order bonus is Dead Space 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/ea-youve-created-a-time-paradox-dead-spaces-pre-order-bonus-is-dead-space-2/
In the great sci-fi survival horror game-off of the early 2020s, The Callisto Protocol has already shown its cards, leaving the Dead Space Remake to decide which one gets to be A Bug's Life, and who's stuck being Antz (or vice versa, if you're an Antz fan.) The Dead Space Remake does have a new advantage, however, as pointed out by Rock Paper Shotgun: all pre-orders of the Dead Space Remake now come with a free copy of Dead Space 2 that unlocks with the Remake's launch on January 27.

Company of Heroes 3 final tech test starts later this week and you're all invited
https://www.pcgamer.com/company-of-heroes-3-final-tech-test-starts-later-this-week-and-youre-all-invited/
The World War 2 RTS Company of Heroes 3 is set to launch in February, but before that happens a multiplayer tech test will take place on Steam beginning on January 11—and you can sign up to take part now.

One month after its release, one of our favorite games of 2022 is already $20 off
https://www.pcgamer.com/one-month-after-its-release-one-of-our-favorite-games-of-2022-is-already-dollar20-off/
In December we did something that PC Gamer hadn't done in its three-decade history. We handed out a runner-up Game of the Year award.
The silver medal went to Marvel's Midnight Suns (on sale at Steam for $40), the strategy-card-RPG-campaign game from Firaxis, otherwise known as the folks that made XCOM. Why'd we hand out this first-ever second-place GOTY? Midnight Suns came out just as we were wrapping up our awards process, and the fact that it was a 65+ hour game made it harder for editors to finish in a holiday period where we were already unnaturally busy.
>> They may love it, but if it's already 33% off after a month, it's a clear sign that it's not selling very well.

This adventure game tech demo with AI-generated art is impressive and disconcerting
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-adventure-game-tech-demo-with-ai-generated-art-is-impressive-and-disconcerting/
Jussi-Petteri Kemppainen, a veteran game dev based out of Finland, has recently started sharing early demos of a 2.5D point-and-click adventure game with art and assets sourced from Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, two machine learning text-to-image tools. The project convincingly shows how an individual artist with limited resources can use these controversial, questionably ethical tools to punch above their weight when developing a game.

The Callisto Protocol leaves key developers out of its credits
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-callisto-protocol-leaves-key-developers-out-of-its-credits/
An estimated 20 developers were left out of the credits of recent horror release The Callisto Protocol, according to GamesIndustry.biz. The figure reportedly includes several staff who worked in senior or lead positions at the company, Striking Distance Studios.
It's sadly not an uncommon phenomenon in the modern games industry—developers that leave before a game launches are sometimes not credited for the final project, especially freelance or contract workers, even if they worked on it for years. Unlike the film industry, there's no enforced standard around credits, so studios are free to leave off whoever they wish, though the IGDA does recommend that anyone who worked on a game for at least 30 days be credited.
>> Given how long (and boring) are the credits, there's no good reason for not including them.

Final Fantasy 16 producer wonders why people think a PC version exists (it's because Square Enix previously announced one)
https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-16-producer-wonders-why-people-think-a-pc-version-exists-its-because-square-enix-previously-one/
Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida has rather cheekily brushed off discussions around a PC port for the game, telling fans to "buy a PS5" if they want to play it. He went on to ask, "Why is it like a PC version is releasing six months later?"
It's possible that he's forgetting Square Enix's own PlayStation Showcase reveal trailer for Final Fantasy 16, because that's why. The existence of a PC version of the upcoming RPG has been a strange one. The aforementioned reveal trailer very visibly added a footnote that, while the game was a PlayStation exclusive, it would also be on PC. Despite that, Square Enix seems to have done everything in its power to deny the port's existence since then. All traces of a PC announcement have vanished. The closest we've gotten is a recent trailer saying the game is "not available on other platforms until December 31, 2023."