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

[JEMC]

Thursday news, part two:

Uh oh! Final Fantasy 16's squeeze holes have gamers in a flap
https://www.pcgamer.com/uh-oh-final-fantasy-16s-squeeze-holes-have-gamers-in-a-flap/
We got a brief taste of Final Fantasy 16 today, in the form of a 19-second clip that was meant to show off Torgal, the game's canine companion. But poor Torgal's been overshadowed, and instead, we're all focused on something far more controversial. Rather than concentrating on our furry friend, players are only interested in one thing: That squeeze hole.

Arkane may drop Redfall's always-online requirement
https://www.pcgamer.com/arkane-may-drop-redfalls-always-online-requirement/
Arkane revealed in February that its upcoming vampire shooter Redfall will require a "a persistent online connection," even if you're playing by yourself. The reaction to the news wasn't great, both as a matter of principle and practicality. Believe it or not, there are still people who live in areas with wonky internet connections, and why should we have to be connected to the internet to play a singleplayer game anyway?
In an interview with Eurogamer, director Harvey Smith said Arkane has "a lot of empathy" for people who can't reliably play online, and is looking at making changes to the game so it can be played without a connection.

How to watch the Future Games Show Spring Showcase
https://www.pcgamer.com/how-to-watch-tomorrows-future-games-show-spring-showcase/
It's that time again, folks. The Future Games Show is back, this time with its 2023 Spring Showcase, hosted by none other than Briana White and Cody Christian: Aerith and Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Clocking in at 85 minutes and showing off 45 games, the Future Games Show Spring Showcase will kick off tomorrow, March 23, at 3 pm PDT / 6 pm EDT / 10 pm GMT / 11 pm CET. You can watch it, well, pretty much anywhere that's capable of displaying video.(...)

Epic will share 40% of Item Shop revenues with Fortnite island creators: 'There's no need to design cunning monetization loops' anymore
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-will-share-40-of-item-shop-revenues-with-fortnite-island-creators-theres-no-need-to-design-cunning-monetization-loops-anymore/
Epic Games announced at today's State of Unreal conference at GDC that it will give 40% of the total net revenues earned from Fortnite's Item Shop and "related real-money purchases" to eligible Fortnite content creators in what it calls "Creator Economy 2.0." The new system will exist alongside the Support-A-Creator program, which is "returning to its roots as an affiliate marketing program for streamers and social media content creators."

Community and esports reaction to Counter-Strike 2: 'Quit Valorant, it's done, it's f***ing over'
https://www.pcgamer.com/community-and-esports-reaction-to-counter-strike-2-quit-valorant-its-done-its-fing-over/
Following weeks of teasing, Valve today announced Counter-Strike 2, the next step for perhaps the greatest and most popular competitive FPS in history. Counter-Strike players are their own breed, both deeply in love with the game and always grousing about its problems, and one thing Counter-Strike 2 did right off the bat is address longstanding complaints and get those fans excited. The reaction is almost universally positive, though naturally, bear in mind very few people have played the game itself at this point.

Atari is buying System Shock remake studio Nightdive for $10M
https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-is-buying-system-shock-remake-studio-nightdive-for-dollar10m/
Atari, the stumbling veteran gaming company, is buying Nightdive Studios, the company responsible for the forthcoming System Shock remake, as well as a raft of other retro renovations including Turok, Shadow Man and PowerSlave. The deal is worth $10 million (half payable in Atari shares), and the acquisition is expected to complete by the end of April.
>> I'd sell those shares as soon as possible.

As EVO Japan fast approaches, Tekken 8 is almost done with its first batch of character reveals
https://www.pcgamer.com/as-evo-japan-fast-approaches-tekken-8-is-almost-done-with-its-first-batch-of-character-reveals/
It's been a good few weeks for Tekken fans. Bandai Namco has been slowly trickling trailers for every announced character coming to Tekken 8 so far. My friend group has been hotly anticipating each Tekken Tuesday, and the last two weeks have even seen trailers arriving on Fridays. With an incredible Kazuya trailer kickstarting the trend then followed by Jin, Law, Paul and King, this week has treated us to a look at Swedish fighter Lars Alexandersson.

Diablo 4 is reportedly killing some RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-rtx-3080-ti-issue/
Fresh reports suggest some RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards are running horribly, or even dying, while playing the Diablo 4 closed beta over the weekend.
In what appears to be an issue closely resembling when Amazon's MMO New World was bricking RTX 3090 GPUs, the Diablo 4 beta appears to expose a potentially fatal flaw in some high-end Nvidia GPUs. Across Reddit and the Blizzard forums, users are reporting that during the beta their monitors go black, GPU fans run full speed, and their system restarts. Sometimes these symptoms are also accompanied by an error code and a dead GPU, though not every time.

Domestic violence charges against High On Life creator Justin Roiland dropped due to 'insufficient evidence'
https://www.pcgamer.com/domestic-violence-charges-against-high-on-life-creator-justin-roiland-dropped-due-to-insufficient-evidence/
The domestic violence lawsuit against Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland has been dropped, Polygon reports. Roiland—who also created 2022 Game Pass hit High On Life—was charged with felony domestic violence and false imprisonment after a criminal complaint in May 2020, but those charges didn't come to light until they were unearthed by NBC News in January this year.

Counter-Strike 2's reveal has sent the game's skins market wild
https://www.pcgamer.com/counter-strike-2s-reveal-has-sent-the-games-skins-market-wild/
Valve has done a Valve once more. Not only did it announce Counter-Strike 2 out of nowhere but, with one finger raised aloft at all the web3 donkeys, announced that every skin from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive would be carrying over.

The funniest thing about Counter-Strike 2 is that Valve won't let cheaters and douchebags in
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-funniest-thing-about-counter-strike-2-is-that-valve-wont-let-cheaters-and-douchebags-in/
Valve has announced Counter-Strike 2, god's in his heaven, and all's right with the world. The game will initially be beta tested by a limited group of players, and these are being selected based on several factors which definitely do not include skill level: I suck, but I play a lot and like to think of myself as a good egg, so I got an invite. Yes folks: I've seen smoke grenades wafted away on banana.
The funniest aspect of this is that, having been watching the CS:GO subreddit and following various Counter-Strikers on social media, lots of people are complaining they haven't got in. Now, some of these people are lovely. But I have noticed in a few cases that they're not lovely, and it made one element of the limited beta really jump out at me. Valve is not letting the assholes in.

Former Grand Theft Auto producer teases his new project, a futuristic game-within-a-game called MindsEye
https://www.pcgamer.com/former-grand-theft-auto-producer-teases-his-new-project-a-futuristic-game-within-a-game-called-mindseye/
Former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies first announced Everywhere back in early 2017, and then nailed down its nature with (barely) more clarity in 2022 as a "multi-world game experience that blurs the line between reality and the digital world." Not exactly a metaverse, we opined at the time, but more of a "grown-up take on Roblox."
Today, Benzies' studio Build a Rocket Boy teased the first game to be set in the world of Everywhere, called MindsEye: "A high-octane, AAA, story-driven action-adventure game, set in a world of futuristic corporations, conspiracy theories, and sinister new technologies."