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

[JEMC]

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has another GIVEAWAY: Alwa's Awakening will be free to get during the next 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/alwas_awakening.

Steam has several new deals and new weeklong deals:

• The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante is 60% off until April 3rd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272160/The_Life_and_Suffering_of_Sir_Brante/
• The Overcooked Franchise is up to 81% off until next Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/overcookedfranchisesale
• The Dungeons & Dragons Franchise Sale comes with up to 75% discounts until Monday, April 3rd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/dnddirect2023
• Forza Horizon 5 will be 40% off until the 6th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1551360/Forza_Horizon_5/
• And here's a small sample of the weeklong deals:
  • Void Scrappers is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2005210/Void_Scrappers/
  • ARMORED HEAD gets a 40% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/805590/ARMORED_HEAD/
  • ColdSide is half its price: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1098270/ColdSide/
  • Out of Space gets a 66% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/400080/Out_of_Space/
  • And The Little Acre is 80% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/423590/The_Little_Acre/

The Humble Store has three new sales:

• The Build & Destroy Sale comes with up to 90% discounts during 6 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG and EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/build-destroy-sale/
• The REMastered Sale also comes with up to 90% discounts during 6 days. All the keys are for Steam except one, also for GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/remastered-sale/
• And the March Mayhem Sale included the above deals and more, with up to 90% deals (obviously). Some deals will last longer than others, so check it out by yourselves. There are keys for Steam, GOG, EGS and UPlay: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/marchmayhemsale/

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Steam will ditch Windows 7 and 8 support next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-will-ditch-windows-7-and-8-support-next-year/
If you're reading this on a PC running Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, then it's bad news, I'm afraid: Steam won't work on your computer next year. Valve announced as much today, and it's all because of Google Chrome.
"The newest features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows," Valve's typically curt announcement reads. "In addition, future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above."
If you are running Windows 7 or 8 to play games, then you're extremely in the minority. According to Steam's February Hardware and Software Survey, only 0.09% of users run Windows 7, while 1.43% use the 64 bit version. It's less than half a percent for Windows 8.1, too.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This mod that automatically drops all the junk you pick up in Fallout might be the most important ever made
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-mod-that-automatically-drops-all-the-junk-you-pick-up-in-fallout-might-be-the-most-important-ever-made/
Pack it up, modders, we're done. We've scaled the peak, ascended the summit, and hit the outer limit. All previous mods were just a prelude to this, the culmination of the artform: Auto Drop for Fallout: New Vegas from Sweet6Shooter weighs in at about 4 kilobytes, and I think it could save me enough time to write the next great American novel.
We've all spent many, many hours of our lives with Gamebryo, the weird and wobbly engine that's underpinned everything Bethesda has made since The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, so you'll know that it can sometimes be a little imprecise. Specifically, it's incredibly easy to waggle your crosshair over a burned book, a rusty iron sword, or some other piece of ephemeral junk while you're trying to pick up something actually cool and valuable.
It's never a big problem until you realise you've somehow accumulated 20 kilograms of erlenmeyer flasks and cheese wheels, and you have to laboriously pick through your inventory to dump them all in some dungeon so that you can fast travel back home. It's tedious, disruptive, and makes you feel more like a wandering Collyer brother than the hero of a sprawling RPG. But Auto Drop solves that (at least in New Vegas), forcing your character to drop anything you've marked as junk the second they pick it up, as though suddenly struck by a surge of mental clarity.

GAMING NEWS

Diablo 4 is the second triple-A game that supports DirectStorage on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/diablo-4-is-the-second-triple-a-game-that-supports-directstorage-on-pc/
The Open Beta phase for Diablo 4 is over and according to its files, Blizzard’s hack n slash RPG supports DirectStorage on PC. This is the second triple-A game that supports DirectStorage on PC (the first one is Forspoken).

Boundary will no longer feature Ray Tracing, ditches DLSS over FSR & XeSS
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/boundary-will-no-longer-feature-ray-tracing-ditches-dlss-over-fsr-xess/
What do Atomic Heart and Boundary have in common? Well, both of them had exclusive Ray Tracing effects (and even benchmarks) that were cut from their retail versions. Yes yes, even though Surgical Scalpels showcased some really GPU-heavy RT effects for this online FPS, the game will not feature any of them at launch.

Free-to-play looter shooter, SYNCED, will release this Summer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/free-to-play-looter-shooter-synced-will-release-this-summer/
Level Infinite and developer NExT Studios have announced that the upcoming companion-based looter shooter SYNCED will be available on PC this Summer. In order to celebrate this announcement, the teams have also released a new trailer that you can find below.

Crime Boss: Rockay City releases today so here are two new trailers for it
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/crime-boss-rockay-city-releases-today-so-here-are-two-new-trailers-for-it/
Crime Boss: Rockay City will release later today and 505 Games has released two new trailers for it. The first one is its cinematic launch trailer, whereas the second one details its available game modes.