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

[JEMC]

Part two of the news:

NetEase is not suing Blizzard—The Chinese court system confused one angry man with a corporate behemoth
https://www.pcgamer.com/netease-is-not-suing-blizzardthe-chinese-court-system-confused-one-angry-man-with-a-corporate-behemoth/
Time to put on the hairshirt. Yesterday it was reported by Chinese media that NetEase was suing its former partner Blizzard, whose games it published for 14 years, for around $43.5 million. That report was incorrect, and based on a Chinese court document that for reasons yet to be explained named NetEase in error.
>> Oopsie!

The most ambitious and flawed Total War has just received its first update in years
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-most-ambitious-and-flawed-total-war-has-just-received-its-first-update-in-years/
I was convinced Total War: Empire was going to be a game-changer. A Total War in the age of muskets, with naval battles and a map that would let us fight across the world—how could it be anything less than amazing? Unfortunately, it didn't live up to those admittedly big expectations when it launched in 2009. It was rough and buggy, the naval battles couldn't hold a candle to the ones on land, and the scale was just too much.
What it was, though, was incredibly ambitious, and unlike any of the Total Wars that had come before. Now that I've put some distance—14 years—between me and that initial disappointment, I find myself a lot less critical of the risks Creative Assembly took. And now that it's just received its first update in years, which should improve performance on modern PCs while also fixing an issue that affected 12th gen Intel CPUs, maybe it's time to take it for another spin.

FTX collapse has done lethal damage to an up-and-coming card game
https://www.pcgamer.com/ftx-collapse-has-done-lethal-damage-to-an-up-and-coming-card-game/
Storybook Brawl is a free-to-play fairytale card game designed by former Magic: The Gathering pros that showed real promise when it debuted in 2021. It still needed work—we said in a preview later that year that it felt "unfocused," and was "struggling for a unique identity among the varied mechanics of what is still an unexplored game genre"—but it was in early access, which is exactly when those sorts of issues are supposed to be worked out.
Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. Developer Good Luck Games announced on Twitter today that the servers will be taken offline for good on May 1.

Former World of Warcraft lead developer hints at something big coming to Classic
https://www.pcgamer.com/former-world-of-warcraft-lead-developer-hints-at-something-big-coming-to-classic/
World of Warcraft Classic may soon be getting a major update, and former lead engineer Brian Birmingham hinted—very vaguely—that it could be the World of Warcraft "Classic Plus" that some players have been calling for.

Star Trek: Resurgence is now set to arrive in May
https://www.pcgamer.com/star-trek-resurgence-is-now-set-to-arrive-in-may/
Star Trek: Resurgence looked like the real deal when we checked it out in March 2022: It's "the first Trek anything to capture the spirit of the '90s shows in a long, long time," senior editor Wes Fenlon declared. Sadly, six months later it was delayed from its planned release in 2022 to April 2023.
With April 2023 now in its final throes, I come to you with good news and bad news. The bad news is, it won't be out this month. The good news is, it will (barring unforeseen and extremely last-minute delays) be out next month.

Trombone Champ gets truly nasty, adds the hellish Flight of the Bumblebee
https://www.pcgamer.com/trombone-champ-gets-truly-nasty-adds-the-hellish-flight-of-the-bumblebee/
Trombone Champ, the fast-paced rhythm music game filled with nasty toots, just got even nastier by adding Flight of the Bumblebee to its roster of hits. That means as of today's update 2022's best comedy game is even funnier, because the famously difficult piece of music is absolute hell to play on a mouse-controlled trombone.

UK regulators block Microsoft's Activision acquisition in potentially fatal surprise blow
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk-regulators-block-microsofts-activision-acquisition-in-potentially-fatal-surprise-blow/
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has unexpectedly moved to block Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard over concerns the merger would "alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market".

After 9 months, Warzone 2's chillest mode returns to the game today
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-9-months-warzone-2s-chillest-mode-returns-to-the-game-today/
Rejoice all you pirates, because Call of Duty: Warzone's chillest and most ear-splitting mode makes its triumphant return today. Plunder was a staple of Warzone 1 until it was unceremoniously stripped from the game in July last year, creating an absence that endured into Warzone 2 to the disappointment of more than a few players.

42 years on, The Oregon Trail gets free DLC
https://www.pcgamer.com/42-years-on-the-oregon-trail-gets-free-dlc/
The Oregon Trail is a pioneering videogame, first conceived of by teacher Don Rawitsch as a means of getting across the realities of 19th century pioneer life to schoolchildren. Alongside two colleagues and some students, Rawitsch's game arrived pretty fully formed: It was used by te class, before Rawitsch deleted it from the machine and saved one paper copy of the code. Three years later, when working for an educational software company, he re-typed The Oregon Trail, and the rest is history.
The game became a classroom fixture and much more, because the truth is this is a great game: Resource management, adventure, peril, and the black humour of watching your little pioneers die in various manners. Its success has seen countless new versions over the years, and in 2022 Gameloft released a faithful but spruced-up version.
Amazingly enough, The Oregon Trail is getting some DLC: And for a short while, it's free. The new Cowboys and Critters DLC brings a wagonload of content including a whole new journey to make: The Chisholm trail, where you have to drive cattle from Texas to Kansas.
>> I didn't know they had launched a new version last year. Interesting...