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

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Thursday news, part two:

System Shock studio angers fans by having an AI imagine its own evil AI
https://www.pcgamer.com/system-shock-studio-angers-fans-by-having-an-ai-imagine-its-own-evil-ai/
The best-laid plans of mice and men, per Robert Burns, can often go very wrong indeed, as the System Shock remake developer Nightdive Studios has just learned. The studio embarked on a little marketing stunt that probably seemed like a good idea at the time, which has been met with fierce pushback: It used the AI software Midjourney to create a picture of Shodan.

This new co-op survival action RPG the developer calls 'Valheim meets Zelda' has my full attention
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-new-co-op-survival-action-rpg-the-developer-calls-valheim-meets-zelda-has-my-full-attention/
There are some pretty strong Valheim vibes at the beginning of the trailer for Enshrouded, a new survival action RPG for 1-16 players coming to Steam early access later this year. An adventurer runs around in the woods wearing a pair of burlap pants, hunts with a wooden bow, chops down a tree, and cooks some meat over a campfire as night falls. Feels like a solid, if pretty traditional, opener for a survival game.

Microsoft promises 'tons of gameplay' in June 11 Starfield deep-dive
https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-promises-tons-of-gameplay-in-june-11-starfield-deep-dive/
Microsoft has announced that the next Xbox Games Showcase will begin at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on June 11, and will be followed immediately by the much-anticipated Starfield Direct, "a deep-dive into Bethesda Game Studios’ highly anticipated sci-fi RPG."

This new Counter-Strike map was created to smuggle the truth about the Ukraine war into Russia
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-new-counter-strike-map-was-created-to-smuggle-graphic-ukraine-war-reporting-into-russia/
The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has sometimes been described as a cultural institution in Finland, the country's own paper of record and over the years a campaigning media presence. Ever since Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, Helsingin Sanomat's coverage has been extensive and extensively critical of the Putin regime, to the extent of setting up a dedicated website (banned in Russia, naturally). Now it's found a new avenue of expression: a Counter-Strike map.

A new lo-fi Sims competitor just launched in early access
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-new-lo-fi-sims-competitor-just-launched-in-early-access/
On the very short list of games attempting to take a bite out of The Sims, I was not expecting to find a super pixelated, funky game like Tiny Life. It may not be sleek and polished like Paralives or have the former Sims developer pedigree of Life By You, but Tiny Life launched in early access today with a roadmap full of ideas and a demo version that you can try for yourself.

Former Dragon Age lead writer claims BioWare 'quietly resented' its writers
https://www.pcgamer.com/former-dragon-age-lead-writer-claims-bioware-quietly-resented-its-writers/
Beginning with Baldur's Gate and running through series including Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age, BioWare has built a reputation as a studio that creates great characters and tells great stories. But David Gaider, who has design and writing credits on just about all of them, said on Twitter that attitudes toward writers at BioWare had soured prior to his departure in 2016.

Activision will let you pay to make your Call of Duty guns sound like 2009
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-will-let-you-pay-to-make-your-call-of-duty-guns-sound-like-2009/
There are few artifacts of videogame culture that can teleport me to a specific time and place more powerfully than the sound of the MP5 from Modern Warfare 2. For months in 2009, the prickly whine of an MP5 followed (ideally) by the chime of a 3-killstreak UAV meant that I was in my happy place—getting a few matches in after school, probably sipping an energy drink I bought with quarters.
I was the perfect age to become a Call of Duty obsessive and still associate the series with some of my fondest memories of gaming, which is why I'm not surprised that, 14 years later, Activision is bottling up that nostalgia and selling it back to me with Season 3 Reloaded's "Throwback Audio Pack."

Months of Apex Legends audio issues caused by 'a single line of code,' Respawn confirms
https://www.pcgamer.com/months-of-apex-legends-audio-issues-caused-by-a-single-line-of-code-respawn-confirms/
Today in "making videogames is hard" news: Respawn's journey to track down a bug that caused months of audio issues in Apex Legends. Grenades that don't explode, guns that don't shoot, damage that has no source, and months of agonizing investigation—all apparently caused by a single line of code added in Apex Legends' Season 16 update.
>> At least that was quick, unlike the next one.

Latest Minecraft update fixes an 11 year-old bug
https://www.pcgamer.com/latest-minecraft-update-fixes-an-11-year-old-bug/
The latest Minecraft update, which the game for some reason calls snapshots, is mostly routine: Focused on smithing, squishing a few bugs, tweaking a few parameters. Then one of the most popular and widely played games on the planet says it's finally managed to deal with a bug that was first noticed 11 years ago.